Most barbecues do not wear out. They rust out, gunk up and get replaced years before their time. The difference between a barbecue that lasts five years and one that lasts fifteen is rarely the barbecue. It is a handful of small habits, none of which take long. Here is a realistic routine, from the two minutes after each cook to the once-a-year deep clean, written for people who would rather be cooking than cleaning.
After every cook: the two-minute habit
The best time to clean grates is while they are still hot, because heat does most of the work for you. When the food comes off, turn the burners up for a few minutes with the hood down. This burns residue to ash. Then brush the grates with a good barbecue brush and you are done. If you do not own one yet, our guide to the BBQ tools worth buying first covers which brush, tongs and spatula are worth the money.
Two small notes on that. Check your brush regularly and retire it once bristles start loosening, since stray wire bristles are a genuine hazard. A wooden scraper or coiled-wire style brush avoids the issue entirely. And once the barbecue is cool, put the cover on. That single habit, covering it every time, outranks everything else in this article for keeping rust away.
Monthly: grates, grease and the tray underneath
Once a month or so, give the cooking system fifteen minutes. Lift out the grates and any flame tamers or plates and wash them in warm soapy water. Ordinary dishwashing liquid is all you need. Rinse and dry them properly before they go back, since wet steel is where rust starts.
Then deal with the grease. Slide out the grease tray or cup and empty it, scrape off the built-up drippings and give it a wash. A full grease tray is the most common cause of barbecue flare-ups and the fuel for the classic barbecue fire. If your tray uses absorbent liners or a foil insert, replace it. This one job matters more for safety than everything else combined.
While things are apart, scrape any large debris from the bottom of the cook box into the bin. A wipe-over with warm soapy water on exterior surfaces finishes the job. Avoid harsh oven cleaners on painted or stainless exteriors, as they can stain and strip finishes.
Twice a year: burners, connections and the deep clean
A couple of times a year, go one level deeper. With everything out of the cook box, check the burners. Blocked burner holes cause uneven heat and lazy yellow flames, and a gentle brush over the burner ports clears them. Look into the burner tubes as well. Spiders love nesting in them over quiet periods, and a blocked tube stops gas flowing properly. A pipe cleaner or a tap upside down usually clears it.
Then check the gas side. Inspect the hose for cracks or kinks. Test the connections by brushing soapy water over them with the gas on and the barbecue off. Bubbles mean a leak, and a leak means fixing before the next cook. This takes three minutes and is the safety check most owners have never done. If you would rather tackle the whole job in one hit at the start of spring, our weekend BBQ deep-clean plan sets it out as a Saturday strip-down and a Sunday of burner and gas checks.
Finish with a proper clean of the hood and cook box interior. Carbon flakes that look like peeling paint on the inside of the hood are normal grease deposits, and a scrape and soapy wipe removes them. Barbecues with sear plates designed to vaporise drippings still need this, as our Napoleon Rogue XT 625 review explains when it walks through that cookbox design.
Winter and long gaps between cooks
An Australian winter will not hurt a barbecue that goes into it clean, dry and covered. Do the monthly clean before the quiet season, empty the grease tray, and make sure everything is bone dry. A light coat of cooking oil on cast iron grates protects them during storage. Turn the gas off at the bottle, and if the barbecue lives somewhere exposed, a fitted cover earns its keep through every wet week. You will find sizes for most barbecues in our covers range.
One warm-weather warning in reverse. Before the first cook of spring, repeat the spider check. A winter of peace is exactly what nesting insects were hoping for.
Know when a part needs replacing, not scrubbing
Nothing on the cooking side is forever, and that is fine, because most of it is replaceable. Grates that are rusting through, flame tamers burnt thin, an igniter that no longer clicks and perished hoses are all standard replacement parts, and swapping them costs a fraction of a new barbecue. If the body and burners are sound, a barbecue can be refreshed almost indefinitely. That is the quiet economics of buying a decent barbecue in the first place. It becomes a keeper you maintain rather than an appliance you replace.
Treat the routine as part of the cooking rather than a chore after it, and it never feels like much. If you are starting fresh or upgrading, our BBQs and outdoor cooking range includes barbecues built to be maintained for the long haul, and the accessories collection has tools to make the job easier.
