I’ve been writing about grilling and bbq since 2008 and needless to say, I’ve tested out quite a few grilling tools! These are my tried and true grilling tools I consistently recommend to everyone because they will consistently make you a better cook and take the guesswork out of grilling. These are the top grilling tools I recommend for all grillers!
JJ George Fire Starter
One of the biggest reasons people don’t grill with charcoal is because they don’t want to deal with starting the coals. What if I told you that you can easily get your coals started in less than five minutes with this fun-to-use grill torch? The JJ George Grill Torch eliminates the need to use a chimney starter AND simplifies the process by allowing you to just dump your charcoal into your grill and light it and then let the coals spend 10 more minutes to heat up and voila — you are ready to start (charcoal) grilling! This same tool is also offered in a version with a longer pole for organically killing weeds. This is a fun gadget to use!
Thermapen
Temperature is everything in all cooking, not just grilling. If you aren’t using an instant-read thermometer in cooking, you are leaving everything up to chance. This can be dangerous but it’s also a great way to ruin a perfectly good piece of meat. The Thermapen is the gold standard in temperature used by chefs around the world. The Thermapen is known for it’s lightning-fast temperature reads of 3 seconds or less, with new and improved Thermapens giving 1-second temperature readings. If you can’t afford a Thermapen, you can still get super quick temperature reads at only $29 with the Thermopop.
Every cook, not just griller, needs an accurate Thermometer- Thermoworks is the gold standard for temp, which is why you’ll see them in the pockets of chefs around the world.
GrillGrates
Want to know how to get those super sexy looking char marks on your steaks? You need GrillGrates! I discovered GrillGrates doing a few steak competitions and realized that no steak cook would turn in a steak without a set. But they’re much more than just sexy char marks. The beauty of the GrillGrates is that they:
1) Can save the life of an old grill. Many grills have grates that have started to fall apart but the company doesn’t offer replacement grates. GrillGrates are the answer to getting more life out of an old grill.
2) GrillGrates create an even cooking surface. The anodized aluminum creates a hot and even cooking surface eliminates “hot spots.”
3) Eliminate flare ups, which is especially important when cooking things like steak (with lots of butter) and bacon because flare ups can make you overcook your meat and you don’t want that.
4) GrillGrates can turn your grill instantly into a flattop. Perfect for making smash burgers, frying eggs for a Hangover Burger, or even making French toast on your grill. If you’ve been thinking about getting a flat-top grill, getting a set of GrillGrates will eliminate the need to spend the additional $500 for another grill on your patio!
All Steak Cookoff cooks use GRILLGRATES to get precise char marks. This is a top 10 steak from the Shed Steak Show Down competition, January 2023.
The beauty of GRILLGRATES is that you can flip them over to quickly turn your grill into a griddle; perfect for making smash burgers or even frying an egg for Hangover Burgers!
GRILLGRATES not only extend the life of your grill but also extend its use- simply flip them over and voila- now you have a griddle too! Perfect for smash burgers!
Meater WiFi Enabled Meat Thermometer
While I am a grilling purist and don’t like too much technology involved in my cooks, I cannot deny that the Meater Bluetooth Enabled Meat Thermometer will make you a better cook and simplify the overall cooking process! The Meater thermometer has an app full of cooking videos, recipes and tutorials that essentially idiot proofs any cook for you because you can tell the thermometer exactly what you are cooking, what your desired temp is (medium rare, etc), and it will pretty much guide you through your entire cook, giving you updates the entire time. It will give you general guides on temp so you can select the ideal setting, gives you real time updates of the the internal temp of the meat, and the ambient temperature of the grill during the entire cook, notifying you as it gets close to the proper internal temp AND giving you an alarm as the food gets ready. Essentially, you cannot overcook a piece of meat using the thermometer! For those cooks who want to track temperature ebb and flow on your smoker, you can download charts from the app on your phone for the anal OCD smoker type that wants to analyze every cook. The Meater makes a great gift the BBQ person in your life because, well, it’s an awesome gift!
The Meater App makes it easy to monitor your cooks in real time and get notified when to pull your meat off so you don’t overcook anything! It pretty much idiot-proofs grilling!
You can monitor your cooks and see how consistently your grill maintains temp and when the temperature dropped (like when you open it up!)
Flame Boss
Much like the Meater will guide you through a cook and not let you overcook anything, the Flame Boss is a tool that controls the temperature on your smoker! So, if you want to smoke a brisket overnight and don’t want to lose sleep getting up all night to check on your smoker, then the Flame Boss is the peace of mind you are looking for. The Flame Boss is essentially a fan that is hooked up to a digital controller that will keep your grill going according to the desired temperature you have set. You can set the temperature of the smoker, while also monitoring the internal temperature of the meat, and monitor the entire cook on your phone while inside watching football, sleeping OR running errands. So, if you smoke a lot of meat but can’t babysit your smoker all day, the Flame Boss is the tool for you.
The Flame Boss is essentially a fan that is hooked up to a digital controller that will keep your grill going according to the desired temperature you have set. You can set the temperature of the smoker, while also monitoring the internal temperature of the meat, and monitor the entire cook on your phone while inside watching football, sleeping OR running errands.
The Flameboss maintains and monitors your grill or smoker so you can multitask while smoking!
These are my evergreen must-have grilling tools, but I am always trying out new gadgets. Check out my past Holiday Gift Guides for my ongoing list of favorite grills and tools for more ideas. Don’t forget to follow me on Instagram, Facebook or Pinterest to see behind-the-scenes recipe inspiration and food facts. I drop a lot of food and health truth bombs on the gram so be sure to give me a follow there! Happy grilling, BBQ fam!
