One of the greatest joys of summer is getting outside and grilling outdoors. But one thing that is not always a joy is cleaning that grill after you’re done preparing your food. It usually takes a whole lot of elbow grease (depending on what you use it for, of course) and can sometimes deter us from using the ol’ grill.

But luckily, we learned a new trick from The Kitchn that comes just in time for summer cookouts. All you need to do is grab an onion for the job and you won’t need to use any harsh chemicals.

Here’s how it’s done:

It seems that rubbing a hot grill with half a cut onion (cut side down) will loosen up baked on grit and grime and basically take it all right off the grill. It’s best to heat the grill super hot first and burn down any remaining food or crud, then rub it hard with an onion stuck on the end of a fork.

Not only is this a cheap, effective cleaning technique, but it’s a totally green method! Keeping gross cleaning products too close to where you cook your food is always a good thing.

Have any of you given this a try? Did it work for you? Do you have another method for cleaning your grill?