Grilled Steelhead Trout with Chili-Lime Butter
With this steelhead trout recipe, we season and grill the trout until it is nice and flaky, then top it with a slightly spicy compound butter.
Total SHOUT OUT to my friend and neighbor, Matt. You know who you are.
Patty and I were invited to his house for dinner the other night. It’s always fun to hang out with Matt and Jackie, sipping a few cocktails and enjoying each other’s company.
Except when Matt pulls out the cedar planks and grills up perfectly seasoned grilled steelhead trout. It’s a great weeknight dinner.
Boom!
Talk about a phenomenal meal. I’ve made steelhead trout in the past but Matt’s meal has inspired me to work up something of my own, and we love how it turned out.
Matt grillled his on cedar planks. I, of course, had to run out and buy a good dozen planks for myself, though I didn’t use them in this recipe.
I’m reserving them for a special occasion, or another blog post, whichever comes first. I did, however, grill these up for a crunchy skin. No need to go crazy on the seasoning. Steelhead trout has a strong flavor, very much like salmon.
Steelhead Trout Vs. Salmon
If you like salmon, you will probably enjoy steelhead trout. They’re not the same fish, but they belong to the same family – Salmonidae – and both have the typical pinkish meat. It is quite similar to salmon.
Let’s talk about how we make the recipe, shall we?
Ingredients Needed
- For the Compound Butter
- 1 stick butter
- 1 teaspoon chopped rosemary
- 2 teaspoons lime juice
- Lime zest from 1 lime
- 1 teaspoon dried chili pepper flakes
- For the Steelhead Trout
- 2 6-8 ounce steelhead trout fillets
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- 1 tablespoon garlic powder
- Salt and pepper to taste
How to Make this Grilled Stealhead Trout Recipe – the Steps
First, make the compound butter. For the compound butter, soften the butter so it is malleable but not melted. Add it to a mixing bowl.
Add rosemary, lime juice, lime zest and chili flakes. Mash to combine. Set butter onto a large piece of plastic wrap and form it into a log. Roll into the plastic and refrigerate to harden.
For the Steelhead Trout. Heat a grill to medium-high heat.
Rub the fish fillets with olive oil, garlic powder and salt and pepper.
Grill skin sides down about ten minutes, so the skins get nice and charred. You may need a bit more time, depending on the thickness of your fillets.
Flip and grill another few minutes to ensure the trout is cooked through. You can check with a fork in a thicker section of the fish.
Remove from heat and set onto serving plates.
Top with slices of your compound butter and serve with extra lime slices and chopped parsley. The butter will melt over the hot grilled trout, making it moist and flavorful.
Boom! That’s it, my friends!
Top it off with your own homemade Chili-Rosemary-Lime Butter and you’re gold. You need to prepare the compound butter ahead, which is easy to do. Just some softening, mixing, rolling and cooling.
The butter melts down over the hot grilled fish, distributing all those chili flakes and rosemary herbs and lime juice. Tasty was the goal, and tasty was achieved. And then some. Keep it light by only using a bit of the butter. Or go crazy, like I did.
Recipe Tips & Notes
- Chili Pepper Flakes. You can use your typical chili or red pepper flakes you find in stores, or grind up some hotter dried pepper pods to make your own homemade chili flakes. I like to dehydrate my own garden grown peppers to make special chili flakes blends.
- Seasonings. I kept my steelhead trout recipe simple with the seasonings, using only garlic powder, chili flakes and a bit of salt and pepper. However, feel free to bring your favorite seasoning blends like Old Bay Seasoning or Creole Seasonings.
- Baked Steelhead Trout. Instead of grilling the fish, you can bake your steelhead trout fillets in the oven at 375 degrees F for 15-20 minutes to cook the fish, or until it is cooked through.
- Quick Version. If you’d prefer to skip the compound butter to save some time, just top your cooked fish with melted butter, lemon juice, perhaps a bit of lemon zest and chili flakes, maybe some fresh herbs as well.
Thanks again, Matt, for bringing us back around to steelhead trout. And you too, Jackie! Great fish recipe for us!
Patty’s Perspective
It’s crazy how something so simple can be so flavorful. Having the compound butter prepared ahead made this super fast to put together. Mike’s version tasted MUCH different from Matt’s because of the cedar plank, but I loved them both.
Try Some of My Other Popular Recipes
- Szechuan Salmon with Chili-Basil Rice
- Szechuan Salmon Tacos
- Grilled Salmon with Honey-Sriracha Sauce
- Baked Salmon with Cajun Lemon Butter
- Cajun Baked Salmon with Cajun Rice
- Blackened Salmon
If you enjoy this recipe, I hope you’ll leave a comment with some STARS. Also, please share it on social media. Don’t forget to tag us at #ChiliPepperMadness. I’ll be sure to share! Thanks! — Mike H.
Grilled Steelhead Trout Recipe with Chili-Rosemary-Lime Butter
Ingredients
For the Compound Butter
- 1 stick butter
- 1 teaspoon chopped rosemary
- 2 teaspoons lime juice
- Lime zest from 1 lime
- 1 teaspoon dried chili pepper flakes
- 2 6-8 ounce steelhead trout fillets
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- 1 tablespoon garlic powder
- Salt and pepper to taste
Instructions
- For the compound butter, soften the butter so it is malleable but not melted. Add it to a mixing bowl.
- Add rosemary, lime juice, lime zest and chili flakes. Mash to combine.
- Set butter onto a large piece of plastic wrap and form it into a log. Roll into the plastic and refrigerate to harden.
- Heat a grill to medium-high heat.
- Rub the fish fillets with olive oil, garlic powder and salt and pepper.
- Grill skin sides down about ten minutes, so the skins get nice and charred. You may need a bit more time, depending on the thickness of your fillets.
- Flip and grill another few minutes to ensure the trout is cooked through. You can check with a fork in a thicker section of the fish.
- Remove from heat and set onto serving plates.
- Top with slices of your compound butter and serve with extra lime slices and chopped parsley. The butter will melt over the hot grilled trout, making it moist and flavorful.
Nutrition
10 comments
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Fantastic!
Glad you enjoyed it, Lisa!
Awesome! wife AND kids loved it! I’ll be following for more recipes! thx!
Thanks, Jim! Super happy you enjoyed it!
We’re big fish eaters and when my husband brought home a steelhead I immediately went to the computer to try to find a light but tasty idea for grilling this beautiful fish. I found your recipe and boy was it tasty! We only used one fillet in case we didn’t like it but we’re hooked and the compound butter is already sitting in the fridge for the other half! Thank you!
Excellent, Theresa! Glad you enjoyed it! Yeah, the compound butter really ups this dish. Very delicious. I appreciate the comments!
I’ve made this several times now, and sometimes I change up the herbs to whatever’s at hand. Great every time! Thank you for sharing.
Thanks, Yali! It’s one of my favorites as well. Glad you enjoy it.
I could eat this every single day. Picked up some steelhead trout last week and it’s been so sad and lonely in the freezer. This recipe is awesome!
Thanks, Damien! Glad you enjoyed it. I’m a big fan of steelhead trout. YUM.