How I smoke Rainbow Trout on my pellet grill. I keep it pretty simple, either seasoning with salt and pepper, or a Cajun seasoning. I can fit 5-6 ~1lb trout on my pellet grill.
- ⏲️ Prep time: 20 min
- 🍳 Cook time: 1 hr
- 🍽️ Servings: A trout per person (depends on how many you caught!)
Ingredients
- Rainbow Trout
- Course salt and pepper
- Avocado / Olive Oil
- Cajun seasoning (optional, find something in your grocery’s spice aisle)
Directions
Catch Trout
I can’t help you here.
Clean and Prep Trout
Using a fillet knife, I:
- Cut out the pelvic and anal fins, including the anus before the anal fin
- Slice along the inside of the belly, from the opening you created by cutting off the anal fin to the tear out the guts and throw them away
- Insert knife through the gill cover, behind all the gills, and cut towards the belly (detatches lower portion of the head from the body)
- Cut the head off and throw it away
- Rinse out the inside of the belly. Use your thumb to clean out the bloodline (dark red/brown line along the spine)
Then apply oil (go light) and seasonings (be generous) to the meat inside the trout.
Smoke
I use Traeger’s Mesquite or Signature blend pellets.
- Set pellet grill to 220°F
- Smoke trout until internal temp is at 145°F, flipping halfway. This generally seems to take around 1-1.25 hours.
I let the trout sit for a few minutes before eating. The skin should easily peel off and the meat should easily slide off the bones with a fork.
If there is leftover trout, it tastes good cold too. If you’re feeling more ambitous, shred the rest of the trout (being careful to remove any bones) and mix with mayo, a little mustard, and more seasoning (if needed) for a trout dip to eat with crackers.
Cooking