BBQ Cleaning, Care & Maintenance – Extend the Life & Perfect Cooking of Your Barbecue

Congratulations – you’ve bought a Sahara gas BBQ, the best on the market! To find out how to prolong perfect cooking for years to come, either visit our Sahara BBQ maintenance page for a snapshot or read on. You’ll be surprised how fast and simple it is to clean the BBQ and keep it in tip-top shape with these expert simple steps and BBQ maintenance tips. Caring for your BBQ in winter pays off in dividends when the warmer months arrive and you start firing things up.

Please remember that every Sahara BBQ comes with an owner’s manual guide that provides more specific, bespoke information relevant to your model. Also, bear in mind that our BBQs come with up to a 10-year warranty, which is great peace of mind!

BBQ all year and save money

The single best advice we can give would be to use your barbecue year-round! Not only is this great for your equipment but also for your hip pocket. Sahara barbecues love to be loved, and they will faithfully sizzle, roast, boil and sear day-in-day-out. You can make outdoor eating pleasant any time of the year with one of our patio heaters or our outdoor electric heaters. Indeed, as energy costs go through the roof this winter, now is the time to think outside the square and adopt cheaper cooking methods. So turn off the oven and fire up the BBQ!

BBQ storage ideas

• It’s important to keep your barbecue on level ground so that oil doesn’t collect in just one area, especially the BBQ griddle plate.
• Plenty of owners invest so extensively in their barbecuing pride and joy they can easily justify a barbeque storage box. We recommend the best purpose-built BBQ cover in the UK. Made from lightweight, water-resistant, breathable fabrics, these covers protect against rain, dirt, mud and discolouration and do a top job of preventing rusting. They also look smart, so you don’t have to worry about creating an eye sore on the decking when you’re not sizzling up a storm.
• When the grease tray is not in use, fill it with sand to stop grease dripping onto your decking and prevent flare-ups when the equipment is in use.
• When it comes to BBQ gas bottle maintenance – be sure to turn off and disconnect the gas.

Gas BBQ care whilst cooking

• Aim to preheat your equipment for 5 to 10 minutes with the hood down before actual cooking gets underway.
• Rather than oiling the BBQ inserts, opt to oil the meat instead.
• Avoid metal or stainless steel BBQ cooking utensils, as they will damage the porcelain.

Don’t forget to clean the BBQ

Cleaning a BBQ following every use is a best-practice game-changer. It will play a big role in prolonging its life and the quality of the cooking. Most of the time, a basic clean by hand should suffice. However, we recommend a more thorough deep clean after every four uses. Remove the vapour bars and burners (more on that below).

How to clean a BBQ

Honestly – it’s harder to clean an oven! You’ll be surprised when you find out the best way to clean a BBQ is oh-so-simple. When you’ve created your culinary masterpiece and the equipment is no longer needed, you can employ a very effective trick. Close the hood and turn all burners to high. Keep them roaring for ten minutes. Once that’s over, leave them to cool and then easily scrape the burned-off residue using a BBQ cleaning brush, bamboo BBQ scraper or wire brush. You may want to take the grill plates inside and just pop them in the sink to sit in hot soapy water for a while.

For a basic all-over clean, all you need to do is get hold of a spare spray bottle. Fill this with two cups of white vinegar and two cups of lukewarm water. Hey, presto – you have an instant BBQ cleaning kit! That’s how cheap, easy, and enviro-friendly it is to create your bespoke cleaning product! Give it a good shake and then once the cooking is finished, spray the grill with your vinegar solution. Next, grab some aluminium foil and just treat it like a wash rag, scraping away all that remains. You can use this approach for BBQ grill care as well – it’s so easy!

For a deep clean, simply replace the vinegar approach with warm, soapy water. Spray all over the equipment and then leave it a few minutes to really settle in. If there are some particularly stubborn areas, consider a light coating of baking soda, adding a very small amount of water and leaving it to sit. Come back with a wire brush and give it some good old-fashioned elbow grease rubbing, avoiding, of course, the porcelain hoods or sink area (which will clean with a soft cloth).

If the idea of a deep clean does not appeal, you may have a BBQ maintenance service nearby that is worth considering.

Contact us

We hope this BBQ care advice is helpful. Our team is always happy to assist with any other enquiries, so don’t hesitate to contact us. Meantime, we wish you many brilliant barbeques for years to come!