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 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.
Table of Contents
Ingredients + Substitutions
- Salmon – This Orange Grilled Salmon Recipe is specifically portioned for small salmon steaks or salmon filets. Not a salmon side, but you can increase the seasoning and glaze portions and use the same technique for a whole salmon filet. We 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.
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.
- Prepare Grill: Prepare the grill for direct grilling targeting 450 – 500 degrees Fahrenheit. We like to use lump charcoal.
- 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.
- 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.
- Finish: Remove salmon from the grill when it reaches an internal temperature of 125 degrees F and brush one more time with the glaze.
- Rest: Let it rest for 10 minutes to allow for carry over cooking and then serve warm.
Chefs 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)
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.
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
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.
More Salmon Recipes
Check out all of our seafood recipes or some of our favorites below.
- Perfect Grilled Salmon
- Maple Chipotle Cedar Plank Salmon
- Grilled Salmon Salad with Citrus Vinaigrette
- Smoked Salmon Dip
- Grilled Salmon Burgers
- Grilled Blackened Salmon
- Blackened Salmon Steaks
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 Orange Salmon Recipe with Maple Glaze
Equipment
Ingredients
- 4 6 ounce salmon fillets
- 1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
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 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
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
I like salmon ok but this recipe makes me crave it! So good! I do use honey rather than maple. Also delish!
Love the honey addition.
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.