Tandoori Grilled Salmon | Indian Style Tandoori Salmon

This post may contain affiliate links. Read our disclosure policy

Watch the recipe

YouTube ↗

Cooking With Anadi

12K subscribers · Smoky salmon with cooling yogurt and cucumber on the side

Subscribe

Watch the full method on YouTube →

I love Indian food! While I can say that because I was born and raised in New Delhi, I can admit that my exposure to Indian food, especially non-vegetarian meals were extremely limited. The menu was capped at either Chicken Tikka or Butter Chicken. Our outing to restaurants was so limited, that it was reserved to get our monthly fix for these delicious treats.

It was only when I came to Canada that my true journey into the various other facets of Indian cuisine began. One of the dishes that came out on top was this Indian salmon recipe, which was a brainchild of my girlfriend (now wife, at the time of updating this!). She loves salmon and she suggested we try a tandoori style salmon for a change - after having Oven-Baked Lemon & Herb Salmon for the 95th time.

You know, it's simple puzzle pieces like these which I can’t even think can connect together but are actually made for each other. My classic marinade went great with the salmon, however, I needed to make some changes to the marinating. I quickly realized that I can no longer include yogurt in the marinade since by the time salmon is done grilling, the yogurt is completely burnt. After all, salmon is already so tender if cooked properly.

Preparing the Tandoori Grilled Salmon

Begin by preparing the marinade. In a medium-sized bowl, add ginger-garlic paste, lemon juice, deggi mirch, garam masala, dried fenugreek leaves and salt. This marinade is completed with a bit of oil to help with bringing the flavors together. For a richer, more traditional tandoori coating that really clings to the salmon, fold a couple of spoonfuls of hung curd into the marinade.

Mix all the ingredients together.

Add your salmon to the marinade, and marinate for at least 30 minutes. You can marinate for up to 6 hours.

Heat a grill pan or a regular pan on medium heat and carefully place the salmon on the pan.

Let the fish sear on one side for 4-5 minutes to ensure each side gets marked properly. Depending on the thickness of the filet, you may need to adjust your cooking time.

The recommended cooking temperature is a medium salmon, pink down the middle. However, if you prefer a more well-done salmon, you can cook it a bit longer. Flip the filet halfway into the cooking process and cook other side.

Serve the fish over fresh jeera or cumin rice and a cool cucumber raita.

Tools Needed

• Mixing bowl
• Grill pan
• Measuring spoons
• Wooden spoon
• Spatula

The Tandoori Marinade, and How Long to Leave It On

Most salmon marinade recipes you will come across are some combination of soy sauce, honey and garlic. This one is not that. The marinade here is tandoori: ginger-garlic paste, lemon juice, 2 tsp of deggi mirch for color rather than fierce heat, 1/4 tsp of garam masala, salt, kasoori methi crushed between your palms, and 1 tbsp of olive oil. The 2 tablespoons of hung curd are optional and worth adding, because yogurt clings to the fish in a way an oil-based marinade simply cannot.

Mix it in a small bowl, coat the 6 oz filets and give it at least 30 minutes. You can go up to 6 hours, but not much beyond, because the lemon juice will start to cure the surface of the fish and turn it chalky. That is the opposite of how a meat marinade behaves, where longer is usually better. And do not reuse the remaining marinade as a sauce, since it has been sitting on raw fish.

Cooking Salmon: Grill Pan, Oven or Air Fryer

The recipe uses a grill pan over medium-high heat, lightly oiled, for 4 to 5 minutes a side depending on thickness. A thin tail-end piece may want only 3-4 minutes a side. You are aiming for medium, still slightly pink in the center, and salmon carries on cooking once it leaves the heat, so pull it a shade under. If you would rather measure than guess, check the internal temperature at the thickest part.

The same marinade takes to other methods happily. To bake it, a hot oven around 400 F will need roughly 12 to 15 minutes for a fillet this size; to air fry, closer to 8 to 10 minutes. Either way, judge by the thickest part rather than the clock. Pan-searing in a skillet works too, though you lose the char marks that make the tandoori version look the part. Whichever route you take, let the fish sit at room temperature for ten minutes first, because straight from the fridge the outside overcooks before the center is even warm.

Other Marinade Styles Worth Knowing

If tandoori is not what you came for, salmon marinades divide into a few families. The sweet-savory one is soy sauce with honey or maple syrup, often with a teaspoon sesame oil, grated fresh garlic and red pepper flakes, which is essentially teriyaki salmon; brown sugar stands in for the honey. The mustard one is dijon mustard with pure maple syrup and black pepper, and it caramelizes hard under a broiler. The herb one is olive oil, lemon, fresh dill or fresh thyme, parsley and garlic powder, which suits gentle cooking and cold leftovers better than high heat.

Two rules carry across all of them. Sweetness burns, so anything carrying honey, maple syrup or brown sugar wants a lower heat or a shorter cook than a plain oil marinade does. And keep an eye on salt and soy sauce if you are watching sodium, because a long soak in a salty marinade seasons the fish all the way through rather than just at the surface.

Serving, Storage and Making It Ahead

The recipe plates it with jeera rice and a cucumber raita, which is the pairing I would keep. If you want something else alongside, roasted asparagus, charred corn, buttered potatoes, quick-braised bok choy or a herby couscous all work, and honestly whatever green veggies are in the drawer will do.