Make your next Grilled Salmon AMAZING with a simple yet incredible Salmon Marinade that will infuse it with extra flavour! Bonus: it does double duty for basting and as the sauce for serving.
Plus, my very simple tips for cooking salmon on the BBQ – no more burnt salmon, and how to stop salmon from sticking to the grill!
Grilled Salmon
I feel like a lot of people are intimidated at the thought of cooking salmon on the BBQ. Fear of it sticking to the grill, of flaking into bits when handling it. Or of the sugar in marinades causing it to burn into a black bitter mess.
Ditch the fear! Cooking salmon on the BBQ is easy when you know a couple of simple tips that make all the difference. With THIS grilled salmon recipe, your salmon will be:
✅ caramelised but not burnt on the outside
✅ it won’t stick to the grill
✅ cooked to juicy perfection on the inside
✅ has extra insurance from a marinade just in case you cook it a bit over 😇
You’ll love how the Salmon Marinade is also used to baste the salmon AND as a sauce for serving!
(PS I totally manufactured the flare up you see below. Just cause I thought it looked cool! 😂)
Secrets to the best Grilled Salmon ever!
So here are my tips for perfect grilled salmon.
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Use skin on salmon fillets. The skin holds the salmon together much better when handling on the grill. Serve the salmon with the skin peeled off, or serve as is and let people decide for themselves!
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Drain excess marinade off the flesh side – set it aside for 10 minutes or so to really make the marinade drip off. (Skin side doesn’t matter as much because it’s not as fragile). This tip is especially relevant when you have sugar in the marinade.
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Drizzle with oil just before cooking. 🌟Key tip!🌟
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Brush grills generously with oil before heating BBQ
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Grill salmon on medium – or even medium low, if you know your BBQ is very strong. It is safer to cook on a lower rather than higher temperature. You can always cook for longer – but can’t undo a burnt mess! 🌟Key tip!🌟
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Put the flesh side down first – because you just oiled it, and it’s the more fragile side so it’s just safer to cook that side perfectly first. The skin side is hardier and can take longer cooking if needed. Plus, it’s a general rule to cook the presentation side first.
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Do not move the salmon once you put it on the grill.🌟Key tip!🌟 It will initially stick to the grills, then it will release once cooked (and don’t forget, we have extra insurance from oiling the flesh!)
If you’re a pro griller, you might feel confident enough to skip some of these. But for ordinary folk like myself you don’t want to risk the salmon, follow these for grilled salmon success every. Single. Time!!
How you know the salmon is cooked
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The side of the salmon changes colour from translucent to opaque; or
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The internal temperature of the salmon is 50C/120°F (medium-rare), or 55C / 130F (for medium). I cannot endorse cooking salmon beyond medium!
The Salmon Marinade
And here’s what goes in the Salmon Marinade. It adds a savoury-sweet-garlic flavour to the salmon and makes it beautifully caramelised.
Soy sauce is the key ingredient here. Because it’s salty, it acts as the brine, injecting flavour and juiciness into the salmon flesh. It does not make the Salmon taste Asiany!
Plenty of subs available, I’ve listed them in the recipe card.
What to serve with Grilled Salmon
If I’m cooking something non-Asian on the BBQ, it’s pretty much inevitable that grilled corn makes an appearance too.
Add a garden salad tossed with French Vinaigrette, Italian Dressing or a cooling German Cucumber Salad, plus some crusty bread rolls for a perfect warm weather BBQ dinner.
Or try one of these big-batch sides that keep great for days and days (and take some of the leftovers to work!):
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Bacon Potato Salad with a creamy mayo dressing
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Lemon Potato Salad (no mayo!)
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Coleslaw – or try this no mayo Cabbage Salad (I make this a LOT!)
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A big juicy Greek Salad – or try this Greek Lemon Orzo Salad (Risoni)
Please try to ignore the top left corner of the salmon in the photo below. You know full well I went to eat the salmon before I finished taking all the photos I needed.
I suppose my limited Photoshop skills are sufficient enough to have patched that up.
But then I decided to leave it so I could sign off with this vision: that split second when my mouth was wide open and the fork was just about to go in, when I realised that I’d forgotten to take the photo below.
Putting the fork down in a huff, pushing the piece of salmon back into place, climbing a little ladder, taking this photo, then 2 seconds later, that piece was gone. (And minutes later, so was that whole piece of salmon) 😂 ~ Nagi x
Watch how to make it
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Marinated Grilled Salmon
Ingredients
- 4 salmon fillets , skin on best (150-180g/5-6oz each, Note 1)
- Olive oil , for cooking
Marinade (Sauce)- Note 2:
- 1/3 cup (85 ml) soy sauce , low sodium
- 2 tbsp lemon juice
- 3 tbsp honey
- 2 tbsp olive oil
- 2 garlic cloves , minced
Serving (optional)
- Parsley, chives or green onion , finely chopped
- Lemon slices
Instructions
Marinating:
- Place marinade in a ziplock bag and mix to combine.
- Add salmon and massage to coat. Marinate for 3 - 24 hours (1 hr minimum).
- Take out of fridge 30 minutes prior to cooking.
- Remove salmon onto plate, allowing excess marinade to drain off.
Sauce (basting + serving):
- Pour remaining marinade into a small saucepan and simmer over medium high for 3 to 5 minutes until syrupy.
- Pour into bowl/jug (some used for basting, some for serving).
BBQ:
- Brush BBQ grills with oil. Then preheat to medium (or medium low for strong BBQ's).
- Drizzle salmon with oil, the place onto the BBQ flesh side down (skin side up).
- Cook for 3 minutes or until golden, then use tongs to carefully turn.
- Brush the flesh with Sauce, then close BBQ lid.
- Cook for 3 - 4 minutes, basting one more time halfway through, or until the internal temperature is 50C/120F(medium rare) or 55C/130F (medium).
- Transfer salmon to plate and serve with remaining Sauce.
Recipe Notes:
- Soy sauce - use light or all purpose soy sauce, preferably low sodium (but ok if not). Do not use dark soy sauce or sweet soy sauce.
- Lemon juice - sub cider vinegar, rice wine vinegar or white wine vinegar. Or 1.5 tbsp any other plain vinegar (white, balsamic, red wine, champagne etc)
- Honey - maple syrup or other sweet liquid, or 2.5 tbsp brown sugar.
- Olive oil - or other oil of choice.
- Garlic - fresh is best, otherwise 2 tsp from jar.
- Customise it - chilli flakes or dash of hot sauce, ginger, five spice, sweet chilli sauce. All of these would be great additions!
Nutrition Information:
More great things to grill
Life of Dozer
This weekend:
Me – lying on the sun lounge, soaking up the warm sun.
Dozer – standing over me, not only blocking the sun but also showering me with his slobber. Eeewww! Go away Dozer, leave me alone!
Super flavorful and easy to make. I struggle with flavor in salmon and this has so much. I cooked this on stovetop since I live in a dorm but still turned out amazing. I added some five spice powder and chillis for extra flavor.
Simple but tasty recipe. Great when I had little time but wanted to have salmon. Thank you!
My family thanks you Nagi for your amazing recipes. This salmon recipe was so easy and so delicious-it was fail proof. I have become a better cook because of your website. I have also gifted some of my adult children your cookbook. In addition to great recipes, the photography makes you feel like you could actually eat the meal off the page.
I love the salmon recipe. What a great taste.
Glad your cookbook is doing well, I received my copy in March. I decide to buy the book because I have been using recipes for about two years.
Best,
Zena
I’m a commercial fisherman in Alaska and I catch many thousands of pounds of salmon every year. I also eat a lot of salmon, most of it cooked on the grill. After years of grilling salmon and perfecting my recipe, I will confirm that this is a very good recipe, very close to what I do. I leave out the lemon but add a teaspoon of Old Bay seasoning in the marinade, fresh grated ginger is also very good.
Starting with the flesh side down on the grill is essential.
It will release from the grill when its ready to flip over.
Thanks Nagi, I refer to your recipes a lot.
I do not own a bbq as I live in a flat. How do I cook it in the oven instead? What’s the temperature setting suitable to cook the salmon? Nagi you’re simply the best! Love your recipes. Thank you so much!
Well I was desperately seeking a salmon recipe that didnt have alcohol, no miso(it has traces of alcohol, I found no alcohol soy(yay) (husbands pancreas went haywire and has to be extremely careful not to have any trace of alcohol -or it will send him back to emergency-and must be low fat) my ho to fir salmon is an old wild trout recipe from a magazine its yum but has miso and it hides the (yukky) fishy taste of salmon for me (I can handle seafood but fish nooo…tinned fish & f I sh fingers are about all I can do. Hubby loved loved lived this and ate more than he’s managed in a couple I f months, it didn’t hide the fishy taste for me…but when hubby’s not looking I plan to marinate some pork in this as a treat for me. Lovely marinade Nagi-thankyou
So yummy! Thank you so much! I lived in Alaska and I caught a lot of salmon! This is so perfect!
Hi Nagi! I’m new to this blog and loving the recipes! I’m in Manchester, UK, not very often BBQ weather! Would this recipe work in the oven, what temp and for how long? (I’ve still given 5 stars as I’m sure it’ll be delicious!)
Out of this world! I’m new to grilling and this was my first attempt at salmon. Turned out beautiful. I did sub the honey for swerve brown sugar substitute to drop the carbs a bit and it worked perfectly. Will definitely be making many times more!
I just found out I’m allergic to soy. Can I substitute aminos for the soy sauce? I have a bottle of this stuff but haven’t even opened it yet.
I haven’t cooked with it a lot Robin, but lots of readers use it as a soy substitute! N x
Thanks.
Awesome again, thank you Nagi!
Not a big Salmon fan but your recipe makes it amazing! Thank you so much for all your work.
Another cracker of a dish. Yum!
I don’t like salmon–at all. That being said, I have always WANTED to like salmon and therefore gave this a try. It was delicious! Thank you Nagi, for giving me a salmon recipe that I like! One question: the picture and video show pepper, but the recipe makes no mention of it. Which one is correct? I made it without the pepper.
Hi! I think that is a mistake on my part but you could make it with or without the pepper depending on how you like it. Glad we have converted you! N x
Can I use shrimp for this recipe? How long should I marinate?
Love it with salmon but want something different.
You could try it with prawns but just marinade them for about 15 minutes. They only need a brief time on the BBQ like 1-2 minutes until they just curl into a C-shape and are golden. You could also try this BBQ prawn recipe of mine: https://www.recipetineats.com/asian-grilled-shrimp-prawns-bbq-or-stove/ Enjoy! N x
Hi Nagi! I made a quick version , just pan fried and incorporated the sauce towards the end of frying. Great recipe for the sauce since It did not require sake and mirin which makes it more economical. Just use light soy sauce if you want it less salty.
Had this last night on the BBQ served with mixed Greek salad and it was delicious. Very easy to make and looked great served with chopped parsley and chives and drizzled with more of the marinade. Have bookmarked to use again and will definitely serve when we have friends over as it looks and tastes more impressive than simply BBQing plain salmon pieces. Thank you, love your recipes x
I usually detest the endless rambling at the beginning of recipes on the internet, but you had me when you admitted the flame was there because it looked cool. er… hot.
Easy and delicious, turned our perfect 😍
My marinade doesn’t thicken in the saucepan.. please help!