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Sear and Char! We Rounded up the Best Grill Tools and Accessories

We've got tested picks for tongs, charcoal chimney starters, grill brushes, and more.

By
J. Kenji López-Alt
Kenji Lopez Alt
J. Kenji López-Alt
Culinary Consultant
Kenji is the former culinary director for Serious Eats and a current culinary consultant for the site. He is also a New York Times food columnist and the author of The Food Lab: Better Home Cooking Through Science.
Learn about Serious Eats' Editorial Process
and
Riddley Gemperlein-Schirm
Riddley Gemperlein-Schirm Serious Eats
Riddley Gemperlein-Schirm
Associate Editorial Director, Commerce
Riddley Gemperlein-Schirm is the Senior Commerce Editor for Serious Eats. She joined the team in 2021.
Learn about Serious Eats' Editorial Process
Updated July 16, 2024
A person adding charcoal to a charcoal grill

Serious Eats / Russell Kilgore

My first rule of grilling is that active fire must never be wasted.

Does anyone else get an antsy feeling when you grill a meal, and the coals have yet to die out, and you can't stop thinking fire being wasted...must find more things to grill, and suddenly your guests are stuck eating alone because you've run into the kitchen, ransacked the fridge, wrapped half a dozen vegetables in foil to place directly on the embers, and are standing around wondering how frozen dumplings will do over charcoal?

That's why my second rule of grilling is to always be prepared.

Despite the fact that there are hundreds of so-called grilling "essentials" on prominent display at food stores and in catalogs, you figure out over the years that the only real tools you need are the ones that help you bring your food close to fire, preferably without burning yourself. After all, isn't that what grilling is really all about—food and fire, in all their primal glory?

Well, close, but not exactly. Here are the items that you really need. Everything else is just bells and whistles. And please, don't even think about buying those "grill kits." Not even as a gift.

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Basic Equipment for Charcoal Grilling

The Best Grills

Yes, a grill might seem like an obvious necessity if you want to, well, grill, but knowing what to look for is helpful. For the high heat essential for searing and flavor, nothing beats cooking over the smoldering embers of real hardwood charcoal. Choosing the right charcoal grill basically boils down to three factors: size, ventilation, and ease of operation.

I recommend a large grilling surface. It allows you to cook for large groups and offers enough space for the all-important two-zone fire. With plenty of space to bank coals on one side, you can create an ultra-hot searing zone while leaving the other side of the grill relatively cool in order to gently finish cooking chicken breasts, burgers, or steaks to your desired level of doneness. A large surface area and domed lid are also essential if you plan on doing any grill-roasting of whole birds or larger cuts of meat.

Ventilation is key, particularly around the coal area. Look for a grill with a separate rack for keeping the coals elevated. This design allows ashes to fall through, which increases oxygen supply to the coals so that they can burn faster and more efficiently. As far as vents in the cover and base go, the positioning makes little difference—just make sure your grill has them in the first place.

Finally, look for a grill with only the features you can afford. Heat-resistant handles, wheels, side tables, and easy-to-clean ash catchers are all nice, but they won't make or break your food. You're better off spending more money on a grill with a larger cooking area than a smaller one packed with features. For some recommendations, check out our favorite charcoal grills. The Weber is the classic and my grill of choice. (If a portable charcoal grill's what you're after, check out our review here.)

What about gas, you might ask? If you don't mind sacrificing flavor for convenience (you can read about how charcoal and gas stack up against each other here), then a gas grill can be a great, albeit far more expensive, option.

All the same rules for charcoal grills apply to gas grills, but in this case, different brands perform markedly differently. Some don't burn hot enough; others heat unevenly; still others have badly designed grease-drainage systems, leading to flare-ups.

The grill experts at Weber have some of the best models on the market, like the Weber Spirit II E-310 and the Weber Genesis EX-325 (two of our favorites from our testing). Both are quick to light, sport spacious side tables, and can reach searing hot temps in minutes.

You might consider a pellet grill if you’re into smoking meats. Our favorite pellet grills (which we determined with the help of 200 pounds of chicken wings) have set-it-and-forget-it convenience that yields tender, smoky results. Traeger has been making wood pellet grills for over three decades, and we’ve tested nearly all of them. The Traeger Pro Series 780 is a solid pick if you’re looking for a more compact (and more affordable) pellet grill, but the Ironwood XL is our top pick. This behemoth of a smoker knocked it out of the park. In our review, we said, "Ribs and pork shoulders had blackened bark on the outside and the signature pink tinge on the inside, while chicken wings emerged a burnished bronze," and "Overall, everything was exquisitely juicy and perfectly smoky."

Finally, there are flat-top grills, which sport a single piece of carbon steel over the burners. This gets blisteringly hot, providing an excellent surface for making smash burgers or even an array of brunch food (think pancakes, bacon, and fried eggs).

three gas grills on a patio

Serious Eats / Russell Kilgore

The Best Lump Charcoal

Lump charcoal is prized over briquettes because it burns cleaner and leaves behind less ash. That said, it's not uniformly better than briquettes—there's certainly something to be said about efficiency! After testing popular brands of lump charcoal in low-and-slow and high-heat grilling tests, we determined that a moderate variation in size and shape made for the best, most consistent burns. Just about every bag we tested was plastered with terminology like "no additives," but that's not unique: All lump charcoal should be made from just one ingredient: dried wood. The specific species of wood mattered less than brands may lead you to believe, although we did notice a slight difference in charcoals made from hickory and oak.

Close-up of burnt B&B Charcoal Oak Lump Charcoal

The Best Charcoal Chimney Starter

Lighter fluid is fun to play with, but it can leave your coals smelling like gasoline, imparting off flavors to your food. A chimney starter—which we’ve recently tested, crowning four favorites—is faster, cleaner, and more efficient. It's essentially a tall metal cylinder with holes punched in it with a grate at the bottom for holding the charcoal. It works via the power of convection: When a lit newspaper is placed at the bottom, igniting the bottommost coals, the hot air rises up, pulling fresh oxygen in through the vent holes and through the bottom.

This constant supply of fresh oxygen, coupled with the fact that the metal efficiently reflects heat toward the coals, means that you require nothing more than a single piece of newspaper and a match to turn six quarts of coals into a roaring inferno within 20 minutes. In the long run, it's also a much cheaper option than buying multiple bottles of lighter fluid (and it won’t make your food taste strongly of chemicals).

When deciding on a chimney starter, the most important elements are airflow and capacity. A full six quarts of charcoal is just about enough to cover the entire cooking surface on my Weber grill, and, not coincidentally, that's exactly how much the Weber Rapidfire Chimney Starter holds. Neat! Convection is the key to igniting charcoal, and the Weber’s smart air hole design helped coals turn fully ashy in a little over 24 minutes. The handle stays cool, too, a not-insignificant detail when it’s time to dump that charcoal into the grill and get on with cooking. 

a person using a chimney starter to add charcoal to a grill

Serious Eats / Russell Kilgore

The Best Grill Tongs

When I'm cooking indoors, I personally prefer the control that a shorter, seven- or nine-inch set of tongs gives me. But when I'm flipping a dozen steaks over a blazing-hot fire, I keep my distance. When we tested grill tongs, we preferred models that were at least 16 inches in length, keeping your digits away from the glowing coals and searing heat. The above models from OXO were two of our favorites, providing length and agility—not to mention powerful grip. Their scalloped heads even securely pinched wriggly, slippery hot dogs much better than those with forked or looped heads, which sacrificed more than one link to the flames.

Avoid tongs made with lightweight, easily bent, and quick-heating aluminum—if the tongs don't feel hefty and well constructed the moment you pick them up, chances are they're not. I also steer clear of heatproof nylon-tipped tongs. Not only do they give you less grip and less control, they also aren't really that heatproof (trust me, I've melted them in the past).

the oxo tongs resting on a plate of grilled hot dogs

Serious Eats / Grace Kelly

The Best Grilling Gloves

Sure, grill gloves are essential if you plan on maneuvering a brisket in and out of your pellet smoker. But having a set or two will prove infinitely useful: They're even great for cooking indoors, for tasks like handling a cast iron bread oven. When we tested grill gloves, we evaluated picks with heat resistance ratings of 932°F and upwards. Not every pair hit the mark—gloves with lots of silicone and neoprene retained so much heat, they were nearly impossible to remove. But we were duly impressed with two pairs from Grill Armor, the Extreme Heat Resistant Oven Gloves and the BBQ Waterproof Gloves. The Comsmart BBQ Gloves performed well, too. Not only could all three pairs handle the heat, they were comfortable, easy to clean, and helpfully flexible.

two hand in rubber grill gloves held over hot coals

Serious Eats / Jesse Raub

The Best Grill Brushes

A clean cooking grate is essential for good grill marks, even cooking, and ensuring that delicate foods, like fish and vegetables, don't stick. While a crumpled-up ball of aluminum foil held with a pair of stiff tongs will work to scour a grill clean in a pinch, a dedicated grill brush is a tool you'll want to use to clean your grill every time you fire it up.

Senior commerce editor Riddley Gemperlein-Schirm tested nine grill brushes and recommended a handful of models, including the ones from GRILLART and Weber. Both kept their bristles nicely intact even after she used them to scrub a concrete sidewalk. If you're concerned about bristles winding up in your food, we recommend this brush from Cuisinart, which uses steam to get grates clean.

A closeup look at an aramid fiber-wrapped grill brush cleaning a grill grate

Serious Eats / Riddley Gemperlein-Schirm

The Best Grill Spatulas

On the grill or in the kitchen, a flexible slotted metal spatula, a.k.a a fish spatula, is one of the tools I use the most. Its strong, flexible head allows you to flip a big one-pound steak or a delicate piece of salmon with equal ease. In our review, we loved the agility and precision of the Wusthof spatula; it easily slid under burgers and salmon alike and the handle was the perfect length. The more affordable option from Winco also won us over with a similarly angled blade that was easy to slip under food.

Another grilling must is an offset turner. This versatile flipper is strong and sports a long metal blade that swoops under a hefty burger without a hitch. It's also prime for flattening a patty on a flat-top grill, resulting in a crispy, lacey smash burger.

a person flipping burgers on a gas grill

Serious Eats / Russell Kilgore

The Best Thermometers for Grilling

I've already extolled the virtues of the ThermoWorks Thermapen ONE in The Food Lab's Top 10 Pieces of Kitchen Gear, so there's not much new to add here. And it's not just for grilling—here are all the reasons why we think you should own an instant-read thermometer.

Long story short: It's expensive, but it's incredibly useful. It's the best, most surefire way to ensure that your meat comes out perfectly cooked every time.

In addition to an instant-read thermometer, a leave-in probe option is a great grilling asset since those dial thermometers on grills are entirely inaccurate. The pointy probe and long, heat-resistant cable will allow you to monitor the temperature of the grill/food at any given moment. Our long-time favorite model (and winner of our review) is the ThermoWorks ChefAlarm. It's easy to program, it's accurate, and it beeps loudly so there's no risk of forgetting your salmon on the grill. If you're looking for a remote-capable thermometer for long BBQ sessions, we recommend the ThermoWorks Smoke Remote BBQ Alarm Thermometer.

A person using tongs to flip food on a grill

Serious Eats / Russell Kilgore

The Best Carving Knife for Grilled Meats

While it's on the pricey side, this Wüsthof carving knife was a favorite in our tests, and if you're spending all this time and effort trying to turn out perfectly cooked meat, you might as well slice it with a great tool. Its composite handle and full tang offer balance and support, while the lightly angled, slim bolster makes gripping the blade easy. It'll slice through all of your grilled meats like butter.

A hand using a slicing knife to thinly slice a prime rib

Serious Eats / Taylor Murray

The Best Carving Boards

Speaking of slicing, you'll also want a large carving board, with a grooved surface to catch any juices. After testing eight models, we recommend the carving boards from The BoardSmith (with the added juice well!) and Virginia Boys. Want to know how to keep it nice and clean and shiny? Here's our guide to seasoning and maintaining your wooden cutting board.

And that's it. With just this short list of gear, you can be off and grilling like the pros.

A roast chicken sitting in the center of a wooden carving board

Serious Eats / Taylor Murray

FAQs

What's the difference between grilling and barbecuing?

Barbecuing involves indirect heat and keeping the lid closed on your food to slowly cook it through (some people also use wood-soaked chips to give the food a smoky flavor). Grilling, on the other hand, is often done with the lid up and with the food cooked over the heat more directly.

Which propane grill is best?

After testing the most popular gas grills, we recommend the Weber Spirit II E-310 and the Weber Genesis EX-325. You can read about more of our top gas grill picks here.

How does a grill work?

It depends on the style of the grill! A charcoal grill uses charcoal briquettes that are heated up before being poured into the basin of the grill. These hot coals then cook the food. A propane grill, on the other hand, uses propane to create flames that come out of burners under the grill grate. It's easier to control the heat, but some argue that the flavor just isn't the same as when you cook on a charcoal grill.

What is a pellet grill?

Instead of using charcoal or propane, pellet grills use wood pellets for fuel. Not only are pellets the most eco-friendly of the three options, they impart a delicate flavor when smoking meats—which is another area where pellet grills shine. They run double-duty as grills and smokers, so they’re ultra-versatile.

Why We're the Experts

Additional research by
Summer Rylander
Summer Brons Rylander Serious Eats
Summer Rylander

Summer Rylander is a freelance food and travel journalist based in Germany. Her work has appeared in Food & Wine, The Kitchn, Travel + Leisure, Condé Nast Traveler, Salon, HuffPost, and more.

Learn about Serious Eats' Editorial Process

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