Cedar Planked Salmon on the Grill: so easy and so delicious!
Nothing beats wild sockeye salmon cooked on cedar wood planks over lump charcoal on your grill or smoker. The salmon gets slowly smoked on the wood, while also absorbing the smoke from the charcoal. If I died and went to heaven, I imagine it would smell like this.
You get such great flavor from cooking them on the cedar plank, I usually do a simple seasoning such as slathering the fish in an old bay compound butter, or applying an ample amount of Dizzy Pig BBQ Tsunami Spin Rub Spice – 7.6 oz
. But a good dash of sea salt, fresh ground pepper and a drizzle of lemon afterward should also do the trick.
Put lemons on the grill to get some nice char marks- it makes for a great presentation on the plate and the lemons are extra juicy for squeezing on the salmon afterward.
Cedar planked salmon is great paired with any veggie, but one of my favorites is grilled asparagus drizzled in lemon. I like to grill a few lemons at the same time—this makes for a great presentation on the plate as well as makes them extra juicy for squeezing on the salmon. Another great pairing is my Charleston style coleslaw.
The smoke from the cedar paired with the charcoal makes for an intoxicating aroma!
Cedar Planked Salmon on the Big Green Egg
Ingredients
- 2 Cedar planks – I prefer Outdoor Gourmet Sustainably Produced Cedar Grilling Planks
- Salmon (I prefer wild sockeye salmon), at least 5 oz. per person
- Dizzy Pig BBQ Tsunami Spin Rub Spice – 7.6 oz (or rub of your choice, OR compound butter mixture such as this Old Bay compound butter recipe)
- 1 lemon, cut in half
Instructions
- Soak cedar planks in water for 30 minutes before using.
- On your Big Green Egg, create a direct and indirect zone by moving the coals to one side. I placed the cedar planks on the indirect side and let the grill cook at 350 degrees for approximately 20 minutes, ensuring that the coals did not get overly hot and maintaining a steady “baking” temp.
- Once your fish has reached an internal temp of 140 degrees with an internal read thermometer, such as a Thermapen, you can take them off the grill.
Notes
While many other BGE blogs do not mention creating direct and indirect zones on your egg, I believe this is important so your planks are less likely to catch on fire or burn. If you don’t have the space to create zones by moving your charcoal to one side, I recommend keeping your coals very low and, once at temperature, almost sealing off the air once to essentially turn the egg into a baking environment.
If you enjoyed this Cedar Planked Salmon, check out these other cedar plank recipes!
Robyn – get out of my mind! I was just saying to my wife last night that we’ve never had salmon on the Egg and that neither of us have even tried cedar planked salmon.
It’s going to be a beauty weekend here in Toronto so I think we’ll be firing the Egg up both nights. I think this will be Saturday’s dinner.
Great timing!
Greg
Looks like an amazing piece of fish Robyn and your how-to should make it easy for anyone to turn out a fine meal.
An alternative to two zone fires on the Egg is cooking “raised direct”. The extra distance gives you a bit of thermal cushion. I’m no physicist but the inverse-square law applies to heat and distance. For example, if you move 1 foot from a heat source, you cut the heat energy by 4 times or something like that.
So assume you have your Egg stabilized at 350f, that’s air temp. You also have direct radiant heat applied to the bottom of the plank. If you raise your cooking planks from the grid to 4 to 6 inches higher, you are still cooking at 350f but you have cut the direct heat to the bottom of the plank by 2-4 times so it is less likely to burn.
I have to get a physicist from nearby Oak Ridge National Laboratory to write a post about this for me. But try it raised direct and see what you think. A lot of the Eggheads use that technique for spatchcock chicken and planked meals.
Have a great weekend!
I love grilled salmon, even more so when it’s planked. This looks amazing.
I have to say I really need a big green egg. I have a propane grill and a charcoal but nothing quite as nice as the egg. It’s on my “need to acquire” list.
Hi, I am new to grilling. I am taking it on as a cooking challenge this summer. Is this recipe do-able on a regular charcaol grill? I would love to try it, but don’t have a big green egg. Thanks! Kristin
Hi Kristin- absolutely- this recipe is fine on a standard charcoal or even gas grill. Just create a direct and indirect zone and cook on the indirect side. Best of luck to you!