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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.
Simplest, tastiest, easiest, healthy recipe I’ve come across in a long while. Definitely recommend broiling the trout at the end for a little added crispiness.
love this recipe I made this trout with fettuccine alfredo and it was amazing.
Oh very interesting love the idea – thanks Rachael
Loved this recipe!
Easy to make….I used a glass baking dish to make this…and used Garlic butter and dressed it a bit with roasted garlic chips….Still it tasted really good…very easy to follow…If you are from SouthAsia … you might want to go a bit heavy on black pepper and add red chilly flakes…
Thank you for this!
This is amazing! Quick and easy instruction which I followed to a T with the exception of broiling. My family and quests thoroughly enjoyed it and I will be definitely be making this again.
Thanks Heather!
Making this tonight upon request with trying steelhead for the first time!
Definitely looking forward to it, as well as checking out your other simple and yummy recipes!
Thanks for the recipe Shawn, I used Rosemary instead of parsley, the trout was tender and tasty
Thanks again for sharing
Can’t wait to try this recipe see so many good reviews about it
Can’t wait to try this recipe see so many good reviews about it
Every Tuesday I cook dinner for my family of 13, husband, 4 kids, 3 in-laws, 3 grandkids and 2 nephews. I’m always looking for simple, easy to clean up, recipe. My sis and I went fishing yesterday and caught our limit. I’ll be trying this out tonight. I hope its just as good on fresh lake trout. Wish me luck:)
I am very hesitant about cooking fish. Tried this recipe and it was DELICIOUS!