Charcoal Grilling for Beginners

🔪 Equipment

Here's a list of all the equipment and tools that you can use to start charcoal grilling at home. You don't have to buy everything on this list, but I tried to include anything that I generally find helpful when I'm grilling in my backyard.

• Charcoal (Lump or Briquettes)
• Charcoal Chimney Starter (Weber and Napoleon make good ones)
• Charcoal Grill (Kettle Grill or a Portable Grill)
• Newspaper or Wax Starters (Cubes, Squares or Bundles)
• Multi-Purpose Lighter (get one with a long metal wand)
• Grill gloves for heat protection
• Long Grill Tongs (I like to use one pair for raw chicken and another for cooked chicken to avoid cross contamination)
• Basting Brush (a pastry brush or a silicone basting brush)
• Long handle spatula (also called a turner, used for flipping burgers etc.)
• Instant read thermometer (I'm partial to my classic Thermapen, essential for cooking chicken to safe temperature)
• Charcoal rake (to move your charcoal around)
• Something to clean your grill with (like a wooden scraper or a stainless steel coil brush).

⬛ Choosing Your Charcoal

There are two main types of charcoal to choose from: natural hardwood lump charcoal and charcoal briquettes.

Both are made from wood which is heated in an oxygen-poor environment until it turns into the high-carbon product that we know as charcoal. However, there are some key differences between the two types.  

Hardwood Lump Charcoal

Hardwood lump charcoal is a natural product that has no additives – it’s just charcoal made from pieces of hardwood. Lump charcoal burns “cleaner” as it tends to produces less ash (the white flecks that fly in the air when you cook) than briquettes due to the lack of additional ingredients.

Since this type of charcoal isn’t formed into a consistent shape, every bag will have a variety of different sized pieces. This means that you can’t pack them into a charcoal chimney as easily.

Lump charcoal heats up quickly and gets very hot in a kettle grill but may not last as long as briquettes. Since it does retain a tiny bit of wood that hasn’t turned into carbon, that can add smoky flavour to your food (without having to add wood chips to the grill).

If you have a fancy ceramic grill, this is the only kind of charcoal that you can use as anything else will contaminate the grill permanently.

Lump charcoal can be purchased online, at barbecue speciality stores, or at most hardware stores (at least during the summer months). I bought the Maple Leaf Hardwood Lump Charcoal from Canadian Tire.

Charcoal Briquettes

Briquettes are uniform lumps made of charcoal and "other ingredients". Now, what those ingredients are actually varies from brand to brand, but most of them include ingredients like compressed sawdust, coal, and starch.

Since most briquettes aren’t a pure product, they are cheaper to make than natural hardwood lump charcoal, which makes them cheaper to purchase as well.

That being said, there are some better quality briquettes out there that are made with compressed hardwood charcoal, and those will cost a bit more.

While some grilling purists will turn their nose up at briquettes, there are some benefits to using them.

They can be easier to use for beginners due to their uniform size and shape. They also burn more consistently and may be easier to use for any foods that need to be cooked long and slow.

🔥 Lighting your Charcoal

Now that you’ve got your charcoal, it’s time to light it up! There is more than one way to do this, but the easiest method (in my opinion) is to use a charcoal chimney starter.

A charcoal chimney is a metal cylinder with a handle that has small holes throughout it for ventilation and a wire rack inside.

Most of the big grilling brands have a good chimney starter in their product line-up. Be careful with inexpensive ones though – they can have very sharp edges.

We’re going to use the chimney to heat up a whole bunch of charcoal at once. Once it’s hot enough, we’ll dump it into our grill.

Note: There is no need to use lighter fluid with this method. In general, it's best to avoid ever cooking with lighter fluid as it makes food taste bad.

Step 1: Fill the chimney

If using a kettle grill, make sure the vents on the bottom are completely open. Next, remove the top grate (the cooking grate) and set it aside.

Place your chimney upside down over your bottom grill grate (the charcoal grate), and loosely stuff the bottom crumpled up newspaper (if using). If you're using the wax starters, you can skip this step.

Then flip the chimney over and fill it with charcoal. Filling it about ¾ full is sufficient for foods like hot dogs, hamburgers, sausages, and steaks. You can fill it completely if you have a lot of food to cook, or need to cook something that takes more time.

Step 2: Ignite the coals

Next you’re going to light the coals.

Use a barbecue lighter or a long candle lighter to set the newspaper on fire, if using.

Important Safety Note: You may want to invest in a pair of grill gloves to avoid burning yourself when you dump the coals into the grill. Pour the charcoal out in front of you, away from your body, making sure your face isn't directly over the grill. Once the chimney is empty, put it somewhere safe where kids and pets can't touch it.

Step 3: Arrange the Coals for Direct or Indirect Heat

There are two methods of grilling, whether it's on a gas or charcoal grill, that everyone needs to know about.

The first is grilling over direct heat and the second is grilling over indirect heat.

To cook over direct heat, you need to cook directly over the hot charcoals. This can be done in a single-zone or two-zone set up (more on this in a moment).

To cook over indirect heat, you need a spot on the grill grate that doesn't have any charcoal under it. This spot is still hot (in the same way that a convection oven is hot), but since there are no coals under it you get a gentler method of cooking that is better suited to items that need more time to cook.

How to Create a Two-Zone Fire

To create this, simply pour your hot charcoal over half of the grill grates, on one side. Use a charcoal rake or a long pair of tongs to create an even pile.

Anything you cook directly over the charcoal will be cooked with direct heat, which is great for searing foods, getting char, or building up a nice crust. The piled up charcoal will stay hotter longer, too.

On the empty side, you'll be able to cook foods more slowly and gently. This is great for anything that doesn't cook very quickly, but it also gives you a "safe" zone to move your food to in case you get a flare up on the direct heat side.

If you grill is big enough, you can set up direct heat on both the sides of your grill and leave a strip down the middle for indirect heat cooking. This is called a three-zone fire.

Step 4: Clean your grill

If you're using a brand new grill, you won't have anything to scape off. But as you cook with your grill you will find that food begins to build up on the grates.

Wait for your grill to get really hot and then scrape the burnt food off with a wooden scraper or a stainless steel coil brush.

You can learn more about how to clean your grilling grates in this article from Napoleon.

Once your grates are clean, put the lid back on for a while to bring the temperature back up before you start cooking.

🥩 Charcoal Grilling Basics

Ok! Our charcoal is HOT, our zones are set up, the grill is clean, and we're ready to cook. Now what?

I recommend that you start learning how to cook simple things on your grill first. This way, you'll start to understand how long things take to cook and the way the temperature fluctuates.

Leaving the Lid On

Learning how to cook on a charcoal grill can be an exercise in frustration if you're impatient. Give yourself lots of time to make your meal, especially at the beginning when you're learning how long things take to cook.

While it can be very tempting to keep opening the lid to see how your food is doing, this will make the process even longer.

Greasing the Grate vs Greasing the Food

Another thing to consider is if you're going to oil your grill grates, oil your food, or avoid oiling anything at all.

Technically, if you sear your food properly it won't stick to the grates.

If you're trying to flip something (like a chicken thigh) and you find that it's sticking to the grate, wait. Much like searing chicken in a frying pan, if you try to move it too soon it will stick. Once it has properly seared, it will release itself from the cooking grate.

That being said, I still find it easier to oil the food or the grates.

Put the Charcoal Out When You're Done

When you're done grilling, close the vents and put the lid on. This will cut off the oxygen flow to the fire, smothering it.

Let the ash and remaining unburnt coals cool down for 48 hours. This ensures that there are no live embers left.

⚠️ Safety

Like most things, a little common sense goes a long way. But for the sake of keeping everyone safe, here are some important safety reminders that you need to keep in mind when grilling.

• Never grill indoors! Not inside of your house, your garage, or in a vehicle or tent. Charcoal gives off carbon monoxide, which is odourless and deadly.
• Do not place your grill against an exterior wall of your house or garage. You can burn your house down this way.
• Similarly, you shouldn't use a charcoal or gas grill on an apartment or condo balcony, unless your building specifically says it's safe to do so.
• Never leave a lit grill unattended, especially if there are children or pets around.
• Use caution when grilling in windy weather. Sparks from the charcoal can blow around and ignite dry grass, leaves etc.
• Never pour lighter fluid on lit coals as this can cause a huge flare up. There is no reason for you to need lighter fluid when you're charcoal grilling at all.
• Don't spray water on a flare-up. Move the food to an indirect heat zone instead.
• Learn how to put out a grease fire. Keep a box of baking soda near by and never try to extinguish a grease fire with water!
• Don't pour water on your charcoal to put it out. This can damage your grill, and creates hot steam that you could burn you.
• Always follow your grill's manufacturers safety instructions, including the kind of surface to place your grill on. Grilling on a wooden deck might not be ideal.
• You've probably heard by now that those popular wire brushes can be dangerous. I don't use them.

📖 Charcoal Grilling Recipes

I like to grill vegetables over coals because it gives them a great smokey flavour. Tomatoes and eggplants are particularly yummy when grilled over coals, but sometimes I'll grill up some corn to make my street corn cups, too.

Here are a few charcoal grilling recipes for beginners that you might like to try. If you make any of these, let me know how they turn out!

How to Grill Steak over Charcoals

How to Make Hamburgers on a Charcoal Grill

How to Grill Hotdogs

Basic Grilled Asparagus

Corn on the Cob with Basil-Parmesan Butter