After a successful little fishing trip down in the Gulf I ended up with a pile of speckled trout filets. I grilled them on my Weber gas grill a couple of different ways and both turned out pretty tasty.  

The next time I grill these I am going to do a hybrid approach between the two methods and that is what I will put in the recipe card.

Grilled Speckled Trout

Speckled trout filets are seasoned and then grilled with butter and lemons.

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Prep Time 5 mins

Cook Time 15 mins

Total Time 20 mins

Course Main Course

Cuisine American

Calories 250 kcal

Ingredients

  

• 2 pounds Speckled Trout Filets
• 3 lemons
• 3 tbsp butter
• 2 tbsp Seafood Magic Seasoning Blend Substitute Old Bay or other seafood seasoning blend.

Instructions

 

• Rinse the trout and pat dry with paper towels.
• Season the trout liberally with the seafood seasoning
• Slice two of the lemons into thin rounds.
• Juice the third lemon and mix the lemon juice with the melted butter.
• Place a large sheet of aluminum foil on the grill.
• Arrange the lemon rounds all across the surface of the foil.
• Place the trout on top of the bed of lemons.
• Grill on high heat for 15 minutes and baste with butter and lemon juice every five minutes.
• The trout is done when it reaches an internal temperature of 145F and flakes easily.

Notes

This is a great way to grill speckled trout or any other type of trout.  I have found this works much better than trying to cook the fish directly on the grill grate and cleanup is pretty easy.

Keyword Grilled Speckled Trout

I started by coating the specs liberally with Paul Prudhomme’s Seafood Magic seasoning.  There isn’t anything remarkable about this blend, it was available and I like it. 

If you want to make your own rub then here is a nice blend:

Speckled Trout Seasoning

• 1 tbls seasoned salt (Morton’s or Lawry’s)
• 1 tbls smoked paprika
• 2 tsp sugar
• 2 tsp black pepper
• 1 tsp granulated onion

How I Grilled Spec Trout on my Weber

For “Batch A” I sliced a couple of lemons into thin rounds and used them to line the bottom of a disposable aluminum foil pan.

I placed the seasoned trout on top of the lemons, added a few pats of butter and sealed the pan with a piece of aluminum foil.

For “Batch B” I tore off a large sheet of heavy duty aluminum foil and gave one side a quick spray with some Pam.

I had pre-heated my Weber Genesis on High for fifteen minutes.  I placed the foil covered pan on the left side of the grill and the aluminum sheet on the right side of the grill (oiled side up).  I placed the rest of the seasoned trout directly on the oiled aluminum and shut the lid.

After 10 minutes I opened the lid and basted the fish on the foil sheet with a 50:50 mix of melted butter and lemon juice. I closed the lid and let the fish cook thee minutes longer. 

After 13 minutes of grilling I took both batches off the grill. The fish was flaking easily and was a little past the ideal temperature of 145F.

The fish that was on the foil did not cleanly release.  I had to gently work a spatula under them and give them a little encouragement.  No big deal. 

The fish in the foil pan was a little difficult to get out; the filets wanted to fall apart.  No big deal; just work slow and pay attention.

Here the two batches are side by side.  The fish from the pan is on the right; the fish from the foil sheet is on the left.

There were some differences in the final product between the two methods.  The fish from the pan had a more intense lemon and butter flavor; not surprising since it was cooked on a bed of steaming lemons.  The fish that was grilled on the foil sheet had a more intense “grilled” appearance. 

In my opinion, “Batch A” tasted better and “Batch B” looked better.   There is no right and wrong here; whatever floats your boat.

You can serve these straight up with some standard side dishes or use them as a starting point for some amazing fish tacos.