Reverse Seared Fish

First off, in this recipe, we are going to turn our gas grill into a smoker. Second, we are going to make reverse seared fish, in this case both halibut and swordfish. Normally we reverse sear beef (in this case a tomahawk steak) or pork or lamb and even chicken. Why not reverse sear fish? Spoiler alert, we should! All this entails is seasoning the fresh fish, smoking the filets to 10F-20F short of the desired doneness and then searing hot and fast, in this case on a cast iron griddle for an INTENSE flavor crust, and bring up the grilled fish to that final desired internal temperature. 

What is the point of reverse searing?

The point of reverse searing is to bring up the temp of the meat slowly by smoking it to just short of the desired final temp then searing it off over high heat to finish it off. This makes for more even cooking than the traditional sear then smoke/bake. If searing first, the meat won’t take on much smoke flavor. The reverse sear method allows for us to get that wonderful smoke flavor and that amazing browning.

The food science behind reverse searing works for fish, but for some reason I haven’t done it until now. The idea is; instead of searing the meat and then sliding it over to the side of the grill with no direct heat (two zone or indirect grilling) to smoke the fish first.

This takes the protein to just short of the desired level of doneness and adds smoke flavor, THEN we finish off with the sear to finish cooking it.

If searing is done first, the meat will be too done to take on any smoke.

And in the case of beef and lamb, the meat will have a thick gray band around the outside of the meat because it went from cold to onto a super hot grill. We don’t want to skip the searing part because that creates that tasty flavor crust. We just want to do the searing at the end. So infuse all that tasty smoke flavor then sear so we get the best of both worlds. We also get very even cooking.

By bringing up the temp of the meat slowly before searing we don’t get the grey bands on the outside of the beef or lamb. It’s coast to coast even doneness.

So let’s get at it. 

Reverse Seared Fish Ingredients:

• 1-2 packages of dry wood chips in a foil pouch to turn my gas grill into a smoker – never soak wood chips
• 4 filets of halibut (approximately 8 oz each)
• 4 filets of swordfish (approximately 8 oz each)
• Favorite fish rub (we used a black garlic rub because black garlic is amazing!)
• Favorite veggies to grill (we chose asparagus, summer squash and zucchini)
• A lemon and lime

Grill Prep Instructions:

Let’s start off with making our gas grill into a smoker.

Simply take a handful of wood chops and place them on a sheet of foil and fold up onto a pouch.

Don’t seal the ends to well. We want some air in there. 

Toss the foil pouch right onto my lit burner on one side of my grill.

The rest of the burners are off:

These will work on top of the grill grate too, but this speeds things up a bit. Turn the hot burner to high if going on top of the grill grate and expect an 8-10 minute wait time before the smoke starts rolling.

Going right next to the burner gets that smoke rolling in just a few minutes:

If you want more smoke, toss on a second one. Since fish is a lot more delicate than pork or beef or lamb, I went with just one packet.

Scroll down to the bottom and check out the video we made of this cook that I posted to our YouTube channel and please subscribe.

Grilled Fish Preparation Instructions:

While waiting on that smoke to start billowing, it’s perfect time to carve out the one pound fish filets into eight ounce filets, starting with the halibut:

And the swordfish:

Here are both types of fish in approximately 8 ounce portions ready for some seasoning:

And then I seasoned the fish:

I used a black garlic rub which came to prominence as a steak rub, but I have put it on just about everything from eggs to fish to burgers to pizza and of course steaks:

Don’t forget to season the sides (and not just the top and bottom):

How to reverse sear fish:

Once I got some smoke action from my Smoke ‘Em’s pouch I put my cast iron griddle off to the side with no heat (just so my fish doesn’t stick to the grill grates):

Then, close the lid and let that smoke work its magic. 

How to make an asparagus raft

While the lid is closed I prepped my veggies:

Oh, now I can add veggies to my list of stuff I put black garlic on! 

How long should I reverse sear?

Never cook to time, cook to temp. The key is to take the temp of protein (in this case fish) to just short of the desired finished temp. I want to cook this fish to 125F-135F so I pull it about 10 degrees short of that. Thus, this really can’t be timed. It has to be temped. 

I got about 45 minutes of smoke from my Smoke ‘Ems packet at which point the halibut and swordfish were in the 115F range:

Time to take the fish off the cast iron griddle:

Then crank the grill up to above 450F and cook the squash and zucchini:

And then the asparagus rafts I made with tooth picks:

Did I mention the cast griddle did double duty in this cook?

It kept the fish from sticking to the grill grates and now will be used to get an even flavor crust during the sear:

Charred citrus is amazing

Next I seared off the lemons and limes:

Then I seared the fish:

It’s all about the Char on our Reverse Seared Fish

Once the fish browns on one side, flip it over like this one in the middle:

And here we have lots of glorious browning:

Furthermore, with the thicker halibut, you can sear the sides (not just the top and bottom):

Once the reverse seared fish hits between 125F-135F, it can be removed from the cooker:

Plate the Reverse Seared Fish

I plated one piece of each kind of fish onto a pile of rice pilaf (cooked inside), asparagus and squash/zucchini:

Finally, hit the plate with that grilled lemon or lime (or both):

And then go to town:

Don’t forget that skin!

Also, the skin on the halibut at the time we ate the fish was not super crispy because it has a layer of fat between the skin and the meat of the fish.

I put that skin back on the hot griddle and fried it in that layer of fat. It was glorious.

Scroll down to the video of this to hear the crunch of me eating this skin.

Indeed, it is soooooo worth it.

If you could also subscribe to that YouTube channel, it would be greatly appreciated:

That crispy skin was absolutely glorious!

Reverse Seared Fish Summary:

And so was the rest of the dish. That flavor crust was amazing, which encased a lovely smokiness and some really tender/juicy fish. This was one of the best meals I’ve ever cooked on the grill. I’m also pretty sure it was the healthiest. 

If you have any questions or comments, feel free to leave them below or send me an email.

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Reverse Seared Fish Recipe Card:

Print Recipe

Reverse Seared Fish

Halibut and swordfish, seasoned with black garlic, smoked and then seared on a cast iron griddle inside a gas grill to make reverse seared fish

Prep Time10 minutes mins

Cook Time1 hour hr

Course: Entree, Main Course

Cuisine: Fish, Grilling, Seafood

Keyword: cast iron, grilled seafood, halibut, reverse sear, reverse seared, seafood, swordfish

Equipment

• 1-2 Bear Mountain BBQ Smoke 'Ems

Ingredients

• 4 8 oz Filets of halibut
• 4 8 oz Filets of swordfish
• 2 tbsp Your favorite fish/seafood rub We used black garlic
• 16 oz Your favorite grilled veggies
• 1 Lemon Halved
• 1 Lime Halved

Instructions

• Turn on one burner and while it heats up, place a handful of DRY wood chips on a sheet of foil and fold into a pouch. Don't fold the ends too tight. We want air in there. Place the foil pouch of wood chips right on the hot burner and go prepare the fish while the chips heat up.
• Season your fish on top and bottom and the sides
• Once smoke starts coming out of the foil packet put the fish on the cast iron griddle on the side of the grill with no heat
• Season the veggies for grilling
• Once the fish reaches around 115F remove it from the heat and crank up the grill to high
• Once the cast iron griddle goes over 450F, slice the lemon and lime in half and sear the flat sliced side
• When the citrus fruit has some char on the flat face, remove from heat
• Sear the fish on the cast iron griddle and get some char on the veggies on the grill grates
• Once the sword fish is charred on the top and bottom and between 125-135F remove from the heat
• The thicker halibut can be seared on the sides too
• Plate on top of rice pilaf and grilled veggies
• Squeeze a lemon and/or lime over the dish and serve

Video

More pictures of the reverse seared fish

Scott Thomas

Scott Thomas, the Original Grillin’ Fool, was sent off to college with a suitcase and a grill where he overcooked, undercooked and burned every piece of meat he could find. After thousands of failures, and quite a few successes, nearly two decades later he started a website to show step by step, picture by picture, foolproof instructions on how to make great things out of doors so that others don’t have to repeat the mistakes he’s made on the grill.

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BBQ Grilling

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This article was initially published on: June 6, 2022