Flavourful easy salt grilled fish. A simple brined fish recipe that’s perfect for dinner, especially when paired with grilled mushrooms or vegetables. Whether it’s grilled on the barbecue or baked in the oven, this salt grilled fish recipe is ready to eat in less than an hour. Inspired by the salt grilled fish from Zelda Breath of the Wild and Tears of the Kingdom.

These salt grilled fish is super flavourful and doesn’t require too much effort to make. The most involved part of the process is probably the rinsing of the fish with salt water, but the real magic that makes this fish recipe so delicious happens during the 20 minute brining period – which gives you ample time to prepare the rest of your dinner!

Try serving this salt grilled fish with grilled mushrooms or grilled vegetables? It also pairs beautifully with a greens salad or steamed rice.

There’s a few things you can do to ensure your salt grilled fish tastes absolutely perfect.

• Rinse with salt water before and after brining. Mix a big jug of water with fine salt until thoroughly mixed. Use this for cleaning the fish before and after the brining period, to help the fish retain their desired texture and flavour.
• Use the right salt. Pickling salt is perfect for brining fish because it doesn’t usually contain any additives that could alter the fish’s flavour in an unexpected way.
• Brine the fish with large, coarse salt. Use coarse large pickling salt for the brining process, Smaller salt particles may be absorbed too quickly by the fish and result in incredibly salty fish.
• Brine the fish for 20 minutes. This is the perfect amount of time for your standard 8-inch long, 1-inch thick small fish. If you’re using a super thin salmon fillet, brine for maybe 10 minutes instead. If using a very thick piece of fish, brine for longer, up to 30 minutes. I suggest testing this out on a small piece of your fish first, to see the results, but if in doubt, stick with the 20 minute rule.

• Pat the fish BONE DRY with paper towel in between each step. This will prevent any of the added salt flavour from being lost.
• Stuff the grilled fish with lemon slices. High recommend this for the barbecue, it adds a lot of flavour. Drizzling a bit of soy sauce over the lemon slices before putting them inside the fish belly also infuses the fish with a little extra flavour during the cooking process.
• Grill the fish immediately after brining and rinsing. Preheat the barbecue or oven while the fish is brining. This way, the second the fish has its last rinse and is stuffed with lemon slices, it can go immediately onto the heat source, without loosing any of the salt flavour that was just added.
• Char the fish well on the side that will be face-up when served. This is easy to do on the barbecue, just cook the fish for 6 minutes or so on the first side until the fish gets strong grill marks. Then flip the fish over and grill for about another 4 minutes on the back side. This can be more difficult in the oven, but I suggest baking the fish for 8 minutes on both sides, then switching the broiler on for the last minute or so.

Salt Grilled Fish in Zelda Breath of the Wild and Tears of the Kingdom: Any Fish + Rock Salt

You can make salt grilled fish at any cooking pot in Hyrule by cooking a fish with rock salt. It’s very easy to add elemental effects to your meal depending on the type of fish you use.

• Salt-Grilled Fish: Basic salt-grilled fish. Hyrule Bass, Sanke Carp or Ancient Arowana plus rock salt; no added effects.
• Hearty Salt-Grilled Fish: Hearty Salmon or Hearty Bass plus rock salt; grants temporary bonus yellow hearts.
• Bright Salt-Grilled Fish: Glowing Cave Fish plus rock salt; grants the temporary ability to make Link’s body glow. Great for looking around the depths before getting the miner’s outfit.
• Sunny Salt-Grilled Fish: Basic salt-grilled fish with an added sundelion; will remove gloom damage.
• Energizing Salt-Grilled Fish: Staminoka Bass plus rock salt, temporarily replenishes part of your stamina wheel.
• Enduring Salt-Grilled Fish: Basic salt-grilled fish with an added endura carrot; temporarily replenishes your stamina wheel and provides bonus stamina.
• Hasty Salt-Grilled Fish:  Basic salt-grilled fish with an added swift carrot or lotus seeds; temporarily increases your movement speed.
• Sneaky Salt-Grilled Fish: Stealthfin Trout plus rock salt; granting temporary increase of sneakiness.
• Spicy Salt-Grilled Fish: Sizzlefin Trout plus rock salt, or basic salt-grilled fish with an added spicy pepper; increases heat resistance temporarily.
• Chilly Salt-Grilled Fish: Chillfin Trout plus rock salt, or basic salt-grilled fish with an added cool safflina; increases heat resistance temporarily.
• Electro Salt-Grilled Fish: Voltfin Trout plus rock salt, or basic salt-grilled fish with an added electric safflina, granting temporary shock resistance.
• Mighty Salt-Grilled Fish: Mighty Carp or Mighty Porgy plus rock salt; temporary boost in attack power.
• Tough Salt-Grilled Fish: Armored Carp or Armored Porgy plus rock salt; temporary defence increase.
• Scorching Salt-Grilled Fish: Basic salt-grilled fish with an added fire fruit; temporarily hot weather attack upgrade.
• Biting Salt-Grilled Fish: Basic salt-grilled fish with an added ice fruit; temporarily cool weather attack upgrade.
• Stormy Salt-Grilled Fish: Basic salt-grilled fish with an added shock fruit; temporarily stormy weather attack upgrade.
• Rapid Salt-Grilled Fish: Basic salt-grilled fish with an added splash fruit; temporarily swimming speed increase.

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Salt Grilled Fish

This simple salt grilled fish recipe makes 4 servings, ready to eat in 45 minutes.

Ingredients

• 4 servings of fish – whole fish or fish fillets or fish steaks:
  • 4 small (8-inch long) whole fish, descaled and gutted – sea bream, trout, tilapia, sardine, mahi-mahi or mackerel 
  • OR approx. 16 ounces of fish fillets or fish steaks, cut into 4 equal pieces – tilapia, salmon, tuna, mahi-mahi or trout

• 2 tbsp fine salt
• 5 cups water
• ¼ – ½ cup coarse pickling salt (2 tbsp/whole fish, 1 tbsp/fillet)
• 1 lemon
• 2 tbsp soy sauce

Tools

• measuring cups
• measuring spoons
• large bowl or jug for the salt water solution
• paper towels
• dish with raised edges, for bringing the fish
• grill pan or broiler pan with a tray (depending on if you’re using a barbecue or oven)
• knife
• cutting board
• tongs
• oven mitts

Instructions

1. Mix 2 tbsp fine salt with 5 cups of water, for cleaning the fish.
2. Clean the fish by pouring cold salted water over them. Rinse both the outsides and insides of the fish with the salt water. 
3. Pat the cleaned fish with paper towels until very dry. Place the fish on a large plate or in a tray.
4. Sprinkle pickling salt evenly over the fish, then flip the fish over and sprinkle the other side with more salt. For whole fish, also sprinkle a small amount of salt inside the fish cavity. In general, use 2 tablespoons of coarse salt per whole fish, or 1 tbsp of coarse salt per fish fillet or fish steak. 
5. Let the fish sit coated in the salt for 20 minutes, exactly.

10. Cook the fish, either on the barbecue or in the oven.
    • Barbecue: Place the fish on the barbecue grill. Cook for 6 minutes or until the fish gets nice grill lines, then flip the fish over and cook for another 4 minutes. 
    • Oven: Place the fish on a broiler rack with a tray to collect any drippings in the 400˚F heated oven. Cook the fish for 8 minutes, then flip over and cook for another 8 minutes. You can turn the broiler on for the last minute or two to get nice grill lines, if desired.
11. Transfer the grilled fish to a serving plate. If using fillets, drizzle them with soy-soaked lemon. Serve the fish right away with more lemon slices and fresh herbs, if desired.

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Savoury Salted Fish

I just love how simple this salt grilled fish is to throw together, and I really appreciate that it’s easy to make this recipe with either whole fish or just a fillet or fish steak. You could probably even do this with fish skewers or kabobs too!