The Best Grill Brushes You Can Buy

Aug 14, 2023

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Keep your grill working like new with this selection of cleaning tools.

The worst part of any meal is the cleanup. A lot of people enjoy cooking and most people like eating, but cleaning up everything after you're full and tired? Hard pass. Whether it's doing the dishes, attempting to clean a cast-iron pan without ruining it or wiping down the kitchen, post-meal cleaning is one of the worst chores there is, right up there with laundry and scrubbing the toilet.

And cleaning a grill can be even worse than your standard kitchen cleanup. With the high temperatures involved, the abundance of ash and smoke and the fact that your sticky food is making contact directly with often-unforgiving grill grates, grilling can get messy. But having the right grill brush can make cleaning the grill a whole lot easier — here are our favorites.

Grill brushes have come under fire recently, and truth be told, there's a good reason why. Following a viral TikTok video from an ER doctor about a 4-year-old who got a piece of metal wire from a grill brush lodged in his neck after eating at a BBQ, some doctors and other health advocates began advising against using wire grill brushes entirely, as the wires can become dislodged and stuck on the grates, later transferring onto food that's cooked on the surface.

Chef Eric Gephart, Director of Culinary Inspiration at grill brand Kamado Joe, told me he doesn't even own a grill brush — he instead uses the clean-burn method. Chef Tom Jackson of All Things Barbecue told me he uses a wire brush from Weber and has never lost a single bristle. Then there's Russ Faulk, grillmaster and chief designer at Kalamazoo Outdoor Gourmet, who recommends a pumice stone-like grill-cleaning block for scraping buildup off of the stainless-steel cooking surfaces of Kalamazoo grills.

In other words: there are many ways to clean a grill, and you definitely don't have to use a wire grill brush. But if that is your preferred method of cleaning a grill, make sure you're getting a high-quality grill brush and that you're paying careful attention to ensure that no wayward bristles make their way onto your grates.

If you've got your heart set on a wire grill brush, GrillArt's Grill Brush and Scraper is the internet's consensus top choice. Its three rows of thick stainless steel wires are heavy-duty and nearly impossible to remove from the brush thanks to their tight woven construction, making this brush extremely unlikely to come apart and leave dangerous bits on your grill. There's also a built-in scraper for removing really stubborn cooked-on residue, and the sturdy handle is a generous 18 inches long, allowing you to keep your hand well away from the heat of the grill when cleaning.

Is this grill brush ridiculously overbuilt? Yes. Does that make me want to play around with it any less? Definitely not. The appropriately named "Grand Grill Daddy" is like a steam wand for your grill, reinforced with two sets of extremely stiff stainless steel bristles. The way it works is you fill the handle with water, which turns to steam once it comes into contact with a hot grill, loosening caked-on food and making it easier to scrub away. There's a valve that allows you to adjust the amount of steam released, and the two sets of bristles are angled differently to allow for scraping and brushing.

Weber's brush may be simple and affordable, but don't call it cheap. The biggest name in grilling knows how to make a quality product, and this basic wire brush is no exception. There are no bells or whistles here, but it is quite cleverly designed. With its wide front, you can easily scrape vertically along grates as you normally would. But the clever part is the thin sides of the brush that are also bristled, allowing you to clean in between grates with ease.

You don't have to baby your cast-iron grill grates like you would a cast-iron skillet, which means it's okay to scrub them down with a stainless steel wire brush. Kona's 360 brush and scraper combo can be used on pretty much any grilling surface, but it's especially handy on cast-iron grates thanks to the long handle's added leverage and the extra scrubbing power you get from those beefy stainless steel bristles that are designed to scrub the top and sides of each grate in a single swipe.

If you're looking to steer clear of a wire grill brush for safety reasons — or because you're worried about scratching up your pretty stainless steel grates — then opt for an EarthStone Cleaning Block. These can be used with or without a handle, and while not technically a grill brush, they work beautifully for cleaning a grill. Grillmaster Russ Faulk of Kalamazoo Outdoor Gourmet explained to me that because the EarthStone is harder than the food residue on the grill but softer than the stainless steel grates, it's the perfect tool for keeping the cooking surface on a pricey Kalamazoo grill looking pristine.

Porcelain-coated grates have inherent non-stick properties, but they're also more susceptible to scratching than cast-iron or stainless steel grates. To clean them, you need a brush that is softer than the porcelainized material but still rugged enough to remove stubborn grease and grime. Enter brass. The material works on all surfaces, but it's especially suited to porcelain grates for the previously stated reasons. Grillaholics makes the best brass grill brush around, thanks to its angled head and long handle that take the work out of scrubbing, along with the high-quality, thoroughly tested bristles that are engineered to last longer and stay in the brush where they belong.

If you're afraid of potentially hazardous wire bristles but still want the scrubbing power of a grill brush, then a nylon brush is a great alternative. These aren't quite as strong as a metal wire brush, but they're still plenty rugged enough to get the job done when used properly. And by that, I mean do not use a nylon brush on a hot grill unless you're looking to melt your bristles. This brush is for cold cleaning only. Oxo's take on the form features an angled brush head that's great for getting into corners, and the brush head can even be removed if you prefer using it more like a sponge. There's a stainless steel scraper built-in too, so you don't have to worry about the nylon bristles not being up to the task of removing the most stubborn crud.

The self-proclaimed "world's safest grill brush" makes a pretty strong case for that claim, while also being one the best grill brushes you can get, period. Grill Rescue forgoes bristles entirely, swapping the brush head for a heat-retardent foam block wrapped in Kevlar. Heat-resistant and designed to be used on a hot grill, the brush must first be dunked in water and then run over your grates — with the angled steel scraper leading the way. It's an extremely unique and effective design and makes for an excellent choice for anyone wanting a grill brush without bristles.