Grilled Salmon Skewers

5 from 11 votes

These grilled salmon skewers are threaded with lemon, cooked until tender and lightly charred, and finished with bright basil vinaigrette. Ready in 15 minutes.

Prep Time5

Cook Time10

Total Time15

Course: Main Course

Cuisine: Mediterranean

Servings: people

Author: Gaby Dalkin

Ingredients

8 wooden skewers
2 lbs sockeye salmon or another fresh salmon of your choice
3-4 lemons
3 tablespoons olive oil
Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
1 recipe Basil Vinaigrette

Instructions

Soak the wooden skewers in water for at least 30 minutes
Heat your grill to medium high heat.
Cut the salmon into 1 ½-inch cubes and slice 3 of the lemons into very thin slices either with a sharp knife or with a mandoline.
Alternate threading the salmon and the lemon slices on the wooden skewers, about 5-6 pieces of salmon per skewer. Drizzle the skewers with olive oil and season with salt and pepper. Squeeze ½ of the remaining lemon juice on top.
Using a pair of tongs, carefully transfer the salmon skewers to the preheated grill and grill for 3–4 minutes per side, until the salmon is nearly cooked through and releases easily from the grates. Remove the salmon skewers from the grill and let rest for about 5 minutes to let the salmon just continue to cook.
Serve the salmon skewers with the Basil Vinaigrette and extra lemons if desired.

Notes

Soak wooden skewers in cold water for at least 30 minutes before grilling. Dry bamboo ignites the moment it contacts hot grates, and you will lose the whole skewer. Thirty minutes is the minimum; an hour is better if you have the time.
Cut the salmon into uniform 1.5-inch cubes. Even cuts mean every piece finishes at the same time. Inconsistent sizing gives you overcooked ends and a raw center on the same stick, which is exactly the kind of thing that makes people say they do not like fish.
Remove the skin before cubing the salmon. Skin-on cubes grip the grill grates and tear apart when you flip. Ask your fishmonger to skin the fillet before you leave the store -- it takes them about 30 seconds and saves you a real headache at the grill.
Pat the salmon cubes completely dry before threading them onto skewers. Surface moisture creates steam, which prevents the Maillard browning that gives you those gorgeous charred edges. A quick press with paper towels is all it takes.
Slice lemons thin enough to fold between the salmon cubes. Thin wheels flex around the fish and make direct contact with the grates, which chars them and releases juice that continuously bastes the salmon as it cooks. Thick slices stay stiff, fall off, and miss the point entirely.
Oil the grill grates right before the skewers go on, not before preheating. Oil applied to a cold grate burns off completely by the time you cook. Fold a paper towel into a pad, dip it in oil, and wipe the hot grates using tongs immediately before laying the skewers down.
Preheat your grill to medium-high and close the lid for at least 10 minutes before cooking. A fully preheated grill sears the salmon on contact and releases it cleanly when it is ready to flip. A grill that is not hot enough causes the fish to stick and shred.
Apply the basil vinaigrette after the salmon comes off the grill, never before. Fresh basil scorches quickly over direct heat and turns black and bitter. Spooning the vinaigrette on after cooking keeps it bright green and tasting like the garden.
Flip the skewers only once during cooking. Salmon begins to release from the grates naturally once a proper sear forms. Repeated flipping interrupts that process, tears the flesh, and causes the cubes to fall off the skewer.
Use the double-skewer method if your salmon cubes keep spinning. Thread each portion onto two parallel skewers set about half an inch apart. The two-point contact locks the cubes in place so every side grills evenly and nothing rotates when you flip.
Pull the salmon off the grill when the center still looks slightly translucent. Carryover heat continues cooking the fish for another minute or two after it leaves the grates. Waiting for the center to look fully opaque on the grill means it will be overcooked by the time it reaches the plate.
Store leftover salmon cold and flake it over salads rather than reheating it. Reheating cooked salmon drives out the remaining moisture fast and produces a dry, fishy result. Cold flaked salmon over greens with extra vinaigrette is genuinely better than a reheated skewer.

Nutrition (estimated)