Grilled Seafood Recipes

April 10, 2009
Photo: Gentl and Hyers
Happy grilling season. We've handpicked our best seafood grilling recipes to prep you for a summer full of outdoor festivities. This list includes shrimp, salmon, trout, tuna, bass, halibut, oysters, clams- you name it. Now that you're fully-equipped, it's time to fire up the grill and put these 44 recipes to the test. We promise they won't disappoint. 
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Honey-Brined Grilled Shrimp

Photo: Hector Manuel Sanchez
View Recipe: Honey-Brined Grilled Shrimp

This is a dish that impresses, one you want your guests to see and taste. We use honey three ways here: We add it to the brine so the meat absorbs some sweetness, we toss it with the brined shrimp so its sugars allow the shrimp to develop a good char without overcooking, and we drizzle it over the finished dish for depth.

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Dilly Salmon Packets with Asparagus

Photo: Jennifer Causey
View Recipe: Dilly Salmon Packets with Asparagus

Adding the orange slices to the packets will perfume the fish and make the slices easier to squeeze after grilling. Remove the foil and arrange fillets over asparagus for a lovely presentation. No grill? Bake the packets at 425° for 15 minutes or until desired degree of doneness.

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Shrimp With Grilled Citrus and Leek Relish

Photo: Jennifer Causey
View Recipe: Shrimp With Grilled Citrus and Leek Relish

Drew Curren, chef-partner of Elm Restaurant Group in Austin, cooks both the shrimp and the relish on a grill at his Texas restaurant. If the weather is mild enough for you to grill, live-fire cooking makes this dish even more delicious, adding a hint of smoky flavor. Roll the citrus between your palm and the cutting board before slicing and juicing—it crushes the pulp a little and makes it easier to extract juice. The 16-20 count for shrimp refers to how many shrimp make a pound, which is helpful since the designations “medium,” “large,” and “extra-large” can vary from market to market. A quality, fruity, and grassy olive oil is best here to bring a touch of velvety richness to the dressing.

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Grilled Trout with Cherry Compote

Photo: Justin Walker; Styling: Kaitlyn Duross Walker
View Recipe: Grilled Trout with Cherry Compote

If you can't find whole trout, use fillets; they'll only need to grill for about 4 minutes. You can also use 20 ounces frozen, thawed cherries: Use the liquid (don't drain them); simmer in step 1 until the liquid almost fully evaporates before stirring in the port and honey.

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Chimichurri Shrimp

Photo: Erin Kunzel
View Recipe: Chimichurri Shrimp

Forget shrimp cocktail—this will be your go-to party staple from now on. You could take the shrimp off the skewers for the platter, but the pick-up nature of kebabs is great for parties.

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Grilled Salmon With White Bean and Arugula Salad

Photo: Jennifer Causey
View Recipe: Grilled Salmon With White Bean and Arugula Salad

Ask for salmon fillets from the head end of the fish—the tail end is much thinner.

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Prawns al Mojo de Ajo

Photo: Dylan + Jeni
View Recipe: Prawns al Mojo de Ajo

Traveling the world no longer requires plane tickets and suitcases. You can experience the food cultures and traditions of many varied regions from the comfort of your kitchen thanks to the wealth of traditional recipes available today. In this collection, we've highlighted dishes with a Latin culinary heritage that are sure to excite and entice all the diners at your table.

These Prawns al Mojo de Ajo are a great example of the big flavor profiles you'll taste in every Latin American dish. This is like shrimp scampi, but grilled and 100 times better, thanks to a kicky serrano chile and enough garlic to stave off vampires forever. This dish employs a great trick many cooks don't know: using skillets on the grill, which gives fiery grilled flavor to simmered components like the garlic and onion.

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Fish Tacos with Sweet Pickle Sauce

Photo: Jennifer Causey
View Recipe: Fish Tacos with Sweet Pickle Sauce

The creamy sauce offers a cool counterpoint to the bold blackening spices. Not in the mood for tilapia? The recipe is also great with chicken, sliced flank steak, or shrimp. Toss some avocado, tomato, and cilantro into the mix, and you're ready to knock Taco Tuesday out of the park.

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Glazed Salmon and Rice Bowl

Photo: Greg Dupree
View Recipe: Glazed Salmon and Rice Bowl
A soy sauce, honey, and vinegar mixture doubles as a marinade for the salmon and a drizzle over the finished dish.
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Grilled Shrimp Skewers with Charred Asparagus and Snap Peas

Photo: Jennifer Causey
View Recipe: Grilled Shrimp Skewers with Charred Asparagus and Snap Peas

Reserve some marinade to serve as the sauce, saving time and uniting flavors. For extra charred flavor, cook the veggies in a cast-iron skillet directly on the grill instead of the stovetop.

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Sesame Cabbage Salad With Grilled Salmon

Photo: Jennifer Causey
View Recipe: Sesame Cabbage Salad With Grilled Salmon

There are lots of sustainable salmon options available now, from wild Alaskan to farmed U.S. species. Keep this easy recipe in mind for times when you have leftover cabbage in the fridge.

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Summer Herbed Grilled Shrimp

Photo: Jennifer Causey
View Recipe: Summer Herbed Grilled Shrimp

Our finishing touches—a hit of herbs, peppery olive oil, and tangy vinegar—make these shrimp the freshest, most irresistible appetizer. Leave the tails on so guests have a handle for these tasty bites.

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Grilled Shrimp and Summer Vegetables with Buttermilk Dressing

Photo: Hector Sanchez
View Recipe: Grilled Shrimp and Summer Vegetables with Buttermilk Dressing

The grill is the healthy cook’s tool of choice for low-fat, high-flavor food. With this super simple recipe, you get a full meal from the grill—shrimp, okra, corn, and tomatoes—in half an hour.

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Cedar Plank Salmon with Tomato Salsa

Photo: Hector Sanchez

Plank-grilling cooks the season’s biggest-flavored wild catch to perfection. A poblano chile and jalapeño pepper adds just enough kick. Serve on a bed of couscous.

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Grilled Lemon-Bay Shrimp Recipe

The simplicity of this dish belies its incredible taste. Bay leaves and lemon wedges infuse peppered shrimp with woodsy and citrus flavors. If your grocery store doesn’t carry fresh bay leaves, substitute good-quality dried bay leaves (such as Spice Island) soaked overnight in water. Leave the tails on the shrimp for a prettier presentation.

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Grilled Orange-and-Bourbon Salmon

To make a complete meal, serve the salmon over a bed of brown rice, with green beans and a salad on the side. Save some orange-and-bourbon marinade and drizzle over the salmon and rice to impart complementing flavors of bourbon and citrus throughout.

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Grilled Striped Bass with Chunky Mango-Ginger Sauce

Tasty, easy, and beautiful–with just the right combination of savory and sweet–this sauce also makes a great salsa for turkey, chicken, or other mild fish. To make the sauce even chunkier, reduce the final cooking time to 10 minutes.

 

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Grilled Tuna over Lemon-Mint Barley Salad Recipe

The flavors of the vinaigrette are mirrored in the marinade, so there’s a double dose of the refreshing combination of lemon and mint. The salad can be made an hour ahead. You can halve it for two people.

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Zesty Swordfish Kebabs

This recipe is perfect for both family and company. A side of grilled vegetables completes this quick-and-easy meal. Use the marinade for grilled swordfish steaks, too.

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Scallops with Roasted Pepper-Butter Sauce

Scallops are usually classified into two groups: bay scallops and sea scallops. The larger sea scallops are best for grilling because, like shrimp, they have a meatier texture and can be easily skewered. They cook fast, so keep a close eye on them.

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Shrimp on Sugarcane with Rum Glaze

Caribbean-influenced shrimp, skewered with sugarcane and basted with a dark rum glaze, rely on high heat to caramelize the glaze and infuse the shrimp from the inside out with the cane’s mild sweetness.

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Grilled Salmon and Brown Butter Couscous

Photo: Mary Britton Senseney/Wonderful Machine
Flavorful grilled salmon is served alongside fluffy couscous and fresh summer squash. For a simple substitution, use thick slices of yellow squash and zucchini in place of baby squash.

For the Grilled Summer Squash: Preheat grill to medium-high heat. Combine 2 cups baby zucchini, halved lengthwise, and 2 cups baby yellow squash, quartered lengthwise, in a large bowl. Add 2 tablespoons olive oil, ½ teaspoon kosher salt, and ½ teaspoon black pepper; toss well. Place vegetables on a grill rack coated with cooking spray. Grill 5 minutes on each side or until lightly charred and tender.

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Sautéed Tilapia Tacos with Grilled Peppers and Onion

Photo: Iain Bagwell
These quick and easy fish tacos combine simple ingredients with flavorful results. Serve with a side of black beans for a great weeknight meal.

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Grilled Char with Yukon Golds and Tomato–Red Onion Relish

Photo: Anna Williams
Sweet heirloom tomatoes are the crowning glory on this grilled meal. Soaking the onions in cool water removes some of their harsh bite.

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Grilled Trout

Photo: John Autry
This rustic campfire classic is stuffed with dill and lime and grilled over direct heat to create a mouth-watering culinary experience.

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Mahimahi with Bacon-Tomato Butter

Photo: John Autry 
Mahimahi is simple and easy to prepare, as is the bacon-tomato butter. It's rich and sweet, and the dish is great served with a salad, pasta, or fresh vegetables.

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Salmon Burgers

Photo: Charles Masters
For best results, choose salmon from the meaty center of the fish and avoid portions cut from the tail section (where the body starts to taper). Tail-end flesh contains more connective tissue than center-cut fillets. Use black sesame seed buns, if available.

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Sotong Bakar (Barbecue Squid)

Photo: Darren Soh
The spice rub and dipping sauce are hot, hot, hot (but quite good). Serve with slices of cucumber and fresh cilantro leaves for a cooling effect in the mouth. Thai chiles are very spicy, so you can use fewer (and increase the mild bell pepper) to tame the heat.

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Striped Bass with Peach Salsa

Photo: John Autry
Sweet peach salsa with a slight kick (courtesy of thinly-sliced shallots) is topped on simply seasoned grilled bass. You'll love the bright, fresh flavors and smoky fish.

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Chimichurri Halibut Tacos

Photo: Levi Brown
Make these fish tacos a sustainable choice by opting for wild-caught Alaskan halibut. If not available, choose another U.S. or Canadian wild-caught Pacific halibut, or substitute striped bass or U.S. line-caught cod.

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Grilled King Salmon with Tomato-Peach Salsa

Photo: John Autry
Use a peach that’s just ripe so it’s juicy but still holds its shape. King (also called chinook) salmon is the best quality and works well in this dish, though sockeye works.

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Halibut with Grilled Tomato and Olive Relish

Photo: Becky Luigart-Stayner
Mild halibut pairs nicely with this tangy relish, starring tasty late-summer tomatoes. Any other meaty, firm fish, such as wild salmon or striped bass, will also work.

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Smoked Oysters with Olive Relish

Photo: Charles Masters
If your experience with smoked oysters is limited to the oily, strong-flavored bivalves sold canned, you're in for a revelation. The brininess of the olive- and caper-laced relish echoes the fresh, oceany notes of the oysters. Keep as much of the oysters' juices as possible in the shells while shucking and grilling.

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Grilled Mahimahi with Mango Salsa

Photo: Becky Luigart-Stayner
View Recipe: Grilled Mahimahi with Mango Salsa

A flavorful salsa is a quick, effective, and tasty way to dress up simple grilled fish. Here, a color-studded salsa made with fresh ginger, crunchy cucumbers, bell peppers, red onion, and lime tops mahimahi.

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Grill-Braised Clams and Chorizo in Tomato-Saffron Broth

Photo: Anna Williams

Spanish flavors inspire this simple but intense summery braise. Saffron gives the tomato broth a nutty complexity, while the spice and heat of chorizo liven up the clams.

 

 

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Chile Crabs