Electric BBQ Tips: A Beginners Guide To Electric BBQ

Electric BBQs are a way for people to enjoy the cuisine delight of BBQ who don’t have access to the classic charcoal BBQs or have been facing problems with them.

BBQ is sure to be full of fun and a fantastic time. I bet everyone will agree with me on this.

But in urban areas, not everyone is lucky enough to enjoy a good BBQ time because it takes a lot of space, and also not every residential neighborhood allows backyard BBQ. So, it gets hard for people to enjoy a classic BBQ party. There, an electric BBQ comes to the rescue.

Although it has many good sides, it is not popular among people. So, to help you to get familiar with electric bbq, I will be giving you some tips and tricks to help you start your electric BBQ journey. So let’s get started.

Types Of Electric BBQ: Know And Then Start Your BBQ Journey

To get to know about electric BBQ, you first need to know how many types of electric BBQs are available in the market. Electric BBQs are mainly of two kinds:

1. Indoor Electric BBQ:

BBQs used in cooking inside of your house. For example, inside your kitchen or in your dining area.

2. Outdoor Electric BBQ:

BBQs used in cooking outside of your house. For example, your balcony or your backyard.

As an expert in BBQ, I will categorize my tips for beginners according to the type of electric BBQ. It will be easier for them to grasp. Without further ado, let’s get started!

5 Indoor Electric BBQ Tips For Beginners:

This tip is for those who don’t own a backyard of their own or don’t have access to it. Don’t get upset; I will not let you get deprived of tasty BBQ dishes. And that is why 5 indoor BBQ tips are here for you:

1. Keep Your Kitchen Counter Prepped:

The number one tip that I will be sharing regarding indoor electric BBQ cooking is to keep your counter ready and prepped. In my opinion, it is needless to say how important this can be for you.

A messy counter will help you in no way. It will only increase the burden. Imagine you were going for the soya sauce to season your food, but you can’t find it at the right moment! It can get really annoying while cooking. You also don’t want to put tomato ketchup instead of BBQ sauce while in a hurry.

That is why organize your kitchen counter as per your requirement before you get to cooking.

2. Add Butter To Increase The Taste Of Your Food:

Butter is a holy grail to me. No matter what I cook, I always go for the butter. Butter has its own unique taste. The rich, soft, and creamy taste with just a hint of sweetness makes the butter taste like heaven. It enhances the texture and flavor of the food.

Some people try to avoid butter for their health and diet purposes. Some also prefer eating steak on an electric BBQ as it burns the fats away. So it might seem to have no purpose of using butter. I don’t think a small chunk of butter once in a while won’t affect your diet much.

So to improve your indoor electric BBQ experience, try using some butter.

3. Get Tricky With Your Seasoning To Get The Smokey Flavor:

The only complaint I hear on a regular basis from electric BBQ users is that they don’t get enough smoky flavor from their BBQs. Especially those who are cooking inside face more difficulty than the others.

Now, there is a way to get the thick smoky flavor in your indoor barbecued food. Want to know how? Well, the trick is really simple. For your convenience, I am mentioning them below:

Buy the BBQ sauces with smoky flavors to add to your marination.

Add smoked paprika to your BBQ.

Fry the red dried chilies on an oil-less pan and mix them with other spices.

You can also add liquid smoke to your food. But don’t add too much.

4. Try Grilling Different Vegetables For Getting Mouth Watering Taste:

Indoor BBQ can get really exciting if you know how to tease different kinds of food flavors. If you get bored with barbecuing meats, you can try your culinary experiment with veggies!

The natural tastes of veggies are concentrated when they are grilled, making them succulent and delicious. You can enjoy the delightful taste of barbecued vegetables even if you are cooking inside on an electric BBQ. To grill your veggies, you need to keep in mind the following tips:

Cut them in even sizes. If you cut your vegetables in even sizes, they will cook evenly.

Try cutting the vegetables in smaller sizes. It will take less time to cook, and the vegetables will be cooked thoroughly.

Use skewers to keep all the vegetable pieces together in a place.

Drizzle some olive oil over the grilling pan and the vegetables to prevent the vegetables from drying.

Use a generous amount of seasonings and marinate your vegetables.

5. Finally, Use A Food Torch:

If you are unfamiliar with the term food torch, it is high time to get yourself acquainted with it. A food torch is used to melt, harden, or crisp food items. Usually, expert chefs use it to decorate the toppings of a food. It also gives off a charred texture to your food.

To make your indoor BBQ experience enjoyable and if you want to impress your guests with something unique, no other tool can be this helpful. Below I am mentioning some usefulness of the food torch:

Roasted peppers are great with any BBQ dish. You can always blow them up with fire using your food torch. This transforms the hard peppers into soft, luscious food items.

You can use the food torch to melt the cheese over any BBQ dish. When you are making dishes like pizza, hot dogs, etc., you need to use a lot of cheese. You can always use the food torch to melt those cheese perfectly.

Get creative with your torch. Try out different dishes and amaze your guests using the food torch. For example, you can use it over any ripped food and make a unique dessert for your guests. Or you can melt the chocolate with it.

5 Outdoor Electric BBQ Tips Will Make You A Pro:

An outdoor electric BBQ is basically a kind of BBQ people use in small spaces or balconies. As a beginner, to assist you in your journey to use electric BBQ, I will be now sharing 5 outdoor electric BBQ tips:

1. Preheat Your Grill Before You Get Into Other Tasks:

Preheating your grill means making the temperature of your grill to a certain amount which will aid in the whole cooking process. It is one of the important things while cooking in an electric BBQ.

When you preheat your grill, it reaches a certain temperature needed for cooking and makes the process look a lot less time-consuming. Also, when you are preparing everything else at the same time while your grill is getting heated up, it makes your work easier. Don’t worry; it won’t get overheated once you start cooking.

2. Prepare Your Utensils Beforehand:

We are talking about outdoor grilling here. It means all the cooking and stuff will be outside. Now, will you keep going in and out to get your utensils and necessary tools while cooking? It doesn’t sound right, does it?

So, this tip is about keeping the utensils ready before you jump into cooking. It will not only save your time while you are barbecuing your luscious dish but also:

Decrease the risk of burning your food.

Chances of getting your food overcooked will be lessened.

It will save you the hassle of reaching for your needed tool again and again.

That is why always keep your utensils prepared and close to you while barbecuing outside.

3. Keep Your Ingredients Ready And At Your Arms Stretch:

Keeping everything close to me, regardless of indoor or outdoor cooking, is what I have practiced for many years. And believe me, it has been of great help to me. That is why I am now giving you this tip.

Whenever you are cooking outside, you need to keep in mind that everything will take much longer than cooking inside of a kitchen. It’s like you have to set up a demo kitchen outside. So you need to think smartly and make the best use of everything. Getting your ingredients prepared is one of the mention-worthy smart moves.

Hence, always remember to keep your ingredients prepared to make the whole process less troublesome and time-consuming.

4. Throw In Some Wood Chips To Get That Smokey And Charred Flavor:

BBQ is all about smoky flavors. There is a rumor about electric BBQs that they do not give off as much smokey flavor as the traditional BBQ grills. If you are persistent in getting that smokey flavor in your cooking and don’t want to take risks, this tip is just for you.

Woods can give you that desired murky tasted food, for that you need to:

Soak the wood chips for 30 minutes beforehand.

Wrap the wood chips in aluminum foil.

Make sure to poke some holes in it to let the smoke out.

Make sure the smokebox fits into your grill.

After a while, when you get used to using your electric BBQ, you will realize that you won’t need wooden chips to get the smokey flavor.

5. Clean Your Electric BBQ Grates After Using It:

Cleanliness is a topic that comes on its own while we are discussing cooking. It is a primary hygiene-related issue. This is something you cannot skip, especially if you are cooking outside.

While you are cooking outside, it is quite natural that any kind of dirt, bacteria, and unhygienic substance might get stuck into your BBQ grill. After you are done cooking, greasy substances also remain in the grill. Food wastes, fatty substances, and dirt and bacteria from outside- it all sounds like one party house for germs to get born.

You can never even think of reusing it without cleaning it thoroughly.

Related Questions:

Can You Use An Electric Grill Inside?

Using grills inside can sound very scary. It is natural to get anxious thinking about using a grill inside as all we can imagine when we hear the word BBQ is a classic big BBQ grill. But an electric BBQ is not as big as the traditional ones.

Yes, an electric grill may be used indoors. Electric BBQs’ most significant benefit over gas or classic charcoal barbecues is that they take less space to function. Electric grills don’t require the use of hazardous fuels and emit nearly little smoke, which is not more than a regular frying pan.

They don’t, however, have the same variety as open traditional outside barbecues. This lack of variety is particularly apparent when you wish to prepare for a group of people rather than just yourself. Electric grills are unsuitable for anything more complex than a grilled cheese sandwich, sizzling sausages, or chicken breasts.

Can You Use Wood Chips With An Electric Grill?

BBQ is famous for its charred, smoky flavor. Whenever you crave BBQ, you long for that specific flavor. That is why earlier in the text, I suggest that you should use wood chips in your electric BBQ. But some people keep on asking if they really can use wood chips in an electric BBQ.

The answer to the most sought-after question is affirmative. Yes, you can use wood chips in your electric BBQ. There are many different kinds of woods that you can use in your electric bbq. Different woods will give you different flavors.

Cherry wood or any kind of fruit tree wood is something I always prefer while barbecuing. You can use other woods, too but make sure to soak them in water for about 30 minutes prior to cooking.

Is Indoor Grilling With Electric BBQ Healthy?

Using electric BBQ in your house to make BBQs is a lot more healthy than using the traditional BBQ grills. It has many health benefits. So being an expert, I would always suggest this healthier option where I don’t even need to sacrifice on the flavor part! The health benefits are as below:

It Reduces The Risk Of Cancer:

Keeping food in the open and fry for a longer time creates many harmful elements. Cooking over charcoal flames can infuse carcinogens in your food, which can cause cancer in the long run. Electric BBQs help to cook fast without charcoal, and that reduces your risk of cancer.

Retains More Nutrients Than Other Fried Items:

When you grill your food, it keeps most of the nutrients than cooking in other methods. For example, cooking in a pot makes the nutrients dissolve in the broth, and frying destroys all the vitamins and proteins.

Grilled Food Contains Less Fat:

As I have already mentioned, you need to cut off the extra fat from your meat to avoid too much smoke in your house. The remaining fats disappear on their own while cooking over a grill. That is how a slice of grilled meat contains less fat.

How To Avoid Smoke Indoors?

If you are someone who grew up in congested urban areas, you might have missed the fun of barbecuing outside. Or if you have shifted recently to such an area that doesn’t allow you to hold BBQ parties in your backyard. You don’t have any option left other than indoor bbq.

Enjoying the BBQ made inside can be fun, but everything good comes with a cost. In this case, it is the smoke that is troublesome to many people. So now I will share some ways to help reduce the smoke while barbecuing inside:

Don’t Cook Too Much Food At A Time:

If you put too much food at a time, it will create more smoke than usual. So put the food in small batches even if you have a decent number of guests.

Get Rid Of the Fat From The Meats Before You Get To Cooking:

The fats in the meat get melted and create smoke when it gets in touch with the grill. To avoid such a situation, get rid of the excessive fats from the meat before you start grilling them on your electric BBQ.

Put Oil On The Meats, Not On The Grates:

To avoid smoke inside your house while grilling inside, make sure you only put the oil coating on the food items. Avoid putting them on the grill grates. When oily grates get in touch with the fire, they create a tremendous amount of smoke.

Conclusion:

Electric BBQ has a very bad reputation around the world, considering some rumors about it. Some chefs don’t even consider it as a competitor to the classic BBQs. But I hope by reading the article, your misconceptions would be cleared by now.

Electric BBQs can be great for beginners, saving you the hassle of collecting fuels to save your time.