Flaky & Moist Traeger Smoked Salmon
This Traeger smoked salmon recipe uses a simple dry brine to make delicious, moist smoked salmon. It's super easy to make - brine it, dry it out, then place it on your wood pellet grill to smoke. Makes a perfect appetizer and just happens to be gluten-free!
Servings 16 pieces of fish
Equipment
- A bowl
- A large dish or plate
Ingredients
- 2 whole salmon cleaned, filleted, and cut into sections
Brine
- 2 cups brown sugar
- ½ cup kosher salt
- ½ tbsp garlic salt
- ½ tbsp ground black pepper
- ½ tbsp fresh dill
Instructions
- Measure out the brine ingredients and combine them in a mixing bowl.
- Place the fish in a single layer in a large dish or plate.
- Liberally cover the fish with the brine mixture, then place the dish in the fridge, uncovered, to brine for a minimum of 12 hours and up to 24 hours.
- Remove the fish from the fridge and rinse the brine off each piece. Pat the fish dry with paper towels.
- Use tongs to place the fish on the cold Traeger grill grates (or in the refrigerator) to let air dry for 4 to 6 hours. You can also dry it on a smoking rack if you have one, or on a cooking rack that sits in a sheet pan. Just make sure the fish stays out of the sun.
- Remove the fish from the Traeger. Heat the Traeger grill to 165 degrees F, then place the fish back on the grill skin side down.
- Smoke the fish until it reaches an internal temp of 135-140 degrees F and is opaque in the middle (roughly 3 to 4 hours).
Video
Notes
- Use apple or cherry pellets to give the fish a nice sweet smoke. If you want a stronger smoke flavor, use hickory pellets. I typically use the Traeger Signature pellet blend (affiliate link) as it works with many different types of meat.
- You can use a two tier rack like this one (affiliate link) to smoke more fish at once.
- Make this recipe paleo by substituting coconut sugar for the brown sugar. It works just as well and tastes great!
- Thick and thin pieces of fish will finish at different times, so check the thinner ones first!