Grilled Red Snapper with Lemon-Herb Butter

Grilled Red Snapper with Lemon-Herb Butter

Any fish can be tricky to drop on a grill grate, but you can make the cooking easier by choosing a fairly meaty variety and using the on-heat, off-heat method. Red snapper has a very pleasant, mild flavor, but skin-on filets are usually cut thick enough to handle a few minutes over a flame, then finished over indirect heat.

Here’s the bottom line: grilled fish is delicious. Snapper, tuna, swordfish, halibut—just think firm, meaty flesh. This recipe doesn’t get much simpler. Fish, a no-fuss lemon-butter sauce, some fresh herbs—and that’s what makes it so good. Simple, fresh, and no fuss.

Serves 2

Ingredients

• 3 tsp unsalted butter
• 3 tsp fresh lemon juice
• 1 tsp finely chopped basil
• 1 tsp finely chopped tarragon
• sea salt
• freshly ground black pepper
• olive oil, for rubbing fish and grill grate 
• 2 7-oz red snapper filets with skin on 1 side 
• lemon wedges, for serving

Red Snapper Filets

Preparation

1. Prepare a grill for medium heat with space for indirect cooking.
2. Heat a small saucepan or skillet over medium-low heat and melt the butter. Stir in the lemon juice, basil, and tarragon and season with salt and pepper. Cook, stirring frequently, 2 minutes. Keep warm while the fish grills.
3. Rub the red snapper on both sides with olive oil. Season the flesh side with salt and pepper.
4. Rub the grill grate with oil. Grill the filets flesh-side down over direct heat until grill marks appear, 1-2 minutes. Turn and grill skin-side down until the skin is smoky and charred, 2-3 minutes.
5. Move the filets off-heat and turn flesh-side down again, grilling until tender and cooked through, turning flesh-side up as needed, 2-3 minutes, depending on thickness.

Lemon-Herb Butter

Beginning to Grill

After Turning

Plate the fish and drizzle with lemon-herb butter. Serve with lemon wedges.

Grilled Red Snapper with Lemon-Herb Butter