The Most Common BBQ Mistakes and How to Avoid Them

January 11, 2025

BBQ Season is in full swing. Are you prepping a BBQ party or just grilling the dinner? GRIPmitt prepared a list of the eight most common mistakes and easy solutions to make the perfect grilled meal for your family and friends.

1. Not Cleaning the Grill Properly

The first most common mistake is not cleaning the grill properly from the previous grilling. If you don’t clean the grill properly, it may affect the taste of your food since you are exposing it to old grease. After every grill session, you should brush off the grates and racks when they are cooler but still warm, using a high-quality stainless steel grill brush to clean off the food particles. Then use the scraper, to scrape off burnt food. After, wipe the grates and racks and make sure there are no metal brush bristles on the grates. If needed, soak the grates and racks in hot water mixed with dish soap to avoid heavy layers of grease.

2. Using too Much Lighter Fluid

If you are using a charcoal grill, avoid (excessive) lighter fluid that can transfer the chemical taste to your food. There are several ways how to light your charcoal grill. One of the popular and easy options is the chimney starter. First, place the chimney starter on a stable, heat-resistant surface (maybe on the bottom grate of your grill), crumble 2–3 sheets of newspaper, and place them in the bottom of the chimney starter. Alternatively, you can also use lighter cubes. Then fill the top section of your chimney starter with the desired amount of charcoal. Light the newspaper and allow the charcoal to burn. You’ll know the charcoal is ready when the top turns gray and ashy. It takes approximately about 10–15 minutes and it is essential not to rush it. If you don’t wait and add the charcoal to the grill when it is still black, you will have difficulty controlling the temperature.

3. Not Preheating the Grill

Just like preheating the oven before baking, you should preheat your grill before adding any food. If you skip this step, the food will be sitting on your grill for too long which can easily lead to overcooked and dried food. Also, placing uncooked food on cold or lukewarm grates will eliminate your chance of creating sear marks that give the food a smoky grilled flavor. You will also risk that the food will stick to the grates. So next time, don’t forget to preheat your grill for about 10–15 minutes. When the grill is ready to use, don’t overload it even if it may seem to be the easiest way when having a big family BBQ. It will lead to uneven cooking and also you will have a hard time flipping or turning the food.

4. Not Preparing the needed

The BBQ tools will not only help to elevate your grill game but also will help to conserve the food safety that is equally important at the BBQ station as it is in the kitchen. The basics stay the same. Wash your hands with soap before handling the meat, poultry, or seafood. Keep everything clean - wash the surfaces and all the BBQ tools you will be using, including GRIPmitt,  BBQ and kitchen silicone mitts. Don’t use the same plate or utensils for raw and cooked meat and poultry.

You can make it a little easier with color coding. Use red GRIPmitt for red meat only, green can be for poultry, blue for seafood, and gray for veggies. With one mitt, you can place the raw meat on the grill and with the other one that is clean, you can take it from the grill when it’s ready and use it as a carving mitt too.

Also, keep cold food refrigerated until it is ready to use and only take out the meat that you will grill immediately. Grill to a safe minimum internal temperature to potentially kill the harmful bacteria. It is always better to check it with a meat thermometer as meat and poultry on the grill brown easily from the outside. When the food is grilled, served when hot, however for your meats let them rest for 10 minutes before carving in order to retain meat juices. And if you have some leftovers, refrigerate them properly in containers and then reheat them thoroughly to at least 165 °F.

5. Ignoring the Lid or opening it too often

Another common mistake is ignoring the grill lid. Without the lid, the heat disperses, making it difficult to maintain a consistent temperature. That usually leads to uneven cooking where some parts of the food are overcooked whereas the other ones are still undercooked. Keeping the lid open also allows the heat to escape which leads to longer cooking time. Not only does heat stay under the closed lid, but it also helps to trap smoke and flavor in your food so if you don’t close it, your food will be less flavorful. In addition, with an open lid you will likely use more fuel than with the closed lid. For the same reasons, you shouldn’t open the lid too often either. To ensure optimal results, minimize opening the grill only when necessary, such as for turning the food or checking it near the end of the process. Therefore, it is helpful to know how long to grill different types of meat and food. You can check that in one of GRIPmitt's articles. Also, it is very helpful to use the meat thermometer to ensure it is not undercooked or overcooked. Insert the thermometer from the side of your meat to get an accurate temperature. The sensing area of the device is usually about 2 inches so make sure to insert this area into the thickest part to the center area of food.

6. Using Poor-quality Ingredients

It is undeniable that investing in high-quality ingredients elevates the entire grilling experience, from preparation to eating. So next time when you are planning to grill, don’t buy your meat at the grocery store cooler but visit your local meat market. Besides being a greater quality meat, you can also get advice from an experienced butcher on cooking methods and pairing recommendations. For the veggies, visit your local farmers market and shop seasonal products that will be naturally way more flavorful.

7. Skipping the marinade

You can’t expect to have flavorful meat if you don’t marinate it properly. Sometimes it can be difficult to plan ahead and marinate the meat with ample time before the effort surely pays off! Generally, poultry and seafood need between a few minutes to 2 hours and red meat needs way longer for a couple of hours up to 24 hours. If you are using your own marinade, it should contain an acid, such as lemon juice to infuse the meat and help with tenderness, a fat, such as olive oil, to keep the meat moist and preserve the flavor and seasoning to add the mentioned flavor. You are for sure free to experiment with different flavors but remember that pairing the right flavor with the right meat will make it even better. The marinade should be a little over-seasoned. Also always put the marinating meat into the refrigerator and don’t let it sit on the counter so the bacteria can’t grow inside. When you’re done with marinating, don’t forget to clean up the meat to get rid of the rest of the marinade as it could drip into the grill and small pieces in the marinade, such as pieces of onion or garlic could burn before the meat is ready.

8. Not letting the meat rest

Did you check the internal temperature for meat, and it’s all perfectly done? Using your favorite GRIPmitt, take it off the grill but don’t serve it just yet! If you don’t let it rest, the juice will pool out and the meat is dry. By letting it rest, you will allow the juice to redistribute throughout the whole cut of meat.

All these most common mistakes are very easy to prevent and will help you take your grilled meal to the next level. So fire up your grill and get a grip on grilling!

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