The right tools make outdoor cooking much easier, and with the sun finally out, there’s no better time to kit yourself out properly. Our team put 16 barbecue tools and accessories through their paces while testing this year’s barbecue line-up – from basting brushes that add real flavour to gadgets that will help you nail the perfect sear every time.
Whether you’re cooking over charcoal, gas flame or wood, the right kit makes a real difference to the end result. We’ve covered the essentials, plus a few smart extras that are worth having to hand. Skills & shows editor Barney Desmazery also shares his top 10 barbecuing tips – be sure to read those before you fire up the grill to ensure barbecue perfection.
Need some inspiration for what to cook? Our best ever barbecue recipes is a good place to start, and we’ve got dedicated collections of seafood barbecue recipes and vegetarian barbecue recipes, too.
Looking for a new barbecue? Visit our reviews section to find our tried and tested picks of the best gas barbecues, best charcoal barbecues and best portable barbecues. We’ve also taste-tested the best BBQ boxes to buy this summer, bringing burgers, sausages and more direct to your door. Plus, we’ve brought together our picks of the best outdoor tableware, including the best serving dishes and platters that will look great on your summer table.
- Best retractable BBQ tool set: JosephJoseph GrillOut BBQ Utensil Set with Storage Case, £85
- Best press for meat: Our Place Grill Press, £35
- Best single BBQ glove: Morsø Fire and Grill Glove, £19
- Best easy-grip BBQ tool set: Weber Precision 3-Piece BBQ Set, £58.73
- Best BBQ gloves: Weber premium gloves, £52
- Best BBQ cleaning tool: Grill Guard BBQ grill cleaning brush and scraper, £12.10
- Best tool for searing meat: KitchenCraft cast iron grill press, £15.95
- Best barbecue set: Boss Grill 18-piece BBQ utensil set, £39
- Best BBQ basting brush: OXO Good Grips Grilling basting brush, £15
- Best BBQ tool essentials: Tramontina three piece BBQ tools set, £19
- Best BBQ tongs: OXO Good Grips silicone tongs, £16
- Best for pulled pork: Meat shredding claws, £21.64
- Best meat thermometer for barbecuing: Thermapen One meat thermometer, £78
- Best BBQ chimney starter: Weber chimney starter, £20.96
- Best eco-friendly firelighters: Log Barn natural firelighters, £12.99
- Best for lighting gas BBQs: KitchenCraft electronic butane gas lighter, £11.50
Joseph Joseph GrillOut 4-Piece Stainless-Steel BBQ Utensil Set with Storage Case
Available from Joseph Joseph (£85)
Best retractable tools
This four-piece stainless steel utensil set includes all the essentials – basting brush, tongs, turner and fork – but unlike most standard BBQ tools, each of the heads is retractable. That means they take up less room when stored, which is handy if you’re short on space, and the foldable case is useful for both storing and transporting.
Each accessory has a hook to hang it from, which saves you having to find somewhere to rest meaty tools when you’re switching between each one. We like the fact these tools dismantle for easy cleaning, and particularly that they’re dishwasher safe.
Available from:
Our Place Grill Press
Available from Our Place (£29.99)
Best press for meat
A grill press adds extra weight to your meat and allows you to push it down and sear it evenly across a bigger cooking area. We tested this weighty cast iron grill press to make smash burgers, and found we could apply just the right amount of pressure to achieve thin and crispy patties.
It’s heat resistant up to 260°C and the handle stayed cool to touch in testing. The press side has a black matte enamelled surface that didn’t stick to the meat, and the gloss upper cleans well – and is available in a selection of chic, muted colours.
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Morsø Fire and Grill Glove
Available from Amazon (£19)
Best single BBQ glove
This right-handed glove is made from thick suede leather and offered good heat resistance in testing – both when used with a barbecue and with a wood-burning stove. Like all standard gloves it came up rather large on small, female hands, although our larger-handed male tester was able to get a good grip on accessories and reposition wood well.
We like the hidden magnet at one end, which allows you to attach the glove to a metal barbecue or table when it’s not being used. And good news if you’re a leftie: there’s also a left-handed alternative available.
Available from:
Weber Precision 3-Piece BBQ Set
Available from Amazon (£37.87)
Star rating: 4/5
The sturdy spatula, tongs and basting brush in this barbecue accessory set all have soft-touch, non-slip handles, which made them a pleasure to use in testing – even with messy hands. The spatula has a larger-than-most surface area, allowing you to turn bigger items, and the three-sided bevelled edge gives you extra leverage when lifting.
Considering the size of the tongs we were slightly disappointed that they didn’t open wide enough to grab a whole piece of meat, but they are brilliant for things like burgers and sausages. Each tool has a hook for hanging and is dishwasher safe, which was music to our ears at the end of a long barbecuing session.
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Weber Premium gloves
Available from John Lewis & Partners (£55)
Best BBQ gloves
Barbecues can reach temperatures beyond 300C, so a pair of BBQ gloves are a smart investment for minimising the risk of burns. This pair from Weber reach nicely up the wrist to offer forearm heat protection. There are practical non-slip silicone lines across the palm for aiding your grip of large BBQ tools. They’re big and a little on the expensive side but durably made to last from 100% Aramid (outer) and 80% cotton/20% polyester (lining).
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Grill Guard BBQ grill cleaning brush and scraper
Available from Amazon (£12.10)
Best BBQ cleaning tool
Cleaning your grill while it’s still warm will make the process of removing stubborn grease or sticky juices a little easier to shift. A hard-wearing scraper and brush that has a long handle is one of the safest ways to go about it. The Grill Guard has both these qualities allowing you to apply pressure for scrubbing but still keep a safe distance from the grill. Width-wise, you can scrub multiple grill bars at once making the whole job faster. When tested, the barbecue looked like new after using this. Plus, there’s a convenient hook at the end of the handle for storing it out of the way when not in use.
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KitchenCraft cast iron grill press
Available from Harts of Stur (£15.95)
Best for searing meat
Grill presses are a lot easier to use than a spatula for pressing meat like burgers and steaks while they cook over a barbecue. The result should be evenly seared meat that’s packed with barbecue flavour. This grill press by KitchenCraft has a good surface area and being cast iron, can be heated on the barbecue to sear the meat from above while it cooks from below.
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Boss Grill 18-piece BBQ utensil set
Available from Appliances Direct (£39)
Best barbecue set
Great value-for-money, this 18-piece set comes stored in a nifty aluminium case. All the tools are designed with practical long handles for keeping you away from the heat and they feel durable, so should last with care. We loved the addition of sweetcorn forks, although these should only be used when the cooked corn cobs are removed from the grill. Also included is a 42cm fork, 43cm spatula, 40cm tong, 38cm silicone basting brush, 43cm brass brush and four skewers.
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OXO Good Grips Grilling basting brush
Available from Harts Of Stur (£14.45), Amazon (£17.94)
Best BBQ basting brush
Although it lacks an accompanying pot, this basting brush is nicely designed for basting ingredients while they cook on the grill with minimal risk to you. It has a long 34.4cm handle and broad head of heat-resistant silicone bristles that carried an efficient quantity of marinade for each stroke. Its head also angles up, meaning less mess when rested flat on the counter, although we simply rested it against the bowl for more basting.
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Tramontina three piece BBQ tools set
Available from Harts Of Stur (£19), Amazon (£23.35), Robert Dyas (£26.99), The Range (£29.99)
Best BBQ tool essentials
The Tramontina pack of three barbecue tools are impressively sturdy. Firstly, they’re long, allowing you to manage what’s cooking without having your hands too close to the hot grill. Wooden handles work particularly well here because they don’t conduct heat. A good pair of tongs are always crucial, plus the flipper has a sharp serrated edge, which comes in handy for splitting ingredients in two to check if they’re done. Nothing fancy, just three really useful tools for a good price.
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OXO Good Grips silicone tongs
Available from Amazon (£13.60), Selfridges (£16)
Best BBQ tongs
These tongs are really well-designed – the rubberised handles are easy to grip and the flat silicone tips are slightly flexible so they can be used as a spatula to flip food. They’re ideal for burgers but really come into their own when having to turn fish or vegetable slices. Plus if you have smaller hands they’re still comfortable to use, unlike many big BBQ tools.
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Meat shredding claws
Available from Amazon (£21.64)
Best for pulled pork
These neat meat shredders are ideal for pulling apart pork or chicken – whether at a barbecue or generally in the kitchen. There’s nothing quite so therapeutic as putting these claws to use, and they’ll save the juices going all over your hands.
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Thermapen One meat thermometer
Available from Amazon (£78)
Best meat thermometer for barbecuing
Lightweight, incredibly responsive to temperature changes and easy to read, this Thermapen takes away the anxiety of cooking meat on the barbecue. We inserted it into the thickest part of the meat around the estimated cooking time to ensure the meat was cooked through. Check out our round up of the best meat thermometers for our full review.
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Weber chimney starter
Available from Amazon (£20.96)
Best BBQ chimney starter
Chimney starters offer quick and reliable means of lighting your barbecue charcoal. The design allows air to circulate below and feed the coals oxygen to really get them going. This chimney starter by Weber has two handles to help you tip the hot coals into your grill. Remember to always use gloves when doing so.
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Log Barn natural firelighters
Available from Amazon (£12.99)
Best eco-friendly firelighter
These firelighters are an eco alternative made from wood, wool and wax (compared to those made from fuels like paraffin). Lit beneath barbecue coals, firelighters provide that initial ball of high heat needed for coals to catch. Seeing as you’ll be cooking food above the coals, these are a fume-free option for starting the barbecue.
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KitchenCraft electronic butane gas lighter
Available from eBay (£11.50)
Best for lighting gas barbecues
It’s useful to have a lighter with a long neck in order to be able to reach your firelighters when they’re stacked beneath unlit BBQ coals. It’s also a far safer option than using a normal lighter where your fingers could be at risk from flames. This butane gas lighter by KitchenCraft gets the job done well.
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Barbecue tips
Food editor and barbecue super-fan, Barney Desmazery, draws upon his years of experience as a cookery expert to bring you 10 top tips for getting the most from your barbecue.
- If you’re using a charcoal BBQ, allow plenty of time for it to get hot. Only start cooking when the flames have died down and the coals have turned ashen.
- Have a water-spray bottle on hand to dampen down any aggressive flames which may rise as hot fat drips onto the coals.
- You’ll have natural hot and cooler spots on a coal BBQ. Utilise this by charring the food in the hottest areas (usually the centre) and then finishing or keeping warm in the cooler spots (usually around the edges.)
- Use two pairs of tongs for cooking if you can – one for touching raw meat and one for cooked.
- If you’re serving vegetarians or vegans, make sure you keep one side of the bbq for the meat and one for veggies – you can place a coil of foil down the centre of the bbq before you heat it up to mark out the two areas. Also, use two pairs of tongs.
- If you’re worried about your meat or vegetables not being cooked all the way through or if you’re strapped for BBQ space, try charring the outside of the meat/veg for that smoky BBQ flavour and then finishing off in a moderately heated oven until cooked through.
- Never try to clean a charcoal BBQ while it’s still hot. Wait until the next time you use it, let it get hot then scrape off the bits cooked onto the grill.
- Arrange the charcoal to make heat zones so you can cook directly over them for a fierce heat and indirectly for things that take longer. This works well with lidded barbecues.
- If you’re trimming hard herb plants like bay or rosemary, save the clippings to throw on the barbecue for a blast of aromatic smoke flavour.
- Use a probe thermometer to tell if something is cooked all the way through without having to cut into it.
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What’s your favourite barbecue gadget? We’d love to hear below…
