Grilled Sriracha Salmon
 with a Peanut Crust

December 17, 2012

I thought it was worth taking a break from all the delicious but not necessarily healthy holiday dishes to try a delicious AND healthy dish, thanks to Grilling24x7.com.

So what’s all the fuss about this sriracha hot sauce? I’ve had a bottle in my pantry for quite a while but it would only come out for various Asian dishes. I figured that it’s about time to look into some other uses. This time of year is tailgating season which means my calorie intake on any given Sunday can easily exceed 3000-4000. Yeah, don’t ask. With that in mind I usually need to heavily compensate during the week with some really light and healthy dinners. Alaskan salmon along with some broccoli is usually my go to light meal. The problem is that I don’t really like it. Well, I found this sriracha based salmon recipe online and it is amazing. This is officially my favorite salmon recipe. I modified the technique to include grilling the salmon (or course), but you could always bake it. Check out this peanut crusted sriracha salmon recipe. It’s amazing and really easy!If you haven’t tried this hot sauce I suggest you pick up a bottle. It’s really good and has quite a unique taste. It’s heavy on the red chili peppers but also has a nice garlic presence as well. The history of this sauce is that it has its roots in Thailand and Vietnam but this “red rooster bottle” version that is in all of our American grocery stores is actually a USA made product from a family of Asian immigrants. That’s ok by me; this stuff is good. It’s so good that this salmon recipe really only has 3 ingredients: salmon, sriracha sauce and peanuts. Before you start, prepare your grill for medium or medium high direct grilling. The salmon (with skin on) will be placed directly on the grates.

I use one of these mini food processors to chop the peanuts. If you don’t have a food processor you can always crush peanuts in a zip top bag with a hammer.

Season the filet with a little bit of salt and pepper. Then drizzle about 1-2 T of sriracha hot sauce on top of the filet. Use the back of a spoon to spread out the hot sauce.
Add the chopped peanuts on top of the salmon and head out to the grill.

When you are able to hold your hand 1 inch over the grate for about 3-5 seconds you should be good to go with a decent heat. The general idea when cooking salmon directly over the grates is to crisp the bottom of the skin and the heat will transfer up through the middle of the filet.
No worries about sticking because we know what we are doing, right? The only way to get salmon to stick is to move it all around before the skin is adequately crispy enough. If you move it early it will stick. So don’t move it. Lightly oil the grates, then lay the salmon directly over the charcoal side of the grill. This should take anywhere from 10-20 minutes depending on your heat. Close the dome to let the top of the filets brown a bit. I stick a Thermapen into the salmon and removed the fish from the grill when it was about 140 degrees inside.

See, no sticking. I’m not lying. The spatula slipped right under no problem.

As a side dish I took some broccoli that was already cooked and put it in foil along with some olive oil, salt and pepper and shredded parmesan cheese. Close this little foil pack up and toss it on the grill. I scoot it around for a mix of direct and indirect heat. By the time the salmon is done the broccoli should have some nice melted cheese and be quite warm.

Now this certainly isn’t something that I’d be serving at a tailgate. But this most certainly is something that I’ll be eating for a few days after a tailgate! To my total surprise this salmon recipe is amazing! Big shout out to eclecticrecipes.com, which is where I found this recipe. This is a great way to add some light healthy grilling to your repertoire.

Source: Grilling24x7.com