Grilled Salmon with Lemon Garlic Butter

TiffanyUpdated Aug 23, 2022, Published Jul 17, 2022

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This delicious, healthy Grilled Salmon with Lemon Garlic Butter is ready in less than 30 minutes to make and is packed with herby, lemony flavor!

If you’re a fan of salmon, you’ll definitely want to try Salmon with Spinach Cream Sauce, Cajun Honey Butter Grilled Salmon, and Garlic Dijon Shrimp and Salmon Foil Packs.

grilled lemon butter salmon with fork and orzo on scalloped plate

Summer is here! Finally! (Okay, not officially, but close enough.) When the temperature warms up, I tend to crave lighter, healthier meals that are quick to cook. We have a jam-packed summer, after all. This grilled salmon recipe checks all those boxes — healthy, easy, tasty, and quick to make. Plus, everyone in my family loves salmon in any way, shape, or form — that’s a win all around!

Ingredients

Salmon filets — Use fresh or frozen, thawed salmon filets. Or buy a whole slab of salmon and slice into filets yourself. I like mine to be about 2-3 inches across.
Olive oil — I use extra virgin olive oil but you can use whatever olive oil you prefer.
Herbs — Any mixture of herbs is great, I finely chop dill, basil, parsley and thyme, but you can use whatever you have on hand. Fresh works best.
Lemon zest — Freshly zest a lemon to get the lemoniest, zestiest flavor in this salmon recipe.

Ingredients
Here’s How You Make It
Why This Recipe Works
Frequently Asked Questions
Best Sides to Eat with Grilled Salmon
Frequently Asked Questions
Expert Tips
More Recipes Like This
Grilled Salmon with Lemon Garlic Butter Recipe

Here’s How You Make It

four steps of preparing grilled salmon with herb butter

First, make the garlic butter by combining the softened butter, herbs, garlic, lemon zest, and salt. Mash all of these ingredients with a fork until they are combined. (photo 3)
Next, pat the salmon dry with a paper towel, then drizzle with olive oil (rub the olive oil all over this healthy salmon with your fingertips) and then season the fish generously with salt and pepper. (photo 1)
Now, take the salmon to the grill and cook it over medium heat for about 8 minutes, then flip the salmon and grill it about 4-6 minutes longer. (photo 2)
Finally, take the salmon off the grill and top with a scoop of the lemon garlic butter right away. Serve this grilled salmon just as the butter melts. Enjoy! (photo 4)

Why This Recipe Works

Grilled salmon — Salmon is so good in just about all the ways but grilled is hands-down my favorite way to eat it. It gets a little of that smoky flavor into it as it grills and cooks up quickly, and perfectly, every time.

Easy — It doesn’t get much easier than this grilled salmon with lemon recipe. Prep, cook, and on your plate in less than 30 minutes? So easy!

All the herbs — Don’t worry too much if you don’t have the “right” herbs. Any combo of 3-4 herbs (or even 1-2 if that’s all you have) is great. Trust me on this, you can combine herbs in all sorts of groups and it will taste delish on this salmon with garlic.

Lemon — Lemon and salmon go together like salt and pepper, peanut butter and jelly, salt and chocolate…well, you get my gist. I cannot have salmon without at least a little squeeze of lemon at the end. It makes the flavors so bright and a tad citrusy and that’s just what you want in a grilled salmon in the summer (or any time of year, really!).

salmon fillets with butter and lemon slices on a grill pan

Frequently Asked Questions

Is salmon good for health?

Salmon is one of the healthiest sources of protein around. It’s very healthy for you. That’s due to the Omega-3 fatty acids it contains. It’s very low in calories and saturated fat as well. Salmon also contains B12, potassium, niacin, riboflavin, thiamine, folic acid. iron, and vitamin D.
B12 is known for keeping blood and nerves healthy and to help your cells make DNA. Omega-3 fatty acids are essential fats that your body needs that can help lower your risk of cardiovascular disease, dementia, Alzeheimer’s, and certain types of cancer.
The protein in salmon is important for helping you to heal, maintaining muscle mass, and ensuring good bone health. Potassium helps regulate your blood pressure and can decrease your risk for stroke.
For all these reasons and more, you should be eating more salmon — and this garlic salmon is a great way to get started!

Can you eat salmon raw?

The short answer is, yes you can eat salmon raw, but I would only do that at a fine Japanese or sushi restaurant where they get sushi-grade fish and can ensure the safety of the raw fish you’re eating.
If you’re purchasing salmon from your meat counter or buying it frozen and thawing, it’s not a great idea to eat that salmon raw as you can’t be sure it wasn’t thawed and re-frozen before or if it wasn’t sitting at the ideal temperature, etc.

salmon with lemons and orzo on two plates

Best Sides to Eat with Grilled Salmon

Looking to make this salmon dish a full-fledged meal? I can help with that. My favorite sides to serve with this salmon with garlic include:

Orzo (recipe below, in the Expert Tips section).
A lovely, easy, green side salad.
Or, you could just put that healthy salmon right on top of the green salad and make it a full meal.
On that note, other salads like Chicken Avocado Corn Salad or pasta salads (like this Greek Pasta Salad) go great with this salmon too.
Add some yummy, comforting carbs on the side like mashed potatoes or Simple Mac and Cheese. (For a mashed potato recipe, Garlic Sour Cream Mashed Potatoes is a great one!)

Frequently Asked Questions

How to Thaw Salmon?

I almost always thaw salmon in the fridge, which takes about 24 hours. If you don’t have that kind of time, you can also thaw salmon in cold water. Not hot water! That will start to cook the salmon. Cold water will thaw the salmon just fine in a couple hours. Change the water if you feel it necessary.
A final last option is to defrost it in the microwave. Do this on the appropriate defrost setting and check to see if it’s thawed all the way through often. Defrosting in the microwave can be iffy as it has a tendency to cook some of the salmon (or whatever it is you’re defrosting) and can make it a little chewy tasting.

Expert Tips

Not sure what herbs to use? I just simply use what I have on hand! I love any combination of dill, parsley, basil, or thyme.
Looking for that orzo recipe? It’s easy — all you need to do is cook orzo according to package instructions. Toss with a little olive oil, fresh-squeezed lemon juice, some shaved or grated parmesan cheese, and salt and pepper to taste.
This grilled salmon recipe will keep in the fridge for up to 4 days in an airtight container. You can freeze this cooked salmon with lemon in an airtight container for up to 5 months.
You should always thaw salmon from frozen in the fridge.

grilled salmon with lemon butter sauce and orzo on plate with fork

More Recipes Like This

For more amazing salmon recipes, check out my popular posts for Baked Honey Lemon Garlic Salmon in Foil, Best, Easy, Healthy Baked Salmon, and Thai Salmon Tacos.

Did you make this recipe? FANTASTIC. Please rate the recipe below and be sure to tag me on social when you share a photo on social – I love seeing what you’re up to in the kitchen!

5 from 17 votes