How to light your Charcoal BBQ

Just bought a new charcoal BBQ and not sure how to light it? Sick of using chemicals and lighter fluid to get your BBQ lit?

I'm going to show you the only two methods you'll ever need for how to light your charcoal BBQ, with or without a chimney starter, using just lumpwood charcoal, Natural Firelighters and matches - no chemicals required!

We recommend using restaurant grade, British lumpwood charcoal to cook on your BBQ.

Restaurant grade means the charcoal doesn't contain any added chemicals. With 'instant light' charcoals, you generally have to wait for it to ash over and burn all the chemicals off before you can cook, but with restaurant grade charcoal, you can start grilling as soon as the charcoal is hot, and even cook directly on the coals.

The video shows you exactly how to light your charcoal BBQ and it's only four minutes long, so we encourage you to watch it all! 

However, if you're more of a reader than a watcher, here's the step by step process for how to light your charcoal BBQ.

I'll show you two methods to light your charcoal BBQ - firstly using a chimney starter and then without. 

I always recommend using a chimney starter to light your BBQ - it's the GOAT when it comes to lighting your charcoal BBQ. It's a super cheap accessory (around £30) and will make lighting your charcoal BBQ idiot proof! However, if you don't have one, you can still light your BBQ easily, it just takes slightly longer

Fill the chimney starter with charcoal.

If you've got some old, unburnt charcoal at the bottom of your BBQ, put that in the chimney starter first, then fill it to the top with new charcoal. If you haven't got any old charcoal, just fill it straight to the top with new charcoal.

Remove the lid and cooking grate from your BBQ and add a charcoal base in the BBQ, covering half of the charcoal grate.

Place a couple of Natural Firelighters on the charcoal grate, on the side without any charcoal and light them. Then put the chimney starter full of charcoal on top of the lit Natural Firelighters.

Let the charcoal in the chimney starter sit in the BBQ on top of the Natural Firelighters for a while so it starts to light and burn. Keep an eye on it though, as we don't want the charcoal to burn too much while it's still in the chimney starter

Tip the charcoal out of the chimney starter, onto the charcoal in the base of your BBQ, and use tongs to tidy it up.

You'll know the charcoal is ready to tip when you have red hot charcoal up to around 75% of the way up the chimney starter. Too often I see people leaving the charcoal in the chimney starter until there are flames coming out of the top, which is a waste of charcoal!

Close your air vents nearly all the way down to give a slow and steady airflow into your BBQ, which will stop the charcoal burning too fast.

Put the cooking grate back in your BBQ and the lid back on and you're ready to start cooking in your BBQ!

Create a small base of charcoal on your charcoal grate - it should take up around a quarter of the grate. If there is old charcoal in your BBQ, it's fine to use that to start the base, with some new charcoal on top.

Add three Natural Firelighters positioned evenly around the charcoal base, then pile more charcoal around and on top of the Natural Firelighters,  leaving plenty of gaps for good airflow.

Get the vents wide open and light the Natural Firelighters, then leave it to burn for around 8-10 minutes.

If you're using restaurant grade charcoal, you don't need to burn any chemicals off so there's no need to wait for your charcoal to 'ash over'. Once your charcoal is glowing red hot, it's ready to cook on!

If you found this video on how to light your charcoal BBQ useful, we'd really appreciate it if you shared it with your fellow charcoal BBQ enthusiasts!