Houston, We Have a Flare Up! How to Deal with this Grilling Scenario

Houston, we have a Flare-Up. Please advise!

Do not fear flare-ups! Just respect them. The secret of flare-ups is to control them. First of all it's important that you understand that flare-ups are not as big a problem as you might think, if controlled of course. Controlled flare-ups are okay, it's when the fire gets out of control that you have a problem. There are several ways to deal with flare-ups.

It is important to not only plan on a flare-up, but more importantly prepare for them. The first step is to reduce the risk of or causes of a flare-up. One way in which to do this is by trimming any and all unnecessary fat from the foods you grill, but don’t go too crazy. 

For the sake of flavor, meats should be left with a little fat on them that also prevent meat from drying out while grilling. And it is important to note that fat not only comes in the form of meat fat, but can also come from such added sources as such oils in marinades or sauces. The key to avoiding flare –ups with marinade meats is that the marinades should be allowed to sink in fully, and marinated meat should not be dripping in oil when placed on hot grill. 

Again, herein lies the art of grilling, as you want tot strike a balance between flare-up control and fat removal. You can’t and, most importantly, shouldn't take away all the fat. Foods like chicken with the skin on, or a good thick steak or hamburger patties are going to have fat which when left on add to the flavor of the meal. However, that fat is going to melt and quite likely catch fire. That’s expected. What you need to be prepared for is a flare-up control plan.





Unless you are grilling enough food to cover the entire cooking surface of your grill, which is highly discouraged, you need to be ever-ready to move meats out of the flare-ups, to another part of the grate. This will provide you with the ability to keep foods out of the way of a flare-up, increasing the safety of your cooking, and of course prevent burning your much anticipated meal. 

Once you have cleared the area of a flare-up of food let it burn. You will find that fats exposed to flame and intense heat will burn away quickly. A tip would be to use upper warming racks, if available, to hold food temporarily while the flare-ups are dealt with. The Golden Rule would be, “If you can’t prevent it, be prepared to control it”.

What about a keeping a water-bottle close at hand? A water filled spray bottle is a flare-up tool of last resort. Many so called “experts” keep a spray bottle of water close at hand to put out flare-ups the instant they happen. There are several reasons you don’t want to use a spray bottle, and we may have learned this long ago in science class. 

Water and oil, or burning grease do not mix and you don’t put water on a grease fire. That’s rule number one. Secondly while the water may temporarily reduce or even put out the fire it does rid us of the catalyst, the grease in the grill. 


So the instant that the existing grease heats up again the flare-up will return. And finally, when you spray a grease fire with water, the grease does something very dangerous and undesirable, it explodes. The explosion causes splatter over your food, and, let’s face it, partially burned grease doesn't taste very good at all. 

If you are faced with an uncontrollable flare-up, and you want to avoid spoiling the food with a grease splatter, move the food out of the way, off the grill to a plate, turn off the burners and spray down the grease to put it out. From here, you are back in control and can start cooking again.


A clean grill really does produce fewer flare-ups. Once you have had that big flare-up it's a sign from the grilling gods indicating that it is time to clean out your grill. A good place to start is to fire up the grill and let it heat up good and hot in order to burn away as much grease as you can. Then after it has thoroughly cooled, get in there and clean out all the burnt grease and food from the bottom of your grill.