25 Tender Trout Recipes to Try Now

The mildly sweet, nutty, and fatty fish shines in these seafood dishes.

By

Food & Wine Editors

Updated on March 6, 2024

Shaoxing-Steamed Steelhead Trout and Mushrooms — Photo: Photo by Victor Protasio / Food Styling by Torie Cox / Prop Styling by Thom Driver

Smoked, grilled, or sautéed, trout is a delicious fish worth adding to your dinner rotation. Its one-of-a-kind taste can be enjoyed in myriad unique dishes, from Coriander-Cured Trout Aguachile to Ocean Trout with Curried Lentils and Spring Onions to Smoked Trout Chowder. You can even bake trout skin up into a crispy happy hour snack. Discover your favorite trout preparation whether you have a fresh catch, cooked trout from your fishmonger, or frozen trout for these outstanding trout recipes.

01 of 25

Smoked Trout with Roasted Radishes and Fennel–Stone Fruit Salad

Smoked Trout with Roasted Radishes and Fennel and Stone Fruit Salad — Photo by Jennifer Causey / Food Styling by Torie Cox / Prop Styling by Christine Keely

At Racines in New York City, chef Diego Moya served confit trout with an almond oil, apricot kernel vinegar, and honey vinaigrette with tart underripe peaches. This homage leans on store-bought smoked trout and aged sherry vinegar for a weeknight-friendly dish.

02 of 25

Herb-Roasted Trout with Buttery Almonds

Herb Roasted Trout with Butter Almonds — Photo by Victor Protasio / Food Styling by Chelsea Zimmer / Prop Styling by Christine Keely

Lemon slices and a bounty of hardy herbs flavor these tender whole trout from the inside out, while toasted almonds provide a crunchy finish. Serve the roasted trout over a simple spring salad of arugula and thinly sliced fennel and radishes.

03 of 25

Grilled Trout with Crispy Fish Skin

Crispy Grilled Trout — Jennifer Causey / Food Styling by Jennifer Wendorf / Prop Styling by Christina Daley

F&W editor in chief Hunter Lewis's fishmonger always has farmed freshwater rainbow trout on hand, butterflied and boneless with the spine and ribs removed. They take well to fast cooking on the grill, made easier with a grill basket. You can easily pull off the skin after grilling if it’s not your thing, but do leave it on while cooking because it protects the flesh and keeps the filets juicy.

04 of 25

Pan-Seared Trout with Green Garlic and Crunchy Chanterelles

Pan Seared Trout with Green Garlic and Crunchy Chanterelles — Jennifer Causey

Top Chef Season 15 winner Joe Flamm wowed judges with this simple but virtuosic dish of pan-seared trout with garlic and chanterelle mushrooms. In his quick-cooking dish, crunchy breadcrumbs cling to seared chanterelles and garlic atop delicate trout in a pool of buttery white wine sauce.

05 of 25

Trout Rechad

Trout Rechad — Jen Causey

For this convenient stuffed, fried fish recipe, pomfret or mackerel are classic choices, but cookbook author Nik Sharma has found trout to work exceptionally well.

06 of 25

Trout Tartare with Fennel Remoulade and Tobiko

Trout Tartare with Fennel Remoulade — Photo by Victor Protasio / Food Styling by Ruth Blackburn / Prop Styling by Claire Spollen

In this elegant tartare from chef Larry Feldmeier, buttery soft fresh trout is combined with fennel, red onion, yellow bell pepper, and cucumber, then coated in a bold dressing spiked with bright flavors like lime and ginger. Golden yuzu tobiko and crispy puffed rice top the dish off.

07 of 25

Epis-Rubbed Steelhead Trout

Epis-Rubbed Steelhead Trout — José Mandojana

Chef Gregory Gourdet uses Haitian epis to season the fish and to flavor the stewed peppers that accompany it. The all-purpose marinade is made from a blend of herbs, aromatics, and spices, in this case infusing the tender fish with herb and oniony notes and a little vinegar-and-lime tang.

08 of 25

Salvadoran-Style Pescado Frito (Fried Fish)

Salvadoran Style Pescado Frito (Fried Fish) — Photo by Victor Protasio / Food Styling by Chelsea Zimmer / Prop Styling by Claire Spollen

For cookbook author and food historian Karla Vasquez's recipe, delicate, meltingly tender whole trout gets crispy skin from a quick sear in a cast-iron skillet. Worcestershire sauce — a frequent find in Salvadoran condiment drawers — teams up with mustard to create a punchy, umami-packed crust.

09 of 25

Shaoxing-Steamed Steelhead Trout and Mushrooms

Shaoxing-Steamed Steelhead Trout and Mushrooms — Photo by Victor Protasio / Food Styling by Torie Cox / Prop Styling by Thom Driver

Oyster, beech, and shiitake mushrooms cook alongside fatty, succulent steelhead trout fillets in a bath of steam from the Shaoxing wine simmering in the wok beneath the steamer. Serve the fish alongside cooked rice to soak up the aromatic sauce.

10 of 25

Smoked Trout Toasts

Smoked Trout Toasts — Victor Protasio / Food Styling by Chelsea Zimmer / Prop Styling by Christine Keely

These crispy fried toasts from Evan Bloom of Wise Sons Jewish Delicatessen in San Francisco are spread with a wonderfully creamy smoked trout salad and coated in a generous layer of sesame seeds.

11 of 25

Coriander-Cured Trout Aguachile

Coriander Trout Aguachile Recipe — Aubrie Pick

Lightly curing the trout in salt, sugar, and crushed spices firms the fish, and infuses it with flavor before it's served with a bright and tangy lime juice dressing. Substitute the spring onions with thinly sliced red or white onions, rinsed in cold water to mellow their sharper bite.

12 of 25

Trout with Warm Pine Nut Dressing and Fennel Puree

Trout with Warm Pine-Nut Dressing and Fennel Puree — © John Kernick

Chef David Bouley used a mix of wild mushroom scraps to infuse the pine nut sauce that tops his seared trout. Home cooks can make a pine nut dressing for trout using dried porcinis plumped in the microwave.

13 of 25

Japanese-Style Trout with Dashi

Japanese-Style Trout with Dashi — © Lucas Allen

This recipe is modeled after the Japanese dish Unagi Kabayaki — grilled eel. Since eel is fairly hard to find, we've substituted trout, which is a bit leaner than eel but similar in flavor.

14 of 25

Ocean Trout with Curried Lentils and Spring Onions

Ocean Trout with Curried Lentils and Spring Onions — © Antonis Achilleos

Vadouvan is a curry spice blend combining curry leaves, mustard seeds, shallots, and garlic. At his GT Fish & Oyster restaurant in Chicago, chef Giuseppe Tentori tops vadouvan lentils with Tasmanian ocean trout. Any saison-style beer would be a great match for this dish.

15 of 25

Grilled Trout with Savory Marinade

Grilled Trout with Savory Marinade — © EVI ABELER

Trout and summer savory form an ideal marriage. Both are mild-mannered, so they blend beautifully, neither upstaging the other. Serve the dish with equally mellow vegetables, such as buttered green beans and grilled or roasted potatoes.

16 of 25

Smoked Trout Chowder

Smoked-Trout Chowder — © FRANCES JANISCH

Smoked fish – already cooked and intensely flavorful – is an ideal addition to dishes when time is of the essence. This chicken broth and potato-based chowder calls for two flaked fillets of peppered smoked trout with the skin removed.

17 of 25

Smoked Trout with Root Vegetable Rémoulade

Roots Remoulade with Smoked Trout — Justin Walker

Thinly sliced root vegetables like carrots, kohlrabi, and radishes make this salad bright and crisp. Topped with a luxe crème fraîche dressing and whole-grain mustard, then paired with smoked trout, this salad makes a crunchy and satisfying weeknight meal.

18 of 25

Trout with Preserved Lemon Vinaigrette

Trout with Preserved Lemon Vinaigrette — © Cedric Angeles

This quick dish from 2011 F&W Best New Chef Viet Pham features trout fillets in a bright and tangy vinaigrette made with cider vinegar, lemon juice, preserved lemon, minced shallot, and fish sauce. If you'd like to pair it with wine, a New Zealand Sauvignon Blanc is a lovely choice.

19 of 25

Whole Baked Trout with Fennel and Orange

Whole Baked Trout with Fennel and Orange — © John Kernick

With so many lakes and rivers, Iceland is a terrific place for trout. Here, Victoria Elíasdóttir stuffs it with fennel, herbs, and orange and bakes on foil that’s been well buttered so the skin gets nicely golden.

20 of 25

Smoked Trout and Caper Cream Cheese Toasts

Smoked-Trout-and-Caper-Cream-Cheese Toasts. Photo © Michael Turek — © Michael Turek

Inspired by the classic combination of bagels with lox and cream cheese, chef Tory Miller devised this variation using smoked, locally raised trout and homemade English muffins. It would be equally good on other breads, such as a baguette or even the bagel that inspired it.

21 of 25

Trout Skin Crisps

Trout Skin Crisps — © Con Poulos

These smoky crisps are an ideal happy hour snack. To make them, simply bake smoked trout fillet skins until they're dry and crispy, then sprinkle with salt and/or Old Bay Seasoning.

22 of 25

Pan-Seared Trout with Serrano Ham and Chile-Garlic Oil

Pan-Seared Trout with Serrano Ham and Chile-Garlic Oil — © MARIE HENNECHART

"This dish is almost a cliché in Navarra, but it's absolutely delicious," says chef Alex Raij about this Spanish trout preparation. "The Spanish ham keeps the fish from drying out, basting it with its inimitable fat."

23 of 25

Tuscan Grilled Trout

Tuscan Grilled Trout — © HELENE DUJARDIN

A simple garlic-and-herb-infused oil combined with wine vinegar acts as both a basting liquid and a sauce for the fish. The trout skin protects the flesh and turns an appealing golden brown during grilling.

24 of 25

Smoked Trout Tostadas

Smoked Trout Tostadas — © REED DAVIS

Smoked trout is the star of this simple, fresh appetizer. It's gently tossed with tomato, avocado, and lime juice, then spooned onto corn chips and garnished with chives.

25 of 25

Stuffed Trout with Purple-Potato Gratin

Stuffed Trout with Purple-Potato Gratin — © Frances Janisch

This is Emmanuel Piqueras' riff on a traditional, rustic Peruvian dish of mountain trout cooked with lots of garlic. At the restaurant Andina, in Portland, Oregon, Piqueras adapts the recipe by stuffing the trout with a deeply flavored blend of smoky ham, fresh mint, and parsley.

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