When the summer months start to roll in, there’s no better way to celebrate than by gathering your family and friends for a barbecue. If you’re unsure about how to light the charcoals or worried about burning your kebabs to a crisp, then read our tips on starting a barbecue and how to tell when the coals are ready for cooking.
We've got all the advice you need to get your barbecue off to a sizzling start. Then find out how to barbecue safely and our top tips for a successful barbecue.
Meet Lulu Lulu Grimes is the managing editor at Good Food. "I’ve written many recipes for BBQs and have owned lots of different types of BBQ, from portable kettle styles to drums and a kamado style ceramic BBQ. BBQs all work in different ways, and you have to learn their quirks to get the best out of your grilling."
Start here: quickest way to light your BBQ today
- Set up → light safely → wait for correct heat
What you need to light a BBQ
1. A safe place to light a BBQ
This means not on a balcony (as instructed by the Fire Services), or on a surface that may burn if sparks or burning coal fall out, or near any structures that might burn like garden sheds or fences, or near low hanging trees. BBQs give off gases and smoke as charcoal burns so they must be used outside in well ventilated spaces.
2. Charcoal
Lumpwood
Look for good quality, sustainably produced lumpwood charcoal for a cleaner fuel source, ideally sustainably produced from coppiced wood. Lumpwood charcoal burns more quickly than other types so may need topping up if you are cooking something for a long time. Lumpwood charcoal is not all the same quality, find a brand that you like and buy the same one again and again to learn how to use it consistently. Sustainable charcoal is FSC certified, look for British-produced charcoal that is made in an environmentally sensitive way – that reuses the gases produced when the charcoal is being made.
Briquettes
These are made from compressed charcoal, look for those without any accelerants and additives. Briquettes burn for longer then lumpwood so are useful for longer cooking recipes.
Ready to light bags
These bags of charcoal are easy to use but usually have accelerants added and can taint the food you are cooking if they have not burnt off sufficiently.
3. Lighters
Look for eco-friendly firelighters that are made of natural substances and won’t taint the flavour of your food. These are normally made with wood wool (shavings) or compressed wood and either wax or vegetable oil. Look for FSC-certified wood shavings.
You can also use kindling to light a BBQ, again look for sustainably-produced brands.
4. Chimney starter (optional)
Using a chimney starter means you can light charcoal easily with a sustainable firelighter – the coals will catch easily and get up to heat quickly. A chimney also protects the coals (and you) on a windy day. Once the coals are ready, you can safely and easily tip them into the barbecue and start cooking.
5. Long matches or a long lighter
It sometimes takes a while for a firelighter to catch so you need long matches so as not to burn your fingers.
6. Long handled metal tongs
You’ll need these if you want to move hot coals around.
View Green Video on the source websiteHow long to wait before cooking on a BBQ?
- Coals that are ready to cook on will be glowing white hot with red centres, blow on them gently from the side and they should ‘glow’ red.
- Coals that are ashy white are still very hot and this is what you need for indirect cooking, where the food is not directly over the coals, or if you want to cook something in the coals.
- Coals that are still flaming are not ready to cook on.
How to light a charcoal BBQ safely
1. Set up in an open space
You are making a contained fire, so set up your barbecue in an open space away from fences or trees. Have a fire extinguisher or a bucket of water nearby, and keep kids and pets well away. Use long-handled tongs and proper barbecue equipment with insulated handles, or you may burn yourself.
2. Buy good-quality charcoal
Try and buy good-quality sustainably produced charcoal – look for charcoal made from coppiced wood or Forestry Commission-approved wood. This lights easily, burns better and won’t taint the flavour of the food, unlike charcoals containing accelerants.
3. Use a chimney starter
Using one of these tubular starters means you can light charcoal easily with a few sheets of newspaper – the coals will catch and start glowing quickly and easily. A chimney also protects the coals (and you) on a windy day. Once the coals are ready, you can safely and easily tip them into the barbecue.
4. If you don’t have a chimney, arrange your charcoal in a stack
Push balls of newspaper or natural firelighters (such as wood shavings or wool) between the charcoals. Light the paper and firelighters, and allow the flames to catch and get going in their own time. Then let them die down again – all you’re going to achieve with flames is burnt food. You need ashen coals to cook on.
When a few coals have been lit, the rest will catch on their own, so don’t hurry them along by adding more firelighters. If the heat is starting to die down as you barbecue, add coals to the outside of the barbecue and leave them to flame up and die down before cooking over them.
5. Know whether you need direct or indirect heat before you start to cook
How you arrange your coals will give you different heat zones and more control over your barbecue.
Direct heat
If you think of a barbecue as a stovetop, lighting an even layer of coal is the equivalent of cooking everything on the highest heat in the hottest pan. Although this direct method might be fine for thin cuts of meat that cook quickly (like burgers and thin-cut steaks), it will cremate anything that needs more time to cook through.
Indirect heat
Push the coals to one side of the barbecue and keep the other side free to get a range of temperatures – use the coal-free side to cook by indirect heat. Hot coals on just one side also enable you to cook on one half and keep food warm on the other. If you have a kettle BBQ, this is one set-up for indirect low-and-slow cooking of large pieces of meat.
The second way is to sit an old roasting tray in the middle of the barbecue and stack the coals around it, then cook the food on the grill over the tray, again covered by the lid. The heat circulates around the barbecue giving you a hot smoker/spit-roast effect.
Indirect cooking is perfect for larger joints and meat on the bone, such as chickens and lamb. It’s also great for more delicate items, such as fish fillets. Plus it gives some direct heat where the coals are stacked should you want to brown other items quickly. Cooking indirectly means food won’t burn or scorch.
A little of each
By sloping the coals you get a gradient of heat from searing hot to sizzling gently. This is useful when barbecuing for a crowd – you can keep things ticking over at one end while cooking at full pelt at the other.
Read more about how to use barbecue coals.
6. Learn to recognise when your coals are ready
It will be ready to cook when coals are glowing and lightly coated in grey ash.
If you try to cook something when the coals aren’t ready, it may overcook or burn – it’s not a risk worth taking. Use our colour code guide to help decide when to start cooking your food:
Black or grey with flames: Not ready yet. Step away, have a beer and relax.
Glowing white hot with red centres (blow very gently to check): Ready for direct heat.
Ashy white but still very hot: Ready for indirect heat or cooking in the coals.
Expert tip: Avoid cooking over black coals – they’re too cool and will give uneven results.
7. Use a thermometer
Testing the temperature of your food helps to prevent disasters. We like Thermapens, which have a temperature probe that folds away for safe storage in your cutlery drawer.
8. Add wood chips to your charcoal to enhance the flavour
Adding a few wood chips to the coals of your barbecue is a great way to bring more smoky flavour to your meat or veg. Look for applewood, hickory or mesquite chips designed for use in the barbecue. You can’t barbecue with any wood – if it hasn’t been produced specifically for cooking, it may have been treated with toxic chemicals. Find out more about how to use wood on your barbecue.
How long does it take to light a BBQ?
This usually takes 20-30 minutes depending on weather and fuel.
Common BBQ lighting mistakes (and how to avoid them)
- Clean out the BBQ, a build up of ash and half burnt coals will block the vents. You can reuse half burnt coal again if there are any big lumps.
- Ideally you would use eco firelighters to light a BBQ, lighter fuel or any other liquid fuel for lighting a BBQ can be extremely dangerous if misused. Read the instructions on the container to make sure it is safe for BBQs and for how to use it.
- A chimney starter is a safe way to light coals, or you can stack them in the centre of the BBQ with the firelighters tucked amongst them.
- Wait patiently for a BBQ to heat through, it takes time so don’t be tempted to try and accelerate things by adding lighter fluid to a flame, this can be very dangerous.
- Make sure your BBQ is not in a draft or windy place, if it is, either move it or shelter it. Drafts will make it hard to light, or, if lit will make the coals burn quickly.
- Arrange your coals for cooking AFTER they are ready to cook, not before.
How to keep your BBQ lit and at the right temperature
- Ideally, once lit, your BBQ coals will be ample enough to cook what you want. If you need to add more coals, light them in a chimney starter if you have one, then add the coals when they are ready. If not, add the lit coals away from the food, otherwise they will flame as they heat up and burn the food.
- Use the vents on a BBQ to control the flames, open vents will make the coals burn hotter and raise the temperature, closed vents will slow down the burn rate and lower the temperature.
Expert tip: Small adjustments to airflow make a bigger difference than adding more fuel.
How to put out a BBQ safely
Once your meal is cooked, close the vents on your BBQ and put the lid on, this will starve the coals of oxygen and stop the burning. Let the coals cool completely, this will take several hours depending on how many of them there are and what the air temperature is. Put completely cold ash into a bag and put it in the general waste, don’t add it to compost or throw it away loose. If you try and dispose of hot ash you may start a fire in your bin, smouldering ash can also give off carbon monoxide so leave it outdoors until completely cold.
FAQ section:
"Can you use kitchen paper to light charcoal?"
Paper produces lots of smoke and ash when burnt so it’s best to use firelighters instead. Don't use printed colour and shiny paper as inks and varnishes can be toxic. You can use black and white newspaper or kitchen paper.
"Do you need lighter fluid?"
You don't need lighter fluid to light a BBQ, use firelighters instead.
"How do you light a BBQ without firelighters?"
If you don’t have any firelighters then use some scrunched up newspaper to light your coals.
Now your BBQ is lit and ready, here’s what to cook first for best results:
- BBQ chicken platter
- Jerk-ish pork skewers
- Chicken gyros
- Halloumi kebabs with thyme & lemon baste
- Chicken tikka skewers
- Piri-piri pork ribs
Find more barbecuing tips and recipes...
Top 5 family barbecue recipes
Barbecue recipe collection
Barbecue hub page
How to clean a BBQ
Ninja FlexFlame BBQ review
Do you have any other tips for lighting a barbecue? Leave a comment below...
source https://www.bbcgoodfood.com/howto/guide/how-light-bbq
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