How to Smoke Salmon

4.94 from 610 votes
Comment
Jump to Recipe

As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.

finished smoked salmon recipe, with fish on cooling rack
Photo by Hank Shaw

I smoke a lot of salmon, and I am proud of this recipe, although it would be the height of arrogance to say that what I do is the end-all, be-all of salmon smoking recipes. Lots of people smoke their salmon in lots of ways, and many of them are good. But I’ve been smoking fish for many years, and I’ve developed a system that works well.

Keep in mind this is a hot-smoking recipe. Cold smoking, which is the kind of slice-able smoked fish you get in fancy boxes from Scotland is an entirely different thing.

Almost everyone in Salmon Country hot smokes their fish. If you’re unfamiliar with hot-smoked fish, think about those golden smoked whitefish you see in delicatessens; those are hot smoked.

How do you eat it? Well, you can just eat it plain, or you can flake it and make it into a smoked salmon salad, you can pound it with butter and make salmon rillettes, serve it in deviled eggs, tossed with pasta… you get the point.

Here’s what you need to get started:

  • A smoker. I’ve uses a Traeger and a Bradley. Both are good. No matter what smoker you use, you will need to be able to a) know your smoking chamber’s temperature, and b) control the heat, at least in a rough sense.
  • Wood. The only downside to a Traeger smoker is that you need to use their wood pellets. As a guy who used a Brinkmann wood-fired BBQ for years, fueling it with scraps of almond and other fruit woods, buying wood can be annoying, but you get better precision with this method. I prefer to use alder wood for my salmon, but apple, cherry, oak or maple work fine.
  • Salt. Buy a box of kosher salt from the supermarket. Do not use regular table salt, as it contains iodide and anti-caking agents that will give your salmon an “off” flavor. I use Diamond Crystal, which is cut finer than Morton’s.
  • Something sweet — salmon love sweet. I prefer to sweeten my smoked salmon with birch syrup; It’s just like maple syrup, only tapped from birch trees instead. Super cool stuff. But maple syrup is just as good. Just use real maple syrup, OK? Not the imitation crap. Honey works, too.
  • A large plastic container. Buy the big, flat ones from the supermarket. They stack easily in a normal fridge, so you can have two different brines going. And they clean easily and are pretty cheap.
  • A wire rack. You need to rest your brined fish on a rack with plenty of air circulation to form the all-important pellicle (more on that in a bit), and you will use it to rest the smoked fish before storing it.
  • A basting brush. You probably already have this in your kitchen, but if not, pick one up. Get the flat kind, like you use to paint detail on window trim.

When you are ready to start, you will need smallish pieces of salmon about 1/4 to 1/2 pound each. Any salmonid fish will work with this recipe. I’ve done it with king salmon, sockeye, coho, and pink salmon, dolly varden, plus kokanee, steelhead and Lahontan trout.

There is no reason it would not work with chum salmon or any other char or trout species. And yes, it works with farmed Atlantic salmon, but I never eat the stuff.

I prefer to smoke salmon with its skin on, but I’ve done it with skinless pieces and it works fine.

finished smoked salmon recipe, with fish on cooling rack
4.94 from 610 votes

Smoked Salmon

Note that my salmon cure is very simple. Feel free to add things if you like. I've added bay leaves, chiles, thyme, garlic and minced onion. All are fine, but subtle. And since I often use smoked salmon as a base for another dish, I want mine to remain simple and clean-tasting.
Course: Cured Meat
Cuisine: American
Servings: 5 pounds
Author: Hank Shaw
Prep Time: 15 minutes
Cook Time: 4 hours
Total Time: 4 hours 15 minutes

Ingredients 

  • 5 pounds salmon, trout or char
  • Birch or maple syrup for basting

BRINE

  • 1 quart cool water
  • 1/3 cup Diamond Crystal kosher salt, about 2 ounces of any kosher salt
  • 1 cup brown sugar

Instructions 

  • Mix together the brine ingredients and place your fish in a non-reactive container (plastic or glass), cover and put in the refrigerator. This curing process eliminates some of the moisture from the inside of the fish while at the same time infusing it with salt, which will help preserve the salmon.
  • You will need to cure your salmon at least 4 hours, even for thin fillets from trout or pink salmon. In my experience, large trout or char, as well as pink, sockeye and silver salmon need 8 hours. A really thick piece of king salmon might need as much as 36 hours in the brine. Never go more than 48 hours, however, or your fish will be too salty. Double the brine if it's not enough to cover the fish.
  • Take your fish out of the brine, rinse it briefly under cold running water, and pat it dry. Set the fillets on your cooling rack, skin side down. Ideally you'd do this right under a ceiling fan set on high, or outside in a cool, breezy place. By "cool" I mean 60°F or cooler. Let the fish dry for 2 to 4 hours (or up to overnight in the fridge). You want the surface of the fish to develop a shiny skin called a pellicle. 
    This is one step many beginning smokers fail to do, but drying your cured, brined fish in a cool, breezy place is vital to properly smoking it. The pellicle, which is a thin, lacquer-like layer on top of the fish, seals it and offers a sticky surface for the smoke to adhere to. Don't worry, the salt in the brine will protect your fish from spoilage. Once you have your pellicle, you can refrigerate your fish for a few hours and smoke it later if you'd like.
  • Start by slicking the skin of your fish with some oil, so it won't stick to the smoker rack. Know that even though this is hot smoking, you still do not want high temperatures. Start with a small fire and work your way up as you go. It is important to bring the temperature up gradually or you will get that white albumin "bleed" on the meat. I can control my heat with my smoker, so I start the process between 140°F and 150°F for up to an hour, then finish at 175°F for a final hour or two. 
    NOTE: What my smoker is set at is not necessarily what the actual temperature is. Smoking is an art, not a science. To keep temperatures mild, always put water in your drip pan to keep the temperature down. If your smoker is very hot, like a Traeger can get, put ice in the tray.
  • After an hour in the smoker, baste the fish with birch or maple syrup, or honey; do this every hour. This is a good way to brush away any albumin that might form. In most cases, you will get a little. You just don't want a ton of it. Even if you can't control your temperature this precisely, you get the general idea. You goal should be an internal temperature of about 130°F to 140°F. (Incidentally, yes, I keep the smoke on the whole time. I don't find this to be too much smoke, but if you want a lighter smoke, finish the salmon without smoke or in a 200°F oven.)
  • You must be careful about your heat. Other than failing to dry your salmon long enough, the single biggest problem in smoking salmon is too high heat. If you've ever seen salmon "bleed" a white, creamy substance, that's a protein called albumin. If you see lots of it, you've screwed up; a little is normal. 
    Here's what happens: If you cook a piece of salmon at too high a heat, the muscle fibers in the meat contract so violently that they extrude albumin, which immediately congeals on the surface of the fish. It's ugly, and it also means your salmon will be drier than it could have been. You prevent this with a solidly formed pellicle, and by keeping your heat gentle.
    If you let your heat get away from you and you do get a white mess on your salmon, all is not lost. Just flake it out and make salmon salad with it: The mayonnaise in the salad will mask any dryness.
  • Once your fish is smoked, let it rest on the cooling rack for an hour before you put it in the fridge. Once refrigerated and wrapped in plastic, smoked fish will keep for 10 days. If you vacuum-seal it, the fish will keep for up to 3 weeks. Or freeze your fish for up to a year.

Notes

One last piece of advice: Try to fill up your smoker with fish. This process takes a while to do, and your smoker doesn't care if its full or half-empty, so you might as well make a big batch.
And keep in mind this recipe is for basic smoked salmon. Other options are smoked salmon candy, a great snack, and, once you have your smoked salmon, you can use it in smoked salmon dip on crackers.

Nutrition

Serving: 113g | Calories: 132kcal | Protein: 21.3g | Fat: 4.9g | Saturated Fat: 1.1g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 1.1g | Monounsaturated Fat: 2.3g | Cholesterol: 26.7mg | Potassium: 198.7mg | Vitamin A: 100IU | Calcium: 10mg | Iron: 1mg

Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.

Tried this recipe? Tag me today!Mention @huntgathercook or tag #hankshaw!

You May Also Like

Salmon Risotto

A simple salmon risotto recipe with herbs and butter that works well with leftover salmon or trout, or scraps from the carcass. You could use canned or smoked salmon or trout.

Japanese Salmon Rice

A very simple, clean, Japanese salmon rice recipe that uses short- or medium-grain rice, sake, green onions, salmon and optional furikake rice seasoning.

Smoked Salmon Tacos

Smoked salmon tacos aren’t a thing in Mexico, but smoked marlin tacos are, and that’s what these are modeled after. Easy, quick and tasty.

Salmon Miso Soup

A simple salmon miso soup recipe that hinges on good broth, miso and Japanese noodles. A great use for salmon scraps or leftovers.

About Hank Shaw

Hey there. Welcome to Hunter Angler Gardener Cook, the internet’s largest source of recipes and know-how for wild foods. I am a chef, author, and yes, hunter, angler, gardener, forager and cook. Follow me on Instagram and on Facebook.

Leave a comment

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Recipe Rating




1,192 Comments

    1. I recommend a slightly different process to pressure can.
      1. rinse off the brine
      2. go straight to the smoker, pressure canning will dry the fish out some so skip the pellicle
      3. lightly smoke, pressure canning intensifies the smoke flavor
      4. we usually add a drop of olive oil and a couple jalapeno slices to the bottom of each jar

      Here is some info on home canning fish
      https://cespubs.uaf.edu/publications/?cat=*&pt=*&s=Home%20Canning%20Smoked%20Fish%20and%20Home

    2. Working on the second batch. Great recipe! Going to try it with halibut with added spices. Haven’t smoked salmon in quite sometime and love the directions..

  1. Am I missing something? I see you mentioned all these delicious herbs and spices but I don’t see them incorporated the recipe. Do you put them in the brine?

  2. Thanks for the recipe. I started doing some smoking in my gas grill, using an old ammo box with holes drilled into it for the wood. I have three burn zones, so I was able to run the left-most burner on low with the smoker box over it and place the salmon on the far right end of the grill. My finished salmon had no albumin whatsoever. I smoked at about 175-200 degrees for about 2 hours, venting the grill by wedging the hood open about 1.5 inches with a piece of wood. Used mesquite for the wood. It turned out perfect! Bacon from the sea!

  3. Good recipe. I added an extra half a chilli and garlic clove. Also blended up up 20 plum tomatoes with an extra handful of basil and drizzle of olive oil to make more of a sauce as it seemed like it might be a bit dry. It was perfect.

  4. Is there any benefit to drying the salmon longer in a fridge for, say 24 hours? What could it do to the flavor and texture?

  5. Perfect smoked salmon! I’ve been making smoked salmon all summer and this recipe is the best yet. It tastes like the salmon my grandpa used to make. Thanks Hank! ?

  6. Recipe worked perfectly, my first time smoking salmon (pinks). I modified the procedure a bit since my pellet grill has a minimum temperature of 180: I first cold-smoked for one hour using a smoker tube in the cold grill. Then I removed the fish and started the grill. When stabilized at the minimum temperature I put the fish back in and heated to a meat temperature of 130. Loved the result.

  7. Is it correct that you did not explicitly state the amount of time needed for smoking, just the interior temperatur to be reached and preferably not to be exceeded?

  8. Just came back from the Kenai with 100# of sockeye. Super fun to fish these guys, and the meat has good structure. I’ve smoked a few batches of trout, koke and salmon in the past, but this haul suggested a more considered approach. Using your basic recipe on the first 7# tonight. High hopes…I think it’s gonna be tasty. Thanks for what you do here.

    1. My brother recently brought home loads of Alaskan salmon (coho and sockeye) so I decided to smoke several pounds.

      I followed Hank’s recipe closely, using birch syrup and cherrywood chips. Brined for 8hrs, then dried over night in the refrigerator, followed by 1hr in front of the fan in the early morning (cool air 60+ degrees).

      Started the smoking at 130-140 degrees the first hour and basted with birch syrup after the first hour. Went up to 150-160 the second and third hours, basted a second time at the third hour and finished off at 170-175 degrees for the last hour (4 total).

      Kept smoke going the entire time and it turned out amazing! Not too sweet and not too salty, tender, perfectly smoked as to have really good flavor and texture.

      The first attempt I left salmon in the brine overnight and it was so salty and inedible. This time at 8 hrs in the brine, it was perfection!

      Thank you for sharing a simple and tasty recipe even beginners can follow.

  9. I smoked my first salmon today. I was able to achieve 140 degrees but the maple syrup baste is still quite wet. Is these normal? What can I do differently?

  10. I’ve tried to smoke salmon several times, but it always ends up too salty. Like can’t eat it too salty. The only kosher salt available at my grocery store is Morton’s Kosher salt. Could it be the salt? Should I try another brand?

    1. I use Morton’s kosher salt for Hank’s brine recipe and it turns out great. I only brine for 5 hours before removing and patting dry, using a typical 2 lb store bought salmon fillet. I usually slice the fillet into 1” sections to get more surface area exposed to the brine/smoke, but you can brine and smoke the entire fillet for a less salty result.

      1. I have used this recipe with one modification. I rinse after the brining step. Then go to fridge to form the pellicle. Keeps the saltiness down.

    2. I cut back on the salt and brown sugar in the recipe, using about half the salt and just slightly less brown sugar than the recipe calls for. I also brined for only 8 hrs and this seemed to achieve a good balance of sweet and salt. My first attempt I left the salmon in the brine way too long (overnight) and I had to throw it out when it was done.

  11. Six years ago I learned how to make clean smoke and avoid dirty smoke. By using air intake and exhaust exit adjustments to control temps I was getting dirty smoke. Now I control temps by size of fire and location in the fire box and both in and out air controls are wide open.
    Excellent recipe, Hank! I smoke 6lbs of Sockeye or Steelhead at a time and glaze it with Smucker’s apricot jam straight out of the jar during the last hour of smoking.
    A super breakfast: Toast your favorite bagel, slather it with cream cheese, layer it with julienned sweet onion and top it with capers.

    1. Oops! Between the cream cheese and sweet onion add your layer of thinly sliced fish (about 1/16″ vertical slice). I’ve smoked with all the fruit and nut woods and find pecan to be my favorite for fish.

  12. I tried your method for smoked salmon. Turned out amazing!!! After an hour and a half spritzed it with a mixture 1/3 cup apple juice and 3 tablespoons of Worcestershire sauce. Thanks sooo much for sharing your expertise!!!!

  13. In reply to Jetta’s question about using a Little Chief smoker: I used one of these for many years to smoke fish. I just kept fresh wood chips in the pan and smoked the fish for several hours. I judged its doneness by how dry it was, both on the outside and, by breaking a piece slightly to see, on the inside as well. I like my smoked fish to be on the dry side. These days, I would definitely deploy both my cable thermometer (just dangle the probe inside the box) and my Thermapen to test the temp inside the box and of the fish itself. If the temp inside the box is not high enough I would put a separate box over the smoker to hold the heat in. My standard for the minimum desired temp in the smoker is about 175°. Note that this is the temp I’d want to see toward the end of the smoking process – earlier on, while the fish is getting dry, the moisture that is carried off with the smoke takes heat with it and the interior temp of the smoker will be limited by that, especially in something like the Little Chief, which has a limited heat source in its one small electric coil.
    Like Hank, I keep the smoke going the entire time. I aim for a minimum 140° internal temp of the fish. I wouldn’t really be comfortable with 130°, and I’m rather surprised that Hank is. 140° is defintely the minmum temp at which microbes are killed. I realize that the salt content and so forth is also a protectant against microbial growth, but it’s not like that extra 10° is going to ruin the fish – it won’t. I prefer to play it safe. On the other hand, I find that I can keep my smoked fish in a properly cool fridge for far longer than 10 days. So I guess that shows that views on this particular aspect of food safety can differ. (FWIW, I’m a retired chef who’s had the requisite food safety training. I’m sure Hank has as well.) I don’t like to freeze my smoked fish; it just makes it even dryer, and mine is dry enough right out of the smoker.