Whether you’ve got a grill or a smoker for the first time, or your favorite accessories are wearing out from years of use, you want to know what the best grill accessories and smoker accessories are. If you’ve spent time wandering Amazon or your local hardware stores without a clue what you should be looking for, you’re not alone.
You’re also in luck! We’ve taken a look at 10 grill accessories and smoker essentials to help you on your outdoor cooking adventure. We’ll explain what we consider to be essential tools of grilling and smoking, how we came up with what accessories you need for a smoker and a grill, and our reviews of our 10 favorites.
Read on below!
| IMAGE | MODEL | FEATURES | |
|---|---|---|---|
 | ThermoWorks Thermapen One |
| CHECK PRICE |
 | Grill Gloves |
| CHECK PRICE |
 | Multi Probe Wireless ThermometerMulti Probe Wireless ThermometerThermoWorks Smoke X4 |
| CHECK PRICE |
 | GrillHogs Grill Tong Set |
| CHECK PRICE |
 | OXO Grill Spatula |
| CHECK PRICE |
 | Fire Starters |
| CHECK PRICE |
 | Charcoal Chimney |
| CHECK PRICE |
 | Grill Brush |
| CHECK PRICE |
 | Bamboo Cutting Board |
| CHECK PRICE |
 | Cooler |
| CHECK PRICE |
Table of Contents
Why You Need Grill And Smoker Accessories
You’ve finally put together that brand-new grill or smoker and you’re excited to fire it up and get the meat on the grill grates. However, you need the right tools and accessories to do that safely and the best way possible.
Using bad quality grill and smoker accessories can cause all sorts of problems. It can affect the quality of the food you cook. It can make grilling or smoking take longer than necessary. You can have food get ruined or put people, including yourself, at risk. Here are the accessories that we think are must haves.
- Gloves: Having a great grill glove can keep you or whoever is minding the food from getting burned. Depending on what type of grill or smoker you have, you could be working around temperatures between 200-450F. The last thing you want to do is drop that brisket when you’re getting it ready for the wrap.
- Instant Read Thermometer: Good thermometers can ensure you don’t overcook food or serve raw chicken. A good instant-read thermometer is one of a grill master’s best friends, while a remote thermometer can help a pitmaster ensure that food is being wrapped or removed from the smoker at the right temperature.
- Tongs: A bad pair of tongs can lead to food being dropped when transferring it from the grill grates to a plate or even dropped through the grates when turning the food over.
- Spatula: A good spatula can help get those burgers flipped perfectly while preserving those grill lines and sear, while a bad spatula could be flimsy and make it hard to move your meat safely.
- Fire Starters: Every great grilling and smoking experience begins with lighting something on fire, whether that’s charcoal or wood. Don’t use lighter fluid. It can leave a bad aftertaste and can be harmful to your health.
- Quality Cutting Board: Every chef, grill master, and pitmaster should have a good quality cutting board. It will save the edge of your sharp knife, be large enough for large cuts of meat, and is easy to clean.
- Grill Brush: A good grill brush can keep old bits of food from getting into whatever is being cooked. Using a cheap grill brush can result in unclean grill grates and even the possibility of bristles getting stuck to the grates and coming off in food. That poses not only a risk to the quality of your food but also your health and the health of anyone who is eating food off that grill or smoker.
- Weber Kettle Grill Accessories: The Weber Kettle is a great charcoal grill, but with a couple of neat accessories you can turn it into a mean smoker or a steak searing monster.
- Knives: We didn’t include knives in this review because there is so much to consider when picking a BBQ knife set. Check out our full knife set review.
Those are the necessities, but we also include some nice-to-haves below.
How We Came Up With Our List Of 10 Grill and Smoker Essentials
An essential is something that you absolutely need. So drawing on our years of grilling and smoking experience, we looked at what tools or accessories we need to produce great grilled and smoked food. Some of that experience comes through trial-and-error, some from listening to others who came before us.
We aren’t interested in giving you fluff when it comes to grill accessories or smoker essentials. We understand from personal experience just how many tools and accessories are out there, and you can be left asking what accessories do you need for a smoker. We at Angry BBQ are here to help you find what you ACTUALLY need to enjoy grilling and smoking without being overwhelmed.
So here is our Top 10 list of the best grill accessories and smoker essentials!
1. Instant Read Thermometer – ThermoWorks Thermapen One
An instant-read thermometer is one of those must-have grill accessories, and it’s not just for grilling but any way of cooking meat. While we all want to know how long something will take to cook, we realize that meat is done cooking at a certain internal temperature rather than a length of time. When cooking or especially smoking meat, most of the time we give a time range for when things will be done, as said in our article about how long to smoke a brisket.
Especially when it comes to grilling something like a steak or burgers, you want to make sure you’ve got an accurate temperature so you know when to pull the meat off the grill. This ensures that the steak is your favorite level of doneness without overcooking. It’s especially handy when grilling chicken breasts so they don’t dry out.
We here at Angry BBQ love the ThermoWorks Thermapen ONE. It’s accurate to 0.3°F and will give you an accurate reading in under one second. When you’ve got steaks sizzling over a hot grill, you want that reading done with speed and accuracy so you don’t burn yourself or overcook the steaks.
The Thermapen ONE is a quality upgrade over the venerable Thermapen Classic/MK IV with better speed and accuracy plus new features added to the display. The numbers rotate so you don’t have to crane your neck to read it clearly. ThermoWorks also added a backlight that senses when you’re temping in low-light conditions to make it easy for you to read the display.
What We Love…
- The quick and accurate reading helps ensure you pull meat when it’s ready without having to hold your hand over a fire for a long time
- The display updates making reading the temperature easier in all sorts of conditions
- ThermoWorks made the ONE easy to hold with a surface that won’t slip out of your fingers
What Makes Us Angry…
- Nothing really. This is one of the best instant-read thermometers on the market and has a fantastic five-year warranty to boot in case something ever goes wrong.
2. Grill Gloves – Grill Armor Gloves
While an instant-read thermometer is all about food safety and quality, a great pair of grill gloves is all about keeping your hands safe. Regardless of what type of grill you’re using or what type of cooking you’re doing, you’re working around a lot of heat and fire. Whether you’re careful or not, the potential for at least an annoying burn or potential long-term injury is there.
These grill gloves from Grill Armor Gloves are designed to handle whatever heat you throw at them, whether that’s working around the firebox of an offset smoker or handling cast iron cookware on a grill. The gloves are rated to handle up to 932°F so you can rest assured that you’ll be able to handle just about any home use you’ll have.
The best part is that they do not sacrifice dexterity in order to protect your hands. You can still grab and use a thermometer or just grab a wrapped brisket or pork butt.
The inner-most layer of the gloves is cotton to help keep your hands comfortable during use. Then the biggest layer is a mixture of M-ARAMID and P-ARAMID fabrics that are designed to protect your hands from heat and keep your gloves from falling apart. These are the same fabrics that go into Nomex and Kevlar, so you know you’re getting good quality construction.
However, you do need to be aware that these gloves are not waterproof. In fact, if you get them wet, the fabric loses all heat protection. That’s not at all uncommon among grill gloves, though. I’ve used a number of options and they are all like that. If you know you’re going to be working around very wet conditions, Grill Armor Gloves does make a waterproof version that you can find.
Then the final layer is a silicone overlay that helps you keep a hold of whatever it is you’re grabbing. I’ve grabbed wooden logs, an instant-read thermometer, and cast iron skillets without losing my grip.
The best part is that the basic Grill Armor Gloves come in three different sizes. I have the One Size Fits Most which works great for me. If you’re working in situations where you’re constantly reaching into a firebox to rearrange logs and coals, you might want to look into the Long Cuff variation. Then the company even designed a version for people with smaller hands as well. So if you have ever bought a set of grill gloves and felt like your hands are swimming in them, Grill Armor Gloves has you covered. Want more info on these? Read our full review here.
What We Like…
- The mixture of M-ARAMID and P-ARAMID fabrics gives these gloves plenty of protection from heat while maintaining durability
- The final layer of silicone gives these gloves plenty of grip whether you’re checking the internal temperature with an instant-read thermometer or grabbing a cast iron skillet
- These gloves are machine washable, so if you get them covered in sauce, meat juices, or ashes, just throw them in the washing machine and let them completely dry before using again
What Makes Us Angry…
- It’s not truly something that makes me angry, but you do need to be aware that you need to let these gloves dry completely if they get wet before you grab anything hot. Otherwise you will burn yourself.
3. Remote Thermometer – ThermoWorks Smoke X4
If you’re into smoking at all, you know how important it is to check temperatures. Having the ability to leave a temperature probe in a brisket or a pork butt and monitor the internal temperature in real-time helps make the experience easier. If you’re smoking multiple cuts of meat at once, being able to monitor all of them through one hub makes your life easier as well.
What puts a remote thermometer over the top as one of the must-have smoker accessories is the ability to check those temperatures without having to be right next to the smoker. Whether it’s accessing that information on your phone through WiFi or Bluetooth connectivity or the thermometer comes with its own receiver, having the ability to check temperatures without having to constantly be at the grill is a game-changer.
ThermoWorks has done just that with both the Signals, which connects to your phone, and the Smoke X4 which comes with its own included receiver. To be fair, you honestly cannot go wrong with either thermometer, it’s simply a matter of preference.
The Smoke X4 has the ability to monitor four temperatures at the same time with its included three temperature probes and one air probe. You can set alarms for each probe independently that will sound at both the main hub by your smoker and on the receiver.
ThermoWorks boasts that the receiver has an astounding 6,652-foot range, almost a mile and a quarter. While most people won’t come even close to that threshold while staying at home, the connection between the main hub and the receiver is certainly strong enough to work through multiple walls of a house without any issue.
If you don’t want to use the receiver, you can simply monitor temperatures at the main hub without turning the receiver on. All the necessary functionality is right there. The hub has a flip-out stand so you can set it on a side shelf. I set it on my pellet grill’s hopper which was convenient.
What We Like…
- Multi-probe functionality makes it easy to track multiple pork butts or whatever you’re cooking at once
- Included receiver means you don’t have to figure out what app you need or having to hook up the thermometer to Bluetooth or WiFi
- Customizable alarm settings mean you don’t even need to pay attention all the time to the readings
What Makes Us Angry…
- The probe wires are easily tangled when stored, so you need to be careful when wrapping them up.
4. Grill Tongs – GrillHogs 9, 12, & 16-inch 3 pk
If you’ve ever experienced the horror yourself or watched someone drop food from a flimsy set of tongs, you understand just how much a good set of tongs is in your list of smoker essentials and grill accessories. Perfectly grilled meat can be ruined in an instant if your tongs slip and the meat goes through the grill grates onto the fire or on to the ground.
This set of three tongs from GrillHogs will become one of your smoker essentials, helping ensure that you don’t deal with the terror of feeling your tongs bend or go off-center and watch that steak slip out of your grasp. Whether you’ve used tongs that have that single band of metal that leads to the ends never properly meeting or the clamps are made from flimsy metal that bends after two uses, worry no longer.
GrillHogs made this set with different-length tongs which means you’ll have the perfect tong for whatever grill or smoker you’re using. You’ve got a nine-inch pair that’s perfect for using inside on a skillet or on the go with a small portable grill. The larger sizes work well for scaling up the size of the grill or smoker you’re using.
The clamp ends are referred to as scalloped by GrillHogs which results in multiple teeth for holding on to whatever food you’re grabbing. The tongs also lock closed and have a handy loop for hanging to store. Strong and stable tongs need to be on your list of the best smoker accessories.
What We Like…
- Multiple lengths for different uses and grills. A longer set of tongs is perfect for the big grill or smoker while the smallest set works well inside or for use with your portable grill.
- The scalloped clamp ends grip whatever food you’re picking up tightly
- The wood handles are easy to hold and a nice touch
- Tongs lock closed and hang for easy storage rather than taking up a lot of room while open
What Makes Us Angry…
- There were a couple of complaints of the metal being bendable where the arms of the tongs meet the clamp ends, but it hasn’t been the case for most
- The wood can lose some of its finish if washed in the dishwasher
5. Grill Spatula – OXO Good Grips Grilling Turner
A spatula is a quintessential cooking tool regardless of what you’re cooking on, and a good one is definitely a much-needed grilling accessory. Whether you’re flipping burgers, steaks, or anything that needs a flip, a sturdy spatula needs to be by your grill or smoker.
The OXO Good Grips grilling turner, as they call it, is a well-built and sturdy spatula, perfect for thick stuffed burgers. It weighs close to half a pound and is made out of stainless steel. The head of the spatula is almost a full four inches wide and five inches long, giving it plenty of room for even the biggest burgers you’ll throw on the grill.
OXO, as per the name Good Grips, made the spatula easy and comfortable to hold with a silicone grip. It also has a hook for easy hanging.
What We Like…
- This is a big and sturdy spatula, ideal for flipping burgers and helping lift food on a grill
- Comfortable silicone grip to help hold
- Large spatula head for even the biggest burgers
What Makes Us Angry…
- If you don’t like a heavy spatula, this might be a bit heavier than you like
6. Fire Starters – Grill Trade Fire Starters
If you’re firing up your charcoal grill, you need something to get your fire started. In our opinion, the Grill Trade fire starters are one of the needed grill accessories. These are essential smoker accessories, too.
We found these fire starters easy to use. They light quickly and easily while burning for 10 minutes as advertised. Rather than using starters loaded down with chemicals that can affect the smell and taste of your food, like lighter fluid, these are made with all-natural ingredients that get the fire started without leaving any other impact.
One starter was enough to start a full charcoal chimney load in my experience, and the box comes with 50 fire starters. You can also use them to start a pile of charcoal in your grill as well as when setting up the snake method for smoking on a charcoal grill.
These fire starters can also help start charcoal that will burn down to form coals for an offset smoker. Great fire starters are smoker essentials and a needed grill accessory.
What We Like…
- Easy to light with a match or a lighter
- All-natural ingredients that don’t add any bad tastes or aromas to the charcoal
- Burns for 10 minutes, plenty long to catch the charcoal around it
What Makes Us Angry…
- Some customers have complained about them not staying lit, being hard to light, or not putting off enough heat That hasn’t been my personal experience with a charcoal chimney or our fire pit, but be aware that others have had issues.
7. Charcoal Chimney – Char-Griller Charcoal Chimney
A charcoal chimney is one of the most indispensable grilling accessories if you have a charcoal grill. Charcoal chimneys are designed to hold a large amount of charcoal over a chamber where you light a fire. The heat and flames rise, catching the lowest layer of charcoal, then the heat and fire travels upwards through the chimney. There are air vents in the bottom and top of the chimney to promote air flow to help speed up the heating process.
Char-Griller took the traditional charcoal chimney design and addressed one of the biggest issues, having to tip the chimney full of burning charcoal over into the grill. They turned the bottom of the charcoal chamber into a trap door controlled by a quick-release trigger on the handle. This allows for the entire load of charcoal to be dumped without having to turn the chimney over.
Some charcoal chimneys are on the small side and may not hold enough charcoal in one load to adequately heat a grill up for hot grilling. The Char-Griller chimney is a large chimney, holding enough charcoal to properly heat even large, deep kettles for grilling purposes. The charcoal chimney also prevents any need for lighter fluid, so no more bad taste or smell on your grilled food.
A good charcoal chimney should also be on a list of the most important smoker accessories because it can help speed up the process of getting the coals ready for smoking on an offset smoker.
What We Like…
- Quick-release trigger to dump the charcoal so no worrying about turning the chimney over and catching yourself with ash
- Large size holds plenty of charcoal for even big charcoal grills
- Heat shield between the charcoal chamber and the handle helps deflect all that heat generated by the large amount of charcoal
What Makes Us Angry…
- Some users have had issues with the trap door not latching in place after repeated uses, but I’ve had the chimney for over a year and haven’t had any issues.
8. Grill Brush – POLIGO 18” Grill Cleaner Brush
There are few things more frustrating than opening your grill or smoker and discovering that the grates are covered in hardened, dried, crusty, burnt food debris. A grill brush is one of the most necessary grill accessories out there. All that leftover debris can ruin a cooking experience, causing more food to get stuck or adding bad flavors.
The POLIGO brush (our favorite grill brush) is big enough to tackle the biggest of messes. It also has a scraper to help loosen up the worst of the stuck-on debris when you’ve put sweet sauces on or the greasiest meat.
One of the biggest concerns with grill brushes is the potential for bristles to fall out. Not only does that impact how well the brush works, but it can pose a danger to anyone eating food off the grill. The metal bristles can get stuck in food and then can puncture the inside of people’s mouths and throats.
POLIGO instead went with a twisted wire design in a helix pattern. There are no bristles, just coiled wire that scrubs across the grill grates. A good and safe grill brush should be on any list of the best grill or smoker accessories.
Between the scraper and the helix wire, POLIGO prioritized cleaning ability without sacrificing safety.
What We Like…
- Large size scraper and three wire helixes perfect for tackling the biggest and toughest messes
- Hanging hook for easy storage
What Makes Us Angry…
- You can encounter issues with cleaning between the grates on smaller grates due to the comparative inflexibility to a wire brush
9. Cutting Board – Mohy Bamboo Cutting Board Set
One of the biggest smoker essentials and grill accessories is a good cutting board. It serves as a preparation area, slicing board, and a great background for your Instagram pictures (or whatever your preferred social media service is.)
The Mohy bamboo cutting board set gives you three different sizes geared towards your work area and the type of food you’re working on. You don’t necessarily need a huge butcher block cutting board if you’re slicing up an onion. A small cutting board won’t do the trick if you’re trimming up a brisket for going on your smoker.
All three cutting boards in the Mohy set have juice grooves to collect any liquid drippings to protect your table, prep area, or countertops. That’s an underrated part of this being one of the best grill accessories that shows up when you’re slicing into that medium-rare steak.
The bamboo also holds up well to your knife so you won’t see a lot of scratching. That means it lasts longer and bacteria has a harder time sticking around.
The care of these bamboo cutting boards is easy, too. All you need to do is wash with warm, soapy water and let it dry. Then you can put them away in the included stand. In all, a great cutting board (or a set of cutting boards) is one of the most essential smoker accessories you can own.
What We Like…
- Multiple sizes for whatever size of food you need to work on
- Handy stand for storage
- Bamboo construction holds up to knife work without damaging your blade
- Juice groove on all three boards to help keep the counter dry
What Makes Us Angry…
- If you like washing everything in the dishwasher, a bamboo cutting board isn’t for you as they should be handwashed only
10. Grill Pan – HexClad Hybrid BBQ Grill Pan
This is an area that is easily overlooked, but a quality grill pan can make your BBQ much better especially when it comes to sides or small items. Mike and Jannah have been using the HexClad BBQ Grill Pan steady for several months and have realized how much easier it is to cook veggies, fish, seafood and even chicken wings on your gas or charcoal grill with this pan.
The pan is completely non-stick and is metal utensil friendly, so no more worrying about ruining your non-stick cookware with metal tongs or spatulas.
HexClads pan is rated for 900F, so you won’t be ruining the pan from any charcoal or gas grill on the market. With a lifetime warranty, you know the product is quality and will not let you down on a future cook. Read our full review on the HexClad BBQ Grill Pan.
What We Like…
- Completely Non-Stick Cooking Surface
- Metal Utensil Friendly
- Withstands up to 900F. Great for searing heats as well.
What Makes Us Angry…
- Price may be high for some customers
11. Cooler – Coleman Ice Chest 316 Series Hard Cooler
A cooler might seem like one of the oddest inclusions on a list of essential smoker accessories. However, it serves to meet a number of needs whether you are smoking or grilling. When you are smoking, you want to have a big enough container to hold a brisket or pork butt to let it slowly cool down and let the juices redistribute.
A big cooler can hold an entire packer brisket while it holds for service. The Coleman Ice Chest from the 316 Series is a 52-quart chest cooler which has plenty of room for holding a brisket.
This cooler offers more than just a good space for holding a brisket, though. If you’re a grill master and haven’t done much in the way of smoking, you don’t care about holding a brisket for four hours. So why should you have this cooler?
It can hold up to 80 cans of your preferred drink, which on a hot summer day of firing up the grill for a party is a big boost for you and all your friends. The lid has spots for four drinks as well, so you have a safe place to set your favorite hydration source while grilling.
The Coleman 316 Series also has a lid safe for sitting on, up to 250 pounds. It can be moved easily with swing-up handles on both ends for when you want to haul it out to the grill or smoker.
What We Like…
- Large size perfect for holding a packer brisket while waiting to slice and serve it or for holding drinks during a cookout
- Designed to be a seat, perfect for taking a break during the grilling or smoking session
- The lid has room for four large drinks and the cupholders self-drain so you don’t have to figure out how to clean it out
What Makes Us Angry…
- Some customers have had issues with the lid warping even without sitting on it
Our Top Rated Weber Kettle Grill Accessories
If you own a Weber Kettle, you should know there are several accessories that are specifically built for the Weber Kettle design. Mike is a Kettle enthusiast and these are his must have Weber Kettle Accessories.
1. SNS Grills Slow ‘n’ Sear Deluxe 22″
SNS Grills invented the Slow ‘N’ Sear for a couple different reasons:
- They wanted to help the Kettle have a better indirect cooking system.
- Increase smoking capabilities
- Increase high temp searing capabilities.
The design of the Slow ‘N’ Sear accomplishes all these feats by their unique design. SNS allowed their system to act as a simple charcoal basket, but also included a water tray that drops into the charcoal basket. The water tray when filled, provides extra humidity in the Kettle and also aids in indirect cooking by acting as a buffer between the charcoal and the food.
If you opt to remove the water tray, you can simply fill the basket with charcoal, and achieve high searing temperatures in a focused area.
The Slow ‘N’ Sear is a must have for any Kettle user that wants serious smoking capabilities or searing temperatures.
2. Weber Kettle Vortex
One area a standard Weber Kettle lacks is creating high searing temperatures. That’s where Vortex stepped in. They designed a stainless steel cone that allows the charcoal to create high heat in a focused area. I’ve been able to sear steaks properly using the Vortex. Another must have accessory for a Kettle.
Final Thoughts
When you are really getting into grilling and smoking, you want to make sure you have the right tools. If you grab these 10 items (or your preferred version of these 10) you’ll do quite well for yourself. Now go and grill or bbq something.
Are there any we missed? What’s your favorite for each of these categories? Let us know in the comments!
| IMAGE | MODEL | FEATURES | |
|---|---|---|---|
| ThermoWorks Thermapen One |
| CHECK PRICE |
| Grill Gloves |
| CHECK PRICE |
| Multi Probe Wireless ThermometerMulti Probe Wireless ThermometerThermoWorks Smoke X4 |
| CHECK PRICE |
| GrillHogs Grill Tong Set |
| CHECK PRICE |
| OXO Grill Spatula |
| CHECK PRICE |
| Fire Starters |
| CHECK PRICE |
| Charcoal Chimney |
| CHECK PRICE |
| Grill Brush |
| CHECK PRICE |
| Bamboo Cutting Board |
| CHECK PRICE |
| Cooler |
| CHECK PRICE |
