2013 – Gluten Free Living
Grilled Salmon with Homemade Tartar Sauce is absolutely sumptuous! Take it from me, this is the real deal. I’m not a big fish lover. Salmon is one of the few fish I eat and I’ll only eat it if my husband John grills it! He makes the best Grilled Salmon ever. He uses either lemon pepper, Old Bay Seasoning, or a Penzey’s seafood seasoning on the fish.
He sprays both sides with cooking spray then grills it for about ten minutes on the skin side before turning and cooking the other side. Then the skin will just peel off when you put it on your plate. We serve this Grilled Salmon with a Homemade Tartar Sauce that’s also extremely delicious. Yummy indeed!
I use Just Mayo which is a little healthier than regular mayonnaise. I also use a relish without High Fructose Corn Syrup (hard to find these days!), and spicy brown mustard to make the tartar sauce. The recipe is gluten free and cleaner than most. If you don’t eat your fish with any kind of tartar sauce, it’s a clean eating recipe.
Grilled Salmon with Homemade Tartar Sauce is SOOOO easy. It only has five ingredients (including the tartar sauce), so it’s really simple to make. Salmon can be quite expensive at the grocery store here (since I don’t live on the coast anymore), so we usually pick it up on close out for a fraction of the cost and then toss it in the freezer to use when we’re ready.
Salmon is so healthy, too. I know, I know, it should be included in my meal plan once a week because it’s so good for you, nevertheless, we don’t eat it as frequently as we did when our children were still at home. It seemed like we ate it more frequently then.
If you’re looking for a delightful way to make Grilled Salmon (or almost any fish fillets) consider Grilled Salmon with Homemade Tartar Sauce. It’s healthy, gluten free, low calorie and so very enjoyable. Even if you’re not a fish lover like me, you’ll like this great recipe.
When I initially posted this recipe in April 2013, I had just purchased my Canon camera but these pictures were taken with an old iPhone because I didn’t know how to use the better camera. The pictures were deplorable and some of the worst on my blog! 🙁
It has been 4 1/2 years since I’ve made this recipe (October 2017). I finally got around to making this recipe again for dinner last night. I served it with Roasted Asparagus and it was just as tasty as I remembered it. This salmon recipe is so good, that it’s especially nice for company. Give it a try and you’ll see what I mean.
John’s Grilled Salmon with Homemade Tartar Sauce is as tasty a main dish entree as they come.
John’s simple Homemade Tartar Sauce recipe is bursting with flavor.
This picture shows how the salmon flakes when it’s cooked fully.
If you’re looking for an easy, yet healthy and low calorie meal, this is it!
Here’s what I (he) did.
I used these two ingredients for the fish.
Spray both sides of the fish with cooking spray. Make sure you spray the skin side exceedingly well. This will prevent it from sticking to the grill. These were really thick cuts of salmon so they took a bit longer to cook then usual.
Season salmon heavily with Old Bay Seasoning. You can also use lemon-pepper seasoning. Penzey’s has a Seafood Seasoning that is excellent.
Spray grill generously with cooking spray. Place salmon fillets on grill.
Grill skin side down until fish is almost cooked through. The skin side is now up. He flips it one last time before removing the salmon from the grill.
The fish is done when you can flake it easily with a fork.
I used these ingredients to make the Tartar Sauce. Just Mayo and Wickles relish have healthier ingredients than many products.
Place mayonnaise in a bowl. Add sweet pickle relish and spicy brown mustard. This is the ingredient that gives the recipe it’s kick.
Stir or whisk to combine ingredients.
Here’s the Homemade Tartar Sauce ready to serve. You can tell this sauce is nice and thick.
To serve: place Grilled Salmon on a plate and add Homemade Tartar Sauce!
John’s Grilled Salmon with Homemade Tartar Sauce has such a wonderful taste. It was delicious with roasted asparagus.
We have used all three of the seasonings mentioned above at different times and all work exceptionally well. The salmon was so mouthwatering.
Grilled Salmon with Homemade Tartar Sauce is delicious to serve when you’re grilling out with friends.
John loves Grilled Salmon so he didn’t mind having leftovers!
Here’s the recipe.
GRILLED SALMON WITH HOMEMADE TARTAR SAUCE
(Recipe from my husband, John)

Prep Time | 10 minutes |
Cook Time | 15 minutes |
Servings |
|
- Salmon fillets (my large fillet was about 3 lbs.)
- Cooking spray
- Old Bay Seasoning or Lemon pepper seasoning or Penzey's Seafood seasoning of your choice
- 1 cup Just Mayo mayonnaise or Hellmann's mayonnaise
- 1/3 cup sweet pickle relish (I use Wickles because it has no HFCS)
- 1 tbsp. spicy brown mustard
Ingredients
SALMON:
HOMEMADE TARTAR SAUCE:
|
![]() |
- Heat grill.
- Once heated, spray liberally with cooking spray so fish won’t adhere to the grill.
- Spray both sides of salmon fillets with cooking spray.
- Sprinkle salmon fillets liberally on the flesh side (not the skin side) with either Old Bay seasoning, Lemon pepper seasoning or any other seafood seasoning of your choice. (Penzey’s makes a really good seafood seasoning).
- Grill the skin-side first, and grill about 4-8 minutes per side for about ½” thickness of meat.
- Cook longer if fillet is really thick. (We have had this take as long as 10 minutes per side).
- Fish is done when it flakes easily with a fork.
- Combine ingredients and stir to mix thoroughly.
- Refrigerate until ready to serve.
- This provides enough sauce for about 10 servings of fish.
- It will last a couple of weeks in the refrigerator.
- Makes about 1 cup tartar sauce.
NOTE: Penzey's makes a delicious seafood seasoning. But we generally use Old Bay Seasoning.
© Can’t Stay Out of the Kitchen
- Salmon fillets
- Cooking spray
- Old Bay Seasoning
- [b]Or:[/b]
- Lemon pepper seasoning
- Seafood seasoning of your choice
- Heat grill.
- Once heated, spray liberally with cooking spray so fish won’t adhere to the grill.
- Spray both sides of salmon fillets with cooking spray.
- Sprinkle salmon fillets liberally on each side with either Old Bay seasoning, Lemon pepper seasoning or any other seafood seasoning of your choice. (Penzey’s makes a really good seafood seasoning).
- Grill the skin-side first, and grill about 4-8 minutes per side for about ½” thickness of meat.
- Cook longer if fillet is really thick.
- Fish is done when it flakes easily with a fork.
- 1 cup Hellmann’s mayonnaise
- 1/3 cup sweet pickle relish
- 1 tbsp. spicy brown mustard
- Stir to combine.
- Refrigerate until ready to serve.
- This provides enough sauce for about 10 servings of fish.
- It will last a couple of weeks in the refrigerator.
- Makes about 1 cup tartar sauce
This entree is so succulent. My kids used to love eating this for dinner when they were growing up. The Homemade Tartar Sauce is so quick and easy to prepare. It has only three ingredients!
You will love this recipe. You can easily halve the tartar sauce recipe as this makes enough for about 10 servings.
Grilled Salmon with Homemade Tartar Sauce is such a quick and easy recipe. It’s great to make up any time you want to grill outside.
Not big on salmon, but you make it look so good, Teresa. I would definitely give it a try 🙂
It really is tasty. It’s the only way I’ll eat salmon. I guess that makes me a picky eater!
Beautiful salmon! And I love your grill. Is it an indoor grill?
Mimi, this is Teresa’s husband, John, replying to you.
That is, indeed, an indoor grill that sits on the countertop similar to an electric skillet or griddle. I think it is the DeLonghi BG24 as pictured in this link.
http://www.bedbathandbeyond.com/product.asp?SKU=13107939
Works really well and did a good job on the salmon although using the gas grill outside gives some flame and extra heat (and also doesn’t leave a fish smell in the house). Hope this helps!