10 Grilling Mistakes to Avoid

Champion pitmaster Christie Vanover of Girls Can Grill knows the secret to mouthwatering barbecue isn’t just in the rub or the smoker. It’s in avoiding the most common grilling mistakes.

“These are little things that can make or break your cookout,” Vanover said. “But once you know what to look out for, it’s easy to get more consistent results every time.”

Leaving Too Much Fat on the Meat

Some fat is flavorful. Too much gets in the way.

“If the fat cap is too thick, smoke and seasoning won’t penetrate,” said Vanover.

For cuts like ribeye, brisket or pork shoulder, she recommends using a sharp knife to trim the fat down to about ¼ inch thickness.

Grilling with silver skin still on

Some cuts of meat like ribs, tri-tip and pork tenderloin may have a layer of silver skin. For ribs, this is located on the bone side of the rack. For tenderloin and tri-tip, it’s the white layer that runs along the meat.

When cooked, the silver skin doesn’t render down, so it can leave your meat a little chewy. For the best results, run the tip of a sharp knife under the silver skin and remove it.

For ribs, use your fingers to get under the layer. Then, grip it with a paper towel and pull it right off.

Under seasoning your meat

A lot of times people will just add a light dusting of BBQ rub to their meat and then they wonder why it’s lacking flavor. True pitmasters usually cover the surface of the meat completely with rub, especially when cooking larger cuts like brisket or pork shoulder.

“Go heavy with your seasoning, especially on large cuts,” Vanover said. “You want to create a flavor-packed bark.”

Just be mindful of the rub you’re using and check the sodium level. If salt is the first ingredient listed use it a little more sparingly.

Don’t put food on a cold grill

Putting food on a cold grill leads to uneven cooking and poor sear marks.

“Just like you preheat a skillet or oven, your grill needs time to get up to temp,” Vanover said.

Plus, when grills preheat, sometimes the temperature shoots higher than your intended temperature before they balance back out to where you want it to be. That can cause your food to burn.

Cooking over dirty smoke

When you first light your charcoal, you’ll see smoke. It will be a thick, white smoke. Don’t add your food during this stage. This is called dirty smoke, and it will give your food a bitter taste.

“Wait until the smoke runs clean,” said Vanover. “That’s what we call blue smoke, and it gives barbecue its signature flavor without overpowering your meat.”

Using high heat for every cut

Thicker cuts of meat like chicken breasts and tomahawk steaks won’t cook evenly over high direct heat. Therefore, setting up a two-zone cooking area is ideal.

One zone will be hot directly over the coals or lit burner. The other zone will use indirect heat, meaning there are no coals under the grill grate or the burner is off.

This way you can slowly cook the food to the point that the inside is almost completely cooked. Then, sear it over the direct heat to get that awesome char.

Relying only on time instead of temperature

Good BBQ recipes, like the ones you’ll find at Girls Can Grill will provide a cook time estimate, but they’ll also provide you with proper internal temperatures.

For guaranteed juicy meat or meat that shreds like butter, go by the temperatures provided. The times are just a guideline and can vary dramatically, depending on your grill and how much the meat weighs.

Adding sauce too early

Barbecue sauce contains a lot of sugar. If you add it to your meat at the beginning, the sauce will caramelize and burn before the meat cooks through.

Instead, use seasonings on your meat and cook it.

“When it’s just about done, brush on the sauce,” said Vanover. “That way, your meat will be cooked perfectly, and the BBQ sauce will be nice and tacky.”

Ignoring carryover cooking

When you pull your meat off the grill, it’s going to continue to cook. This is called carryover cooking. The internal temperature of the meat can continue to rise 5-10F degrees. Keep this in mind, especially for cuts like pork chops, chicken breasts and steaks.

If you pull your meat off the grill about 5-degrees lower than your desired doneness, it should finish up exactly where you want it to be as it rests.

Slicing meat without letting it rest

You may be eager to eat right when you pull your meat off the grill, but slow down, Nelly. Your meat just came off a high-heat environment, and the juices are still active.

Let smaller cuts of meat rest a good 10 minutes before slicing into them. This way, those juices settle into the meat instead of dancing out onto your cutting board.

By avoiding these ten common grilling mistakes, your next BBQ can go from decent to championship level. For more expert tips, tune into the BBQ Tips Podcast every Thursday.