When you start with quality ingredients, you don’t have to do much to create a freakin’ delicious recipe. That’s why these grilled salmon fillets with cowboy butter are absolutely off the charts. It’s super simple and easy, with the salmon slowly cooked from the bottom up by the fire and basted with hot cowboy butter to cook it from the top down. Doesn’t get much better than this.
These grilled salmon fillets are my go-to during live events with Verlasso. The combination of the rich salmon and the flavorful cowboy butter gets the recipe top marks whenever I cook it! The company’s Patagonian salmon is the best type of salmon, with a truly incredible flavor from the cold ocean currents of South America. Plus, Verlasso is the first salmon brand to achieve carbon-neutral production, so you can feel good buying it.
Post sponsored by Verlasso
Table of Contents
- Why You’ll Love These Grilled Salmon Fillets
- Grilled Salmon Ingredients
- Sticky Salmon
- How to Make Grilled Salmon Fillets with Cowboy Butter
- What to Serve with Grilled Salmon Fillets
- Leftovers and Reheating
- For More Cowboy Butter
- FAQs
- Most Anticipated Grill of 2025
- Grilled Salmon Fillets with Cowboy Butter Recipe
Why You’ll Love These Grilled Salmon Fillets
Salmon consistently ranks as one of the most popular fish to eat in America. And with good reason: these fish fillets have a meaty, flaky texture, rich flavor and awesome nutrition. All that goes a long way to setting up this delicious salmon recipe.
Salmon pairs well with mustard and lemon juice, so I made sure to include those two ingredients in the cowboy butter I used for this grilled salmon fillets recipe. Y’all know, I love a good cowboy butter! It goes with everything, like in these Cowboy Butter Arayes, Cowboy Butter Burgers, Cowboy Butter Sliders and so much more.
Also, you can’t have a proper cowboy butter without garlic, and the herbs and chili kick things up a notch, so naturally I added those too. I made sure to season the whole side of Verlasso salmon with my Cowboy Butter Seasoning to complement the cowboy butter itself too! I’ve used this seasoning on a bunch of recipes, and I’m always impressed with how versatile it is.
I think you’ll also find the cooking method is a great way to cook a whole fillet. By basting and using medium heat on the grill, you achieve that perfect tender bite. Which is exactly what we want for our grilled salmon fillets.
Looking for more salmon recipes? Check out Planked Salmon, Smoked Salmon Pinwheels, Smoked Candied Salmon and Hot Smoked Salmon.
Grilled Salmon Ingredients
- Salmon: We’ll boost the flavor of a whole side of Verlasso salmon with my Cowboy Butter Seasoning. This dry rub has everything you love about cowboy butter, so we’re getting that smoky flavor two times over with our grilled salmon.
- Cowboy Butter: Our cowboy butter for this recipe is pretty standard but so freakin’ delicious. You’ll need unsalted butter, minced garlic, Dijon mustard, chopped parsley, red chili flakes, cayenne powder and lemon juice.
Bring the Flavor Home
Sticky Salmon
People always ask me, how do I get my salmon fillets to not stick to the grill? Here are my tips for the best way to pull this off with the delicate flesh of fish.
- Preheat your grill. Yes, I know you always do this, but just a reminder that you want hot grates! The hotter your grill grates are, the less likely it is that the grilled salmon fillets will stick to it.
- Clean and oil your grill grates. Do this a couple times for extra insurance. A wad of paper towels is the best way to oil those grates.
- Prepare your fish properly. You’ll want to pat it dry with paper towels first, then oil the fish itself.
- Don’t flip or remove until it’s ready. The grilled salmon is less likely to stick if it’s had the proper amount of time on the grill.
How to Make Grilled Salmon Fillets with Cowboy Butter
First things first, preheat your charcoal grill to medium heat (about 325 degrees Fahrenheit). Then, slather your whole side of Verlasso salmon with canola oil and generously season with Cowboy Butter Seasoning.
Next, place a cast iron skillet on the preheated grill with all the ingredients for the Cowboy Butter. That’s unsalted butter, minced garlic, Dijon mustard, chopped parsley, red chili flakes, cayenne powder and lemon juice. Let that beautiful mixture melt.
Now, it’s time to cook the salmon. Place the whole filet on the hot grill grates, with the salmon skin-side down. Cook at 325 degrees F for 10-15 minutes. After the first five minutes, while the salmon cooks, use a grill brush to baste your fillet all over on the flesh side with the cowboy butter.
Continue cooking the salmon until the internal temperature reaches 130 degrees F (about 10 more minutes) on an instant-read thermometer. Once done, use a large metal spatula to pull the salmon off the grill. Let it cool for 1-2 minutes.
Serve with warm bread and enjoy!
What to Serve with Grilled Salmon Fillets
I’m serving these grilled salmon fillets with warm bread, but you could also serve with potatoes, rice or rice pilaf for a delicious dish. Grilled asparagus, grilled zucchini or a simple green salad would be awesome too.
Leftovers and Reheating
If you’ve got leftover grilled salmon fillets, store in an airtight container in the fridge for up to three days. The cowboy butter will keep in a mason jar in the fridge for up to a week. To reheat the salmon, use your grill or oven at low heat (about 275-300 degrees F) to warm it up nice and slowly. Should take about 10-15 minutes. You could even make salmon tacos or salmon pasta with the leftovers!
For More Cowboy Butter
FAQs
That’s albumin, a protein that comes to the surface of the salmon when you cook it. This process typically happens when you overcook salmon fillets or cook it at too high of a temperature. Because we’re cooking the salmon fillets at a low temp and basting, we can avoid that with this recipe.
Yes! Salmon skin is totally safe to eat. If you grill it right, you’ll get some beautiful crispy skin that is so freakin’ delicious.
You could sub fresh dill or cilantro for the parsley, and whatever hot sauce floats your boat for the chili flakes and cayenne! If you don’t want too much spice, feel free to even use less of those ingredients.
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Grilled Salmon Fillets with Cowboy Butter
Ingredients
Salmon:
- 1 Verlasso Salmon Whole Side
- 3 tbsp Cowboy Butter Seasoning
- Canola Oil
Cowboy Butter:
- 3 sticks Unsalted Butter melted
- 2 tbsp Minced Garlic
- 2 tbsp Dijon Mustard
- 1.5 tbsp Chopped Parsley
- 2 tsp Red Chili Flakes
- 1 tsp Cayenne Powder
- 1 tsp Lemon Juice
Instructions
- Preheat grill to medium heat (~325F)
- Slather your Verlasso salmon with canola oil and generously season with the Cowboy Butter seasoning.
- Add a cast iron skillet with all the ingredients for the Cowboy Butter and let it melt.
- Add the salmon onto the grill grates. Cook at 325F for 10-15 minutes. After the first 5 minutes of cooking, baste your salmon with the Cowboy Butter Sauce all over.
- Continue cooking the salmon until it reaches 130F internal (about 10 more minutes). Once done, use a large spatula to pull the salmon off the grill to cool for 1-2 minutes.
- Serve with warm bread and enjoy!
Notes
- Preheat your grill. Yes, I know you always do this, but just a reminder that you want hot grates! The hotter your grill grates are, the less likely it is that the grilled salmon fillets will stick to it.
- Clean and oil your grill grates. Do this a couple times for extra insurance. A wad of paper towels is the best way to oil those grates.
- Prepare your fish properly. You’ll want to pat it dry with paper towels first, then oil the fish itself.
- Don’t flip or remove until it’s ready. The grilled salmon is less likely to stick if it’s had the proper amount of time on the grill.
