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From start to finish, garlic butter steelhead trout, cooked in foil is the easiest trout recipe in the world. Baking fish in foil with garlic, butter, and lemon is an easy, winning combo that yields a juicy buttery flavor. While the prep work takes minutes, the cleanup only takes seconds, making this a 25-minute recipe with cleanup included!
Steelhead trout is very similar to salmon in both flavor and appearance, however, steelhead trout tends to be a little milder. Not to be confused with rainbow trout, which tends to be lighter and color and milder in flavor in my experience.
The cook-in-foil method is incredibly easy because there is very minimal cleanup. I’m talking done-in-25-minutes easy. Because the fish is wrapped in foil, the fish is steamed, retaining the moisture, and rendering juicy and tender meat.
Looking for similar buttery and delicious recipes? Try my baked Triscuit-crusted cod, easy lemon butter scallops, and my delicious salmon bowls.
Table of Contents
Ingredients Notes and Substitutions
- Steelhead trout filet: look for a full longer portion of trout that hasn’t been cut into individual pieces. You can remove the skin but it’s optional. Once the fish is done cooking, the skin will easily separate from the meat. Salmon or sockeye salmon makes a great substitute.
- Butter: butter helps form the paste that coats the whole fish. It adds buttery flavor and texture to every bite. Use salted or unsalted. If using unsalted, you may need an extra pinch of salt on the fish.
- Lemon: I like to reserve lemon for just before serving as well. It’s hard to beat a fresh squeeze of lemon on finished fish. For even more flavor, incorporate lemon zest.
- Garlic: fresh garlic is a must. Do not substitute with anything pre-minced or garlic powder for best results. A microplane is my favorite way to finely mince fresh garlic into a paste.
See the recipe card for full information on ingredients and quantities below.
Expert Tips
- There are a few methods when it comes to covering the fish in garlic butter. If you soften the butter into a soft paste, you can evenly spread it on top of the filet. It’s a great way to ensure the fish is entirely covered.
- This foil method will work for just about any fish and any topping. I’ve done it with cod, haddock, salmon, and of course, steelhead trout. If your fish is on the larger side, you can crimp together two pieces of foil so you have a larger surface area.
More Seafood Recipes
Enjoy this recipe? If you made this recipe, please leave a ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ star rating in the recipe card below & a review in the comments!
Garlic Butter Steelhead Trout
Ingredients
- 1 pound steelhead trout filet, skin removed optional
- 1/3 cup butter, softend/room temp
- 2 cloves garlic, minced/grated
- small handful fresh parsley, minced
- small handful fresh dill, minced
- Lemon slices, to top
- salt to taste
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350°F.
- Add softened butter to a small bowl. Stir in garlic, parsley, and dill. Mix until fully incorporated.
- Roll out a sheet of aluminum foil that is roughly 8 inches longer than the filet. If your filet is larger/wider, you can crimp together two pieces of foil so you have more foil to work with. They also make wider rolls of foil.
- Place the trout filet in the center of the foil. Fold up all 4 sides of the foil. Season trout with salt.
- Spread herb butter over the trout until evenly coated or top with 3 large dollops. Top with sliced lemon wheels.
- Fold the long sides of the foil over the trout, covering completely, and seal it tightly. Fold the ends over and seal into a closed packet. Place on a baking sheet and bake until fully cooked, about 15-18 minutes.
- Carefully open the foil packet when ready to serve. Steam will build up and may be hot when opening!
Notes
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
Cooked this last night. My wife and I loved it. I finished it off open foil under the broil to brown the top a bit. Otherwise according to recipe. The combination of butter, garlic, and lemon made it shine. Thanks Shawn.
Thanks Jim! Glad you liked it.
My husband and I have been wanting to try cooking trout. Googling for Recipes, came upon this one. After reading the reviews, I can’t wait to try it! But… this site won’t let me print the recipe. How come??
Hi Carolyn – I’m in the process of trying to fix that feature. It’s actually an issue with the plugin I use to organize recipes.
Going to try this tonight. I have to say not a real fish eater but I have my 93 yr old mother living with me and I try to fix her healthy home made food. I’ll let you know how it turns out. I always look at reviews. That’s why I’m making this recipe.
You will love it Renita! And bless you, cherish every moment with your Mom. We just buried our 98 year old father today.
I did everything that you said except I threw 5 pieces of asparagus in each package. It was freaking amazing. I love trout and for 40 years I have been frying it in a pan. No more!!!!
Awesome Dana – I need to try adding asparagus!
UPDATE….
SOOO DELICIOUS!
Thanks again for sharing your craft!
Like Tyler, I subbed out the parsley, for dill, on my 1.5 lb. fillet.
It’s in the oven now.
Smells absolutely divine!
Thanks so much for sharing!
Thanks Brynlds – I need to try this dill craze.
Hubby just caught a Steelhead today so had to look online for best way to bake it. So happy I stopped at your recipe, we loved the way it came out. Nothing better than fresh Steelhead, homemade fries and green beans. Yummy!! Just wish I could post the picture I took. ?
Awesome – that’s as fresh as it gets. Post and tag me on Instagram! Love recipe photos. @kitchenswagger
Yes, just did!
Hi thinking of making the garlic trout. What will I serve it with?
Just tried this recipe – it was fantastic! We had one glitch, though. I bought a 2lb steelhead fillet, so I doubled the ingredients, and because the fillet was so big after wrapping it in foil I put it in a Pyrex baking pan to bake (I was afraid it would leak). It took about 55 minutes at 375, then it was perfect – at 20 mins it was still raw. I’m not a very experienced cook so I don’t know if it was the size of the fillet or putting it in the pan that affected the baking time – everything else was great, including the broiling at the end. Thanks!
I made this tonight and I honestly have to say it was amazing! I’ve never had steelhead let alone cooked it! Thank you for such an easy delicious recipe!
You’re welcome Rosie – this one is a great easy win.