If you are looking for an awesome steelhead trout recipe – look no further. This recipe is so good that you will be making it again and again, I guarantee it. What I like the most about this recipe is the sauce – garlicky, sweet and savory, pleasantly bright and perfectly balanced. And you don’t just slap the sauce on and bake the fish. Instead, you let the trout marinate in it for a few hours and absorb the tasty juices. This makes the fish flavored inside out, and taste many times better as you eat it. In this recipe, all the flavor is contained within the fish itself and no additional sauces are needed.
A few words about the ingredients
The ingredients for this recipe are fairly simple and should be readily available in most kitchens. You can substitute fresh ginger root, parsley and cilantro for dried ones but trust me, fresh herbs and root make this dish so much more flavorful. Fish really benefits from fresh herbs as it quickly and easily absorbs flavors.
Side dishes for this baked trout
I often get questions about what side dish to serve with the recipes I post here, so I thought I’d answer that question pro-actively here. White or brown rice go very well with this trout recipe. Since the fish and the sauce has enough oil in them, plain or lightly seasoned rice would be sufficient.
My personal favorite side dish to serve with this trout is roasted vegetables. I was tempted to make this a one pan or, rather, a one sheet dish, together with the roasted vegetables, but it’s just an opportunity to mess things up. Both require different baking times and overcrowding would lead to less then optimal roasting and browning.
Tips on how to make trout with roasted vegetables
You will need to two large baking sheets. First, roast the vegetables for about 30 minutes, until perfectly caramelized and cooked through. Keep them warm. Then bake the trout.
Alternatively, you can roast the veggies for about 10 -15 minutes on the top rack, then move them down and add the trout to the top rack and bake both until done. Moisture released by the vegetables will impact browning of the fish, so you may have to put it under the broiler for a couple of minutes at the end. That said, I find that baking the two separately is optimal.

Ingredients
- 1 steelhead trout fillet (scaled, skin on or off, about 2 lbs)
For the honey lemon sauce:
- 2 Tbsp honey
- 2 Tbsp lemon juice (or lime juice)
- 2 Tbsp extra virgin olive oil
- 3 Tbsp low sodium soy sauce
- 2 Tbsp Dijon mustard
- 1 inch ginger root (peeled and grated or thinly sliced)
- 2 cloves garlic (pressed, minced or thinly sliced)
- 1 tsp kosher salt (or sea salt)
- 1 tsp ground pepper
- 1/4 tsp cayenne pepper
- 1 Tbsp fresh finely chopped parsley
- 1 Tbsp fresh finely chopped cilantro (or use another tablespoon of parsley)
- 2 Tbsp white wine (you can skip it if you don't any on hand, but I highly recommend adding it)
For the garnish:
- 2 Tbsp fresh finely chopped parsley (or cilantro, or a combination of both)
Instructions
- In a small bowl, whisk together all of the ingredients for the sauce. Set aside.
- Place the trout in a large baking dish or a plastic container, or a large Ziploc bag. Cover the fish with the sauce and place in the refrigerator for at least one hour, and up to 4 hours for best results.
- Preheat the oven to 450F.
- Transfer the trout, with the sauce, into a foil boat, place on a baking sheet and bake at 450F for about 15-20 minutes or until the fish is tender and flakes easily. Do not overcook. If you start seeing albumin (white fish proteins) coming out, that's a good indication that the fish has entered into over-cooked territory and needs to be pulled out immediately.
- For better browning, place the rack in the second position from the top. You can also turn on the broiler on high about 12 minutes into baking to achieve even better browning. If the fish is browning too much before it is done, turn off the broiler and move the baking sheet down a couple of positions.
- Serve with roasted vegetables, salad or rice.
Nutrition
LaTanga Thompson
This was good my son love it I add shrimp to mine over yellow rice
victor
Enjoy!
Meaghan
Wow delicious. Will be using this 90% of the time I cook trout. Thank you!
victor
You are very welcome, Meaghan. Enjoy!
Victoria
Really delicious on a large steel head filet. For Easter dinner with fresh broccoli and brown mixed rice.
Ashley Dillard
Love this recipe.. it is similar to a Thai shrimp that I make. My husband loved it. I didn’t have white wine so I left that out, we love garlic so I tripled the garlic and doubled the honey. Came out perfect for us. I will definitely be making this again.
T.Wright
Great recipe exactly as written, thanks – A crowd pleaser! I have always followed your recipe to the “t”. But altered a few things last night out of necessity… We like the fresh lime and added rice wine vinegar in place of the white wine & forgot to add the Cheyenne. I didn’t do the boat style in the oven – opted to try this wire rack oven fryer I just received as a gift. 370 for 7 or 8 minutes & while that was cooking I reduced the marinade by 2/3 added a bit of butter and served with the fish- it was divine
Andrea Reid
Can I let it marinate for 24hrs?
victor
Fish ‘cooks’ in lemon juice, even though there is a little bit of it in this recipe. I wouldn’t marinate it more than a few hours. If you do 24 hours, you may not like the results, I haven’t tried.
Mike F
Very good and easy to do. Been doing this awhile now.
Ellen
Fabulous recipe! We make it a few times a month and love it.
Ellen
A fantastic recipe. We absolutely love it. I rarely have white wine open, so I substitute cooking sherry. Otherwise I follow the recipe to the letter. Thank you!
victor
You are very welcome. Enjoy!
Sharon Z
Made this tonight along with your roasted vegetable dish and my husband and I cannot stop talking about how much we loved it! We are total foodies and were wowed by these flavors! Thank you so much for sharing this!
victor
You are very welcome.
Barbara`
Can this recipe be used for other fish — steelhead trout is just not available in central Ohio? I’m thinking of salmon.
victor
HI Barbara, yes, any variety of salmon will work with this recipe.
Ashley D.
I live in south west Ohio and we get steelhead trout from Aldi. Always fresh never frozen. Kroger use to carry it but I haven’t seen it in a while.
Sue
Barbara if you have an Aldi close to you their Steelhead is wonderful!
Karin Olsen
i made this last night.It was delicious.I put it in foil boat,& left top open.I will make again.
victor
You are very welcome, Amy.
Carol
I made a whole trout with the head on and it was delicious! I didn’t have any fresh lemon so I used fresh lime juice and it was perfect! I cooked it 5 minutes longer because it was a whole fish. My husband spooned out all the leftover sauce, he liked it so much! Definitely a keeper! Thank you
victor
You are very welcome!
collectorq
Quick to prepare, fresh flavors, and easy enough for my 4yo to make.
victor
Glad to hear that. Enjoy!
ARod
I didnt have wine but this still turned out amazing. I free measured everything and will put less Cayenne in it next time!
Robinmarie Kail
Hi! Fabulous recipe. I made the trout and the roasted vegtables and side of white rice.
Empty plates all around. I should’ve made more… it was for 4 but my guys are big eaters.
This recipe is a keeper.
Violette
Hi! Made this for dinner tonight and it was absolutely delivious. One of the best seafood recipes I’ve ever tried. Thanks for sharing.
Bart
Did that yesterday, love the recipe. My tip is to make additional sauce for the fish: just leave some on the marinade, then reduce it with white wine on the high heat pan, add some butter at the end, and here go. You will end up with a really good sauce that match with the fish!
Justin Virgo
I’ve made this three times. This time I’m making it for my wifes family visiting from Hawai’i. Ty for the recipe we LOVE IT!
Steven G.
I tried this recipe tonight with steelhead trout filled, and it was wonderfull. I did not add white wine, I cooked in oven at 450 for 12 minutes then under broiler for 4 minutes at hi and turned out terrific wonderful flavor. My wife and son loved it!
Mary B
I have become addicted to this recipe. It is so very easy and so very tasty. The price of the fish is quite reasonable for a single person and it freezes well to make rice bowls later…and I….well I just love this recipe. Wouldn’t change a thing. Thank you for sharing.
victor
You are very welcome! Enjoy!
Linda
Used on Eagle Lake trout and it was the best recipe ever!
victor
Happy to hear that, Linda.
Ken White
Tried this last night awesome recipe. Easy to follow instructions. This is a keeper.
Brandon
This is a crowd pleaser for sure. It’s my go to recipe when I want to go all out.
Julie
Love this recipe. Have recently swapped out honey for molasses as I ran out. That was also very nice and helped the marinade stay in through baking. Very tasty go to recipe.
victor
Thank you for your feedback, Julie. Glad you liked my recipe.
Jose Musoke
Terrific!!!!
Di W
Used this recipe tonight for some fresh steelhead and it was amazing! Hubs loved it and demanded we do it again tomorrow. LOL 🙂
Olga Z
Perfectly tasty fish! Kids liked it too! I did not add any oil and it worked. Why add all that extra fat and empty calories?
Nancy Velez
Absolutely Delicious!!! Will definitely make it again!!
Liesl Hlavacek
A+! This was so amazing. Subbed the soy sauce for Worcestershire and still turned out great.
victor
Great to hear that! Thanks for leaving a feedback and come back to check my other recipes.
Amanda Bentley
I accidentally bought steel head trout thinking it was salmon. So, I used this recipe in a pinch and everyone in my picky family loved every last bite. I will definitely make this again.
Erica
I made this tonight and it was great! Loved the combination of flavors. It was definitely a winner and will be added to the rotation 🙂 Thank you!
victor
Thank you for the feedback, Erica. Glad to hear that you liked my recipe.
Davis
This is a lovely trout recipe, thank you for sharing it with us.
victor
You are welcome!
Khanh Tran
How did you roast the vegetables alongside the salmon? Did you start the vegetables first before putting the salmon in?
victor
You will need to two large baking sheets. First roast the vegetables for about 30 minutes, until perfectly caramelized and cooked through. Then bake the trout. I haven’t tried this, but you can roast the veggies for about 10 -15 minutes on the top rack, then move them down and let the trout bake in the top rack until done. Not sure if the moisture from the vegetables would impact browning of the fish, but I imagine it would. Anyway, baking the two separately is optimal.
Keisha
Saved as a favorite, I love your site!
dannie
I will prepare this trout recipe and use our local favourite dish known as ugali as a side dish.thanks alot
Hanna
Great recipe! I followed the recipe step-by-step and it turned out amazing! The steel trout was so flavourful and delicious. My kids are very picky eaters and they ate it all and asked for seconds. I’ve never seen my kids eating their vegetables like this.
Amazing! Thank you!
victor
You are very welcome! Thanks for the feedback.
Janice
This looked so delicious – I tried it tonight and could not stop eating. The trout marinade is out of this world good. Will definitely be making again.
victor
Thanks for the feedback, much appreciated!