5 Grilling Tips You Need to Use This Summer

Grilling season is the prime time for three of our favorite things: hamburgers, hotdogs, and savory sweet baked beans. It’s also a time to gather family and friends in the great outdoors to enjoy the sunshine, fresh air, and flavors you just can’t replicate with indoor cooking.

To help you hit your next backyard barbeque out of the park (pun intended), we asked two of the best grill masters around, Mark Anderson and Ryan Fey of Food Network’s Grill Dads, to share their top five grilling tips and tricks. From two zone cooking to amped up baked beans, their hacks are surprisingly easy to apply and sure to make your next cookout one for the books.

5 Tips to Up Your Grill Skill

It is safe to say Grill Dads know their way around a grill – and with these super simple tips, you will too! Follow these steps to make delicious food that’s gone in a flash and memories that last a lifetime.

1)    Set up your grill for two-zone cooking.

We always like to have a hot zone over direct heat, and a warm zone over indirect heat. The direct heat side is great for cooking hotdogs, hamburgers, or other popular summertime quick-grilling meats. The indirect heat side allows you to slowly cook items such as delicious baked beans – providing time for the smoky flavor to come through, without the harsh, direct heat that could cause the beans to burn.

2)    Make sure your food is prepped and at the right temperature BEFORE you grill it.

If you are cooking meat like hot dogs or hamburgers, you can set them on the grill right out of the fridge. In fact, keeping the meat cold until it hits the grill will allow you to get a good sear without overcooking the inside of the meat. However, if you are cooking a large cut of steak or a whole chicken, you’ll want to let the food sit out at room temperature for at least 30 minutes and up to two hours for roasts. Taking the chill off before cooking means less time in the grill where the outside of the meat is exposed to high temperatures and can overcook before the inside of the meat reaches the desired temperature.

3)    Use some ready-to-grill foods to spice up your dishes in a snap.

If you’re grilling for lunch or dinner, we love to heat up some tasty Bush’s^® Baked Beans. With a few simple ingredients, you can doctor up your baked beans to make Bourbon & Brown Sugar Grillin' Beans^® With Peaches for a Southern flair or go tropical with Hawaiian-Style Baked Beans. No matter what you choose, they pair perfectly with burgers and hot dogs for any summer cookout. We personally love to heat up Great Northern Beans with some salsa verde, mash it together with a fork, and add to our grilled breakfast burritos and huevos rancheros.

4)    Know when to season your meat.

Salting meat is important, but WHEN you salt the meat is also important. For hamburgers, we salt with Kosher salt about ten minutes before grilling, allowing it to dissolve and absorb into the meat so it doesn't fall off when it hits the grill. On the other hand, for items such as ground meat - if you salt too early, it can have a negative impact on texture. For bone-in poultry, we salt 24-48 hours in advance, allowing the meat time to dissolve and absorb the salt, resulting in even seasoning. Proteins in the meat are then broken down by the salt resulting in tender, juicy meat.

5)    Use a thermometer.

This isn’t cheating. People are way more impressed by perfectly cooked food than they are watching you stumble through trying to explain that the thumb tapping method was supposed to work.