Easy Grilled Orange Maple Salmon Recipe

4.88 from 8 votes
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This Grilled Orange Maple Salmon recipe is a delicious meal. Healthy, yet indulgent enough to eat on a date night! Throw in a glass of bubbly and you’ve got yourself a perfect meal. This is the easiest grilled salmon glaze to make.

Grilled Salmon with a Sweet Orange Maple Glaze on a sheet pan with grilled asparagus and potatoes
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Grilled Salmon Glaze Highlights

  • Cooks in less than 15 minutes
  • Intended for salmon steaks, but can be modified for a whole filet
  • The orange and maple glaze complement the savory dry rub

Focusing on healthy eating? Wanting to search for a great grilled salmon recipe? This is one of our favorites. Combine that with the perfect salmon pairing, Prosecco Superiore, and you’ve got a perfect date night meal.

Ingredients + Substitutions

  • Salmon – This Orange Grilled Salmon recipe is specifically portioned for small salmon steaks or salmon filets. Plan 1/3 pound of filet per person.
  • Olive Oil – Olive oil helps the seasoning bind to the meat and helps prevent the salmon from sticking to the grill grates.
  • Seasoning – Use a mix of sweet and savory flavors. We are using brown sugar, kosher salt, smoked paprika (regular works too), garlic powder, black pepper, and cayenne pepper for heat. Alternatively you can use your favorite store bought rub or our own homemade salmon seasoning.
  • Glaze – This grilled salmon glaze is easy with four ingredients and can be used on any fish. It’s a mix of soy sauce for savory flavor, maple syrup to balance sweet (use the real stuff, not the fake stuff), fresh orange juice, and kosher salt. It’s the perfect balance.
raw salmon fillets

Sourcing Salmon and Preparation

Look for wild caught salmon like Columbia River King (Chinook), or Coho. Great salmon with good fat content is best when grilling. Sockeye is smaller and can grill quickly and over cook.

Ask the fist monger to remove the pin bones. These pin bones are cartilage that are not pleasant to eat or pick through as you eat the fish. It’s better to remove them prior to cooking. If you plan to cook a lot of fish with bones, invest in good culinary tweezers.

Preparation

  • If the salmon has visible silver skin, remove with a sharp boning knife. Typically you will see around the belly area.
  • In a small bowl, combine the seasoning ingredients.
  • Apply olive oil to the salmon and then liberally season.
  • Before adding the salmon to the hot grill, be sure the grill grates are clean and oiled.

Recipe Steps

Let’s make this simple, yet full of flavor.

  1. Prepare Grill: Prepare the grill for direct grilling targeting 450 – 500 degrees Fahrenheit. We like to use lump charcoal.
  2. Grill Salmon: Place salmon over direct heat, skin side up. This will caramelize the rub and get us ready to add the glaze. Flip the salmon after 3 minutes or when it no longer sticks to the grill.
  3. Glaze Salmon: Grill, skin side down, for three additional minutes, and then brush glaze on the salmon and continue cooking until salmon is done. Finishing with the skin side down allows more room for the salmon to cook and not burn since we don’t eat the skin.
  4. Finish: Remove salmon from the grill when it reaches an internal temperature of 125 degrees F and brush one more time with the glaze.
  5. Rest: Let it rest for 10 minutes to allow for carry over cooking and then serve warm.
Four salmon filets on the grill over direct heat.

Chef’s Tip

Make sure your grill grates are clean and slightly oiled. Salmon skin and flesh will stick to dirty grills. But if you dab a little oil onto a paper towel over clean grates, it helps prevent the fish from sticking.

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)

What Temperature do I Cook Salmon To?

Good quality salmon can be cooked to medium rare. We grill salmon until the internal temperature of the salmon in the thickest part reaches 125 degrees Fahrenheit. Carry over cooking will continue and cook it to about 130 – 135 degrees Fahrenheit. Use a good instant read meat thermometer like the Thermoworks Thermapen One or ThermoPop for the best salmon.

The less fat in the salmon, the more quickly it will cook. So be sure to account for your timing based on what type of salmon you buy.

How much salmon per person

We always plan 1/3 pound of salmon per person with sides. If the main highlight is the salmon with minimal sides plan 1/2 pound per person.

What to Serve with this Recipe

Meal Planning

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Round out this Grilled Orange Maple Salmon recipe with our perfectly Roasted Potatoes or our Duck Fat Potatoes. For a salad, we love our Grilled Caesar Salad or our Grilled Beet Salad.

For veggies try Grilled Broccolini or our Grilled Asparagus with hollandaise.

Wine Pairing

Pair this dish with an Extra Dry style Prosecco Superiore DOCG or your favorite bottle of Prosecco. The tender meat and the flavorful orange maple glaze is the perfect compliment to the bright fruity sparkling wine. Alternatively a Pinot Gris/Grigio or off dry Riesling works great with this dish too.

Grilled salmon on a sheet pan with a bottle of Prosecco wine pairing

More Salmon Recipes

Check out all of our seafood recipes or some of our favorites below.

This post was originally published in December of 2018 and updated in 2024 to include more details on the salmon and the grilling steps.


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About Vindulge

Mary (a certified sommelier and recipe developer) and Sean (backyard pitmaster) are co-authors of the critically acclaimed cookbook, Fire + Wine, and have been creating content for the IACP nominated website Vindulge since 2009. They live in Oregon on a farm just outside Portland.

Grilled salmon with maple glaze on sheet pan.
4.88 from 8 votes

Grilled Orange Salmon with Maple Glaze

Grilled salmon over direct heat lightly seasoned with a sweet citrus and maple syrup glaze as a finish. Paired with Prosecco.
Prep: 15 minutes
Cook: 10 minutes
Resting Time: 10 minutes
Total: 35 minutes
Servings: 4 servings
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Ingredients 

Sweet and Spicy Dry Rub

  • 1 tablespoon brown sugar
  • 2 teaspoons kosher salt
  • 1 teaspoon smoked paprika
  • ½ teaspoon garlic powder
  • ½ teaspoon fresh ground black pepper
  • ¼ teaspoon cayenne pepper

Orange Maple Glaze

  • 2 tablespoons soy sauce
  • ¼ cup maple syrup , (honey works too)
  • 1 medium orange, juiced
  • 1 teaspoon kosher salt

Instructions 

  • Preheat Grill: Prepare grill for direct grilling targeting 450 – 500 degrees Fahrenheit using lump charcoal. For a gas grill use medium heat.
  • Prep Salmon: In a small bowl combine all the rub ingredients, and in a separate bowl combine all the glaze ingredients and set aside. Coat salmon pieces in olive oil then sprinkle the dry rub over the salmon liberally.
  • Grill Salmon: Place salmon, skin side up, on the grill over direct heat. Let it sear for up to 4 minutes. You know it’s ready to flip when it doesn’t stick to the grill. Flip, close lid, and continue cooking for another three minutes skin side down.
  • Glaze: After three minutes, brush the glaze over the top of the salmon and close the lid to finish cooking. Check the internal temperature of the thickest part of the salmon and remove when it reaches 125 degrees F for the upper end of medium rare. If your flame is too high, move to indirect heat and check the temperature more often.
  • Remove and Rest 10 minutes: drizzle with additional glaze just before serving. 

Video

Notes

When buying the salmon, ask the fish monger to remove the pin bones.
The thinner the salmon the quicker it will cook. Always cook to the proper internal temperature and not time.

Nutrition

Calories: 114kcal | Carbohydrates: 19g | Protein: 1g | Fat: 4g | Saturated Fat: 1g | Cholesterol: 1mg | Sodium: 2251mg | Potassium: 106mg | Fiber: 1g | Sugar: 16g | Vitamin A: 328IU | Vitamin C: 8mg | Calcium: 22mg | Iron: 1mg

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

Additional Info

Prep Time: 15 minutes
Cook Time: 10 minutes
Resting Time: 10 minutes
Total Time: 35 minutes
Course: Entree
Cuisine: American, grilled
Servings: 4 servings
Calories: 114
Keyword: Grilled Salmon, how to grill salmon, orange salmon, orange salmon recipe, salmon glaze
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Vindulge

About Mary


I'm Mary, a wine/food/travel writer, Certified Sommelier, mom of twins, former vegetarian turned BBQ fanatic, runner, founder of Vindulge, and author of Fire + Wine cookbook. Thanks for stopping by!

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3 Comments

  1. 5 stars
    I like salmon ok but this recipe makes me crave it! So good! I do use honey rather than maple. Also delish!

  2. 5 stars
    I made this recipe tonight with fresh salmon my husband caught at Lake Erie on his fishing trip this weekend. I made a minor adjustment to the glaze to suit our taste buds more than anything. I put the glaze ingredients in a small sauce pan and added a teaspoon of corn starch and a heaping tablespoon (packed) of brown sugar, whisked it together, then simmered it about 7 to 10 minutes. I let it set to thicken before using on the salmon.
    This recipe is a definite keeper.