For most of the country, smoked trout means smoked whole trout, not the big slabs of fillets Salmon Nation is accustomed to. So if you catch trout generally smaller than 18 inches, this recipe is for you.
(Note, if you are looking for ways to smoke larger fish, use my smoked salmon or my smoked lake trout recipes.)
There are any number of ways to smoke trout, and this is my method: I’d be interested to hear if you do anything differently.
First, you need trout. Obviously. I prefer fish from about 10 to 20 inches, gutted and gilled. Any species will do, but in a perfect world it’d be brook trout, which are actually a char and have vivid orange meat. Another excellent choice is a kokanee, which is a landlocked sockeye salmon that rarely grows larger than 20 inches. They also have pretty orange meat.
But mostly I use rainbow trout from the Sierra Nevada. You can use store-bought rainbows if that’s all you can get.
To salt or brine? That’s a decision largely based on how many fish you are smoking, and what sort of containers you have. If I am only smoking a few fish, I will dry salt them. If I have a mess o’trout, I will make a salt-sugar brine and soak the fish in that.
How long? For dry salting, generally about 1 to 2 hours. Brine? You can go a lot longer, and it will create a more cured, salty and firm product the longer you leave it. I like a day-long brine, i.e., brine in the morning and remove around dinnertime.
You then need to dry the fish in a cool place. I set them in the fridge in a rack overnight. You need this step to create a tacky, sticky pellicle on the outside of the fish. This helps the smoke adhere to the trout. Skip this step and it won’t be as nice.
How to set them up? You can hang your trout as I do in the picture, but you will need to leave the throats intact, like the fish on the left. That one stayed fine while smoking. The ones on the right fell, so I moved them to the rack.
You will want to put a little stick in the fish’s cavity to prop it open — this allows the smoke to permeate the fish better. I use rosemary twigs, but any twigs will work.
What wood? Something mild. I prefer alder, but oak or fruit woods are good choices, as is maple. But honestly, if you are in love with mesquite or something heavier, go ahead and use it — you won’t be smoking your trout very long anyway.
I like to get a slow ramp up in temperature for my smoked trout. I put the fish in cold in a cold smoker (I am using a Traeger these days) set on a low heat. If you want things to move even slower, set a tray of ice in the smoker. You never want the temperature to get beyond 225°F because at that point you’re barbecuing fish, which is nice, but not what we’re after here. I like the temperature to be somewhere between 175°F and 200°F.
How long to smoke? At least an hour, and to me, 90 minutes to 2 hours is ideal. I would not go more than 4 hours with such little trout. You want decent smoke time, but you don’t want trout jerky.
You can eat your smoked trout warm right out of the smoker, or chilled. They will keep a little more than a week in the fridge, and freeze nicely. If you are freezing some, stuff paper towels in the fish’s cavity to keep out air, which can cause freezer burn over time.
Smoked Trout or Kokanee
Ingredients
- 4 whole trout, gutted and gilled
- 1/2 cup kosher salt
- 1/2 cup brown sugar
Instructions
- Mix the salt and sugar with a gallon of water and stir to dissolve the salt and sugar. Submerge the trout in this brine and put in the fridge, covered, for at least 2 hours and up to overnight.
- Remove the trout from the brine (discard the brine), pat dry with paper towels and set on a rack over a baking sheet in the fridge for at least a few hours, and up to overnight. You can also set the fish to dry in a cool, breezy place for a few hours.
- Put the fish in the smoker, hanging or on the grates, and get a nice cool smoke going. Slowly let the temperature rise to 200F and hold it between 175F and 200F for at least an hour, and up to 4 hours; I prefer 2 hours. Do not let the temperature get above 225F. If it does, set a tray of ice in the smoker.
- When your trout are smoked, you can eat them warm or chilled.
Hi Hank,
I live on a lake in Maine that’s full of 12-24″ landlocked Atlantic Salmon, a fish that’s quite common throughout the state.
I plan on using this method this spring to smoke some whole salmon this spring, I just have one question: The salmon have scales that are quite a bit bigger than a trout, do you recommend scaling the fish, or is there a way to do it so that I can skip that (rather messy) step?
Thanks!
Paul: I leave the scales on because I don’t eat the smoked skin.
Does the presence of the scales act as an additional barrier to the smoke, above and beyond the skin, such that I might leave it in the smoker a little longer than I might have otherwise?
I plan to cook a large brown trout from the reservoirs in NY State. Cooking times and temperature different?
Also what challenges are there to smoking some turkey breasts and pork belly at the same time
G Kendall: I’d just make sure the fish is on the bottom, so it doesn’t drop on the pork or turkey.
Thanks. It’s going to be on a reverse flow smoker joe. Placing the fish right before the exhaust flue. Hoping to lessen the fish smell into the other.
Hi Hank, can I omit the sugar? I try to eat low carb but would still like to do a salt brine for my trout. Thanks for the help.
Poldi: Yes, you can do that.
Used this recipe on a few rainbows I caught which are far from my favorite fish to eat but the brining and smoke really shines. I have tried smoking trout without brining and it just doesn’t turn out the same.
Please share the trout recipe!
I have a question about the water. If I’m brining 12 trout and upping the salt and brown sugar, should I also up the water by the same ratio? I’ve used your recipe a number of times and it’s always great, but I just kind of wing it with the water amount. If you have some direction for me that would be great!
Paul: Yes, the same ratio applies.
What temperature are you trying to reach smoking trout? 145?
Jim: I’ve never measured internal temperature in smoked fish. But in this recipe I’d guess more like 150F. Definitely cooked through, but not annihilated.
i have trout in the freezer… any experience or ideas?
im thinking i could dry salt them right out of the freezer until thawed… then into the smoker..
i expect this salting process to extract a fair amount of moisture from the fish (as happens typically when defrosting any frozen flesh)… and im ok with that.. with hopefully ending up with a “kippered” trout… with a final moisture content somewhere between smoked and jerkey
alternatively… option B is to just do the brine out of the freezer and go with a presumably moister end product..
anyone have thoughts on this?
Chuck: If you want the kippered effect, I’d try the dry salting method. But just be careful about the time. You don’t want them to end up too salty. I’m not sure about how long with a frozen fillet, but if it were me, I’d err on less time rather than more.
Looking forward to trying this. Do I need to rinse the fish after pulling from the brine?
Thanks
BK: I usually do, but it’s not 100% vital.
Tried a version of this recipe. 14 fish in an ice chest overnight, salt brown sugar, and maple syrup with 20lbs of ice and about 2 gallons of water. Smoked on apple wood. FISH BACON
I used your recipe and method to cook some store-bought Red snapper and Branzino for Father’s Day.
Because this was our first time smoking fish, we were afraid of it sticking to the smoker grates so we laid them on a sheets of foil with folded edges to collect any juices. It was delicious. My entire family loved it and cannot wait to have it again.
Excellent taste. How best does one deal with the bones?
Once cooked, start with the tail. Pull upward along the spine, hopefully the who skeleton will come out in one piece.
Can you explain dry salting please? Im not seeing it in the recipe.
Andrew: Simply salting the fish heavily for a set amount of time.
Are you scaling the fish first?
KT: No, I am not.
Hi Hank,
Can I smoke Trout fillets & salmon fillets at the same time using this recipe? Just smoking the salmon longer.
Stephen: Absolutely.
Simple, easy and delicious. Substituted maple syrup for brown sugar in equal parts. Whole family loved it.
Smoked these on a buddies Traeger this past summer after limiting out on trout a couple days in a row. Turned out great. I ended up using the meat in a cream cheese fish dip. Was excellent.
Will make it again next time I have enough trout to fire up the smoker.
Hey Hank, thanks for the recipe! If you eat them warm out of the smoker, what do you like to serve with them?
Jonathan: Warm out of the smoker they are great just with horseradish cream and a little dill, or in pasta.
Thanks for sharing this recipe Hank. This was my first attempt at brining
and smoking and I parlayed your recipe with one from a smoking newsletter I subscribe to and a neighbor who smokes and also surprises me occasionally with a fresh Utah monster rainbow or two. I have to admit it turned our surprisingly well! I infused soy sauce, Worcestershire sauce and Modelo beer, in the brine and cut the salt in half. I had a variety of fish, monster Utah Rainbow, very large Rainbow and Wyoming Cut-Throat and Whitefish. I smoked three of them whole, and butterflied one, on apple wood in my Charbroil CB940X. I basted all insides w/oil and a touch of Spade “L” Ranch Fish seasoning, then brushed on some Maple syrup, but added more to the butterflied pieces. They ended up taking the 1st place ribbon in my opinion. Bottom line, I wouldn’t have tried any of this had I not run across your article. Thanks and Happy Holidays from Nevada!
I have never posted a comment or gave anyone or anything a rating on the interweb, but I just had to this time. I just smoked 6 wild rainbow trout using your recipe. All of the amounts, time and temperature were perfect! The trout has just the right amount of smoke and are very delicious. I am going to use your recipe this weekend to make wild duck hunters sausage.
Thank you for all that you do. Stan
Hello from the Highlands of Scotland. I have used your recipe a couple of times on locally caught Rainbow Trout and it has been perfect each time, thank you. Eaten warm straight from the smoker with horseradish sauce, put into pasta and also added to pizza with a few capers.