Grilled Tuna Steaks with Lemon and Garlic
Two tuna steaks, a bag of marinade, and five minutes over coals. First-night car camping food.
- calories
- 330
- weight
- 6.5 oz
- cal / oz
- 51
- protein
- 42 g
- serves
- 4, scales
- prep
- 65 min
- cook
- 5 min
- total time
- 70 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
- Grill grate
- Campfire coals
- Car camping
- Basecamp
- Canoe / raft
- Gluten free
- Dairy free
- Nut free
- Real dishes
- Pre-mix at home
- Needs a cooler
- Basic
Ingredients
| Tuna steaks | 2, 12-14 oz each | frozen solid at home, they thaw in the cooler on the drive |
|---|---|---|
| Lemon juice | 2 tbsp | bottled travels better than a whole lemon |
| Garlic | 4 cloves, minced | or 1 tsp granulated garlic |
| Olive oil | 1 tbsp | |
| Honey | 1 tsp | |
| Salt | 1/2 tsp | |
| Black pepper | 1/4 tsp | |
| Lemon slices and chives | for serving | optional, skip if you are packing light |
Method
- At home, shake the lemon juice, garlic, oil, honey, salt, and pepper together in a zip bag. Freeze the steaks separately.
- In camp, drop the thawed steaks into the marinade bag, press the air out, and lay it flat in the cooler for one to two hours. Longer than that and the acid starts cooking the outside.
- Build the fire down to an even bed of coals, or run a gas grill on medium-high. Set the grate over it and let it heat five minutes before anything touches it.
- Wipe the grate with an oiled rag. Lay the steaks down and leave them alone for two minutes.
- Flip once. Two more minutes gives you a seared crust and a rare center. Go longer if you want it through, but tuna dries out fast.
- Pull them off, cut across the grain, and top with lemon and chives if you carried them.
This is a cooler-dependent recipe and it does not pretend otherwise. Tuna steaks are worth carrying anyway, because they are the rare camp protein that cooks in five minutes and gets worse the longer you leave it on the heat. Freeze them solid at home and they act as a second ice block for the drive in.
The honey is doing more than sweetening. A trace of sugar in the marinade browns fast on a hot grate, which is how you get a crust in two minutes instead of a slow grey overcook. Keep the marinade time short, though. Lemon juice will chew through the surface of the fish if you let it sit all afternoon.
Packing
Marinade goes in a doubled zip bag at home, mixed and ready. Steaks stay frozen in a second bag and ride at the bottom of the cooler against the ice, where they thaw slowly and keep the rest of the cooler cold. Cook them the first night out.
Variations
- A dry rub of granulated garlic, lemon pepper, and salt skips the marinade entirely and needs no cooler space.
- Sear the steaks in a cast iron skillet over the same coals if the grate is crowded.
- Foil-packet zucchini or peppers on the far side of the grate cook while the tuna marinates.
https://www.lodgecastiron.com/blogs/recipe/grilled-garlic-and-lemon-tuna-steaks