All About Grilling - Starting a Charcoal Grill Fire

There are several ways to start a charcoal grill fire, and which one works best for you may just be just a matter of personal preference.  My favorite is to use a chimney starter, but here is my take (and recommendations) on all the tools and methods commonly used to get those coals going.

Kindling

A great way to start a fire is to use kindling (dry, thin, clean scraps of wood or twigs) which can be bought in a hardware store. First make sure the bottom vents of the grill are wide open. Begin the fire with newspaper, by rolling and twisting a couple of sheets of newspaper into a figure eight and placing it on the fuel grate. Place lots of kindling over the paper and then lay the charcoal on top of the kindling. Light the paper and let the paper ignite the kindling which will, of course, ignite the charcoal.

Chimney Starter

My favorite tool for starting a charcoal fire is a chimney starter; they’re available at your local hardware store. To use this perforated metal cylinder, first crush a few pieces of newspaper in the bottom of the cylinder, then pile coals on top of the paper, filling it almost to the top. Make sure the bottom vents of the grill are wide open. Remove the cooking rack. Then grasp the handle of the filled cylinder and place it on the fuel grate. Ignite the paper by sticking a long (lit) fireplace match or a lit ignitor gun into one of the holes in the bottom of the cylinder. The paper will ignite and then the coals. When the coals at the top are clearly hot, and the flaming has ceased, put on your long protective oven mitts (always!) and, using the handle, carefully dump the coals onto the fuel grate. After dumping out your red hot coals, scatter more coals on the already lit ones and allow them to ignite on their own. Chimney starters come in two sizes; I suggest buying two of the larger ones. That way you can have another filled cylinder waiting in the wings, to be heated, if you need to feed more hot coals to the fire. This is a low cost, very efficient way to safely ignite coals.

Electric Starter

An electric starter is an appliance with a coil extending out of a long heavy-duty plastic handle. To use, bury the coil within a layer of coals or hardwood (over the grill grate), then plug into an outdoor electrical outlet. Within just a few minutes, the coil becomes visibly red hot and will then heat the surrounding coals. Once coals become good and hot, unplug the starter and carefully remove coil. Although this works, there are several things about this appliance that really bothers me. First, you must have an electrical outlet near your grill, or you’ll need a long extension cord to plug it into an outlet. (By the way, if you need an extension cord, be sure to purchase one designed specifically for outdoor use.) Now, let's say your all plugged in and charged up—what happens if the dog or a child (or the cook!) happens to trip over the cord? Bad news. And what do you do with a red hot starter after you remove it from the coals? Throw it in the bushes? My verdict: effective, but not safe.

Chemical (Liquid) Starters

No, I don't ever recommend using chemical (liquid) starters. They smell bad; they're bad for the environment, and if you're not careful and squirt them on an already ignited piece of charcoal, your own mother won't recognize you after the big boom!