Viral BBQ hack that will change the way you cook on public plates: 'Brilliant'

Say buh-bye to scrubbing and cleaning that shared outdoor barbie.

Liv Williams
Updated ·3-min read
A TikToker has shared his hack for avoiding messy BBQ cleanup. Photo: TikTok/@terryhorsley11
A TikToker has shared his hack for avoiding messy BBQ cleanup. Photo: TikTok/@terryhorsley11

Ah, the classic Australian BBQ – nothing quite like it, right? But we’ve all been there: you rock up to a public barbie only to find it looking like it’s been through a war zone. Grease, grime, and charred remnants of someone else’s feast.

Cleaning it feels like a monumental task, and you’re left wondering if it’s worth the effort. Enter our Aussie hero of the day: a good samaritan with a simple yet brilliant BBQ cleaning hack that’s taken social media by storm.

TikToker Terry Horsley shared this nugget of BBQ wisdom on his unassuming social media account, unaware that it would soon spread like wildfire.

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"Little public BBQ hack," he began, "If you come to the BBQ plate and it's trashed, or you don't want to trash it for the next person — but you don't want to spend the next hour cleaning it — do this."

Horsley starts by pouring a bit of water over the hotplate, to help loosen any gunk and prepare the surface. Once the hotplate warms up, he lays a sheet of baking paper on top. Thanks to the water, the paper sticks to the hotplate, creating a clean cooking surface.

Then you can simply place your bacon, eggs, sausages, or whatever you’re cooking on the baking paper. It browns beautifully, just as if you were cooking directly on the hotplate. When you’re done, simply pick up the paper by its four corners and toss it in the bin. Voila! You’ve got a clean BBQ with minimal effort.

In the viral video our BBQ savant shows off a mouth-watering breakfast sizzling away on the baking paper. The end result? 140,000 views and a perfectly cooked spread without any mess.

As expected, social media exploded with reactions to this genius hack. Comments poured in, praising the simplicity and effectiveness of the tip.

One user exclaimed, "Mean hack thanks bro. Wish I knew this years ago. Awesome, can't wait till summer."

Horsley suggests using baking paper on public BBQs to cook food cleanly, avoiding direct contact with the hotplate for easier cleanup afterward. Photo: TikTok/@terryhorsley11
Horsley suggests using baking paper on public BBQs to cook food cleanly, avoiding direct contact with the hotplate for easier cleanup afterward. Photo: TikTok/@terryhorsley11

Another shared their own variation on the theme, saying, "Good stuff! I always use foil trays."

Others found it helpful for specific cooking challenges, with one person noting, "I do this at home for marinated meat, easy clean up as sugar can burn before the meat is cooked."

The gratitude kept coming, with people expressing their appreciation:

"Cheers for the tip,"

"If only more people thought like you, I see people use the same BBQ every day and trash it," and "Love this hack. Brilliant."

Of course, not everyone had a smooth experience. One user humorously confessed, "Tried to be clever doing something like this with foil and started a grease fire."

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Another voiced a common frustration with public BBQs, saying, "Bro, I can't get those BBQs hot enough to cook an egg, dumping paper on it ain't helping."

Horrifyingly however, way too many people also suggested that with the unsavoury things people and animals do to public BBQs, not using them at all would be a better option.

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