Grilled Trout with Fresh Herbs, Garlic and Lemon

It’s easy to cook up whole grilled trout once you know how. This recipe for grilled trout uses fresh herbs, garlic and lemon. Delicious and simple!

Grilling a whole trout is intimidating for some…until they actually try it. This recipe, with its 10 minutes of prep and 10 minutes of cooking time, has a simple ingredients list and produces a flavorful dish you’ll want to try again.

The recipe here assumes you’re using two whole trout that have already been cleaned and are ready for cooking. Cleaning fish is a bit outside the scope of this article, but if you need to clean your own trout make sure to remove the vein you’ll find along the spine–skipping that step can add flavors to this dish you DON’T want.

Grilled Trout with Fresh Herbs, Garlic, and Lemon

Before you start the recipe, there are a couple of choices to make. If you enjoy your fish with the skin on, you’ll want to scrape off the scales before you prep the rest of the meal. And then there’s washing your fish.

Many sources recommend washing your trout in cold water before preparing. It cuts down on the fishy smell when cooking and you’ll have an overall more pleasant experience cooking the meal.

Using Rice Water To Reduce Fishy Cooking Odors

Some go a step further when washing their fish. Did you know you can take a cup of rice, wash it twice, and save the rice water from the second rinsing to further eliminate fishy odors? Using rice water to wash your fish–soak it for a few minutes to half an hour.

Why does this work? B vitamins, starch, and lipids in the rice water make a natural and harmless cleaning solution. No chemicals here, just the vitamins, starch, etc. No matter what method you use to wash your trout, remember to pat the fish dry with paper towels and remove as much of the excess moisture as you can.

Why? The extra water will cause the fish to steam rather than grill properly, and you want to avoid that process from happening.

How to Cook Trout on the Grill in Foil

Instead of using a cooking grate you can also grill trout in a foil boat. Here is how:

1. Tear off 10” by 10” sheets of aluminum foil for each fillet (about 5 – 6 inches longer the fillet.)
2. Prepare your foil in a little boat shape by turning up the edges of the foil to create a boat-like shape.
3. Place one whole trout in the center of each sheet.
4. Close up the foil packet tightly so steam will not escape

Tip: Heavy duty aluminum foil works best when grilling.

How to Store Grilled Trout

Trout can be stored in an airtight container and refrigerated for up to 3 days.

Continue to Content

Whole Grilled Trout with Fresh Herbs, Garlic and Lemon

Yield: 2-4 servings

Prep Time: 10 minutes

Cook Time: 10 minutes

Additional Time: 2 hours

Total Time: 2 hours 20 minutes

This recipe works best with a whole fish because you will want to place all the herbs inside of it. This recipe is for 2 trout, a pound each, so adjust the amounts accordingly.

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Ingredients

• 2 whole trout
• 2 tablespoons fresh parsley, minced
• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 2 tablespoons fresh basil, minced
• 1 tablespoons fresh rosemary, minced
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
• 1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
• Lemon slices, about 2-3 slices per fish

Instructions

1. Mix together the herbs and garlic.
2. Spread evenly inside the trout.
3. Add lemon slices (two or three per fish, depending on size).
4. Cover and refrigerate at least two hours.
5. Oil cooking grate and preheat grill.
6. Sprinkle fish with salt & pepper.
7. Grill for 4-5 minutes on each side over medium heat or until fish is cooked through (larger fish can take a good fifteen minutes, so use your good judgement).
8. Carefully remove fish from grill, sprinkle with more chopped parsley and lemon slices to garnish, and serve!

Notes

You can leave the head and tail on the trout or remove it before cooking, depending on your preference. Same with whether to debone the fish or serve-as-is.

If you have any fish left over, the meat from the bones and store meat in a container in the fridge (discard bones).

Nutrition Information:

Yield: 2 Serving Size: 1
Amount Per Serving: Calories: 585Total Fat: 26gSaturated Fat: 5gTrans Fat: 0gUnsaturated Fat: 19gCholesterol: 191mgSodium: 503mgCarbohydrates: 6gFiber: 2gSugar: 1gProtein: 84g

This data was provided and calculated by Nutritionix.

Try These Grilled Seafood Recipes Next!

• Grilled Tilapia
• Grilled Halibut

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Kristy Bernardo

Kristy Bernardo is the recipe creator behind The Wicked Noodle. She's a five-time cookbook author, has taught cooking classes to both kids and adults, and has been creating recipes for nationwide brands since 2009. She learned most of her cooking skills from her mom and grandmother, then honed those skills at boot camp at the Culinary Institute of America.

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