Salmon on a pellet grill at 225°F on alder pellets: a 30 minute dry brine, about 45 minutes for a 2 lb skin-on side, and a 130 to 135°F pull so it stays moist.
Each recipe gives the pellets, grill temperature, pull temperature and time first. Pull temperatures meet USDA minimums or the doneness barbecue cooks aim for, whichever is higher. Our own cook photos are being added page by page; current photos are credited stock.
Run the grill at 225°F with alder pellets and cook the brined salmon skin side down without flipping. A 2 lb side reaches 130 to 135°F in the thickest part in about 45 to 55 minutes; pull it there.
At 225°F with alder pellets, a 2 lb skin-on side of salmon reaches 130 to 135°F in about 45 minutes, and that’s where I take it off. This is hot smoked salmon, served warm and flaking with a brown sugar crust, and a different thing from the cold smoked lox at the deli counter.
This recipe is written for a Weber Searwood, with times for a mild evening. It’s the quickest cook on the sides and seafood page, and the one I’d give someone who has owned a pellet grill for a week and wants dinner rather than a project. With a 30 minute dry brine, it’s on the table about an hour and a half after you get home from the fish counter.
The usual first mistake is taking a side to 145°F, because that’s the number on the government chart. It comes out chalky and dry and covered in white albumin. Pulled at 135°F, the same fish stays moist enough that the chart stops looking like good advice for salmon.
A whole side, skin on, at 2 to 2.5 lb, is the easiest thing to cook: one piece, with one thick end to watch. Individual 6 oz fillets work as well and cook faster (see the table). Keep the skin on either way, because it holds the fish together on the grate and stops the bottom drying out. Nobody has to eat it.
The type of salmon changes the pull temperature.
| Salmon | Fat level | Pull at | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Farmed Atlantic | High | 130 to 135°F | Forgives an extra 5 minutes; usually the cheapest, roughly $10 to $15 a pound at US supermarkets (November 2026) |
| Wild sockeye or coho | Lean | 125 to 130°F | Redder, stronger flavor, dries out quickly past 130°F |
| King | High | 130 to 135°F | Rich, the best of both; the priciest by far, often $35 a pound or more for wild King (November 2026) |
Good salmon has firm flesh that springs back when you press it, no gaps opening between the flakes, and nothing but a clean ocean smell. Previously frozen fish is fine, since much of it is frozen on the boat. Ask the counter to pull the pin bones, or do it yourself with needle-nose pliers: run a finger down the center line from head to tail and you’ll feel them.
| Fish | Grill temp | Time | Pull at |
|---|---|---|---|
| 6 oz fillets, 1 inch thick | 225°F | 25 to 30 minutes | 130 to 135°F |
| Side, 1.5 lb | 225°F | 35 to 45 minutes | 130 to 135°F |
| Side, 2 to 2.5 lb | 225°F | 45 to 55 minutes | 130 to 135°F |
| Side, 3 lb | 225°F | 55 to 70 minutes | 130 to 135°F |
| Side, 2 lb, on a cedar plank | 250°F | 40 to 50 minutes | 130 to 135°F |
| Side, 2 lb | 275°F | 30 to 35 minutes | 130 to 135°F |
| Wild sockeye side, 2 lb | 225°F | 35 to 45 minutes | 125 to 130°F |
Thickness decides this cook more than weight. The thin tail of a side is done about 15 minutes before the thick end, which is why I fold the tail under or cut it off and add it later. The smoke time calculator gives you a start time, and a probe in the thickest part tells you when to stop. If dinner is in half an hour, the 275°F row works. You lose some smoke flavor and the window for pulling at the right moment gets narrower.
For the dry brine, mix a quarter cup of brown sugar with 2 tablespoons of kosher salt. Lay the salmon skin side down on a sheet pan, pack the mix over the flesh, and refrigerate it for 30 to 45 minutes. Go past an hour and the salt starts to cure the fish, firming it up toward lox, which is a different recipe.
Rinse the brine off under cold water and pat the fish dry with paper towels. If you can spare the time, put it back in the fridge uncovered for 30 minutes to an hour. The surface turns slightly tacky and shiny. That’s called a pellicle, and smoke sticks to it far better than it does to wet fish.
Brush the flesh with a tablespoon of olive oil and dust on the rub, which is 2 tablespoons of brown sugar, a teaspoon each of smoked paprika and black pepper, and half a teaspoon of garlic powder. Don’t add more salt, since the brine already took care of it. Oil the skin side too, and oil the grate, or the skin sticks to the bars and the fillet tears when you lift it.
Slide a leave-in probe into the thickest part of the side from the edge, level with the grate, so the tip sits in the middle of the flesh. Salmon is thin enough that a probe pushed in from the top usually comes out the bottom.
Alder is the wood for salmon. Cooks in the Pacific Northwest have smoked fish over it for generations, and it’s mild and slightly sweet, so it leaves the fish tasting like fish. Apple or cherry are the next best picks. Hickory is too heavy for a 45 minute cook on a fillet. If it’s all you have, mix it half and half with apple, or pull the salmon at 125°F and let carryover finish it.
Set the Searwood to 225°F and give it 10 minutes after it reports it’s at temperature. Put the salmon on skin side down with the thick end toward the hot side of the grill, and close the lid. Don’t flip it, and keep the lid shut for the first 20 minutes.
By 20 minutes the surface has gone from translucent orange to a deeper, opaque color and the rub has set. From 30 minutes, keep an eye on the probe. A typical 2 lb side reads around 110°F at 30 minutes, 125°F at 40 and the mid 130s by about 45, so the last 10 degrees come fast. Stay near the grill for that stretch.
Cook a side with the thin tail lying flat, and by the time the thick end hits 130°F the tail is at 150°F and falling apart. Either fold the last 3 inches of the tail under so the whole side is close to one thickness, or cut the tail off and put it on 15 minutes after the rest. The second way leaves the cook with a snack.
Watch out: If white albumin starts beading up across the surface, the fish is cooking too hot or has been on too long. A few spots are normal. A lot of it means take the salmon off now, whatever the probe says.
For farmed Atlantic, pull at 130 to 135°F in the thickest part. For wild sockeye or coho, pull at 125 to 130°F. At those temperatures the flesh flakes under a fork and is just turning opaque in the center, and wild fish keeps a darker pink line right in the middle. The USDA recommends 145°F, and I don’t cook salmon to it; farmed salmon at 145°F is dry, and good fish costs too much for that.
On a 2 lb side, carryover adds about 5°F over a 5 minute rest, so a 130°F pull lands around 135°F on the plate. Pulling at 135°F means serving at about 140°F, which is still good and the top of my range.
Lift the side off with two wide spatulas, or slide a thin metal spatula between the skin and the flesh and leave the skin on the grate; it scrapes off easily once it cools. Rest the fish for 5 minutes on a board, then cut portions across the side. Serve the skin or don’t; at 225°F it comes out soft rather than crisp.
A 45 minute cook gives the weather little time to cause trouble. On a 40°F evening, expect closer to 55 minutes than 45. Wind matters more than cold, because when the fan is fighting a breeze the grate temperature on a pellet grill can swing 20 to 30°F through each cycle, and salmon that spends five minutes at 275°F cooks unevenly. Turn the back of the grill to the wind and keep the lid closed.
On a grill with a strong hot spot, turn the fish 180 degrees at the 20 minute mark. By then it’s firm enough to move without breaking. Rain doesn’t matter for this one, since the lid stays down for the whole cook.
A 2 lb side serves 4 to 6. Lemon, dill and a bowl of rice are all it needs. Smoked mac and cheese can share the grill, but it wants 250°F, so set the grill there and pull the salmon about 5 minutes sooner than the 225°F times. Flaked over a salad with the brown sugar crust still on, it makes a very good next-day lunch.
Leftover smoked salmon keeps 3 days in the fridge and is better cold than reheated. Flake it into scrambled eggs, onto a bagel with cream cheese, or into pasta with cream and peas. I don’t freeze it once it’s cooked, because the texture turns mealy.
Once you’re comfortable with probing and pulling on time, pellet grill chicken breast and pork tenderloin on a pellet grill use the same approach with different numbers, and both fit a weeknight.
Buy alder on purpose. Many hardware stores don’t carry it, so it’s often an online order. Apple is the easy stand-in. Putting a strong wood over fish is a mistake most people make only once, and it’s why the pellet notes in best pellets for smoking sort bags by strength.
A thermometer matters more on fish than on any other cook, since the gap between done and dry is about 10 degrees and 5 minutes. Use a leave-in probe in the thick end and an instant-read to check two other spots before you pull. The models with a probe thin enough for a fillet are in best wireless meat thermometers.
thepelletpit.com/recipes/salmon/
Dry brine
Stir the brine sugar and salt together. Lay the salmon skin side down on a sheet pan, pack the mix over the flesh, and refrigerate for 30 to 45 minutes.
Rinse and dry
Rinse off the brine under cold water and pat the fish dry. If you have time, leave it uncovered in the fridge for 30 to 60 minutes until the surface feels tacky.
Oil and season
Brush the flesh with olive oil and dust it with the rub, then oil the skin. Fold the thin tail under, or cut it off to cook separately.
Probe from the side
Slide a leave-in probe into the thickest part from the edge, level with the grate, so the tip sits in the middle of the flesh.
Heat the grill
Fill the hopper with alder, set 225°F, oil the grate, and wait 10 minutes after it reports it is at temperature.
Smoke skin side down
Set the salmon skin side down with the thick end toward the hot side of the grill. Close the lid and leave it shut, without flipping, for the first 20 minutes.
Pull at the right number
Take it off at 130 to 135°F in the thickest part, usually 45 to 55 minutes for a 2 lb side. Lift it with two wide spatulas, or slide a thin spatula between skin and flesh.
Rest and serve
Rest it 5 minutes on a board, then cut it across the side into portions and serve with lemon and dill.
About 45 to 55 minutes for a 2 to 2.5 lb side and 25 to 30 minutes for 6 oz fillets. Thickness matters more than weight, so watch a probe in the thickest part and pull at 130 to 135°F.
I pull farmed Atlantic at 130 to 135°F and wild sockeye or coho at 125 to 130°F; it rises about 5°F more during a short rest. The USDA recommends 145°F, and at that temperature salmon is firm and dry.
No. Keep it skin side down for the whole cook. The skin protects the bottom and holds the fillet together, and with the lid closed the top cooks without flipping.
Alder, the traditional wood for smoking fish. Apple or cherry if you cannot find it. Hickory and mesquite are too strong for fish in a 45 minute cook.
That is albumin, a protein pushed to the surface when fish cooks too hot or too long. A little is normal. A lot of it means the fish went past about 140°F or the grill was running well above 225°F.
Brine the breasts for 45 minutes, then smoke them at 250°F on apple pellets for 50 to 70 minutes, about 2 hours start to finish. Pull each one at 160°F and rest it 5 to 10 minutes to reach 165°F.
Smoke the tenderloins at 225°F on straight apple pellets for about 75 minutes and pull at 140°F, then rest 10 minutes to 145°F. Allow about 1 hour 40 minutes from cold grill to sliced pork.
Put the skillet on uncovered at 250°F with apple or cherry pellets (or whatever the meat is running), stir once at 20 minutes, add the panko at 30, and pull at 165°F in the center. It takes 45 to 60 minutes.
Set the grill to 250°F with pecan pellets and put the loaded foil pan on uncovered, stirring at 30 and 60 minutes. Pull it when it is smooth and about 160°F in the middle, usually 60 to 90 minutes.