Grilled honey lemon salmon is all you need this summer. With a sweet and smoky glaze, grilled to perfection, the salmon is light and flaky, the ideal warm summer night dinner. Although this recipe is for grilling, I have also included how to make it in a pan on the stove top.
How to Buy Salmon
There are two kinds of salmon – wild caught or farm raised. There are pros and cons to both options. In culinary school, we learned that wild caught salmon is cleaner, sustainable and more environmentally friendly. Wild caught salmon has a deeper red-pink hue.
Farm raised tends to be a little more orange-pink with a little more fat. For this recipe, I used farm-raised, Trader Joes’s Fresh Atlantic Salmon – boneless fillet.
Whatever you decide to use, make sure the skin is intact, you will want to cook skin side down to protect the flaky salmon meat from burning or drying out while the salmon cooks through. It will easily peal off once the salmon is cooked though and perfectly flaky.
Honey, Lemon, Smoked Paprika Glaze
This grilled honey lemon salmon glaze is vibrant, refreshing, sweet and smokey keeping the salmon light and airy. The brown sugar and honey will give a slight sweet caramel layer of flavor while the lemon balances it out. A sprinkle of smoked paprika will give the salmon a smokey summery pop of flavor.
Brush or pour the glaze over the salmon before grilling and then again once it’s on the grill. To really make the salmon pop, add a third and final pour of glaze right before taking it off the grill to serve.
How to Grill Fish
On a hot grill outside or grill on the inside: Fire up your grill so that it’s medium-high temperature. Place your salmon face down to get the cleanest looking grill marks. Keep it faced-down for about 3-5 minutes until you see it start to turn a white/pink color up the side. Using a long spatula, carefully flip your salmon over so that it’s skin-side down on the heat. Brush the prepared glaze on the top of the salmon. Finish cooking the salmon without worrying about burning, the skin can take the heat longer without jeopardizing the fish. Once you see the fish color change up the side, it will show white and light pinks, the salmon will be perfectly cooked.
Salmon should be cooked to be an internal temperature of 145F.
How to Make on the Stove
Start by pre-heating a pan over medium heat with a drizzle of olive oil, about 1-2 TBSPs. Once the oil shimmers, add your salmon top-side down first, skin side up. Keep it faced-down for about 3-5 minutes until you see it start to turn a white/pink color up the side. If the salmon is still stuck to the bottom of your stainless steel pan, wait to flip so that it does not tear and leave chunks of salmon on the bottom of the pan. The salmon will loosens up naturally when it is ready. Once you flip the fish, brush on the honey lemon glaze and let it finish cooking on the skin.
Salmon should be cooked to be an internal temperature of 145F.
Grilled Honey Lemon Salmon
Ingredients
- ½ Lemon
- ¼ cup Brown Sugar
- 3 TBSP Honey
- 1 lb Salmon Fillet - boneless with skin
- Kosher Salt
- 2 tsp Smoked Paprika
- Sprigs of Fresh Dill
Instructions
- Preheat the grill.
- In a small bowl whisk together the glaze: the zest and juice of the lemon, remove the seeds, brown sugar, and honey.
- Sprinkle a pinch or two of salt over the salmon.
- Brush the glaze onto the salmon. Sprinkle on 1 tsp of smoked paprika. Set the glaze aside, you will use the glaze a total of three times.
- Add the salmon face down, skin side up on the grill. Grill over medium-high heat for 3-5 minutes, you will see the color change about 1/3 up on the side of the salmon (white and pink).
- Carefully flip so that it is skin side down. Add another round of glaze the top of the salmon and sprinkle on 1 tsp of smoked paprika. Let it finish cooking skin side down until the side of the salmon is showing more white and pink all the way through. The internal temperature should be 145F. Add the last part of the glaze and remove from the grill. Remember to remove the skin before eating.
- Serve with sprig of fresh dill.
