Grilled trout is one of those iconic dishes whether you are in the backcountry or in your backyard. Crispy skin, tender, smoky meat — what’s not to love? A lot, if your trout sticks to the grill. Here’s how to grill a whole trout perfectly every time.

Grilling a fresh whole trout or kokanee over an open fire is the natural end to a day spent in a beautiful place, where cold, clean water flows and the pines whisper to you as you cast and retrieve, cast and retrieve.

That said, grilled trout is a common backyard staple, too, since you can buy whole, farmed rainbow trout in many supermarkets.

Grilling a whole trout isn’t rocket science, but you do need to know a few things to succeed — and to keep your fish from sticking to the grill.

Best Trout for Grilling

Any trout that fits on your grill. Seriously. OK, I’m joking a little. What you want for grilled whole trout are fish that are plate sized or just a little longer. The store-bought rainbow trout are raised for this, actually. Wild rainbows are better.

And better than that are wild brook trout. Small browns, cutthroat trout, Dolly Vardens and small Arctic char are good, too. Think single serving.

Prepping Your Trout

• Gut and gill your trout. This one’s for the anglers, because store-bought trout are sold gutted and gilled. Gills impart an “off” taste to the parts of the fish surrounding them. No need to scale, as trout have tiny scales. If you are grilling a large trout, like a lake trout (mackinaw), you might want to scale it. But I don’t bother.
• Make sure the fish are approaching room temperature. This will ensure that they are fully cooked at the bone. One of the biggest grilling mistakes is to put cold fish on the grill. Doing this will often result in charred skin and raw meat where it meets the bone.
• Oil your fish, and your grill grates. This will really help prevent the trout from sticking.

Grilling Trout

• Make sure your grill grates are absolutely free of debris! You don’t need to scrub them with soap or anything, but you do need to make sure you scrub them down with the wire grill brush once they’ve heated up.
• You want a hot grill. This isn’t barbecue. This is grilling. High heat. (If you want, I do have a barbecued trout recipe here.)
• Flip only once. This is vital. Grilled trout is ready to flip when you can easily slip a thin metal spatula (I use a fish spatula) underneath it without more than one or two little places sticking. Flip and finish the cooking on the other side. Basting the trout with some butter or oil at this point really helps keep everything moist.

When in doubt, let the fish cook a bit more than you think. Grilled trout, or really any other whole fish, is actually better a little bit overcooked. It’s the char. We all love a little Maillard reaction. That said, don’t incinerate your fish.

Some people protect the fish with foil, but that’s not grilling. That’s using a grill to steam or bake a fish. Not the same. And trust me, if you follow these rules you will quickly become a grilled trout expert. Like I said, it ain’t rocket science. (I have even more tips and tricks on grilling a whole fish here.)

You can serve your grilled trout with anything, but I decided to make this a nod to the Alps, where there are lots of trout swimming around in their cold, clear lakes and streams.

So I made some rye spätzle and used a combination of sunflower and roasted pumpkinseed oil, plus some wild greens and a cool vegetable called agretti I happened to have lying around. You can use anything green. A grilled trout is great over a bed of morels, too.

All told, this whole dinner took me about 45 minutes to make. Not a bad way to end a day on the water, eh?

OTHER GRILLED FISH IDEAS

If you’re interested in grilling other types of fish, you might like my recipes for grilled pompano, simple grilled fish with basil, grilled fish on the half shell, or grilled tuna steaks.