How To Cook Salmon On The Grill
Learn How To Cook Salmon On The Grill without fear of sticking or falling apart. This foolproof recipe delivers crispy skin, juicy, flavorful fish, and pro tips for perfect results every time.
Learn How To Cook Salmon On The Grill So It Turns Out Perfect, Every Time
Making grilled salmon doesn’t have to be scary. But I admit, I was intimidated the first time I tried it, and I even went to culinary school! It just SEEMS like it’s going to stick to the grill, right? Maybe it’s just easier to bake sockeye salmon forever and ever?
Nah. Let’s fire up the grill! But don’t worry, we’re here to walk you through how to cook salmon on the grill successfully every time.
A flavorful marinade of garlic, soy sauce, Dijon mustard and maple syrup soaks into the rich salmon, creating a savory-sweet glaze that carmelizes on the grill. With a clean grill and a bit of know-how, the skin will crisp up to perfection while the flesh stays tender, juicy and flaky.
Heads up! You’ll need our salmon marinade recipe for infusing the fish with tons of flavor before grilling:
Why You Will Love This Salmon On The Grill Recipe
- Quick to prep, fast to cook. With just a 1 hour marinade and under 10 minutes on the grill, this is a weeknight-friendly recipe with restaurant-worthy results.
- Crispy skin, tender flesh. Cooking the salmon skin-side down first helps it crisp beautifully—no sticking or tearing.
Best Grilled Salmon Recipe Ingredients
A full recipe card, including exact ingredient amounts, appears at the bottom of this post.
- salmon – we love wild-caught sockeye salmon, which tends to be more flavorful than other varieties, but we’ve tested it with many different varieties of salmon and found that any kind of skin-on salmon fillets will work for this recipe for grilled salmon.
- nonstick cooking spray – SUPER important for coating the grill grates.
- marinade ingredients – see our Easy Salmon Marinade post for all of the details, but you’ll also need garlic cloves, soy sauce, Dijon, maple syrup, cider vinegar (lemon juice works, too) and olive oil.
- fresh herbs – for garnish. Fresh basil or parsley works well, or thinly sliced green onions.
How To Make Grilled Salmon Fillets
1. MARINATE. Whisk together all of the marinade ingredients in a small baking dish. Place the salmon, skin side down, into the marinade, then flip it so it is flesh side down. Refrigerate 1 hour.
2. GRILL. Brush your grill completely clean, then preheat the grill. Remove the salmon from the marinade and discard any excess marinade. Throughly spray the grill grates with cooking spray, then place each salmon filet, skin-side down, on the grill grates. Close the grill lid and cook until the skin is very crisp and has nice grill marks, and the fish is beginning to turn opaque, then carefully flip salmon filets and continue cooking until internal temperature of fish reaches 145 degrees F.
How Long To Grill Salmon
Cooking individual fillets of salmon on the grill takes 6 to 10 minutes or until the internal temperature of the fish reaches 145 degrees F. Cooking times can vary a bit depending on the thickness of the fish.
First, place the salmon, skin side down, directly on the clean, oiled grill grates. Cover the grill and cook 4 to 6 minutes or until skin is very crisp and the fish is beginning to turn opaque.
Now it’s time to flip. One thing I learned in culinary school (this is more about flipping an egg with just a flick of the wrist, but it applies here, too) is that CONFIDENCE is your best tool.
Don’t hesitate when flipping, and don’t freak out. Take a few deep breaths, and just get in there and quickly and confidently flip the fish. Once the fish is flipped, cover the grill again and cook 2 to 4 minutes longer.
If you have an instant read thermometer, the easiest way to check for doneness is to check for an internal temperature of 145 degrees F in the thickest part of the grilled salmon with skin. Having a thermometer is the easiest way to determine how long to cook this salmon on the grill recipe.
Home Chef Tips For The Best Way To Grill Salmon
- Start with a clean grill. If you don’t have a wire grill brush, run to the hardware store right now and get one. Really scrub that grill to get off ALL the crumbs and crusty bits, because those bits are what the fish will stick to. Fish will NOT stick to clean grill grates as much.
- You will be spraying those clean grill grates with nonstick cooking spray to add another layer of nonstick protection. Preheat your grill to medium-high and don’t spray the grill grates until JUST before you place the fish on the grill.
- Let the grill do its job. Resist the urge to move the fish around too soon. It will naturally release from the grill once the skin is crisp and ready to flip.
What To Serve With Grilled Salmon
The best grilled salmon recipe pairs well with a wide variety of side dishes. Here, it’s pictured with Seasoned Rice. A nice finishing touch is Dill Sauce For Salmon. Some of my other favorites include:
Potatoes
Vegetables
Recipe For Grilled Salmon Storage
If you have leftovers, transfer them to an airtight container and place them in the fridge uncovered for a few hours until they are fully chilled, then cover them with the lid and keep in the refrigerator up to 2 days, or freeze up to 3 months.
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Best Grilled Salmon Recipe FAQs
For optimal flavor and texture, grill the salmon directly on the grill grates! This allows the smoky essence of the grill to penetrate the flesh of the fish.
For the best way to grill salmon without it flaking apart excessively, ensure that your grill is properly preheated, and carefully handle the fish with a fish spatula, if possible. Its thin, flexible edge is perfect for sliding under delicate fillets without tearing them. Skip the tongs!
Yes, flipping the salmon is essential for even cooking.
This is not necessary, and it can also spread bacteria and compromise the fish’s texture and flavor.
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Best Grilled Salmon Recipe
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Ingredients
- 1 batch Salmon Marinade
- 4 skin-on salmon fillets about 1-1/4 pounds total
- Nonstick cooking spray
Instructions
- Make Salmon Marinade according to instructions in that recipe card. Place salmon, skin-side down, into marinade. Flip salmon so it is flesh-side down in the marinade. Transfer to refrigerator for 1 hour.
- Remove fish from marinade and discard excess marinade.
- Brush grill with wire brush to remove any crumbs or crusty bits, then preheat grill for direct grilling over medium-high heat. Spray grill grates throughly with cooking spray. Place salmon, skin side down, directly on grill grates. Cover grill and cook 4 to 6 minutes or until skin is very crisp and fish is beginning to turn opaque. Using heatproof spatula, carefully flip fish. Cover grill and continue cooking 2 to 4 more minutes or until internal temperature of fish reaches 145 degrees F.
Hi Lori – your salmon marinade is the bomb! As much as I looooove grilled Alaska sockeye salmon, I’m very sensitive to even the tiniest bit of “fishy” taste, which is predominantly contained in the gray fat layer between the filet & the skin, so I put a reverse twist on my grilling method. I place the fish flesh down first and finish off the cooking process once I’ve turned the fish skin side down. This allows the skin to crisp up and enables me to easily slide the spatula between the fish and the skin, removing only the fish. Then I gently place the fish flesh side down on a plate and using a knife I gently scrape off all of the fishy tasting gray matter before transferring the fish onto a serving platter. It scrapes off easily and takes only a minute to do. If one prefers to serve it skin-on, the crispy skin could be removed from the grill and the fish placed back onto it for serving, I hope my tip will encourage those who say they don’t like salmon because it’s too “fishy”. They don’t know what they’re missing. This method has turned some salmon hater friends into lovers.
We’re all about turning salmon haters into salmon lovers around here. Thanks for the tips, Cindy!