Blackened Trout with Honey, Foil Packet
Fresh-caught trout, blackening seasoning, and a honey drizzle, cooked in foil over coals.
- calories
- 330
- weight
- 7 oz
- cal / oz
- 47
- protein
- 34 g
- serves
- 5, scales
- prep
- 10 min
- cook
- 20 min
- total time
- 30 min
- water
- none
- cost
- $$
Calorie and protein figures are my own estimates, good enough for planning a food bag and not meant as precise nutrition data.
- Dinner
- Campfire coals
- Grill grate
- Car camping
- Basecamp
- Canoe / raft
- Gluten free
- Nut free
- Foil packet
- Grab and go
- Day one only
- Basic
Ingredients
| Lake trout fillets | 3 fillets | skin on, caught that day or kept cold |
|---|---|---|
| Blackening seasoning | 4 tbsp | any cajun-style blend |
| Lemons | 5 | sliced thin; they are the non-stick layer |
| Lemon for serving | 1 | cut into wedges |
| Honey | 4 tbsp | squeeze bottle, not a jar |
| Butter | 4 tbsp | cut into 12 pats; ghee holds up better in heat |
Method
- Burn the fire down to coals and set the grate over it. You want steady heat, not flames.
- Tear a double layer of heavy foil per fillet. Lay lemon slices down in an overlapping bed on each one.
- Set a fillet skin-side down on the lemons. Coat the top with blackening seasoning, then space four pats of butter along it.
- Fold the foil into a loose packet with room above the fish. Set the packets on the grate over the coals.
- Cook 15 to 20 minutes. Open one and check the thickest part: the flesh should flake and look opaque all the way through.
- Open the packets, drizzle honey over the hot fish, and let it run into the seasoning for a minute before serving with lemon wedges.
This is a fish-camp dinner, so it assumes you have fish and a cooler. The lemon bed is the working part: it keeps the fillet off the foil so the skin does not weld itself down, and it steams the fish from below while the seasoning takes heat from above.
Honey goes on after the fire, not before. Sugar over coals burns black and bitter well before the fish is done. Off the heat it thins out on the hot fillet and cuts the cayenne in the spice blend. Foil replaces the cedar plank from the original method — less smoke, but nothing to pack out except the packet.
Packing
Seasoning goes in a small jar. Honey in a squeeze bottle with the cap taped. Butter and fish stay in the cooler on ice until the fire is ready; this is a day-one meal.
Variations
- No foil? A soaked cedar plank on the grate does the same job and adds smoke. Soak it 30 minutes first.
- Salmon, char, or any oily fillet works with the same timing.
- Ghee or oil instead of butter if the cooler is marginal.
https://realtree.com/timber-2-table-wild-game-recipes/grilled-blackened-honey-lake-trout