Smoked Trout Recipe

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Want to try smoking trout at home? It’s one of the easiest and most flavorful ways to prepare this fish, and the results are always impressive.

Smoked trout has a delicate flavor that really shines with this cooking method. This recipe is perfect for camping trips, family dinners, weekend cookouts, or anytime you want to serve something special that’s different from the usual barbecue fare. Whether you caught the trout yourself or picked up fillets from the store, this method works great either way.

The key is not overcooking the fish, which can make it tough. Follow my recipe and you’ll get tender, flaky trout that pulls apart easily.

Easy Smoked Trout Recipe

This smoked trout recipe is incredibly simple and works whether you’re cooking at home or out at the campsite. You can use a portable smoker or a full setup—both work perfectly.

I’ve kept the ingredients straightforward, but you can easily customize the seasoning to match your taste. The gentle smoking process brings out the trout’s natural flavors while adding that perfect smoky touch that makes this dish a real winner.

What You’ll Need to for Smoked Trout

Trout Fillet
Brown Sugar
Salt
Fresh Dill
Black Pepper
Onion Powder
Sour Cream
Fresh Dill
Pickles and Juniper Berries
Sliced Red Onion
Grilled Bread

How to Smoke Your Trout at Home

Step 1: Preheat the Smoker

Preheat smoker to 180°F. Place your chosen wood chips in the smoker. You want the wood chips to cover the areas where most of the heat will be emitted from.

Step 2: Preparing the Trout

Place trout fillets, skin side down, in a large baking dish.

Step 3: Preparing the Rub

Combine brown sugar, salt, dill, pepper and onion powder in a medium-size bowl. Mix with your fingers to break up any lumps.

Step 4: Marinating the Trout

Spread the cure mixture over the trout fillets to completely cover them—place in the refrigerator for 4 hours.

Step 5: Removing the Trout From the Fridge

Remove fillets from the refrigerator and rinse under cold water. Pat dry with paper towels. Let the fillets dry at room temperature for 30 minutes.

Step 6: Smoking Your Trout

Place trout fillets in the smoker. Cook for 2 to 3 hours. Careful not to over-cook the fish, because it can end up too bitter.

Step 7: Finishing Touches

Remove trout from the smoker. Top with dill, pickles and sliced red onion. Serve on grilled bread with sour cream on the side.

What Trout Is Best to Use?

The best trout to use for smoking is steelhead trout, but you can smoke just about any trout that you catch from a lake. Any wild-caught fish will be richer in flavor than farm-bred fish, but whatever you can get your hands on is fine for this recipe. 

Rainbow trout, brook trout and brown trout are good to use as well. 

What’s the Best Marinade to Use for Smoked Trout

I use a brown sugar and fresh dill rub, but you can mix this up depending on what you like. Different herbs like parsley or oregano work well, but I find that dill works really well with trout! You can also just use salt and brown sugar!

What’s the Best Way to Marinade Smoked Trout

A nice way to marinade smoked trout is to, with the skin on, rub the brown sugar on the other side of the fish. Put the fillets in a container stacked on top of one another and let it sit for a few hours to marinade.

The container will end up full of fish juices — this is normal — this is just the fish doing its thing. What you need to do as well is flip the container upside down every hour.

How to Fillet a Trout

Filleting a trout is super easy, just make sure your knife is sharp. It’s not complicated to do. Just slice it from one end of the fish and slice it through to the other. You can also buy trout already filleted. When you’re smoking a fish you don’t necessarily need to fillet it. 

There will be a set of pin bones that you’ll see running through the middle of the trout (on its inside). You can take them out while you’re filleting them, or you can take it out after it’s cooked. 

What Temperature to Smoke Smoked Trout At

 The trout should be smoked at 180°F, and the internal temperature of the trout when cooked is 145°F. For this recipe, you should smoke your trout for 2 to 3 hours, checking intermittently. You’ll know the trout is done when it’s light brown and slightly crispy.

How to Store Leftover Smoked Trout

You can freeze the trout in plastic wrap unsealed for up to two months. You can also put it in the fridge in a sealed container, which should last for about a week.

My Favorite Wood Chips for Smoked Trout

The best wood chips to use for smoked trout is something light and fruity. I prefer hickory, but you can use a gaggle of different wood chips, those being: maple, pecan, apple or cherry.

Mesquite can also work well. But this just comes down to what you prefer using!

📌 Did you try this recipe?

Have you made this delicious recipe and loved it?

I would love it if you took a minute to leave a star rating and review. It is also helpful if you made any substitutions or changes to the recipe to share that; thank you!

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What to Serve With Smoked Trout

There are plenty of delicious things you can serve with smoked trout. You can even use trout to put on bagels (as you would salmon) or make the trout into a dip.
🌽 Smoked Corn Bread
🧄 Smoked Garlic Bread
🧀 Smoked Mac and Cheese
🥔 Smoked Mashed Potatoes

Smoke On!

Charlie

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