28 Grilled Seafood Recipes You'll Make Forever
Prepare lobster, oysters, scallops, and more seafood on the grill.
These delicious grilled seafood dishes maximize flavor by employing a variety of seasonal produce, fresh herbs, tangy citrus, and, in many cases, glorious butter. Make-ahead marinades and the ease of the grill mean your tastebuds will be transported under the sea in a snap. Light up your grill to cook shrimp, lobster, scallop, oyster, and more seafood with direct heat.
Grilled Grouper
Simply seasoned with salt, pepper, and smoked paprika, mild grouper fillets pick up lightly smoky, savory flavor in scallion, lemon, and butter-stuffed packets on the grill. The built-in sauce cooks as the butter and lemon melt into the fish, which pairs perfectly with fluffy cooked rice or crusty baguettes for sopping.
Grilled Prawns with Okra and Eggplant
Antonis Achilleos / Food Styling by Emily Nabors Hall / Prop Styling by Lydia Pursell
Cookbook author Zoe Adjonyoh coats butterflied prawns with an onion mixture to marinate before grilling uncovered, until the shells are bright red and the flesh is opaque. She serves the charred seafood over tossed eggplant, okra, and spinach tossed with coconut oil and spices.
Lobster Tails with Scotch Bonnet–Honey Glaze
Greg Dupree / Food Styling by Chelsea Zimmer and Melissa Gray / Prop Styling by Audrey Taylor
For this recipe, chef Dayana Joseph channels memories of boukannen, a Haitian style of barbecue in which fish or a piece of meat is smoked over an open fire, allowing it to develop a slight char. Scotch bonnet chiles are pureed with floral honey to create a sweet and fruity glaze with a fiery heat, perfect for grilled lobster tails.
Tuna Steaks with Lemon Caper Sauce
Kelsey Hansen / Food Styling by Kelsey Moylan / Prop Styling by Addelyn Evans
Grilled tuna steaks are one of life's simple pleasures, satisfying even when unadorned. Here they're made better with a quick lemon and caper sauce — the pleasant tartness balances the richness of the fish.
Grilled Shrimp Cocktail with Fresh Tomato Cocktail Sauce
Give shrimp cocktail a seasonal, smoky upgrade with this ideal recipe for summer dinner parties and cookouts. The shrimp are marinated in a bright lemon-garlic mixture that gets a kick from crushed red pepper.
Grilled Swordfish with Carrot-and-Walnut Salsa
Greg Dupree / Food Styling by Chelsea Zimmer / Prop Styling by Christine Keely
These swordfish steaks from 2013 F&W Best New Chef Jason Vincent are steeped in a savory kombu marinade and then paired with a nutty, slightly piquant gremolata-like salsa with roasted walnuts and Calabrian chiles.
Vietnamese Grilled Clams with Oyster Sauce and Peanuts
Finely chopped and combined with a pungent mix of herbs, crispy fried shallots, and oyster sauce, then returned to their shells and grilled until bubbling, these clams make a delicious appetizer — especially when paired with a cold lager.
Grilled Scallops with Miso-Corn Salad
In the summer, Gail Simmons cooks scallops on the grill until they're just kissed by the flames. She piles them on top of warmed veggies with a bright dressing. This version, a favorite for quick and easy backyard dinners, incorporates miso, ginger, and toasted sesame, adding a savory dimension to the salad and a rich contrast to the corn and scallops’ inherent sweetness.
Jerk-Grilled Lobster
"After trying every item that can be basted or drizzled in the flavors of jerk, from shrimp to chicken to whole fish and even cocktails, hands down my favorite incarnation is lobster," says Gail Simmons. "The jerk paste is stirred into butter and used to baste the crustacean while it cooks over the flames."
Grilled Mahi-Mahi with Lemongrass-Lime A?oli
Sweet, mild grilled mahi-mahi harmonizes with an a?oli featuring lemongrass and lime. The creamy a?oli comes together in seconds using an immersion blender, resulting in a silky texture that's less likely to break and adding richness and zest to a classic summer meal.
Grilled King Salmon with Meyer Lemon Relish
Floral and lightly acidic salsa brings out the buttery, rich flavors of grilled king salmon. Salmon is meaty enough to stay intact on a grill and gets meltingly tender as it cooks. Serve leftover salsa with grilled lamb, chicken, or pork.
Lemon-Stuffed Grilled Branzino
Morgan Hunt Glaze / Food Styling by Emily Nabors Hall / Prop Styling by Julia Bayless,
For her grilled branzino recipe, chef Barbara Lynch stuffs the fish with lemon and herbs, then cooks it until the skin is browned and crispy to add even more flavor.
Grilled Gulf Shrimp with Sweet Corn Coulis
Tender, juicy sweet peas and yellow corn kernels make for a light and refreshing salad atop a silky, creamy corn coulis in this easy-to-double recipe. Tangy sour cream and buttermilk balance the natural sweetness of the vegetables and Gulf shrimp.
Hawaiian-Style Garlic Butter Shrimp
In this recipe from Hawaiian chef Sheldon Simeon, shrimp are marinated in a mixture of Italian dressing, mayonnaise, calamansi juice, and salt, then grilled and tossed in roasted garlic butter. The result: unbelievably sweet, juicy grilled shrimp.
Grilled Halibut with Roasted Red Pepper Sauce
This punchy, well-balanced sweet roasted red bell pepper sauce does double duty here as both a marinade and mildly spicy sauce for the cooked halibut. Serve with crusty bread for sopping up the extra sauce, and juicy grilled squash on the side.
Shrimp and Okra Kebabs with Grilled Peaches and Jalape?o-Bourbon Vinaigrette
A splash of bourbon in the vinaigrette adds a sweet, boozy kick of flavor and helps tenderize the shrimp. Cutting okra in half lengthwise keeps it big enough to skewer and get charred and crispy on the grill, without falling through the grates.
Grilled Snapper with Four-Herb Gremolata
For snapper fillets with perfectly crisp skin, Top Chef alum Jennifer Carroll seasons just the flesh side before placing the fish on a very hot grill. The accompanying gremolata can be refrigerated for three hours if you want to make it slightly in advance.
Grilled Oysters with Chorizo Butter
No shucking necessary: Once the oysters open on the grill, simply top them with chef David Kinch's smoky, tangy butter. A garnish of cilantro leaves and finely grated lime zest accents the flavors and provides a pretty pop of color.
Grilled Seafood Kebabs and Orecchiette with Arugula
This lovely dish makes the most of seasonal tomatoes. Here, they're skewered and grilled with jumbo scallops and shrimp, then served alongside a bright arugula pasta.
Grilled Lobsters with Miso-Chile Butter
Grilling lobsters at home, as Gail Simmons does, is super easy if you have your fishmonger clean and halve the lobsters for you. This flavor-packed lobster recipe only calls for four simple steps and is ready in less than an hour.
Grilled Sea Bass with Marinated Eggplant
In this beautiful and super-simple recipe from chef Tom Colicchio, he makes a marinade with olive oil, chiles, and a mess of fresh herbs to marinate eggplant before and after it's grilled for extra flavor.
Salmon Skewers with Almond Charmoula
Simply grilling fish is TV chef Andrew Zimmern’s favorite way to eat what comes out of the ocean. For these skewers, he pairs rich salmon with North African charmoula, a brightly acidic herb paste tempered with sweet fruit and — his personal twist — crunchy nuts.
Grilled Shrimp with Apple and Charred Scallions
"Shrimp come from all over the world, but I think the kind from coastal Georgia and the Gulf is the best — and it's pretty much a sustainable product," says chef Hugh Acheson. Here, he prepares the shrimp as a light appetizer with green apple, charred scallions, smoked paprika, and sesame seeds.
Grilled Oysters with Spicy Tarragon Butter
Chef Bobby Flay tops his oysters with a blend of butter, tarragon, and hot sauce, then returns them to the grill so the butter melts into little pools in the shells.
Easy Grilled Paella
To cook this seafood and chorizo paella, Australian chef Pete Evans uses his grill as both a stovetop and an oven, simultaneously using direct and indirect heat. We've replaced his whole crab with jumbo lump crabmeat for simplicity's sake.
Grilled Shrimp with Oregano and Lemon
The sauce for this shrimp is a simple version of Italy's salmoriglio, typically made with lemon and herbs in a mortar. It can be made the day before and refrigerated overnight; just be sure to bring it to room temperature before serving.
Grilled Scallops with Honeydew-Avocado Salsa
This recipe's fruity spin on salsa verde mixes sweet honeydew and buttery avocado, which marries perfectly with the simply seasoned and charred scallops.
Citrus-Soy Squid
While the squid is tasty after 30 minutes of marinating, an extra half hour makes a big difference in the flavor. This super simple marinade keeps for several days in the refrigerator, so it's great to make a large batch and save half for later.
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