How to Clean a Cast Iron Grill Plate

We get a lot of questions about cast iron and we had one recently about how to clean cast iron with grates. Grill plates are always hard to clean, especially when they’ve got ridges. A lot of skillets have them as well.

When you get finished cooking something on your cast iron piece you’ll want to take it to the sink.

And here’s the trick: Run hot water immediately over the hot cast iron piece.

Most of the stuck-on stuff will steam right off. If not, you can use the soft side of a sponge to gently scrub off any remaining residue. But watch yourself when you run the water under it because it’s going to make some steam.

Now sometimes I don’t clean my cast right after I cook in it because, well I’m hungry! If you’re like me, just heat your cast back up over the stove and then take it to the sink.

This makes for easier cleanup on any type of cast iron, not just grill plates.

So why does it have to be hot water on hot cast iron?

Hot water against hot cast iron- there’s no problem, but if you put cold water on hot cast iron there’s a good chance it’s going to crack.

Now it’s important after you clean cast iron you always need to re-season it.

Take it back over to the heat source and let the cast warm and make sure all the moisture is gone. We’ll re-season it lightly with olive oil and a clean lint free rag. Let it cool down and you’re ready for the next use. Now sometimes I’ve found cast iron pieces that are in really bad shape – the ridges were all crusted over. In that case you can heat the cast iron up hot and take a good wire brush to it. You can also throw it into a fire and let it all burn all the crud off.

Just remember, if it’s a good piece of cast iron, it will last forever if you take care of it right.

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