Tender Grilled Salmon
This simple grilled salmon (can also be foil-baked!) made with every day pantry ingredients is out of this world delicious! Tender and so flavorful!
Because making and serving salmon to my family is a bit of a rare occurrence around here (thanks to a larger family and a bursting at the seams grocery budget), I treat the whole process with great respect.
Meaning, I’m not going to waste my time experimenting on iffy new recipes when I already have a few tried-and-true favorites.
This tender grilled salmon is my go-to for salmon 99% of the time (with this maple pecan crusted salmon a pretty close second favorite). If you’ve made this grilled salmon, you probably understand why.
Everyday, simple ingredients prove they are so much more than a sum of their parts in this recipe resulting in the most tender, flavorful, delicious salmon ever.
While this salmon is amazing grilled, it is also fantastic wrapped in foil and baked in the oven (or tossed right on the grill in foil).
What you lose in golden crispy grill marks you probably make up for in concentrated flavor as the salmon bakes in the foil packet.
During the summer months, I usually cook the salmon right on the grate of my grill (this CampChef pellet grill). I’ve never had an issue with the somewhat fragile salmon sticking to the grill.
Here are my two tips: 1) preheat the grill for at least 15-20 minutes, and 2) oil the grates with a pastry brush dipped in canola or avocado oil right before adding the salmon.
But since salmon is often on the menu when we have company passing through town* in less pleasurable grilling months, I very often employ the foil packet method in the oven, and it is such an easy way to make perfect salmon.
*Don’t worry, if you are one of my family members or friends that gag at the thought of seafood or salmon (I know who you are), I promise to take seafood completely off the menu when you stay with us and choose some other deliciousness to serve you; we’ll save the salmon for those that love it as much as we do.
That last disclaimer has me super curious, actually. If you have a second, I’d really love to know:
Are you a salmon lover or a salmon hater?
Do tell. I’m fairly sure I’m mature enough to handle the response and continue our friendship despite your response.
I’ve had a lot of really great salmon in restaurants over the years (it’s one of my top choices if on the menu), but I can honestly say that this home cooked tender grilled salmon rivals them all.
So simple to prepare, you know it has to be good if it’s still a favorite after nearly a decade!
And served, as pictured, with homemade buttermilk biscuits and that ridiculously yummy summer roasted veggie orzo salad, it is one of the best meals ever.
What To Serve With This:
Summer Roasted Vegetable Orzo Salad or Roasted Potato Salad
Buttermilk Biscuits
Tender Grilled Salmon
Ingredients
- 1 ½ pounds salmon fillets, preferably skinless
- Lemon pepper seasoning, to taste
- ⅓ cup soy sauce
- ⅓ cup brown sugar
- ⅓ cup water or low-sodium chicken broth
- ¼ cup oil, like vegetable, canola, or olive oil
- 1 teaspoon garlic powder or 2-3 cloves garlic, finely minced
- Pinch of red pepper flakes, optional
Instructions
- Season salmon fillets on both sides with lemon pepper.
- In a bowl or liquid measuring cup, whisk together the soy sauce, brown sugar, water (or broth), oil, garlic powder, and red pepper flakes (if using) until sugar is dissolved.
- Place the salmon in a large ziploc bag or shallow dish and pour the marinade over the top, coating the salmon evenly. Refrigerate for at least 2 hours or up to 8 hours.
- Preheat grill to medium heat.
- Clean the grates well and lightly coat in oil. Grill the salmon (discarding excess marinade) for 5 to 7 minutes per side, depending on thickness, until the salmon flakes easily with a fork and the flesh looks opaque. Plan on about 10-14 minutes total cooking time for every inch of thickness (and add about 10 minutes for each additional inch). I find it’s easiest to flip on the grill using a large, flat, metal spatula vs tongs so the salmon doesn’t fall apart.
- Alternately, the salmon can be baked (or grilled in foil). After marinating, wrap each salmon fillet in a foil packet (I like to drizzle a tablespoon or so of marinade over the top before sealing the packet).
- Grill for about 15 minutes or bake in a 400 degree oven for about 15 minutes (again, exact time will depend on the thickness of the salmon).
Notes
Recommended Products
Recipe Source: slightly adapted from an old blog no longer online (whowantsdinner.blogspot.com); looks like it’s originally from AllRecipes
Recipe originally posted May 2008; updated with new photos, recipes updates and notes.
124 Comments on “Tender Grilled Salmon”
I’ve benefited from so many of your recipes over the years, Mel, it’s probably time I shared something back! I’m not always great about remembering 2-8 hours in advance to marinate, so I’m a sucker for a spice rub. My all time favorite quick salmon recipe comes from our friends who raised their family for many years/decades in Alaska and continued to fish Alaskan salmon after they moved. We were lucky enough to receive some as a Christmas gift one year with this recipe. SO good. I’ve never tried the basil because I can’t get over how yummy the dill is!
Simple Pan Fried Salmon
(ready in 15 min, if thawed. Thaw salmon in fridge overnight or 20-30 min in cold water)
1 T. garlic powder, 1 T. dried dill or basil, 1/2 tsp. salt
3-4 pieces of salmon
2 T. butter
Lemon wedges
In a small bowl, mix spices and rub on flesh of salmon. Melt butter in frying pan over medium heat. Cook salmon in butter with fleshy side down for 5 min. Turn pieces over to skin side down and cook 5-8 minutes more depending on thickness. Serve with lemon. Enjoy hot!
Thanks for all you share, Mel!
Thank you so much, Lori! I’m excited to try this!
Just made this tonight for a friend and our own family who does not eat a ton of fish. Everyone loved it! Great recipe and great flavor! We grilled it in the foil – worked great and it was delicious! Thanks again – you never disappoint!
So yummy! Loved the flavor! I don’t have easy access to a grill, so I put the salmon in foil packets and cooked it in the oven. I only cooked it for 10 min. and it was a bit dry, so I’ll cook it for less time the next time I make it.
Delicious!
The salmon was seriously fabulous! I just made it for the first time tonight and everyone was a HUGE fan! I ended up baking them in foil and it was absolute perfection. I wish I would have made your other recipes that complimented this but will try next time. Thank you for sharing your wonderful recipes -in such an organized, helpful way. I would love to know how you learned to be such a good cook and so organized 🙂
Thanks for the comment, Daniela! I love this recipe – even after all these years and I’m glad you liked it, too!
Love grilled salmon. Not so much foil wrapped. It seems that 90% of the time it’s salmon mush. Grill with no foil is my tip every time!
I feel i have to leave a comment on this recipe. I started making this about 2 1/2 years ago and it has made me look like a rock star every. single. time. It is the birthday meal of choice (along with the buttermilk biscuits and orzo salad) of more than half my family. The last 3 times I have ordered salmon in a restaurant I have been disappointed because it wasn’t NEARLY as good as this salmon. This recipe makes the most tender, non fishy, flavor exploding salmon I have ever had. Bar none. Thank you from the bottom of my salmon loving heart!!!
Mel this is SOOOOO good oh my gosh I could go on and on!!! I’ve done it with salmon and tilapia and both were amazing! I use a cedar plank on the grill. YUM!! I also heat the marinade on the stove with 1 tsp arrowroot starch or cornstarch until slightly thickened and serve with the fish. HEAVEN!!!
Making this for dinner tonight. I am not a salmon lover but my husband is. I know he will enjoy it!
Hello Mel
Am I able to make this dish using 1 x whole salmon fillet? If so, I imagine you suggest I bake it instead?
Yes, I think so!
Hi Mel I made your salmon dish using a whole fillet of salmon which I marinated for 4 hours first then grilled in a oven tray for 20 mins on middle shelf. I needed to raise the grid higher up In the oven to crisp the top just before serving which I will do next time. Needless to say It tasted brilliant and will be my ‘go to’ salmon dish forever! Am Making it again this weekend for visitors together with your roast potatoes.
This is so good. We had this last night and I can’t get enough how tender and delicious it is. It was so easy to make and my whole family loved it. We paired ours with some asparagus.
I’ve made this recipe 2 times in the past 2 weeks. It was a hit. My 5 year old is such a picky eater and he ate it!!! I was in awe. I kept on poking my husband so he would look over at him. He usually just sits there and asks for a piece of bread for dinner because most often he won’t eat what we are having. I usually have to feed him like a baby so he’ll take a couple of bites. It was truly magnificent!!!! Thanks for all your amazing recipes!!!
Wow, I just made this salmon. It was amazing! The marinade made the salmon so flavorful. I actually made the whole meal (roasted vegetable orzo salad and buttermilk biscuits) and it was a hit. My family loved it and with minimal effort, we had such a great family meal. Thank you!
So happy you loved this, Jennifer!
Mel, this was SO good! My kids kept professing, “I don’t like salmon”, as they heaped another helping onto their plate. I am always nervous buying salmon since we live in MN, but I am so happy I spent the $$$ to try this recipe! My salmon didn’t stick at all with your instructions, and I will definitely make this again.
I’m so happy to hear this, Melanie! Thank you!
What are the baking directions for the oven? It looks great!
It’s in step #7 of the recipe. 🙂
Awesome! I made this for July 4th with a group of relatives. Everyone who loved salmon and tried it loved it. I call this a hit! Thanks Mel!
So happy to hear this, Linda!
I’ve seen several comments about “fishy” salmon. I know that “fishy” is difficult to define as in what is fishy to one person compared to another…
However, fresh wild salmon (or halibut/code/prawns/scallops) does NOT smell or taste “fishy” to me. But caveat … as in my original comment, I pay $$$ for salmon processed/frozen on the boat and not thawed until I thaw it. I think store/fish counter thawed salmon is hit or miss as to freshness and so it CAN smell/taste “fishy” if it has been mishandled.
My preferred source is Vital Choice but I know there are other Alaska/North Pacific/North Atlantic suppliers that do on the boat process/freezing. I think that if you have the budget/desire for the healthiest seafood, it is worth finding that type of source.
I am also not a fan of marinade and/or much processing of really fresh seafood. Super fresh seafood does not need much: citrus/oil-butter/salt-pepper-garlic. Sear-braise and lightly drizzle a sauce maybe … But that’s me 🙂
I always say I don’t like seafood, but to be perfectly honest, I’ve never tried salmon. I just can’t get past the smell. It totally turns me off. I was the same way with Chinese food until I was about 19 or 20 when I finally got brave enough to try it. I just couldn’t stand the smell of that either. Maybe one day I’ll get brave enough to try salmon, but I’m not promising anything.
I WANT to like salmon. I really do. Seafood has been a whole new adventure for me since I’ve been married. And it’s not because I wasn’t introduced to seafood as a child- my parents love seafood. But for years my mom would bake me a chicken breast while everyone else had fish. Over the last ten years of married life, I have grown to like shrimp, crab, lobster, halibut and tilapia (all the milder flavors),, but salmon is still too fishy for me. It’s my husband’s very favorite meal ever so I cook it occasionally for Father’s Day or his birthday. I am excited to try this recipe! Hoping it’s the one that converts me
I hope so, too!
My family doesn’t like other kinds of fish, but they love my cedar-planked teriyaki salmon recipe. I bet they’d like this recipe!
We love salmon in our house, but the quality definitely varies widely. The difficult part is that I haven’t always found that the price dictates the quality. So since it is a pricey meal for the grocery budget once I find a source that we like, I just stick with it. The same for the recipes we use, as you said you don’t want to waste your time on iffy new recipes. I have 3 tried and true salmon recipes that I stick with. My favorite being a skillet recipe which I never thought would work well but so glad I tried it because it’s quick and so so good. I trust your recipes so I’m going to venture out and try this one!
Made this recipe for the family (using the oven baked version) and got rave reviews!
I love salmon, and my kids are coming around to eating it since I make it often. I saw Cook’s Country cook salmon a few months ago, and I’m glad I jotted down their recipe because it’s simple and delicious. I want to add your orzo salad as a side next time we make it. Thanks!
I’ve been stuck in a food rut and thanks to your amazing recipes I’m finding so many exciting choices that I can hardly wait to try. This salmon sounds fantastic.
This sounds delicious! Always looking for more ideas on how to fix salmon.
I am not a huge fan of seafood but I do like salmon. I am like you though that it does not fit into the grocery budget well. I made some a few weeks ago for me and the hubby (kids won”t eat it) and my husband said it was good but he could not get past the texture and the fact that he was eating fish. Not his favorite food. So we won’t be seeing that on our menu often since he can’t handle it.
Growing up my mom would make salmon and eggs for dinner, which was just cheesy scrambled eggs with canned salmon in them. It was one of my favorite things she would make. She would make it with roasted potatoes and a veggie.
I love salmon…if it’s done right. If it’s done poorly, it’s gross. This, however, looks delicious! I’m going to have to try it!
First I was just thinking of a good biscuit recip so thanks. Second we do tilapia a lot. I’ve had salmon when my dad caught it and made it with lemon. Yum!
Count me in! A salmon lover all the way! Delicious!
I hated all seafood until I got my first job at Skipper’s in Idaho Falls. It took months of cooking it on a daily basis before I tried it. I worked my way up to liking fried shrimp first, then fried fish and clams and finally baked fish. I still can’t stomach oysters though, not even fried. I love salmon now too. My favorite way to cook it is foil baked in a buttery rosemary and orange zest glaze. Looking forward to trying out this new recipe!
We all love in in my family, & I don’t make it near enough. Plus, it’s so good goid for you!!
I’m so excited to try this! This will be so yummy on the traeger!
I have never commented on a website before this . I was a salmon hater but my New Years resolution was eat salmon once a week and do meatless Monday’s . For our health and to get out of a food rut . I will definitely try this recipe , I trust you. Have made many things from your website and they have all been great .
Thanks for the comment, Cindy! I hope you like this if you try it!
We love grilled salmon. It’s our go to “formula meal” for company. Butter lemon & herbs melted on stove pour on fish then grilled on gas grill outside in ALL weather! With near east rice , green veggies & salad. When ordered in a restaurant we r usually disappointed cause my husband cooks it better at home! I’ll buy whatever salmon looks good at store but for special guest will splurge for really good stuff from the fish market $$s!
That sounds amazing!
I would love to send you some fresh Alaskan Salmon if you would like. A little return of payment for all the times you have saved my meal preparation. Let me know 🙂
Haha, I honestly don’t know if you are being serious or not, but how could I say no to that? 🙂
I am being totally serious. I’ve been a reader since the beginning and it would be a small way to give back since you’ve shown me how to feed my large family and stay sane. Just send me an email (I’m guessing you can see the email I put in when commenting?)
Hey Sarah – you are so sweet! Seriously! I almost feel guilty for taking you up on this. I can imagine that could be costly to send salmon from Alaska, so if you reconsider, NO WORRIES!
just tell me where to send it.
I think I’m the only non-salmon lover who is commenting on this… No matter how many times I try it, or how hard I try, I simply cannot enjoy it. Believe me, I have tried. The same goes for all types of seafood and fish. Wish I could, but I can’t. I do have to say, however, that I know enough about you and your kitchen prowess that if ever I was presented with your recipe, I would definitely try it. Who knows? I just might enjoy it.
You know, I definitely think there’s some genetic predisposition to seafood (kind of like the cilantro theory)!
Mmm, Salmon. I have an absolute love affair with Salmon and this recipe sounds divine. I am with you with not wanting to mess with it too much, it is such a decadent dish that you don’t want to overshadow it. We are going to Canada in four weeks time for a cruise holiday (of a life time) for our 30th Wedding Anniversary, I think I will be eating my body weight in Salmon every opportunity I get. Thanks for another fab recipe, you rock. Have a lovely day.
Fi
Oh, happy anniversary! That trip sounds like a dream!
My husband LOVES salmon, and any sort of fish really, but I mostly detest fish, except for particularly good fried fish & chips, which is difficult to find at restaurants anymore, even in New England. Fortunately, we both enjoy King Crab, lobster, shrimp, snow crab, and bay scallops, and I do keep Trying salmon hoping I’ll develop a taste for it, but no luck so far. I do prepare it for my husband, however, so I’ll be using your recipe next time I make it for him, and will try to like it again! He loves everything from the water or sea, including oysters, mussels, whole-belly clams, etc.
As a kid, I’d liked haddock, cod, and canned tuna, plus fish sticks and fish cakes. Shellfish hadn’t come my way until I’d been in my 20’s, but upon being introduced to it, I’d hated it. Curiously, somewhere along the way into my 30’s, my tastebuds did a complete about face, and since then I’ve loved most shellfish, but can barely abide fish at all. Tuna salad sandwiches and macaroni salads with tuna had been big favorites of mine while growing up, but have revolted me since my 30’s. Similarly, apart from a fresh lobster corn chowder or a fresh lobster roll, and as much as I love lobster, crab, shrimp, and scallops on their own, I am not a fan of shellfish in things like Chinese food or casseroles, either.
It really puzzles me having such fickle taste buds, and I don’t understand it at all, so I still try things on occasion, wondering when or if they might undergo another unexpected change!
That’s so interesting about your change in shellfish preference, Katwyn! (And the newer aversion to tuna) Food is a funny, funny thing! I like your philosophy though – keep trying just in case there’s been a change! 🙂