What Can Be Used as Lighter Fluid Alternatives? (6 Great Options) (2024)

Lighter fluid isn’t the best thing to use when it comes to starting up charcoal grill.

For one, lighter fluid is essentially a mild type of kerosene.

And we can all agree that kerosene is the last thing that we’d want our food exposed to before we ingest it.

The thing is that the harmful chemicals in the lighter don’t burn off with the fire.

This means that it can easily spread to our food during the cook, and it can cause some serious damage to our overall health.

And the answer is ‘yes’! Of course!

There are quite a few light fluid alternatives that you can try out, that won’t be detrimental to your health nor ruin the taste of the food you cook.

Table of contents

A charcoal chimney starter is a very useful, yet inexpensive tool that a lot of pitmasters use to start up their charcoal grills.

It might be the most excellent substitute that we’ll introduce to you today.

It’s also very simple and easy to use too. The first thing that you’ll want to do is to fill the top of the chimney starter with your unlit charcoal briquettes.

The charcoal grate is what divides the contraption into two parts.

So you won’t have to worry about the pyramid of charcoal slipping out from the bottom.

After that, you’ll want to scrunch up some paper into balls and stuff them under the bottom part of the tool.

After that, you’ll want to light the paper with a common household lighter.

The paper will ignite the charcoal pieces. And in about 15 minutes you should have a bunch of lit coals that are just ready to go into your charcoal-type grill.

We all know how flammable alcohol can be. That’s why it’s a great substitute for lighter fluid.

The most popular form of alcohol that people tend to use when starting up their charcoal grill is whiskey.

This is because it’s made from barley and is known to contain components of glucose.

Yes, a newspaper is a perfectly acceptable substitute.

However, it’s not the greatest one on our list. While it’s a very cheap solution, it doesn’t exactly work the best.

First of all, you should crumple up a few sheets of newspaper.

Once you’ve formed about six newspaper balls, you’ll want to place them into the empty charcoal grill. Next, you should cover the newspaper layer with a reasonable amount of charcoal.

Lastly, you’ll want to light up a folded sheet of paper and place it into the grill so that it burns the newspaper.

This substitute works just like the alcohol solution. Start by filling up the body of your grill with charcoal.

Next, soak some paper towels in whatever cooking oil you have on hand. Then you’ll want to place them on top and amongst the coal pieces.

Following that, fold up a piece of paper, light it, and throw it into the mix.

This method works better than the normal newspaper method because the oils ensure a longer burn. This means that there’s a higher chance that more charcoal pieces will be lit in the process.

On the other hand, the newspaper method might call for many tries or lots of sheets because it’s likely that the fire will go out too soon.

This is because newspaper burns rather quickly.

If you’re looking for another cheap option, then egg cartons work surprisingly well.

Of course, we’re talking about the cardboard ones that you throw out every single week.

It’s also super simple to use as a starter. First off, you’ll want to situate the carton on top of the unlit charcoal pieces in the grill.

Next, just fill up the hollows of the carton with a few more coal pieces. After that, you’ll just want to light up a match and use that to set fire to the corners of the egg carton.

If you’re not a fan of light a match and you like things done as quickly as possible, then this last suggestion is for you.

An electric fire starter will have your charcoal lit in under a minute! All you have to do is plug it into an outlet, press a button and it essentially works like a large butane torch.

The only real downside of this product is that it requires electricity.

This means that it’s great for backyard barbecue sessions, but you won’t be able to use it if you’re having an impromptu BBQ in the wilderness.

Well, that’s it for our list of lighter-fluid alternatives. There are so many ways to get your charcoal grill up and burning without resorting to using harmful chemicals.

All of the suggestions we’ve introduced to you are also guaranteed to not have a nasty effect on the taste or smell of your food.

Just be sure to try each one of them out to find the right method for you. And if you have a different substitute that you use, be sure to let us know!

Smoke On!

Charlie