Home › Home & Kitchen › Kitchen & Dining › Cookware › Grill Pans How to Clean a Grill Pan Published: July 8, 2026 · Updated: July 8, 2026
While it's still warm, scrape the ridges clean with a stiff brush or a wooden scraper and hot water — the burnt bits trapped between the ridges are the whole challenge. For cast iron, dry it fully and re-oil; for nonstick, use only a soft sponge and soap, never anything abrasive.
Recommended Scrape the ridges warm with a brush and hot water; cast iron dry-and-oil, nonstick soft-sponge-only — get the grooves — A grill pan's raised ridges char food and trap grease and blackened bits in the grooves, so cleaning is all about reaching between them while the residue is still soft. Do it while the pan is warm: pour off the fat, add hot water, and scrub along and across the ridges with a stiff brush (non-metal for coated pans), a grill brush, or a wooden scraper shaped to the grooves; a simmer of water loosens stubborn char. For a cast-iron grill pan, use hot water and a stiff brush or a little mild soap, then dry it completely on the burner and wipe on a thin layer of oil, exactly as you'd treat any cast iron. For a nonstick grill pan, a soft sponge and dish soap are all it can take — never a wire brush or scouring pad, which gouge the coating out of the ridges where it's already most vulnerable. Enameled cast iron cleans like enamel: soap and a nylon brush, no metal.
