8 Essential BBQ And Grilling Tips

Summer nights are best enjoyed with friends and family outside on a patio, close to the grill, and with a bag of marshmallows by your side. But no matter how carefree cookouts and BBQs may be, there's always some last minute scrambling that adds complication and stress to an otherwise perfect evening. Maybe your tongs end up being too big for the dish you're trying out, maybe you go to light the grill and you're out of fire starter, or maybe you're trying to come up with a delicious new dessert but nothing comes to mind. Whatever your next step is towards becoming a true grill master, these 8 tips & tricks will help you get there. There's no question that both the grill and your next party will end up being lit!

1. Alternative Fire Starter

Sometimes when you're running around buying groceries and planning for a get-together, the little things fall by the wayside. If you forgot to pick up fire starters for the grill this time around, there's an easy fix! Instead of using wood or charcoal starters, you can just use walnuts. Place them directly on the charcoal briquettes close to one another, light them, and your BBQ is saved!

2. Skewered Food Hack

Any type of food served on a skewer is a winner in our book, but eating delicious, marinated grilled goodies once they're ready can be tricky and very messy. To avoid the mess, stick the food straight into a paper cup and push the skewer down so that it makes a hole in the bottom. Pull the skewer all the way out of the hole and all of the delicious grilled food will stay in the cup! You can even use the skewer to eat your food without getting your hands sticky.

3. DIY Tongs

Small sausages or sliced veggies can be particularly difficult to flip if you're using standard BBQ tongs. To make life a little bit easier, place 2 forks back-to-back and tie them together near the bottom of the prongs using a rubber band. Now you have a small pair of tongs that will make flipping and rotating food on the grill way easier!

4. Grilled Watermelon

4.1 Grilled watermelon might sound a little unusual, but it's a quick & easy summer treat you'll be glad you tried. Cut the watermelon up into individual triangles and insert 1 wooden skewer into each section.

4.2 Grill each piece briefly on both sides and drizzle honey on top to serve.

5. Portable Fire-Pit

Sitting around a fire-pit on a hot summer's night after a delicious meal is one of the most underrated activities of the season. But unfortunately, not everyone has the space or budget to have a fire-pit right in their backyard. If you don't have the space but still want to enjoy a cozy night of s'mores and chit-chat around the fire, place some chopped wood directly in an old wheel rim of a car and you've got a portable, convenient, safe fire-pit!

6. Marshmallow Roasting Stick

A perfect summer evening often ends with roasting marshmallows over the fire, or if you're really lucky, with making s'mores. But finding the perfect marshmallow roasting stick be very difficult, especially at night in the dark! More often than not, you settle for something subpar and you're left with the raggedy remains of your future dessert. Instead of hunting for the perfect stick, sharpen whichever one you find lying around using the rim of an open can. Your marshmallow will stay put and intact!

7. Grilled Caramel Apple Dessert

7.1 Apple and caramel go together so well, but normally you have to wait patiently for the fall for those ingredients to start popping up in desserts. But there's some good news: we've come up with a grilled summer version! To make the grilled caramel apple dessert, cut an apple in half, remove the core, and fill it with soft caramels.

7.2 Press the 2 halves of the apple back together, wrap the whole thing up tightly in aluminum foil, and place it either on the grill or directly on hot coals. Take the caramel apple off of the heat after a few minutes, and once it's cool you can dig into a warm grilled apple with a melted caramel core!

8. Stuffed Marshmallows

Everyone knows that marshmallows are the perfect after-dinner treats for a summer evening. But you can make marshmallows even sweeter by using this easy trick to make stuffed marshmallows! Skewer whatever you'd like to be inside of the marshmallow (we used a strawberries) and dip the skewered filling in marshmallow cream. Roast the stuffed marshmallow over the fire, and your campfire cooking just got gourmet!

If these 8 tips & tricks for BBQs and grilling didn't get you at least 1 step closer to grilling perfection, we don't know what will. From grill hacks to creative dessert recipes, these ideas will bring your cookouts to the next level and make your summer even sweeter! 

Get the instructions for the Ways To Save Money With Flower Pots and Grilling Hacks, Recipes & Camping Tips featured in the bonus video.

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