Smoked Salmon Recipe
Published October 28, 2022. This post may contain affiliate links. Please read my disclosure policy.
This delicious smoked salmon recipe is brined in a wet brown sugar and citrus brine and then finished with a sweet orange glaze for incredible flavor. This smoked salmon tastes amazing, and you can serve it hot or cold.
I would eat salmon for every meal if my wife would let me. The health benefits, the simplicity of preparing it, and the flavor sell me every time. If you also love it, you must try out my salmon patties recipe or salmon burgers.
Smoked Salmon
Smoked salmon is a process where fresh salmon is either cold or hot-smoked. Hot smoking is where the salmon is smoked at temperatures between 120° and 180° until the desired internal temperature is achieved. You can also hot-smoke the salmon for several hours if you plan to wrap it, cool it, and serve it cold after several days, but the texture can be dry.
The other method is cold smoking which smokes at temperatures between 70° and 90° for several hours and even up to a few weeks. If smoking for several weeks, it turns the fish into salmon-jerky. If you brine the salmon and cold smoke it for several hours, you will get something known as lox.
Kippered Salmon
My smoked salmon recipe is known as kippered salmon. This method is brined and hot smoked and can be served hot or cold. I prefer to cook it at 140° to 145° internally because I like to eat it warm.
Ingredients and Substitutions
- Salmon – You will need a side of fresh or previously frozen and thawed skin on salmon.
- Sugar – Light brown sugar is used in the brine and glaze.
- Salt – I always use coarse ground sea salt in my cooking and baking.
- Water – Cold water will be used for the brine.
- Ice – This will help quickly cool the brine so that it is ok to pour over the raw salmon.
- Citrus – I like to use a combination of orange and lemon in this recipe.
- Butter – Always use unsalted butter in cooking and baking.
- Soy – I like to add a little soy sauce to the glaze.
How to Make Smoked Salmon
Start by bringing the water, citrus zest, brown sugar, and salt to a boil.
Once the sugar and salt are dissolved, remove them from the heat and add the ice cubes to chill the brine. Set it aside.
Next, trim the salmon’s side, removing the fish’s belly fat and tail end. You may also see a few bones on the backbone part of the salmon, which should also be removed. See the chef’s notes below.
Add the salmon to a non-reactive dish and cover it completely by pouring it on the brine.
If the salmon doesn’t want to stay under the brine, you can flip it over, so it is scaled side up.
Cover and keep it in the refrigerator for 12 to 24 hours. Any longer than 24 hours, and it can become too salty.
Remove the salmon from the brine and rinse it under cold water.
Place the salmon on a rack, pat it dry, and let it cool for 2 hours to create the pellicle.
Brush the smoker grates with a neutral-flavored oil where you plan to place the salmon. Be sure it is as far away from the fire as possible.
Smoke at 150° F for 2 hours or until it reaches an internal temperature of 140° F.
With about 1 hour and 10 minutes left in the initial smoking process, add the brown sugar, soy, butter, and citrus juice to a small-sized sauce pot and bring to a boil to dissolve the sugar and make a caramel.
Brush the salmon with a thin layer of the glaze after 1 total hour of smoking and then again every 30 minutes of smoking.
After 2 hours, turn the heat up to 200° and smoke for 1 hour. Continue glazing.
Remove the salmon and let it rest for 10 minutes before glazing it and serving. If you prefer to eat this cold, cool it to room temperature, which takes about an hour, wrap it and store it in the refrigerator until cold before serving.
Can I Make This in the Oven?
You can make this in the oven if your oven can cook at low temperatures at 150° Fahrenheit. In addition, you will not get any smoke flavor that only the smoker can provide.
Make-Ahead and Storage
Make-Ahead: While eating the first day of smoking, it is best, you can make this recipe up to 5 days ahead of time.
How to Reheat: Add the desired amount of smoked salmon to a pan and cook in the oven covered at 350° for 4-5 minutes or until warmed. You can also heat it in the microwave until warm. You can also serve this cold straight from the refrigerator, which is an extremely popular way to serve it.
How to Store: Cover and keep in the refrigerator for 7-10 days. This will freeze covered for up to 6 months. Thaw in the refrigerator for 1 day before reheating.
Chef Notes + Tips
- The pellicle is the top layer created during the drying process to help seal the salmon. It creates an almost sticky-like coating on top that maximizes the smoke adhering to the salmon.
- It is ok if some white-like substance known as albumin starts to come through the top of the salmon. This is completely normal if a few pop-up. However, you do not want a lot of it popping through the top, which means your heat is too high and your salmon is already overcooked, making it dry.
- With the leftover un-brined and uncooked tail and belly fat, you can easily cook them and use them in any of your salmon recipes. The belly fat is hands down the most delicious part of the fish.
- A non-reactive dish would be glass, stainless, ceramic, or plastic.
- Apple, cherry, pecan, oak, mesquite, or hickory are great woods to use for this.
More Salmon Recipes
Video
Smoked Salmon Recipe
Ingredients
For the Salmon:
- 3 cups water
- 3/4 cups packed light brown sugar
- 1/3 cup sea salt
- zest of 1 orange
- zest of 1 lemon
- 4 to 4 ½ pound side of salmon
For the Glaze:
- ½ cup brown sugar
- Juice of 1 lemon
- Juice of 1 orange
- ½ stick unsalted butter
- 1 tablespoon soy sauce
Instructions
- For the Salmon: Start by bringing the water, citrus zest, brown sugar, and salt to a boil.
- Once the sugar and salt are dissolved, remove them from the heat and add the ice cubes to chill the brine. Set it aside.
- Next, trim the side of the salmon, removing the belly fat and the tail end of the fish. You may also see a few bones on the backbone part of the salmon which should also be removed. See the chef's notes below.
- Add the salmon to a non-reactive dish and cover it completely by pouring it on the brine.
- If the salmon doesn’t want to stay under the brine, you can flip it over so that it is scaled side up.
- Cover and keep it in the refrigerator for 12 to 24 hours. Any longer than 24 hours and it can become too salty.
- Remove the salmon from the brine and rinse it under cold water.
- Place the salmon on a rack and pat it dry and let it cool for 2 hours to create the pellicle.
- Brush the smoker grates with a neutral-flavored oil where you plan to place the salmon. Be sure it is as far away from the fire as possible.
- Smoke at 150° F for 2 hours or until it reaches an internal temperature of 140° F.
- For the glaze: With about 1 hour and 10 minutes left in the first intial smoking process, add the brown sugar, soy, butter, and citrus juice to a small-sized sauce pot and bring to a boil to dissolve the sugar and make a caramel.
- Brush the salmon with a thin layer of the glaze after 1 total hour of smoking and then again every 30 minutes of smoking.
- After 2 hours, turn the heat up to 200° and smoke for 1 hour. Continue glazing.
- Remove the salmon and let it rest for 10 minutes before glazing it and serving. If you prefer to eat this cold, cool it to room temperature, which takes about an hour, wrap it and store it in the refrigerator until cold before serving.
Hey Chef… how much ice do you add to your brine to cool it? And what is your preferred choice of wood chips? Thanks!
I think the amount of ice is in the vieeo. I like oak, pecan, apple, and alder chips.
Sooo delicious thank you ChefBilly what a treat for taste buds 😁😋🤩👋
Oh boy this is sooooo delicious 😋 thank you ChefBilly 😁😋🤩😁💓
Thankyou ChefBilly delicious recipe 😁😋🤩💕
Can i leave it drying on the counter longer than the two hours? I’m trying to time my day.
how much longer?
Easy and very tasty. I made this with my Pit Boss Laredo smoker/grill. Took a while but worth it. I froze portions to serve during the holidays. As always, I love your recipes!!
thanks!
Never smoked anything before. Bought a Pit Boss 850 grill, bought a piece of salmon and followed your instructions to the letter. WOW! Never had such success! Can’t thank you enough for this recipe
Gonna print all your recipes and try the pork next!
8-28-23
appreciate you trying it
I don’t have a smoker. Can this be done on a bbq or oven!?
I mean you could, but there will be no smoke flavor which kind of defeats the purpose.
awesome
thank you so kindly!!
Just make this recipe with the last of our fresh salmon. We loved it! I can always count on your recipes to be spot on and delicious. Thank you again.
Perfect!
Print this recipe now. Laminate it. Save it to your Pinterest. I don’t mean either/or . . . you do not want to lose this recipe or risk it disappearing from the internets! We made this at Christmas and it was the star of the show. We’ve made it once since then, and have another batch marinating/brining as I type. The flavor of this brine and glaze are divine. Very light citrus flavor that perfectly compliments our applewood smoke. The wet brine has replaced our prior go-to fry brine. My dad dropped off a piece of salmon yesterday for my husband to smoke for him while we do ours. We eat it with steamed jasmine rice, and on green salads, and as the surf in surf and turf meals. I challenge anyone to find a better recipe!
Appreciate that!
Hi Chef Billy,
I have a question. I don’t own a pellet smoker, but I do own both a Gravity-fed and Kamado-style grills. Both are computer-controlled systems. According to the documentation on both grills, The lowest temperature I can set on either one would be 200F. Am I still going to be able to smoke salmon at this higher setting?
Thank you!
Sure, just will smoke in a shorter amount of time.
Our lowest heat is 170F, so I prop the door up until the temperature stays stable at 150F.