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The Best Grill Cleaners To Keep Your Grill Spotless
Written By Review Team at the Kitchen Institute
Do you love a delicious hamburger or rack of ribs, especially at a barbecue or weekend dinner? Grilling is a fun way to cook — it involves preparing food over a heat source like a charcoal fire, but it also leads to residue build-up from burnt food, oil, butter, and grease, which is not easy to remove. If you leave your grill like this, residue and grease can damage the grill grates, making the appliance useless.
This is why you should get one of the top-notch grill cleaners of 2025 to keep your grill spotless after cooking. These cleaners come in two forms — cleaning brushes with helical coils or wire bristles and cleaning solutions — and they’re highly efficient in removing even the toughest residue build-ups without damaging your expensive grill grates. Let’s dive in to learn more!
The Best Grill Cleaners of 2025
Proud Grill Company Grill Cleaner
Best Overall
The Proud Grill Company Q-Swiper Grill Cleaner is the perfect way to keep your grill clean and healthy without worrying about bristles or wires. The set includes one brush that has a stainless steel scraper and eighty BBQ grill cleaning wipes. The wipes are moist and tough, using food contact-safe ingredients and natural cleaning agents to remove grease and grime from your grill surfaces. The grill cleaner is 6 by 8 inches, making it easier to clean your grill grates completely before cooking. Thanks to their powerful omnidirectional grill cleaning nodules combined with tough food-contact-safe cleaning agents, you can easily swipe away tough grill grease and grime from all major grill and smoker brands. Because the wipes are replaceable, you always have a new one to use each time you clean your grill. That’s why it’s the best overall on this list.
GRILLART Grill Cleaner
Easiest to Use
Designed to prevent shedding and melting at high temperatures, this GRILLART Grill Cleaner Brush can remove grease and residue from your grill without contaminating your food. Its metal plate has a sharp, thin edge to help you easily scrape off residue from the top of the grate, and it won’t damage your grill or leave scratch marks on its grates. The helical structures of this grill cleaner are 120% more rigid than standard cleaners and won’t leave any wire bristle fragments stuck between the grates. Thanks to its improved flexibility, you can easily clean hard-to-reach corners of your grill, and its 18-inch long plastic handle offers maximum control over your grip and prevents you from burning your hand. This grill cleaning brush also won’t bend or snap in half thanks to its heavy-duty design, and because it’s compatible with most grill types and offers excellent cleaning performance, it tops our list of grill cleaners.
Goo Gone Grill Cleaner
Highly Efficient
If you already have a brush but need a great grill cleaning solution, check out this Goo Gone Grill Cleaner Spray. It’s a biodegradable, non-toxic cleaner that won’t harm food or grill grate coatings, and it can easily work on different types of built-up residue, like grease, baked deposits, and carbon deposits as well. Thanks to its grease-cutting foam formula, this grill cleaner can help you effortlessly get rid of residue. Its extra-strong solution prevents smoke or flare-ups post-cleaning, ensuring you can continue to safely cook and grill different food items. On top of everything, you can use this grill cleaner to clean your grill’s interior, its drip pans, and even its cooking plates.
The Sage Owl Grill Cleaner
Most Effective Cleaning
The Sage Owl Grill Cleaner is an essential tool for any backyard chef that values their grill. This product boasts a brass, no-bristle grill scraper and a 17-inch-long handle that is safe to use on porcelain and Teflon-coated grills. It makes BBQ cleaning easy and effective without the hazardous risks of loose bristles from a regular BBQ brush. This grill cleaner comes with three round grooves that range from 1/16 inch up to ⅜ inch (the size of a Bic pen). It also includes one V-shaped groove for narrow, pointed grates, though they must be spaced at least ½ inch apart to work properly. The safe and easy cleaning power allows anyone to get off even the crustiest of grime while not damaging your grill in the process. In addition, this product is made of solid brass which makes it last longer than other wooden cleaners.
Alpha Grillers Grill Cleaner
Rust-Proof
Suitable for porcelain, iron, steel, and other grill types, this grill cleaner brush can help you maintain your appliance and extend its lifespan. This brush features small, sharp bristles with enhanced thickness to ensure grates are cleaned properly without suffering any scratches or abrasion marks. This grill cleaner’s stainless steel bristles are rust-proof and strong enough to remove stubborn grease and other residues from grill grates, and since it has a larger surface area, this brush can clean your grill in no time at all. It also comes reinforced with a strong, thick 18-inch plastic handle, allowing you to effectively scrape off residue without the brush snapping in two.
Easy Off Grill Cleaner
Great Value
If you’re not getting the results you want from your scraping brush or need something extra to speed up the process, consider this strong yet affordable grill cleaner solution. This cleaning spray is formulated to dissolve the toughest stains in just 30 seconds, eliminating the need for continuous scraping. Using this grill cleaner solution is a breeze — all you need to do is spray it, wait a little bit, and then use a wipe to remove all grime and residue. Not only can this grill cleaner help make your grill look sparkly clean, but it also can protect it from scratches. Even better is that this grill cleaner is kosher and certified by the National Sanitation Foundation, so you can rest easy knowing that it’s safe to use.
Traeger Grill Cleaner
Safe Formula
If you’re looking for a grill cleaner with a safe formula, then check out this all-natural Traeger Grill Cleaner Spray. It’s a non-toxic cleaning liquid with a plant-based formula, and it won’t damage your grill grates or contaminate your favorite foods. Although it doesn’t contain any chemicals, the manufacturer hasn’t compromised this grill cleaner’s efficiency. Its industrial-strength formula means it can easily work on the toughest residues and grease deposits, ensuring your grill grates are clean for your next cookout. This grill cleaner also comes in a spray bottle that’s easy to use with one hand — grill cleaner in your left hand, spatula in your right, throw some food on the grill and get this BBQ started!
How To Buy a High-Quality Grill Cleaner: A Buyer’s Guide
Cleaning grill grates with a simple brush or regular cleaning liquid isn’t effective. You’ll need a grill cleaner that’s specifically designed to remove grease and residue from grill grates, edges, and corners. Since there are so many similar products available, choosing one is no easy task. To help you out, we’ve put together a complete buying guide that can help you invest in a great grill cleaner in 2025.
Types of Grill Cleaners
Grill cleaning brush
Unlike regular brushes, a grill cleaning brush features a completely different design. It has a flat metallic plate connected to a handle via helical rods, and surrounding this plate are six or more wire coils or bristle arrangements. You use the metal plate for scraping, while for loosening and scrubbing grill grates you should use the bristles or wire coils. Although grill brushes can help you reach difficult areas of your grill, using them does mean extra effort on your part.
Grill cleaning solution
Another kind of grill cleaner comes in the form of a solution. Grill cleaner solution breaks down residue build-ups or grease to help you remove them easily. An advantage of using a cleaning solution is that you won’t have to exert too much effort in scrubbing or scraping off residues, and they won’t even leave scratch marks or abrasions on grill grates. Cleaning tough areas, like underneath the grates or corners, can be difficult, though.
Factors to Consider
Brush type
Cleaning brushes either have wire bristles or helical coils attached to the top of the scraping plate. If you have straight grates, go with a grill cleaning brush that has helical coils as these are more flexible and can easily reach the rods’ interior portions. If you have a mesh grill grate, you should look for a grill cleaner brush that has wire bristles. Wire bristles can cover a larger grate surface area in a single swipe than helical coils, so you’ll have to decide which brush type you want to go for.
Brush material
Grill cleaning brushes are equipped with a metallic plate that helps scrape off any built-up residue. Wire bristles and helical coils are made from stainless steel, as these materials are rust-proof and won’t damage your grates. All grill cleaning brushes come with strong plastic handles that won’t bend or snap under a lot of force. Plastic is also a bad conductor of heat, so you won’t have to worry about burning your hand.
Cleaning liquid formula
When it comes to grill cleaning solutions, you should check the composition to make sure it’s food-safe and non-toxic. No matter which chemicals are added, the solution shouldn’t release any toxins at high temperatures. You should also check if the cleaner is strong enough to break down food residue and grease. If it’s not, then you should move on to another product — if your chosen solution isn’t strong, your grill will never look spotless.
Brush strength and flexibility
While looking through grill cleaning brushes, you should check if the bristles or helical coils are strong and flexible. Although they’re made from stainless steel, bristles can still come loose and get stuck between the grates. Make sure your chosen cleaning brush has super strong bristles with extra rigidity so they won’t come loose. Helical coils are flexible, but you should check that they can reach tough places like in between grates, underneath rods, and inside grill edges and corners.
Grill type compatibility
Not all grill cleaners are compatible with all kinds of grills or grate material. For example, one product might be suitable for stainless steel and cast iron grill grates, but another chosen cleaner might not be. Similarly, some grill cleaners are suitable for gas, charcoal, and electric grills, while others are only for charcoal grills. Before you choose a grill cleaner, ensure it’s suitable for the type of grill you have and its grate material.
People Also Asked
Do I need to preheat the grill before using a grill cleaner?
If you have a grill cleaning brush, you need to preheat the grates. The high temperature will help break down residue and grease, ensuring you can easily scrape off the remnants and achieve a spotless grill.
Do all grill cleaner brushes shed?
Only grill cleaner brushes equipped with wire bristles suffer from shedding, so you should look for a product that has strong, hard bristles that won’t come off easily.
Do I need to use any special wipe with a grill cleaner liquid?
You can use any cloth or brush to wipe off stains after spraying a grill cleaner liquid on your grill’s grates.
Does grill cleaner need to be used regularly?
Yes, it's best to use a grill cleaner regularly, depending on how often you use your grill. You should deep clean your grill after each heavy use, and give it a light scrub each time you use it regularly. Doing this will help protect the surface of the grill and make sure that food doesn’t stick to the grates.
Can grill cleaner be used on both gas and charcoal grills?
Yes, most brands of grill cleaner can be used on both gas and charcoal grills as long as they are compatible with their respective materials (for example, stainless steel or cast iron). Be sure to read all label instructions carefully before using the product to ensure proper application and safety.
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