How To Remove Rust From A Griddle

Griddles are, of course, one of the best pieces of cookware out there. You can cook veg, meat, pancakes, eggs and more or less everything in between on them. Non-stick griddles won’t rust, but unfortunately, other materials such as stainless steel can do.

You used to have a shiny, awesome-looking metal griddle, and now it’s all rusty and nasty looking. Yeah, it’s quite the problem, and although cooking on a rusty surface isn’t really dangerous, it certainly isn’t appealing either.  We want to talk about rust, your griddle, and how to remove rust from a griddle. Let’s get to it!

A Rusty Griddle – Why Does It Happen? Is It Dangerous?

Simply put, rust occurs when you have a combination of water, iron, and oxygen. It’s a form of corrosion that happens naturally in the environment. Rust forms when iron and some other metals are exposed to oxygen and moisture. It’s actually a more stable form of iron.

Now, you might be wondering whether or not cooking on a rusty surface like a rusty griddle is dangerous. Rust can harbor some bacteria, but in the grand scheme of things, it’s not really dangerous.

If there is just a bit of rust present, it won’t get into the food, and eating a teeny bit of rust won’t kill you either. That being said, it’s definitely healthier to not eat rust or cook on a rusty surface if you can avoid it. Moreover, cooking on a very rusty surface is definitely not very appealing either. So, the best thing to do is to prevent your griddle from getting rusty. If it does get rusty, you need to clean it off.

How to Remove Rust From a Griddle: Step By Step

Removing rust from a griddle is fairly straightforward. That said, you will need a few tools, a couple of hours, patience, and a bit of muscle power too. Let’s figure out how to remove rust from a griddle with as little effort as possible right here and now.

1. First off, you want to heat the griddle up. Turn the griddle on and keep the heat on high for about 20 minutes. Heat will help loosen the rust and make it much easier to remove from the cooking surface of the griddle. Keep in mind that it is always wise to wear some heat-resistant gloves for this kind of thing, just so you don’t burn yourself.
2. Now, get yourself a metal scraper, preferably one designed specifically for scraping down surfaces like flat tops and griddles. Now, take your metal scraper and get to work. It might take some time and a lot of muscle power, but this is the best way to remove rust and corrosion from a griddle. Just keep scraping away until you have removed as much of the rust as humanly possible.
3. Get yourself a grill stone, some steel wool, or even some sandpaper. What you want to do here is to put a few drops of oil, no more than half a teaspoon, onto the surface of the griddle. Now, take a few minutes, use that grill stone, and work the oil around the surface of the griddle. Yeah, it’s hard work and will take a good few minutes, but it will also remove all the remaining rust while also polishing and treating the griddle’s surface.
4. Get some paper towels, an old rag or something similar, and wipe off the surface of the griddle, being careful to remove as much remaining oil and rust as you can.
5. This may not work totally the first time around, so you may have to repeat the above steps a few times. Keep using that scraper to remove rust, drip oil onto the griddle, use the grill stone to work it around and wipe it away with a paper towel afterwards. You may have to do this a few times until all signs of rust and corrosion are gone.
6. When all rust is finally gone, drip some more oil onto the griddle’s surface to season it and to add a protective layer. This will help keep it in top condition for a longer period of time.

Preventing Your Griddle From Rusting

Alright, so cleaning rust off a griddle is not fun and isn’t very easy either. If you work on preventing rust from occurring in the first place, you will make your life a heck of a lot easier. So, let’s talk about some steps you can take to prevent your griddle from rusting in the first place.

• Every time you’re done cooking, wipe the griddle down with some paper towel. Follow that up by dripping some drops of oil onto it and then working that around with some paper towel. That layer of oil will help prevent rust and air from getting to the metal.
• What you also need to do to prevent rust from occurring is to store it in a dry and cool place. Hot and humid conditions will cause rust to occur fairly quickly.
• Getting some kind of high-quality canvas cover for your griddle is also a good idea, as this will provide it with an extra layer of protection against moisture and air.
• You may not use your griddle every single week, and if this is the case, be sure to check it at least once per month. It’s easier to remove small spots of rust on a regular basis than having to remove massive amounts of it because you waited too long.

Conclusion

There you have it folks: The best and fastest way to remove rust from your griddle, and how to prevent it from occurring the first place. People, nobody wants to eat food cooked on an orange, rough and rusty griddle, so be careful how you treat it!