Smoked Trout Recipe

This smoked trout recipe is extremely easy and has a unique flavor that keeps me coming back. It involves a simple brine and a light smoke. Without using many ingredients, this recipe is easy and turned out phenomenal!

I wanted a simple recipe to highlight the natural flavor of this mild fish. So I went with a simple brine, stuffed with butter and lemon slices, and smoked it to the target internal temp. It couldn’t get any easier!

🍽️ Why This Works

👉Decadent Treat: The light texture of the fish pairs perfectly with the smoky flavors to create a masterpiece. You are used to eating this at high-end Sunday brunches, but it is so easy, it will be on your menu more often.

👉Just a Few Ingredients: This recipe requires a limited number of ingredients. The brine is a simple salt and brown sugar mix and then a bit of lemon and butter to gently add flavor while it smokes.

👉Makes An Amazing Dip: We have smoked this several times now and love how good it turns out and made it into smoked trout dip that never seems to make it to the table…which is why we don’t make it more often. We scarf that dip down so fast.

🐟 Ingredients

🛒 Trout – Use a freshwater rainbow trout. Other varieties, like the brown trout, work well too. I rarely find this in our traditional grocery stores, but my local oriental store carries it all the time. Check there if you are having trouble finding one. Even better, go fishing and bring some back! Whole Foods carries it and you can also look at all of the local fish markets.

🛒 Brine: The brine is a very simple salt and brown sugar mix that helps the flesh firm up. This wet brine does a remarkable job. Just make sure you rinse the fish well afterward.

🛒 Butter and Lemon: Pats of butter and slices of lemon are added to the cavity right before the fish goes in the smoker. You want the flavor of the fish to shine through, so it isn’t necessary to add other seasonings.

⏲️ Equipment and Tools

✔️Large Bowl – You will want to brine the fish in a large bowl. Make sure it is big enough to submerge the entire fish.

✔️Raised Baking Rack – After brining, the fish will need to rest and finish drying. The raised rack allows them to finish dripping while allowing all sides to be exposed to the air and dry.

✔️Smoker – Definitely need this as this is our cooking source. The recipe works perfectly on the Big Green Egg or Kamado style grill/smoker along with the pellet grill or smoker versions of Traeger, Pit Boss, Memphis Style, and Camp Chef.

The electric version of Masterbuilt that uses propane will work great for this fish as well.

✔️Smoking Wood Chips Or Chunks – For this delicate fish I recommend you stick to fruit woods like apple, cherry, or pear or another mild wood like alder. It will add a delicate smoke flavor that will naturally complement your fish.

🔥 Instructions

🍲 Preparing & Brining

🔹Step 1: Rinse the trout thoroughly under cold water to get rid of impurities.

🔹Step 2: To create the brine, mix about one gallon of water with one cup of brown sugar and one cup of kosher salt. Keep stirring until it is dissolved and place the fish in the container to soak for about 6 hours in the refrigerator.

🔹Step 3: After six hours, take the fish out of the brine, rinse them well, and lay them on a raised baking tray. Pat it dry with a paper towel to remove any excess moisture, cover it with Press-N-Seal, and set it back in the fridge overnight to develop the sticky pellicle.

🔥 Smoking the Trout

🔹Step 4: Add a small amount of charcoal to the grill and light. I dropped in my homemade fire starter and let the grill heat up.

After about 30 minutes, the charcoal was burning nicely.  Add the plate setter to the Big Green Egg or Kamado Grill and close the top and bottom vents to less than 1/4”.

After another 10 minutes, the temperature was stabilized at 225°F and it was time to put the fish on the grill.

Note: If you are using a gas grill, turn off the center burners and adjust the outside burners to bring it to the desired temperature. You will also need a smoking box to create the alder smoke.

🔹Step 5: Soak your wood chips in a bucket of water. I used alder, but a nice fruitwood will work wonderfully as well.

🔹Step 6: Optional – Add three pads of butter and a couple of lemon slices to the body cavity and another couple of slices of lemon on top. If you prefer, you can skip this step. A simple, plain smoked trout is delicious!

🔹Step 7: Right before putting the fish on the grill, add the smoking chips.  If you are using a Kamado grill, use the grate tool to lift the plate setter slightly and drop in about half of the wood chips. No problem.

🔹Step 8: Set the fish directly on the grate.

Note: The skin may stick a bit when you remove it, but it isn’t a big deal, as the meat will flake off easily. Use some olive oil on the grating to minimize the chances of it sticking.

🔹Step 9: Keep an eye on the temperature of the grill and make sure it stays less than 225°F. Pellet smokers should have no problem staying at the temperature as you dial that in.

That can be a bit of a challenge with the plate setter in there. It may continue to heat up and can cause problems later in the cook.

If it does start to get too hot, add a disposable pan filled with ice cubes between the grate and the plate setter. Try to close the vents a bit more too.

🔹Step 10: With about an hour left in the smoke, add the rest of the smoking chips. Unlike many foods, I wasn’t too worried about it becoming too smoky, as the outside skin would collect most of the smoke flavor, but it is later discarded.

🔹Step 11: Smoke it until the internal temperature of the fish reaches 160°F (use a meat thermometer for an accurate measurement).  This took about 2 – 3½ hours, but the amount of time will vary significantly, so keep checking the temperature.

As expected, when it was time to take them off, the skin stuck to the grate a little.  Not a big deal. After a little coaxing, I managed to remove the fish and allowed it to sit on a tray to rest for 5-10 minutes.

Make sure to oil the grill grates and consider oiling the bottom of the fish that will stay on it.

📌 Expert Tips

💡Picking the Meat – After it cools, it is time to pick the meat. They are very bony fish and the best way I found to remove the meat while minimizing the number of bones was to peel the skin of the fish up from the belly to the dorsal fin (on top) to expose the fillet.

The spine is about ½” below the top of the fish, so use your finger to pull the meat away from above the spine. You’ll quickly feel the bones.

After the top meat is removed from one side of the fish, you should see the exposed spine. Slowly peel the fillet below the spine, down towards the belly. With any luck, the bones stay attached to the spine, and meat comes off easily.

With one side of the fish cleaned of meat, hold the tail in place and gently lift up on the spine from the tail to the head.  Do it gently, so the spine and all the bones lift up. That leaves the fillet easy to remove from the other side of the fish.

I can almost guarantee you’ll still get a few bones in the meat, but I definitely had a lot fewer on all of the fish I tried after that. So, practice definitely helps here.

💡Wood Selection – Choose a mild wood variety like alder or fruitwood. Apple, cherry, and pear work exceptionally well.

Stay away from the more intense flavors like mesquite or hickory. Those woods impart an extremely strong flavor that overtakes the mild flavors. Consult my free smoking wood chart for more options.

💡Smoke Consistency. Trout has a subtle flavor that can easily become overpowered by too much smoke. Maintain a consistent smoke flow – add more wood chips if needed during smoking, and avoid using too many from the start. A light trickle rather than large clouds should be your goal.

💡Fillets Instead Of Whole Trout. Smoking fillets will be faster than smoking the whole fish. You can brine the fillets the same as you do the whole fish then smoke them at 225°F like we did these smoked mackerel fillets.

💡Buy Fresh. When buying fish for smoking, it’s always best to get the freshest ones. Choose small to medium-sized fish and look for bright, clear eyes, firm texture, mild (almost clean) fishy scent, and bright red gills.

🍱Storage & Reheating

The best tip I could possibly offer for this recipe is: Make more than you need! You can eat this cold or warm, with a side, or as part of various dishes.

Keep in the fridge for up to 3-4 days according to the USDA, or in the freezer for up to 3 months.

❄️Storage

🔹I find it best to pick the trout free of bones as much as possible. Then I refrigerate the meat in a Ziploc bag or airtight container.

🔹For freezing, I usually wrap it Press-N-Seal first, but you can also use cling film or aluminum foil.

I then add it to the freezer bag as an extra layer of protection. You don’t want this to get those freezer burns or smells.

Note. If using a bag, try to press as much air out of the bag as possible prior to sealing to minimize the chances of freezer burn.

🎛️Reheating

Warm leftovers nicely next to almost any side dish for a luxurious meal.

Your main goal should be to keep the meat moist as it warms up. Here are some ways you can gently reheat:

🔸Thawing. This is best done slowly in the fridge before reheating using any method.

Do not thaw cooked fish at room temperature. This is not safe for any food, but fish is more susceptible to bacterial contamination than most.

🔸Oven. To reheat in the oven, start by preheating it to 275°F (135°C).

Place in an oven-safe dish or baking sheet.

Optionally, add a few tablespoons of water or vegetable or chicken stock to keep the meat moist.

Lightly cover with aluminum foil.

Reheat for 10-15 minutes or until heated through.

🔸Grill. You can also reheat on the grill.

Preheat it to a low temperature of 225°F to 275°F (107°C to 135°C). We need low heat to reheat this flaky meat.

Wrap in aluminum foil.

Add a small cube of butter or a few teaspoons of olive oil to keep the fish moist.

Grill for 5-10 minutes flipping halfway through.

🔸Microwave. Place on a microwave-safe plate or dish.

Cover with a damp paper towel so the meat doesn’t dry out.

Use the reheat or a low-power setting in 30-second intervals.

Check between intervals and serve once heated through.

🐟 How Does It Taste

I was extremely surprised by how mild and tender the smoked trout was. The heavy smoke smell of the skin turned into a mild, well-balanced flavor of the meat.

The trout meat can be eaten warmed or cooled. You have to love that! I had some crackers, cream cheese, and a bit of smoked fish. Oh my! Such a simple and tasty combination!

🌿Additions & Substitutions

▶️Brine Variations. My 3-ingredient trout brine only has water, salt, and brown sugar so it’s easy to add in fresh herbs like dill, thyme, or bay leaves for some extra flavor. Some black peppercorns or mustard seeds make great brine seasonings. You can also substitute the brown sugar for another sweetener like honey or maple syrup. Each has a unique flavor that will blend with the rest in a different way.

▶️Stuffing Alternatives. Plenty of fun options here! I will sometimes add sliced garlic or onions to the body cavity and some fresh herbs are a good idea as well. You can also try other citrus fruits instead of lemons, such as oranges, grapefruits, and limes.

▶️Butter Alternatives. As much as I love butter for smoked trout not everyone likes it or wants to eat it. Olive oil or a plant-based butter substitute are good dairy-free options.

🍽️ Ways To Use

Here are some excellent ways to use your smoked fish.

👉Salad Topping. Make your favorite salad and lay a few slices on top of the bed of greens.

👉Spread. Mix together a couple of tablespoons of softened butter with a tablespoon of chopped fresh dill in your mini food processor to create a nice spread for sandwiches or crackers.

👉Fish Dip. Make a delicious smoked trout dip. Mix cream cheese, yogurt, and chives together in the mini processor. Hand mix with the mixture to keep the larger pieces. If you want to mix it up a bit more, add the zest of one lemon. Another variation is to add 1-2 minced garlic cloves. You just want a little flavor from those, so be careful not to overpower the dish.

You can also make this smoked salmon dip, but replace the fish with your smoked trout.

👉Sandwich. Create a nice bagel with softened cream cheese and lay a couple of slices on top like you would lox.

👉Bread Or Crackers. We have also seen people do a simple bread/cracker with avocado and the smoked fish. Three ingredients and that’s it.

👉Mac’n Cheese. The big one that I’m anxious to try is to make a “grown-up” macaroni and cheese with the fish using fontina and gruyere cheeses. This would be a fabulous adaptation of my smoked mac and cheese recipe. Gently mix in the fish before baking off so you still have those nice pieces in each bite!!

The options are really endless but at least you have a great idea of where to start!

🥗Serving Suggestions

This recipe is perfect served either warm or chilled. I love it for a nice Sunday brunch. Consider these side dishes.

⭐Smoked & Grilled Veggies. This is a fantastic pairing and the milder tasting vegetables will let the amazing flavor of the fish shine. We love smoked asparagus bundles, grilled broccolini, grilled corn on the cob, grilled sweet onions, grilled baby potatoes, and Asian bacon green bean bundles next to smoked fish such as trout.

⭐Potato Salad. You can’t beat this classic BBQ side. The only possible upgrade is a smoked potato salad. Plan to make some extra because everyone will ask for seconds!

⭐Creamy Dill Sauce. Try a slightly tart sauce made with sour cream, lemon juice, dill, and capers next to the fish on your plate. It brightens up the dish so much!

⭐Fresh Green Salad. Mixed greens, crunchy veggies, and a light vinaigrette pair well with most smoked meats, including fish. If you’re looking for a special treat for your next BBQ cookout try my grilled peach and arugula salad.

⭐Creamy Polenta. A warm and soft polenta with some melty cheese on top sounds like a match made in heaven for smoked trout. It’s also easy to make in a larger batch and feed a crowd if needed.

⭐Artisan Breads. If you don’t have access to fancy options like sourdough bread or baguettes, a simple homemade no-knead bread or easy soft pretzel bites will be met with the same enthusiasm, if not more.

⭐Sauteed Greens. Spinach and kale, tossed in a pan with garlic are two more light sides to pair with all seafood dishes. With such a short cooking time, they are great for busy weekdays. Reheat some leftovers and you have dinner!

🎣 More Smoked Fish Recipes

Fish smokes faster than most meats so it can satisfy cravings quickly. If you loved this brined smoked trout, I’m sure you’re tempted to try smoking other fish!

🐟This gently smoked cod will delight you with its natural sweetness and light, flaky texture.

🐟Honey-basted smoked salmon feels like a royal treat any day of the week! The brine, dry, smoke approach and a simple honey glaze elevate this fish to new heights.

🐟I’m also a big fan of smoked Pacific rockfish. It has a unique, mild taste that turns into an incredibly satisfying meal when smoked.

🐟It’s definitely worth exploring bolder flavors too. Smoked mackerel is a good example. Excellent on its own or in various dishes and recipes like salads, dips, sandwiches, and rice bowls.

🐟Smoked tuna steaks are delightfully meaty and also have a more robust taste profile that will satisfy even the most seasoned taste buds.

❓Recipe FAQ

Other Smoked Recipes

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