10 Amazing Grilling Tips You Need to Try

Disclaimer: This post was sponsored by Tessemae’s as part of the Mom It Forward Blogger Network. However, all thoughts and opinions are my own.

No matter if the weather forecast calls for rain, snow, or sunshine, my husband is all about grilling. While I prepare the side dishes at the stove, he heads out to the grill to do one of the things he loves most. Is it strange that we don’t have a “grilling season” in our house since every day can be a grilling day for us?

But, let’s face it. We are in the heart of grill season. I love walking through our neighborhood and smelling the grills fire up as families enjoy dinnertime together. With the sun shining down, there’s no better smell than a grill working its magic.

10 Amazing Grilling Tips You Need to Try

Over the years, we’ve learned quite a few grilling tips that help us serve up dishes that keep us craving more.

1.) Become Familiar With Your Grill

Before you fire up your grill, be sure to know the ins and outs of your grill. After spending some time grilling food, you’ll grow to become really familiar with your grill. Take note on what sides are super hot, what sides take a bit longer to cook, etc.

2.) Preheat Your Grill

Before carrying the food out to the grill, make sure you turn on the grill to make it nice and hot prior to placing the food on the grill. Your grill should be 400-450°F for high, 350-400°F for medium-high, 300-350°F for medium, and 250-300°F for low heat. If your grill is properly heated, then you’ll have a nice sear as soon as the food hits the grill.

3.) Brush the Grill

Once your grill is nice and hot, take a grill brush and brush the rack. You want a clean surface for even grilling and nice sear marks.

4.) Prevent Sticking

A good way to prevent sticking is to apply oil to the grill racks. You can soak paper towel in vegetable oil, grip the paper towel with tongs, and rub the paper towel all over the grill racks. Or, use cooking spray. Just be sure to practice safety if using cooking spray, especially around a hot grill.

5.) Avoid Cross-Contamination

Use separate bowls, plates, and cutting boards when handling raw and cooked meats.

6.) Be Patient

The last thing you want to do is keeping flipping, flipping, and flipping the food. Allow the food to cook on the grill, get nice grill marks, and spend time developing flavors. According to Bobby Flay, “The more you touch the food on the grill, the more it will stick and begin to fall apart. Brush your burgers, fish, vegetables with oil and season with salt and pepper and place on a hot grill. Don’t touch it for at least 2 minutes! It needs to form a crust so that it can naturally pull away from the grill. If you begin to turn it before the crust has formed, it will stick.”

7.) Stay Organized

If you’re hosting a barbecue, be sure to think about the grilled items that will take the longest versus the items that will require the shortest amount of time. Also, be sure to have all of your tools, bowls, and plates at the grill so that you aren’t constantly running inside to grab more tools while manning the grill.

8.) Enjoy a Good Steam

This is a family trick. If you’re hamburgers and/or sliders and you want a steamed approach, grill the meat, place cheese on the meat when it’s still on the grill, allow the cheese to melt, place the cooked burger patty between a bun and place the hamburger/slider back into the bun plastic bag. Do this to all of the burgers/sliders. You’ll end up with steamed buns that are so perfect.

9.) Use the Right Timing

Meat has a tendency to continue cooking once it is removed from the grill. Plus, you always want to allow time to have your meat rest before cutting into it. Remove meat from the grill right before it has reached the desired doneness, plate on a plate, cover with aluminum foil, and allow your meat to rest.

10.) Find the Perfect Marinade

When it comes to steak, my husband is a purest. He prefers to rub both sides of the steak with salt and pepper prior to placing on the grill. Once the meat is cooked, he places it on a plate, tops it with a few slices of butter, and covers with aluminum foil to allow the butter to melt and the meat to rest. For all other types of meat, we’re all about using a marinade to help add flavor and dimension.

Whether we realize it or not, we spend a good bit of time planning for the perfect meal … prepping, smelling, washing, chopping, and then in the last possible moment, we screw it all up with the seasoning we choose. Let’s stop all that. Instead, let’s find the perfect marinade.

I recently had the chance to try a grill pack from Tessemae’s All Natural. Tessemae’s is a growing natural food company from Annapolis, Maryland that makes clean, fresh dressings, marinades, and condiments with real ingredients and no preservatives. When the Tessemae’s grill pack containing Ketchup, Lemon Chesapeake, Yellow Mustard, Mattys BBQ, Hot Buffalo Sauce, and Mayo arrived we couldn’t wait to dig in and enjoy these flavors.

Tessemae’s organic dressings, marinades, and condiments are the perfect enhancement to these delicious foods –they use real, whole sourced food ingredients and are now certified USDA organic. Tessemae’s make 25 different dressings, marinades, and condiments–offerings are USDA organic certified, Whole30 approved, and contain no added sugar, thickeners, or additives–unlike most salad dressings on the market.

Tonight, my husband filled two bowls with chicken tenderloins and added Lemon Chesepeake Marinade to one bowl of chicken and Hot Buffalo Sauce to the other bowl of chicken. As soon as he opened the containers he said, “Wow, these look so good.”

When it comes to chicken, we usually like to have a little bit of dip for added flavor. But, after one taste test, my husband said, “Yeah, so we won’t be needing dip tonight. This chicken is so flavorful.” Husband tested, husband approved. I think it’s safe to say we found the perfect marinade tonight. I’m adding these products to my shopping list.

Speaking of shopping, you can pick up these products as the following locations:

• Florida: Whole Foods, Publix, The Fresh Market
• Mid-Atlantic: Whole Foods, Harris Teeter, Wegmans
• Midwest: Whole Foods, Marianos, Jewel
• Northeast: Whole Foods, Stop & Shop, Hannaford, Target
• Northern Cal: Whole Foods, Safeway, Target
• Pac Northwest: Whole Foods, Kroger-Fred Meyer, Kroger-QFC
• Mountain: Whole Foods, Kroger-King Sooper, Natural Grocers
• South: Whole Foods, Kroger, Publix
• Southwest: Whole Foods, Kroger, HEB

Trust me, you won’t be disappointed.

What are your favorite grilling tips?

Disclaimer: This post was sponsored by Tessemae’s as part of the Mom It Forward Blogger Network. However, all thoughts and opinions are my own.