Skip to Main Content

Six Grilling Tricks for That Last Minute Summer Barbecue


Summer may be on the way out here in North America, but it’s not completely gone, and there’s plenty of opportunity to fire up the grill. If you do, these burger and meat grilling, grill cleaning, and other cooking tricks will help you plan and cook the perfect warm weather, outdoor meal.

Despite their blatant overuse of the word “hack” to describe these tricks (something I think we’ve all been guilty of, but at least they’re doing it tongue firmly in cheek), all of them are pretty useful. Many of them are ones you’ve heard us discuss before, like the spiral-cut hot dogs, testing your propane tank level with hot water, and cleaning your grill with an onion, but some of the others, like a DIY hotbox with aluminum tins and the addition of a little mayo to your burger mix, are worth trying out if you haven’t thought of them before.

The mayo in the burger mix one may sound absurd, but they’re right in the video—it’s really just eggs and oil, so it makes sense. Similarly, the hot box trick is really just taking two large aluminum pans—the kind you get at the grocery store for cookouts like this one—putting one on top of the other and crimping one side shut, and using it as a kind of “warmer” box over indirect heat (or a cool spot on your grill) where you keep the finished food so it doesn’t overcook and people can come serve themselves freely. Hit play on the video above to see each tip in action, or the link below to check them out on YouTube.

6 Awesome BBQ Hacks! | SortedFood (YouTube)