How to Light Charcoal Without Lighter Fluid

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How to Light Charcoal Without Lighter Fluid

Erik Grahek

6.7k Views

Step 1 of 4

Make a small fire in the middle of the charcoal.

Step 2 of 4

Once you get a nice little fire going, start adding charcoal. You want to add a couple at a time- you don't want to smother the fire!!

Step 3 of 4

Soon the charcoal itself will ignite and you can then add the rest of the charcoal.

Step 4 of 4

Give it 10-15 min and your ready to grill. This process took me maybe 5 minutes longer than using lighter fluid.

You're Done

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Erik Grahek

River Falls, Wisconsin

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Charcoal

Small to medium size sticks

Paper

Can men do this really? All the men I know require ample amounts of lighter fluid! I'll be passing this on to a few!

Meg M 4 months ago

For the "starter" fire. Lay a couple pieces of newspaper out and drizzle a little vegetable or canola oil on the paper. Crumple the newspaper into loose balls and light. These will burn much longer like an old oil wick so you won't have the smothering problem.

Michael Cannon 11 months ago

Never, ever, use charcoal starter fluid. Gross! I can taste that stuff even if I let the fire burn for an hour before cooking. Instead of newspaper, I use the propane burner from my turkey fryer to light my charcoal in the chimney.

Michael Thomas last year

It's important that we don't forget these skills. Nice one.

Travis Croft last year

Good job and comments. Thank you

Jane From KY last year

I knew that. But I'm sure it'll help many people that use fuel to ignite their charcoal. Great job man :)

Eldad Hanan last year

I use a cardboard egg carton. Stuff each slot with dryer lint and pour melted parifin (wax) over the top. I just break off a couple & toss in.

Renee Morgan last year

I use a chimney. It works great. Just stuff newspaper in the bottom and charcoal in the top and light it. I use lump charcoal, so it doesn't even have any lighter fluid. Once the coals are lit, dump them into your grill.

John Harman last year

To answer the question of how I started the first fire: we have all been there- throwing in a couple pieces of paper and adding some sticks. It isn't always that simple!! I have found, over many failed fire attempts, that if you spend the extra couple minutes gathering the right tinder- you will save yourself time and frustration. Use the teepee or lean- to method with really small to medium size sticks ( really small= diameter of a wet spaghetti noodle. Medium = the diameter of your finger) the combination of that, an a little paper underneath- you got yourself a fire. Slowly add more sticks increasing in diameter until its hot enough to add charcoal- or logs if you were starting a camp fire.

Erik Grahek (author) last year