Cleaning your pellet grill is a very important step to keep your grill operating well and ensure you are cooking the best tasting food. Each time you use your pellet grill to smoke or grill up something delicious, grease and debris will accumulate on the grates, in the bottom of your grill, and in the drip pan. Pellet ash and half burned pellets can also buildup next to the fire pot. If there is too much grease built up inside your pellet grill it will eventually lead to a grease fire, which is not only dangerous but, it will spoil your cook. Burning grease will put a nasty, acrid taste on your food (the taste is similar to lighter fluid).
The best way to keep your grill in tip top shape and your food tasting good, is to do a quick clean after each cook to remove any remaining reside from cooking and a deep cleaning every few months. There are many fancy and expensive grill cleaners and pellet grill speciality products on the market, but in this step by step guide I will show you to how to clean your pellet grill the right way, with cleaning supplies you already own, in less than 15 minutes.
Quick Clean
This is a quick step that you should make part of your pellet grilling routine. After you are finished grilling or smoking you should run a 15 minute burn off cycle. It’s super simple.
Turn up the temp to 450 degrees and let the grill run for 15-20 minutes.
After about 10 minutes that grab your grill brush and give the grates a good scrape down . Let the pellet grill run for another 10 minutes to burn off any residual grease and stuck on food.
Once the grill has completely cooled take a sponge with some soapy water and wipe down the exterior lid, handle, and the side shelf. Use a clean cloth or paper towel to give it a final wipe before you put the grill cover on.
This quick step will ensure that your pellet grill is completely clean the next time you want to cook. It will also prevent smoke and grease from building up on the outside of your grill.
Step by Step Guide to Deep Clean Your Pellet Grill
There are two main factors that will affect how often you need to deep clean your pellet grill. How much you cook, and what you cook. For example if you are only grilling burgers and dogs, you may be able to get away with only one deep cleaning a year. But if you are smoking up pulled pork or brisket every weekend, you will need to clean your pellet grill much more often. It comes down to how many pellets your are burning (the longer the cook the more pellets) and how much grease you are generating. Brisket and pork butt create a ton of grease which will then end up the grill grates, grease bucket, and drip tray.
Tools and Supplies
Scraper I recommend picking up a few different sized metal or plastic putty knives from Home Depot. You should have one that is wide and one that is narrow, so that you can to cover every inch of the grill.
Grill Brush to scrape the grates
Bucket with warm water
Blue non-scratch sponge to clean the outside of your grill
Dawn Ultimate or Dawn Ultra dish soap. Dawn is the best gentle, food-safe degreaser you can buy. Stay away from chemical based degreasers or oven cleaners. Yes, they will get rid of the grease, but they don’t belong in your food.
Paper towels
Shop Vac to vacuum up pellets, ash, and bits of debris
Clean the Grill Grates
Cleaning grill grates is a no brainer. You wouldn’t eat off of a dirty plate, right? So why would you cook on a dirty grill? Hopefully after your last cook you completed a 15 minute burn off that I talked about at the beginning of this article. If you didn’t, and there is still stuck on foods and remaining residue on your grill grates, now is the time to do it. Set the temp on your grill to 450 and let it go for about 15 minutes to cook off stuck on debris. Use your grill brush to take off any grease and charred food particles. Then let the high heat burn off anything left. Turn off the grill and let it cool down before proceeding to the deep cleaning process.
Scrape down the inside and heat diffuser
After your pellet grill has completely cooled remove the grates and set them on the side. If you want you can run these grates through your dishwasher for a real deep clean, but it is not completely necessary.
Use your putty knife or scraper to scrape down any accumulated grease and food residue that is stuck on the lower half of your grill. Typically drippings will accumulate on the heat deflector plate directly in the center of the grill.
Work the entire inside of the grill to remove and grease or large chunks of black stuck on food.
Shovel the pile of debris onto a paper towel and toss it in the garbage.
Use some regular paper towels (or heavy duty paper towels if you have them) to wipe down the internal surfaces and other internal components.
Shop Vac the residual debris and ash
After you have the grease and large chunks of debris removed, you need to remove any accumulated ash. Since your pellet grill uses a fan to circulate hot air inside the cooker, spent ash and pellet dust can end up in the bottom of your grill. To properly clean your pellet grill you want to remove all of that ash and pellet dust.
Empty your pellet hopper and vacuum up any saw dust at the bottom of the hopper.
Vacuum the tray under your grill where there may be a build up of ash or half burned pellets.
Vacuum the inside of your grill including the fire pot and pellet tube.
The easiest way to do this with a shop vac or ash vacuum. If you don’t have a shop vac or ash vac handy no problem, you can use your scraper to shovel out the remaining ash into a bucket or garbage bag. But with a vacuum you will be able to remove every trace of ash that built up in the inside the burn pot, and residual wood pellets from inside the pellet hopper. It’s important to remove this pellet dust as it can cause problems long term to the auger motor (especially if you live in a humid climate or keep your grill outside).
Clean the Grease Bucket
Depending on the model of your pellet grill you will have some type of a grease chute or drip tray that drains into a grease bucket. Empty the grease bucket and wipe down the interior surfaces of the grease chute with some paper towels. Once you get the bulk of the grease off you can use a damp cloth or wet sponge to wipe the metal components.
Wipe down the exterior
The last step is wipe down the exterior of your grill including any painted surface or stainless steel surface. Use some dawn soap and warm water to scrub down the lid, pellet hopper, and shelves. The more you use your pellet grill you will notice where the smoke and grease tend to accumulate. Use your wet sponge and soapy water to take off any accumulated grease. Then use a clean rag or paper towel to give the whole exterior a final wipe down.
Wrap Up
If you follow this guide you will learn that cleaning your pellet grill is no big deal. The deep cleaning process can be done with minimal effort in less than 15 minutes. It may seem like a lot of effort but spending 15 minutes every few months to keep your expensive pellet grill running like new is well worth it.