How To Smoke Halibut On An Electric Smoker

If you love halibut then you will know that it’s a beautiful white, flaky, delicate fish. I love it, and one of the best ways to eat it is smoked so, here I am going to give you a recipe that’s very simple but tastes spectacular.

Now, as I said, halibut is a lovely fish to grill or smoke. It’s nice white delicate fish and so you want to marinate it before you put it in your smoker.

how to smoke halibut
Spices for a marinade

How To Marinade Hallibut

You only need a few simple ingredients for your marinade. The main ingredients for this marinade are butter, white wine, salt, pepper, garlic and parsley. Or, if you prefer a bit of a kick why not dice in a few chilies.

First measure together the two wet ingredients I like to add 4 tablespoons of melted butter and stir the butter together with two ounces of white wine.

Next, combine your dry ingredients i.e. the spices and add 1/2 teaspoon salt, 1/8 teaspoon pepper 1/8 teaspoon of garlic powder, 2 tablespoons of parsley and stir it all together.

Now, place your halibut into a ziploc bag and cover the fish with the marinade. Toss it all around to make sure the marinade covers all the surfaces of the halibut. Now you want to place the marinating halibut in the refrigerator for about an hour and then comes the good part.

You need to smoke the halibut at 250 degrees for 25 minutes so, make sure you pull the halibut out of the refrigerator and bring it back up to room temperature before you place it into the smoker. Never place cold meat or fish directly into a smoker or on to a grill.

Before you turn on your smoker, remove the trays that you load the meat or fish onto and put them back in after your smoker comes up to temperature.

How To Set Up Your Smoker

Here is a great little tip for the way I set up my electric smoker. For easy clean up, set up your smoker ahead of time with an aluminum pan where the water tray normally goes. Add your wood chips to the chip loading tray and cover your drip tray with aluminum foil. Then put a nice big sheet of aluminum foil under the front of your smoker to catch anything that drips when you open and close the smoker door. Finally, spray cooking spray on your trays or racks over the kitchen sink for easy clean up and to help keep the fish from sticking.

Once your smoker is up to temperature and has a good smoke going, it is time to load the halibut into the it. To keep the smoke and temperature in your smoker open it quickly, insert your tray, latch the door and allow your halibut to smoke at 250 degrees for 25 minutes.

High angle close up of hands holding fresh fillet of white fish, Barramundi, Asian Sea Bass.
Halibut is a flaky white fish that tastes great smoked

That will give you a nice flaky white fish. Place the loaded trays or racks of halibut into the preheated smoker but remember, halibut is a delicate flaky white fish so don’t ever cook halibut too long or it will be rubbery.

Dont Make Your Fish Rubbery!

Keep your halibut tender and moist by smoking it at 250 degrees for 25 minutes. There’s nothing worse than rubbery halibut so all you’re trying to do is enhance the flavor of halibut with a nice smokey layer of flavor. Check that your halibut is flaky and opaque. Do not overcook halibut.

After 25 minutes, remove the fish from your smoker with tongs. Smoking halibut is easy and delicious and using this recipe, your smoked halibut is tender, moist, delicious and has a nice smokey flavor.

Final Thought

So, there you have it. An easy way to smoke halibut in an electric smoker. As I promised, its a simple process but should bring you fantastic results. Now, enoy your fish!

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