Smoked salmon is perfect for feeding a crowd, but is just as easy to make in smaller quantities for easy and healthy weeknight dinners. This method calls for skin-on salmon, includes an optional brining step, and will get you perfectly smoky salmon in around 2 hours.
Ready to do this? Here’s what you’ll need.
Ingredients
- One Side of Skin-on Salmon
- 1 Tbsp. Olive Oil
- Your Favorite Fish Dry Rub or Seasoning
- 1 Cup Brown Sugar (optional)
- 1 Tbsp. Black Pepper (optional)
- 1/2 Cup Kosher Salt (optional)
- 1 Cup Cheap Vodka (optional)
Equipment
- 1 Offset Smoker, Pellet Grill, Ceramic Grill, or Charcoal Grill
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Prep the Salmon
Fortunately, there’s not a lot of trimming or prep work when it comes to salmon. You’ll just want to run through some quick quality checks before seasoning and putting it on the BBQ. First, it’s recommended that you use a skin-on piece of salmon. Sometimes this will even be sold as a “BBQ cut”. Cooked fish is delicate and if you’re not careful can easily stick to your BBQ grates. You’ll likely end up destroying your piece of fish just trying to get it off the grill. The skin provides a natural barrier against this and helps keep the filet intact. Plus, if you’re someone who enjoys eating salmon skin, this gets wonderfully crisp and smoky by the end of the cook.
If you can’t find skin-on, then follow the rest of this recipe with a piece of aluminum foil under the fish.
Now that you’re working with a nice piece of fish, you’ll want to do a quick once-over looking for 2 things. First, remove any rogue bones that may have snuck through the butcher process. Simply run your fingers along the length of the fish feeling for any bones poking just under the surface. If there are any, they are usually around the line running down the middle (since this is where the fish spine was). Simply pull them out using a pair of pliers or a paper towel for grip.
Second, trim off any loose pieces of meat or skin, as these will simply dry out during the cook. That’s it! Now we’re ready to put some flavor on this thing.
Brine the Salmon (Optional)
This step is optional because both brined and un-brined BBQ smoked salmon turns out great. Some of the benefits of brining are:
- Like all brining, helps to tenderize the meat and results in a more moist finished product
- Helps develop color on the fish
- The vodka can help neutralize any “fishy” smell or taste the salmon might have
Given enough time, brining the fish beforehand is great. If not, we’ve barbecued plenty of salmon without brining that is just as delicious.
If you decide to brine, simply mix the vodka, brown sugar, salt, and pepper together. Place the salmon in a sealable plastic bag and pour the brine mixture over it. Place the bag in the refrigerator for 2-4 hours.
Once done, Make sure to thoroughly rinse the brine off of the salmon before continuing on to the next step.
Season the Salmon
Before seasoning the salmon with dry rub, make sure you pat it dry with a paper towel. Apply the olive oil in a thin coat to act as a binder. This will help the dry rub stick to the fish better. In terms of flavor profiles, salmon is fairly versatile, but try something a little lighter in flavor. Think lemon pepper, seasoning with citrus notes, dried dill, or simply salt and pepper. If you need some inspiration, check out our Top Recommended BBQ Dry Rubs.
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Smoke the Salmon
Once seasoned, it’s time to cook! There’s no “right” temperature to BBQ salmon, but keep in mind that the hotter your temp, the quicker the salmon will cook, and the less time it will have to absorb smoke flavor. So, cook as hot as your timeline allows, but going as low and slow as possible will result in the smokiest taste.
For reference, cooking between 170-200 degrees (very low) will typically take 3-4 hours for the salmon to be done. Cooking between 200-250 will usually cut that time closer to 2 hours. Try starting out at a low temp and cooking there for as long as possible. If you find you need to finish things up sooner, you can always increase the cook temp to bring it home. We’ll typically start out around 200-225, and increase as high as 275 if our guests are getting hungry.
Place the salmon skin side down in your BBQ and smoke until it reaches an internal temp of 140-145. At this point, the fish should be somewhat firm to the touch, but with some give. It should also flake apart easily with a fork. Remove the salmon from the BBQ and let it rest for about 10 minutes.
Serving Suggestions
As we said, this is a super versatile piece of meat, and you can eat it just about any which way. Here are some of our favorite ways to serve BBQ smoked salmon:
- Straight up. Scrape the meat off the skin and dig in!
- On bagels. Refrigerate the salmon overnight (this amplifies the smoky flavor) and serve on everything bagels with cream cheese, tomatoes, red onion, capers, and lemon.
- Rice bowls. Serve over brown rice with veggies like cucumber, broccoli, snow peas, bell peppers, and topped with soy sauce and/or spicy mayo.
- Salads. Try mixing with greens, feta cheese, green olives, thin-sliced red onion, and a light vinaigrette.
Enjoy!
BBQ Smoked Salmon
Description
You may not think of salmon when you think of BBQ, but this fish lends itself perfectly to low and slow open flame cooking. The meat just soaks up smoke flavor, and it’s a cook that’s almost impossible to mess up. BBQ smoked salmon is completely versatile, and can be a main course or a side dish for breakfast, lunch, and dinner.
Things You Need
Ingredients
Equipment
Instructions
-
Prep the Salmon
Remove any remaining bones using pliers or a paper towel for grip. Trim off any loose pieces of meat or skin.
-
Brine the Salmon (optional)
Combine the vodka, sugar, salt, and pepper. Pour over the salmon and seal in a plastic bag. Refrigerate for 2-4 hours. Remove the salmon and rinse off the brine. Pat dry.
-
Season the Salmon
Apply a light coat of olive oil to the fish. Evenly sprinkle your favorite dry seasoning for fish. Gently rub into the fish to ensure the seasoning sticks.
-
Smoke the Salmon
Smoke the salmon for 2-4 hours, between 200-275 degrees, until the internal temperature of the fish reaches 140-145, or is mostly firm to the touch. Remove from the BBQ and let rest for 10 minutes. Shred and serve.
Note
Let us know how this recipe turned out for you! Leave a rating and drop a comment below - we love to hear from our readers.
one of the best things you can put in a bbq!
There is just something about the combo of smoke and salmon. so good.
I agree about brining. Do it if you want but it’s still delicious even when I don’t.
the best salmon
such an easy weeknight dinner
lean healthy dinner
amazing flavor on this salmon
so easy, so flavorful, highly recomend if you like fish
incredible!
“Like all brining, helps to tenderize the meat and results in a more moist finished product”
Brine (salt) draws moisture from the fish curing it, making it less tender.