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How To Clean Kamado Joe Soapstone
A Kamado Joe soapstone is relatively easy to clean. Most of the time, you just need to scrape it down to remove any stuck-on food bits, rendered grease, and excess oil.
Then let it burn itself clean as part of the kamado grill’s long cool-down cycle.
Once it’s cool a thorough wipe down with a clean shop rag or a paper towel, should have it clean enough to be ready for your Kamado Joe’s next cooking session.
If your soapstone is overly dirty, or in need of a good cleaning, you can give it a good wash with warm soapy water and a mildly abrasive sponge.
Then rinse it clean and lightly dry with a paper towel. Since soapstone is non-porous, oil and water won’t embed into the surface.
As an accessory in the Kamado Joe’s Divide & Conquer lineup, this half-moon-shaped piece of non-porous soapstone can replicate most of the things you can do on a traditional cold-rolled steel griddle.
Though you don’t need to worry about maintaining a hydrocarbon seasoning layer, you just need to thoughtfully clean the soapstone after every use.
What Is a Soapstone and What Does It Do?
A Kamado Joe soapstone is a popular kamado accessory that is meant to be used as part of their “Divide & Conquer” system lineup. It lets you essentially create a stone griddle top.
It’s great for doing things like searing off skinless fish filets, sauteing vegetables for fajitas, or even frying bacon for cheeseburgers.
The Kamado Joe soapstone can take an enormous amount of thermal energy, so it needs to be properly preheated before you lay the food.
Even though soapstone is non-porous, it’s still not steel, and it can’t be seasoned like a traditional griddle top.
This means the Kamado Joe soapstone will require a fair amount of oil with every cook to keep food from sticking. It also makes proper cleanup important.
Should You Use a Soapstone on a Kamado Joe?
A Kamado Joe soapstone is a versatile accessory that deserves to be a part of your grilling arsenal.
Like a lot of the half-moon accessories in the Kamado Joe “Divide & Conquer” system, it will only take up half of your grill top.
This lets you use it in tandem with a standard grill grate for sauteing vegetables, searing and preparing side dishes, and cooking other items over direct flame.
You can even purchase two soapstones to create a flat surface for making grilled pizza.
When Should You Consider Cleaning Your Soapstone?
Your Kamado Joe soapstone needs to be cleaned after every session.
This can be as simple as lightly scraping it down, wiping it, and letting any food debris burn away as the grill cools down on its own. You should then wipe it thoroughly before your next cook.
If your soapstone is stubbornly messy, or in need of a thorough deep cleaning, you should wait for it to thoroughly cool down before washing it with warm soapy water.
After a thorough rinse, you can dry it with clean paper towels and store it with your Kamado Joe’s grill accessories.
Final Thoughts
If your Kamado Joe has the Divide & Conquer system, then you need to add a half-moon soapstone to your outdoor cooking arsenal.
When installed, it only takes up half of your total grill top but gives you the versatility to sear, saute and fry like a traditional griddle. Though it does take a little more care and cleaning than seasoned cold-rolled steel.
This also means you need to clean your Kamado Joe soapstone after every use.
Most of the time this calls for little more than a simple scrape-down, and thorough wiping, before letting it burn off. Though if it needs a more aggressive clean, you can easily hand wash with warm soapy water followed by a rinse.
Robert is a certified Pitmaster, with over a decade of experience in smoking the best meats you’ll ever feast upon. He also has a Bachelor of Business Administration from the University of Texas at San Antonio. When he’s not researching technical topics, he’s most likely barbecuing in his backyard.