Barbecue Stain Removal Guide

A barbecue stain (also spelled barbeque) can happen very quickly, especially barbecue sauce stains, which can easily drip onto your clothes, upholstery or carpet.

The step by step directions below give you instructions for removing a BBQ stain from clothing, upholstery and carpet.

Please note that if you treat the stain quickly it will be much easier to remove. As with almost any stain, the older the stain is before you begin treating it, the more difficult it will be to remove.

Removing A Barbecue Stain From Fabric

Step 1: Scrape off any excess barbecue sauce from the fabric.

Step 2: Run the fabric under cold running water (not warmer water), letting the water run over the back of the stain so it does not spread it further.

Step 3: Pretreat the spot with liquid laundry detergent, barely rubbing it in, but more like just coating the stain, and then let it sit for several minutes.

Step 4: Rinse well.

Step 5: Use a white cloth to sponge white vinegar onto the BBQ stain, and then rinse thoroughly.

Step 6: Repeat steps 3-5 until you have removed as much of the spot as possible.

Hint: The sooner you do this after the stain occurs, the easier it will be.

Step 7: Pretreat with a laundry stain remover and wash as normal.

Step 8: Make sure before you place the item in the dryer that the spot is completely removed. If it is not then do not place in the dryer, as it will it.

Step 9: If step number 7 did not get out the stain again coat the stained area with liquid laundry detergent and let it soak in warm water for around half an hour. Then, launder again.

You may also find this video giving tips for removing stains caused by barbecue from fabric helpful.

How To Remove A BBQ Stain From Upholstery

Step 1: Scrape off any excess barbecue stain from the upholstery.

Step 2: Mix a solution of two cups cool water and one tablespoon dishwashing liquid.

Step 3: Using this solution, sponge the spot with a clean white cloth.

Step 4: Next, blot at the stain until the liquid is absorbed.

Step 5: Repeat steps 3-4 until the BBQ stain is removed from the upholstery.

Step 6: Now that the spot is removed you should get plain cold water and a new white cloth and sponge the area to remove the cleaning solution, and then blot dry.

Hint: Be sure to get the upholstery only as wet as necessary to remove the barbeque sauce stains.

You can also try vinegar for barbecue stain removal, but be careful on upholstery to test first in an inconspicuous location to make sure the vinegar will not discolor the upholstery fabric.

You can get more information on how to clean upholstery here.

Barbeque Stain Removal From Carpet

The instructions for removal of a barbeque stain from carpet is the same as for upholstery.

However, if you don't have luck with this stain removal method above you can also do something additional with the carpet stain, which is to mix a solution of one tablespoon of ammonia with two cups warm water, and use this as a cleaning solution.

CAUTION: Since vinegar is an acid and ammonia is a base, using one after the other in attempting to remove stains will just neutralize the effects of both, unless you first thoroughly remove one stain removal solution before using the next.

Recommended Barbecue Sauce Stain Removers

Perhaps you don't want to make your own stain remover, but instead want to use something designed to remove these tomato and vinegar based stains.

Here are some articles and reviews on this site which discuss various products that are designed to remove these spots and splatters, or that readers like you have said worked well on their own stains:

Carbona Stain Devil #2

Swash Get It Out Pen

Tide To Go Pen

You can also share your own stain remover reviews here, to tell me what other removers work well on barbecue or any other stain.

Submit Your Own BBQ Stain Removal Tip

Do you have your own BBQ stain removal tip to share? If so, submit your tip here, or read other tips which have already been submitted.

Get Even More Stain And Spot Removal Help Here

Are you a stain magnet like me? If so, check out the A to Z Stain Removal Guide which gives directions for how to remove over 100 types of stains from all kinds of surfaces.

Third photo by drcorneilus and fourth photo by rick

Related Pages You May Enjoy

A-Z Guide: Instructions For Removing Over 100 Types Of Stains

Baked Beans Stain Removal

Go From Barbecue Stain Removal To Home Page

CAUTION: This website is provided for informational purposes only. It is provided as is, without warranties or guarantees. Some stains and messes just won't come out, and are permanent. Further, some cleaning methods can harm your item, so if what you want to clean or launder is sentimental or expensive call a professional. See disclaimer of liability for more information.