How Long Do You Cook Salmon On The Grill
The salmon cooking time will depend on its thickness. A large, thick piece of salmon, closer to 1 ½ inches thick will take around 15-20 minutes at 400 degrees F. It will require the same time if baking in the oven.
Smaller, thinner, salmon, around 1-inch thick, will take closer to 10-15 minutes at 400 degrees F. Again, it will require the same time if baking in the oven.
Marinate The Salmon In The Foil
- The marinade is crucial to create grilled salmon EXPLODING with flavor. First, whisk together the marinade ingredients in a bowl: olive oil, orange juice, soy sauce, honey, brown sugar, mustards and seasonings, then pour it all over the salmon.
- Let the salmon marinate at room temperature for 20-40 minutes. Prep the grill the last 15 minutes of marinating.
Best Seasoning For Salmon
Salmon is a rich and slightly oily fish that can take a variety of seasonings and marinades very well. First, be sure to dry the salmon well and season with kosher salt, from there, you can your seasoning or marinade of choice. Here are a few options to season your salmon fillet:
- Dry salmon seasoning: Kosher salt and black pepper, adding equal parts garlic powder, oregano, cumin, coriander and Aleppo pepper.
- Lemon-garlic marinade: Lemon juice and zest, extra virgin olive oil, loads of chopped garlic, dried oregano, paprika, and black pepper. I use this marinade in my baked salmon recipe, so get more details about this marinade there!
- Spicy lime-harissa marinade: This marinade combines hot harissa paste with a little honey, lime juice, garlic, Aleppo pepper, ginger and warm spices to make the perfect spicy salmon marinade. .
- Herby Salmon Marinade: Lemon juice, EVOO, fresh mint, minced garlic, coriander, cumin, turmeric, black pepper and a dash of kosher salt. This is the marinade in my all-star grilled salmon recipe, and it is a hit every time!
- Pesto: Like in my Chilean sea bass recipe, you can slather a cooked salmon fillet with a herby green sauce like basil pesto or chermoula.
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Want To Make Salmon Packets With Vegetables
This grilled salmon in foil recipe can easily be made into individual salmon foil packets with veggies. Before marinating, slice the raw salmon into individual fillets and make a packet for each person, plan on 1-2 fillets per pouch. Make sure to leave room for some veggies.
Lightly grease the foil, add the salmon fillet, then pour the marinade over top. Marinate at room temperature for 30 minutes before adding the butter and veggies of choice. You will want to use quick cooking vegetables such zucchini, summer squash, asparagus, or cherry tomatoes. Avoid longer cooking vegetables such as carrots, broccoli or potatoes unless you par-boil or steam them first. Seal up the foil packet and grill per recipe instructions.
How To Grill Salmon In Foil: Some Tips

All you need to know for this one: what grill temperature for salmon, and how long to grill salmon in foil? 6 minutes with the foil closed, then 1 to 5 minutes with the foil open. Here are the pointers, or jump to the recipe below for all the specifics:
- Preheat the grill to medium high: thats 375 to 450 degrees.
- Place the salmon on foil. Brush it with olive oil and season it . Close the packet and seal it up.
- Grill 6 minutes with the foil packet closed. Then open the foil packet and grill 1 to 5 more minutes with the foil open, until the salmon is tender and pink or the internal temperature reads 125 to 130F at the thickest part.
Thats it! Spritz the salmon with lemon and serve. No flipping, no babying required.
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Best Ways To Season Grilled Salmon Recipes:
There are many different ways to season Grilled Salmon. Here are some of our favorites:
- Salmon and Lime Substitute the lemon for the lime and add cilantro instead of dill. I love the flavors of the lemon and cilantro together. We love adding fresh herbs to our salmon recipes.
- BBQ Salmon Change the flavors completely but brushing the salmon with BBQ sauce instead of butter. You can even make Homemade BBQ sauce with easy ingredients.
- Asian Flavored Salmon For an Asian flavored Salmon, add soy sauce to your foil pack. Soy sauce can be substituted for the butter with some added garlic.
- Sweet Salmon If you prefer a sweeter salmon, add about ¼ cup of brown sugar to the foil with some melted butter. Squeeze some lemon and season with salt and pepper on the salmon skin.
Choosing The Right Salmon
The most important part of ensuring you have a good end result is to make sure you start with a quality piece of fish. This doesnt necessarily have to mean fresh salmon. You can actually find decent frozen cuts of salmon that will work too. The real key is to find WILD caught salmon and not farmed salmon. The difference in taste is HUGE.
If you do go with fresh, look for it to be shiny and oily looking. If there is a dullness to it or any discoloration, leave it at the store.
Knowing what type of salmon you are buying helps too.
- Chinook is fatty and is delicious for almost any dish you want to make.
- Coho salmon is smaller than Chinook/King salmon, but just as delicious. We eat a lot of Coho and King salmon in this house!
- Sockeye is more flavorful but less fatty and works well too.
- Chum is not great for anything other than cat food, dont spend your money on it.
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Getting Your Foil Packet Just Right
When cooking salmon in foil, you want a nice sealed foil tent. Use enough foil so you can make a nice solid seal, but leave plenty of space.
The salmon should not be wrapped tightly because you want to create a sealed tentaround the salmon. All that room around the fish permits the steam to cook the salmon evenly.
So, make sure to use enough foil per piece. Lay the salmon in the middle, then lift the sides and bring them together over the piece of salmon. It will look like the salmon is safe and secure in a pup tent.
Roll the edge of the foil where they come together. You want that seal tight. The tighter the better. Keeping all the steam inside is a win.
Lay A Large Sheet Of Foil On A Baking Sheet
- Youll want a piece large enough to fully wrap around your piece of fish, with plenty of overhang on all sides to make a foil packet.
- I recommend using a heavy-duty foil or at least slightly thicker foil, as it is less prone to tearing.
- The baking sheet is there so its easy to carry to your grill. When youre done grilling, you can slide the foil packet right back onto it, then carry it straight to the kitchen .
- If you do not want your food to touch the foil directly, lay a sheet of parchment paper on top of the foil to act as a barrier. Cooking food directly in foil has been noted as a health concern by some, so do whatever makes you the most comfortable.
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The Best Salmon For Grilling
Whether youre working with wild-caught or quality, responsibly raised fish, the cut of salmon will make a difference. Here is what I look for grilling:
- Center-cut salmon fillet: The center-cut part of the fish t is thicker and more uniform so it will cook more evenly
- Skin-on salmon: Particularly if youre cooking it directly on the grill, it’s a good idea to use skin-on fish fillets. The skin holds the salmon together as it cooks over dry heat, and it also imparts good flavor as it releases fat that keeps the fish moist. But if you only have skinless salmon fillet, I recommend grilling the fish in foil instead.
Grilled Salmon Foil Packets
These grilled salmon foil packets are tender and juicy with a ton of flavor thanks to the lemon dill butter. They are easy to make, only take 12 minutes to cook and can be prepped ahead of time.
Grilled salmon foil packets are perfect for camping or any kind of outdoor entertaining where the grill is involved!
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Why Use Danish Creamery Butter
My husband and I both LOVE Danish Creamery Butter! Butter is all about flavor and luxurious creaminess and no one does that better than Danish Creamery you can literally taste the velvety, rich difference!
Danish Creamery butter is made with high quality cream from pasture-raised cows since 1895. Their European Style Butter boasts an 85% butterfat making it a dream in sauces, baking, or even just to spread on toast.
Add Danish Creamery Butter to this grilled salmon in foil recipe and instantly elevate your cooking!
How To Tell When Salmon Is Done

How can you tell when salmon is fully cooked? The number one mistake home cooks make when preparing salmon is overcooking it!
There are visual, texture, and precise indicators to tell if salmon is accurately cooked.
Visual / Texture Clues :
- Flesh changes from red and raw to pink and semi-translucent on the inside.
- Stick a knife into thickest part. The flesh should give way to the knife and pull apart.
- The inside should be slightly translucent with the exterior opaque.
- The white stuff, known as albumin, may start to push out of the flesh. That is an indicator the fish is overcooking. The more it cooks, the more albumin is pushed out.
Temperature of Cooked Salmon:
The USDA recommends for salmon to have an internal temperature of 145ºF . However, salmon at this temperature seems a bit overdone, in my opinion.
Salmon has a more ideal texture when cooked to medium well, which reads 125-130ºF on an instant read thermometer. Let it rest for 5 minutes and it will continue to cook a few degrees more.
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What Type Of Salmon To Use:
You can use any type of salmon! Just be sure if youre using salmon that was previously frozen that it is completely thawed before you grill it.
Atlantic salmon, king salmon, choho salmon, and sockeye salmon are all amazing. I personally prefer King salmon or Atlantic salmon because theyre fattier and therefore more flavorful and tender.
Tips For Easy Grilled Asparagus Recipe
- Use Thick Asparagus Stalks. While the flavor of thick and thin asparagus is the same, thicker asparagus spears are more tender than thinner spears. Thicker spears also dont fall through the grates as easily, and they can stand up to high-temperature grilling more easily than thinner stalks.
- When In Doubt, Use Foil or a Grill Basket. If you only have thin stalks , I suggest cooking them in a grill basket like this or on grill-safe foil. This will prevent your lovely spears from falling to a sad, fiery doom.
- Dry Your Spears. Asparagus needs to be trimmed and washed before cooking . Be sure to pat it dry to ensure it crisps and caramelizes. If it is too wet, it may steam.
- Oil Up. Dont be skimpy on the olive oil, as it is important to keep the tips from burning. Even with the oil, this simple grilled asparagus recipe is still healthy. Its packed with fiber, folate, and vitamins. Plus olive oil has health benefits of its own, such as antioxidants and beneficial fats.
- Season. Season. Season. Even simple kosher salt and pepper will do wonders. See below for more seasoning suggestions and topping ideas.
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Grilling Salmon In Tin Foil
I love, LOVE this simple grilled salmon in foil recipe because it provides dinner and a side in under 30 minutes! I really wish Id learned sooner how easy grilling salmon in tin foil is. And my kids are crazy about it, so that makes it a double win!
Add some fresh cut seasonal fruit or a simple side salad, and its one of the easiest dinners EVER to prepare. I feel kind of foolish for feeling so apprehensive about preparing salmon at home for all these years.
Can I Make Salmon Ahead Salmon
The salmon should only be marinated for 30-45 minutes then grilled right away. If you want to prep the recipe in advance, you can:
- Prep salmon: add the salmon to the lightly greased foil, seal and store in the refrigerator.
- Prep marinade: whisk the marinade ingredients together and store in an airtight container in the refrigerator WITHOUT the salmon for up to 3 days.
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What To Serve With Salmon:
- Easy Grilled Broccoli The texture of broccoli once grilled is so delicious. This is a must try with grilled salmon.
- Parmesan Grilled Zucchini With a few simple ingredients, this come together fast.
- Foil Pack Grilled Potatoes Clean up is so easy with these foil pack potatoes.
- Grilled Corn on the Cob The flavor of the grill makes corn on the cob even better.
Any of these would make a wonderful side dish to serve with grilled salmon. You will love having everything for a great meal on the grill.
This will keep the kitchen cool and cleanup a breeze. Dinner is so easy with these simple side dishes to complete the meal.
Make Sure To Pour The Foil Liquids On Your Fish
The melted butter, salmon fats, seasonings, and lemon that come out of these packets at the end of the cook time are liquid gold. If you are not eating these right out of the foil, then make sure to pour your lemon sauce over the fish.
All too often, people pour that out or forget about it. It is a ready made sauce that is perfect for you salmon. Plus it is great on a piece of bread or a scoop of rice too.
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What To Expect From Grilled Salmon In Foil
Making grilled salmon in foil is by far the easiest method for grilling fish out there. There are a few tradeoffs with Classic Grilled Salmon or Grilled Marinated Salmon, where you grill the fish right on the grates. Heres what to expect:
- Classic grilled salmon comes out with a crispy top and charred flavor. If you love a crispy top to your salmon, youll want to use this method instead. Cook it right on the grill grates, then flip and finish cooking.
- Grilled salmon in foil comes out perfectly moist. The top does not crisp up here, and you wont get as much charred grill flavor because the foil acts as a barrier. But this method is extremely easy and the fish comes out incredibly tender and delicious!
The difference is almost like the difference between a pan seared salmon and a poached salmon. Cooking in foil makes things moist instead of crispy, but its incredibly easy. Youll see the same interplay between our crispy grilled potatoes vs grilled potatoes in foil, or this charred grilled corn vs grilled corn in foil.
How Do You Bake Salmon In Foil Easy

- The first step is to get a baking sheet or tray with 1-inch high sides. Even though youre wrapping your salmon tightly in foil, you will need a baking sheet with sides just in case there is any leakage.
- I use two sheets of foil when wrapping my salmon to ensure it completely wraps around the width of the fillet.
- Once your sauce is done, drizzle it all over your fillet. THEN use a brush or spatula to get the sauce covering the entire fillet for those beautiful flavours to cook right through this fish, resulting in an incredible sweet, garlicky and salty flavour.
- Season your salmon with a little extra salt and pepper, then wrap your salmon tightly, sealing the edges together to create a perfect seal to prevent any sauce seeping through any gaps. You want your sauce to STAY in your fish, right?
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How To Cook Salmon On The Grill
Whether your salmon fillet has the skin on or without, using foil prevents the salmon from drying out.
Heavy duty foil works best, but regular aluminum foil may be used too. For best results, use a double layer of regular foil.
Why Grill Salmon In Foil
If grilling intimidates you this is a recipe youll love. Its made on the grill but you dont have to be a griller to make it.
There are many reasons grilling a foil packs is a great choice:
It holds in moisture so the salmon cooks from heat and steaming. It cooks through, is moist and delicious!
There is no risk of grill flare ups over cooking the salmon. And the salmon cant stick to the grill.
Easy serving .
Easy clean up. Once the food is served the foil can be discarded. No clean up of the grill either!
It makes a full meal in one packet!
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