Yuck. When was the last time this was cleaned?

Uhhh… never.

Yes. We had our grill for at least 5 years and it has NEVER been cleaned! Don’t judge me.

Time to get cleaning! First remove the grates and discard all the old ashes from the bottom. Tip: don’t do this on a windy day!

Next, hose down the inside to remove any loose particles (i.e. burnt food from the last BBQ!)

Using a wire brush, give the kettle a good scrubbing. Rinse off again.

Now for the fun part! Start the fire using your favorite charcoal.

Place your cooking grate over the hot coals and cover. Wait 5 minutes so that your grate is nice and hot.

Now that the grate is hot, use a long handle wire brush (the longer, the better so you don’t burn yourself) to clean the the grate.

This is the easiest way to clean your grate because the grease and grime that was caked on the grate falls off effortlessly.

Looks much better now!

Next, use half of an onion and rub the hot grate. The onion is antibacterial and anti parasitic. This is a good idea especially is you are using a public grill at a park or beach since you don’t know what was grilled previously. Also, it gives your food a mild onion taste!

Now that the grill is clean, let’s cook zucchini!

Flip those burgers!

When you’re done grilling, give your grate another scrubbing with the wire brush while the grate is still hot.

Time to eat! Homemade burgers served with li-hing margarita!