The eight, at a glance
Fitment is the column to read first. “Anything” means the item attaches to nothing and cannot be the wrong size.
| Accessory | Fixes | Fits | Buy it if |
|---|
| ThermoPro instant-read | Not knowing when food is done | Anything | Always. This is the first purchase. |
| Weber Rapidfire chimney | Lighter fluid taste; slow, uneven lighting | Anything burning charcoal | You cook on charcoal, kamado or an offset |
| RAPICCA neoprene gloves | Burned forearms; moving hot metal | Anything | You handle grates, coals or large cuts by hand |
| Grillman 60-inch cover | Rain and UV killing the cooker | Grills up to 60 in wide — measure first | Your grill lives outside uncovered |
| B&B post oak chunks | Food that tastes of heat, not smoke | Charcoal, kamado, offset; gas with a foil packet | You want barbecue flavor, not just grill marks |
| ThermoPro TP25 | Standing over a twelve-hour cook | Anything | You smoke large cuts, or cook more than one at once |
| GrillGrate Sear Station | Weak sear; small food falling through | Grills 15 in deep and up — measure first | Searing is the thing you want to improve |
| Weber GBS hinged grate | No way to add fuel mid-cook | 22 in Weber charcoal grills only | You own a 22-inch Weber kettle |
The three measurements to take before you order anything
Two picks on this page depend on your cooker’s dimensions, and a tape measure costs nothing. Do not take these numbers from your grill’s listing — take them from your grill.
- Width, lid closed, side tables where you leave them. This is the cover measurement. A cover an inch or two wider than your grill is right; one that is ten inches wider will billow, abrade and pool water on the lid.
- Depth of the cooking grate, front to back. This is the sear-panel measurement. The GrillGrate panels here need 15 inches of depth; a shallower grill needs a different size.
- Grate diameter, if you have a kettle. 18, 22 and 26 inches are all common and none of their grates interchange. The hinged grate here is a 22-inch part.
Where the money actually goes
Prices move, so the live number in each row above is the one to trust — but the shape of the spend is stable and worth understanding. Roughly:
- The first three picks together are the cheapest part of this page and deliver most of its value. A thermometer, a chimney and gloves is the complete beginner kit, and it is a budget-tier total.
- The cover and the wood are mid-tier individually and the best value-per-year on the list— one extends the cooker’s life, the other changes how the food tastes every single cook.
- The last three are where the money is, and all three are genuinely optional. The leave-in monitor only earns its keep if you cook long; the sear panels only if you sear often; the hinged grate only if you own the exact grill it fits.
If you are shopping to a budget, our under-$20 picks and under-$50 picks are the same category sliced by price rather than by buying order, and Black Friday BBQ dealsrecords which of these categories have actually discounted in past Novembers — accessories drop more reliably than cookers do.
What each pick does not do
Every product card below carries the honest limitations from our registry, but three are worth pulling out because they are the ones people are surprised by.
The instant-read thermometer will not monitor a cook. It is for spot-checking: you open the lid, probe, read, close. It cannot sit in the meat for twelve hours and it has no alarm. That is a different tool and it is the sixth pick on this page. Plenty of people need only the first.
The cover will not substitute for a roof, and it will not stop rodents.A grill under an eave lives a fundamentally easier life than one in the open, and no fabric closes that gap. A cover is also a dark, dry, sheltered cavity, and a grease tray left full is an invitation. Clean, let it cool completely, then cover — in that order, every time. More on that in best grill covers.
Wood chunks will not do much on a gas grill. A foil packet of chunks on the grates gives a mild flavor and that is the honest ceiling; propane makes heat, not smoke. Chunks are at their best on charcoal, in a kamado or in an offset firebox, where they burn slowly enough to last a real cook. For format and species, best smoking wood goes much deeper than this page can.
The three accessories we would not buy
A wire-bristle grill brush.The bristles work loose with heat and use, land on the grate and transfer to food, where they are easy to swallow and stiff enough to cause injury. Published research estimated 3,739 US wire-bristle injuries between 2015 and 2023, a 229% increase on the preceding nine years — the citation is in the sources at the foot of this page. There is no wire brush anywhere in our registry, and the bristle-free and nylon alternatives are on the tools page.
A twenty-piece tool case. It is four usable items and sixteen skewers, corn holders and forks, and the four are thinner and more flexible than buying two good ones. The case is the product; the tools are the packaging.
A grill light, a beer-can chicken stand, or anything with a novelty handle. None of these fail criterion one. If you cannot name the problem it solves without reading the box, it is not an accessory, it is a gift someone bought you.
If you cook on gas, charcoal or pellets specifically
The eight picks above are deliberately cross-category, because most grilling accessories do not care what fuel you burn. Where the fuel does change the answer:
- Gas:skip the chimney entirely. The cover moves up your list, because a gas grill has far more to corrode. Fitment matters more too — see best grill covers.
- Charcoal and kamado: the chimney is not optional, and good lump charcoal does more for your cooking than any hardware here. Start with best lump charcoal and best chimney starters.
- Pellet:your consumable is pellets, not chunks, and bag size changes the economics more than brand does — best pellets for smoking and how long a bag lasts.
- Griddle:almost none of this applies. A flat-top has its own set — turners, a dome, a press, a rust kit — in best griddle accessories.
Where to go next
The companion page to this one is best grilling tools— tongs, turner and brush, with no overlap with the eight above. For the accessories that go on the cooker rather than around it, best grill grates covers replacements and sear inserts in more detail than the GrillGrate pick here. And once you own the gear, the two pages that make it pay off are how to clean a grill and the meat smoking temperature chart— which is what the two thermometers on this page are for.
