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    Home » Main Dish » Traeger Smoked Salmon

    Traeger Smoked Salmon

    Published: Dec 1, 2021

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    pinterest image for traeger smoked salmon
    pinterest image for traeger smoked salmon

    If you are looking to enjoy a nice thick, juicy, flavorful salmon fillet, this Traeger Smoked Salmon Recipe is for you. Easy to make, full of flavor, and absolutely delicious dry brined salmon will become your go-to salmon recipe.

    Smoked salmon fillet on plate with salad and fork holding a piece of salmon.

    Cooking Salmon

    There are tons of salmon recipes out there. You can cold smoke them, hot smoke them, cure them for lox, grill them, bake them, and on and on. I wanted to treat it like a nice big cut of beef and cook it on my Traeger with the goal of letting the salmon really capture the smoke flavor. Picking a salmon that is fatty and can retain its moisture is important. I always pick wild salmon when cooking because it will have less saturated fat than farm-raised salmon. Sockeye Salmon and Atlantic salmon will be on the fattier side, they work well with this application.

    Smoked whole salmon fillet on white serving plater.

    How to brine Salmon with a Dry Brine Mixture

    Dry brining prior to smoking salmon is key to a well seasoned and moist smoked salmon fillet. Brining is a way to impart salt, sugar, and flavor into a protein. It is so easy to make dry brined salmon.

    Ingredients for the Dry Brine

    • ¼ cup brown sugar
    • ¼ cup white sugar
    • ½ cup kosher salt

    Raw salmon fillet on cooking sheet ready to be brined with brown sugar, white sugar, and kosher salt.

    Step One: Combine all three ingredients into a small bowl and mix thoroughly. Place your salmon fillet in a cooking sheet or tray and sprinkle the brine mixture over the entire length of it. Be sure to cover both sides with brine.

    Raw salmon fillet on cooking tray covered in dry brine.

    Step Two: Once the salmon is covered in brine. Leave it skin side down, and cover it with plastic wrap. Let it sit in the refrigerator for thirty minutes to an hour. If you have a small wire rack to let the dry brined salmon sit on in the tray, that will help a little more as you pull that excess liquid from the salmon.

    Raw salmon fillet on cooking sheet after being brined. Moisture drawn from salmon is liquid surrounding the filler on the tray.

    Step Three: Remove salmon from the refrigerator. You will see that a lot of excess moisture has been pulled out of the salmon from being in the brine.

    Step Four: Rinse the salmon well under cold water. We want to remove any excess salt so that the salmon is not too salty. Once it is rinsed, pat it dry with a paper towel. Let it sit another ten minutes to air dry a little more.

    Raw salmon fillet on cooking sheet after being brined. Moisture drawn from salmon is liquid surrounding the filler on the tray.

    How to Smoke Salmon

    While your salmon is sitting to dry, preheat your smoker. I have a Traeger Pellet Grill that I like to use for salmon and other shorter smokes. The Traeger Smoker is less preparation and clean-up than your traditional charcoal smoker or stick burner. Preheat your smoker to 225°F.

    Whole salmon fillet sitting on grill grate in preheated Traeger grill.

    Step One: Once the smoker reaches 225°F, go ahead and place salmon skin side down directly onto the grill grate. Because the salmon fillet is thin, you need to carefully monitor the internal temperature to ensure that you do not overcook it. I recommend using a leave-in meat thermometer that will update you on the changing internal temps as you cook the salmon.

    Whole salmon fillet sitting on grill grate being cooked in Traeger grill.

    Step Two: You need to determine what level of doneness you like. I prefer a rarer finish to salmon. I cook it to an internal temp of 125°F. I recommend not cooking it over 140°F. Once the temperature gets that high, it can start to feel like a runaway train and it becomes very easy to overcook and dry out your salmon.

    Cooked whole salmon fillet sitting on grill grate in Traeger grill.

    Step Three: When the Traeger smoked salmon is done remove it from your smoker and let it rest on a cutting board. Cut the salmon into portions and serve. I like to use my pepper mill and grind some fresh black pepper on it as I serve. It adds a nice subtle compliment of spice to the smoke flavor. You can also drizzle a little maple syrup or make a glaze to add a bit of sweetness to the Traeger salmon.

    Smoked whole salmon fillet on white serving plater.

    What to Serve with Traeger Smoked Salmon

    We served this with a simple baby spinach salad. Other good choices would be Green Beans, Grilled Broccoli, or Traeger Baked Potatoes.  And for dessert, you have to try our Rasberry White Chocolate Cookies.

    Smoked whole salmon fillet on white serving plater.

    Why use a Traeger Grill for a Smoked Salmon Recipe

    There are several electric smokers out there. When I purchased the Trager it was because of the great features that it has. One of my favorite features of the Trager is the Super Smoke Feature. At temperatures under 225°F, you can use this feature to help increase the amount of smoke being generated. It allows you to produce more smoke in a shorter amount of time so that the proteins that require a shorter smoke, can still acquire great flavor. Using this technique for dry brined salmon makes it so flavorful and juicy.

    Smoked whole salmon fillet on white serving plater.

    I already mentioned the ease of setup and clean-up that the pellet grills provide. It makes it easier if you are not setting up to be smoking for several hours. Additionally, I like the choice of wood flavors in the pellet varieties. You can a great choice of wood flavors as you do with wood chips. Some of the pellets come in premade blends or you can create your favorites. For this Traeger smoked salmon, I went with cherry wood pellets for the smoke. You can easily do this with oak or hickory or your favorite blend.

    Make sure to try our Easy Whole Smoked Trout next!

    Smoked salmon fillet on plate with salad and fork holding a piece of salmon.

     

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    Traeger Smoked Salmon

    If you are looking to enjoy a nice thick, juicy, flavorful salmon fillet, this easy Traeger Smoked Salmon Recipe is for you.
    Print Recipe Pin Recipe Rate Recipe
    Prep Time: 10 minutes
    Cook Time: 40 minutes
    Brining Time: 40 minutes
    Total Time: 1 hour 30 minutes
    Course: Main Course
    Cuisine: American
    Servings: 4
    Calories: 201.3kcal
    Author: Paul

    Equipment

    Smoker

    Ingredients

    • 1.25 lb salmon

    Dry Brine

    • ½ cup kosher salt
    • ¼ cup white sugar
    • ¼ cup brown sugar
    US Customary - Metric
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    Instructions

    • Combine salt, white sugar, and brown sugar in a small bowl to use as a dry brine.
    • On a rimmed baking sheet or in a large container, cover both sides of the salmon filet with dry brine mixture. Cover and place in the refrigerator for 30 minutes.
    • Remove the salmon from the refrigerator and rinse under cold water to remove any excess brine from the fish. Pat dry with a paper towel and let air dry for about 10 minutes.
    • In a 225°F preheated smoker, place the salmon skin-side down directly on the grate. Let it cook for about 40 minutes or until the salmon reaches your desired doneness. The salmon should easily flake apart when you pinch it with your fingers or a fork.
    • Once it is done, remove it from the smoker and let it rest for a few minutes. You can drizzle it with a maple glaze or fresh lemon juice.

    Nutrition

    Calories: 201.3kcal | Carbohydrates: 0.5g | Protein: 28.1g | Fat: 9g | Saturated Fat: 1.4g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 3.6g | Monounsaturated Fat: 3g | Cholesterol: 78mg | Sodium: 62.4mg | Potassium: 694.6mg | Vitamin A: 56.7IU | Calcium: 17mg | Iron: 1.1mg
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    Comments

    1. Hanna

      December 08, 2021 at 8:59 pm

      Wow, your salmon looks wonderful. Where do you get your salmon? I have a hard time finding wild-caught salmon where I live. The best Salmon I've been able to find is at Costco but it's not wild.5 stars

      Reply
    2. Gina

      December 09, 2021 at 8:58 am

      With good quality salmon, there's no better way to prepare it than this - love the smoked texture and the brine creates such wonderful flavor!

      Reply
    3. Jonathan Moody

      January 17, 2022 at 7:26 pm

      OK, this is tremendous and I am a critical reviewer of my own food. I considered myself to be pretty good when I hit the kitchen. Loaded with flavor. Smoked on the Traeger with Apple pellets and my smoke tube for 40 minutes. All I need is some almond flour crackers and this fillet and dissapear for an hour. Thank you for this recipe! Going in the books!5 stars

      Reply
      • Jon Guajardo

        June 10, 2022 at 11:35 pm

        I use atlantic salmon, turns out great.
        After rinsing off and dry, I put Safeway old fashion pancake syrup and smoke.
        Great taste and coloring.5 stars

        Reply
    4. Jim Walters

      March 23, 2022 at 2:38 pm

      Easiest I’ve ever done and absolutely fabulous! Smoked a 2 1/2 pond fillet cut off 4 steaks and made smoked salmon cakes from the rest.5 stars

      Reply

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