Why Used Oil Is Actually Grilling's Best Kept Secret

You can do two things with used cooking oil: Follow specific steps to clean and repurpose it for cooking, or use it in an entirely different way that you might not have previously considered. We spoke to Scott Thomas, owner of GrillinFools.com, who says that the oil you no longer need in the kitchen can still be used in a much different setting: to prep your outdoor grill. 

Thomas says that you can use that old cooking oil to complete a necessary step before cooking most items, which is oiling the grates. As he explains, "Get the grill good and hot. Pour some oil into a bowl and wad up a bunch of paper towels. Using tongs, dunk the paper towels into the oil and then rub the oiled paper towels over the hot grill grates. Don't linger on any one place too long or those paper towels could catch fire."

Thomas also says that same wad of paper towels doesn't have to go to waste. Once you're done using it to grease the grates, you can use them to act as a fire starter for a charcoal chimney. The oil adds extra fuel to the starter, which means it burns longer, therefore ensuring that your coals will light properly without having to reach for more paper.

Most kinds of used cooking oil should be fine for oiling your grill's grates, but Thomas says they first need to be free of any food debris. "I would avoid the oil that has had meat in it," he says. "Sure, the grill grates are going to get well above any temp needed to burn off any germs or bacteria, but if that oil isn't refrigerated, the meat juices are going to go rancid and thus the oil will not have a pleasant odor or flavor. I don't want to introduce that foul smell or taste to my food."

To detect whether or not your oil is rancid, all you need to do is a sniff test. It might smell a bit like a crayon, or even have a sour scent to it. As they say, your nose knows, so if your gut instinct tells you that it smells gross, don't use it on the grill and pitch it instead (use an oil solidifier for the best mess-free way to dispose of cooking oil).

And if you want to simply use fresh oil, Thomas says that oils with high smoke points are ideal, since they'll stay on the grill grates longer before burning off. He suggests grapeseed, canola, and peanut oil, with the caveat that peanut oil can get expensive. But used oil, on the other hand, is using something you already have — so consider keeping some around if you're a griller. As It turns out, the stuff still has its culinary uses even if you're not planning to cook with it.