Easy Grilled Cedar Plank Fish
Grilling with a cedar plank not only provides a unique, slightly smoky flavor, but helps to keep the fish nice and moist. It’s pretty easy to dry out certain fish like halibut no matter how you cook it. Using the cedar plank keeps the fish out of direct heat, and imparts some of the moisture from soaking the wood beforehand. We love to use a cedar plank for salmon and halibut, and have even experimented with thin venison roasts, which turned out delicious!
Ingredients
- 2 pounds fish (we have used this recipe for Halibut, Salmon, and Rockfish), cut into pieces that are about 1 to 1.5 inches thick
- 2 Tbsp olive oil
- 2 Tbsp dijon mustard
- 4 cloves garlic
- Pinch of salt and pepper
- Lemon sliced into wedges
- Cedar plank
Instructions
- Soak cedar plank according to directions on package, usually at least a half an hour. Soaking the cedar plank for longer is ok but you don’t want to go too long or it won’t smoke enough. Too short, and it will flare up more and potentially light on fire.
- Preheat the grill to medium heat.
- To make the sauce, mix the olive oil, mustard, garlic, salt, and pepper in a small bowl.
- Place the fillet skin-side-down on the cedar plank (if it doesn’t have skin, doesn’t matter). Brush the sauce over the top and sides of the fish to coat it evenly, but don’t bother coating the bottom.
- Put the plank onto the grill and cook the fish without flipping until it reaches an internal temperature of 130 for halibut (or a little less for rare/medium-rare) or 140 for salmon/rockfish. Check on the fish occasionally and spray the plank with water if it flares up. Cooking time totally depends on how thick the fish is and the temperature of your grill, but it’s usually about 20-30 minutes for us. If you don’t have a thermometer, poke the fish with a fork at the thickest point and twist. If it flakes apart easily and has lost its raw/translucent appearance it is done.
- Serve with wedges of lemon.