The 8 Essential Accessories for Outdoor Grilling
It's officially grilling season, but is all your gear ready for prime time? It can be a bit confusing to wade through all the grilling accessories available on the market, so we've pulled together this handy list to make sure your grill game is on point! Here are our essential eight grilling accessories for smoky goodness all summer long.
Grilling Tool Set
Every griller needs a designated set of key tools, but a lot of sets come with all sorts of extraneous bits and bobs that are unlikely to get a lot of use. You want the basic four: a heavy duty set of tongs, spatula, fork, and basting brush, with solid construction, good length, and easy to grip handles. We love this Alpha Grillers set for their ergonomic handles!
Buy it: Alpha Grillers Heavy Duty BBQ Grilling Tools Set ($39.97), amazon.com
Chimney Starter
If you have a charcoal grill, getting it started simply and quickly is your best way to be able to take advantage of grilling weather all week long. A chimney is your best friend for getting the coals to temp in a flash! Bonus? You can pop a stainless grate on top for some high heat robata-style grilling, great for an appetizer of grilled shishito peppers before the main event gets started.
Buy it: Weber Rapidfire Chimney Starter ($25.14), amazon.com
Gloves
Cooking over fire needs protection for your hands that goes beyond a basic oven mitt. You want to be able to really grip your tools, and the food, with a little more dexterity and much higher level of heat protection. Enter the GEEKHOM grilling gloves, which cover your wrists and forearms, made of silicone for easy cleanup.
Buy it: GEEKHOM Grilling Gloves ($16.88), amazon.com
Grill Brush
Keeping your grill grate clean by giving it a great brush down is something smart grillers do every time they light it up, once before they cook and once after. So, having a great grill cleaning brush is super important. We love this triangle style for getting all the gunk out.
Buy it: Kona Safe/Clean Grill Brush ($19.95), amazon.com
Plancha
Whether you want to make smash burgers, wrangle a great sear on veggies like onions, or just grill some smaller items that tend to fall through the grates like green beans or asparagus, a cast iron plancha is a grill upgrade you will turn to again and again. Many grill companies make their own plancha accessories, but we like this one from BBQSTAR, which is pretty adaptable to many grills and can double as a griddle.
Buy it: BBQSTAR Cast Iron Grill Plancha ($32.99), amazon.com
Rib Rack
If you love making ribs on your grill, you know that you want that smoke to get to every inch of those racks. Standing them up on their sides will help them cook more evenly and get the flavor in every bite, not to mention maximize the number of ribs you can fit on the grill!
Buy it: Weber Rib Rack ($16.99), amazon.com
Pizza Stone
If you love the taste of wood fired pizzas, you can convert your grill into a pizza oven by adding a pizza stone! This 15-inch cordierite stone is generous enough for those extra-large pies. Bonus: The set comes with a pizza peel for transferring your creations on and off the stone, a serving rack to take the stone from grill to buffet, and a pizza cutter.
Buy it: PentaQ Pizza Stone Set ($42.99), amazon.com
Meat Thermometer
The single most useful tool for any grilling maven is a really accurate meat thermometer. We keep two thermometers on hand for two styles of cooking. For large format meats or whole birds, which are harder to read, we love the MEATER wireless meat thermometer with Bluetooth and WiFi and a 165-foot range. Just pop the thermometer into the thickest part of your protein and connect it to the app on your phone and you don't need to constantly test and babysit the meat. For faster cooks or smaller portions, we want a super-fast digital thermometer to give us accurate reads, and the Lavatools Javelin has the added benefit of a backlit display for those post-sunset cooks.
Buy it: MEATER+ Meat Thermometer ($99.99), amazon.com
Buy it: Lavatools Javelin PRO Thermometer ($55.99), amazon.com