Who doesn’t love salmon? It’s not only healthy and tasty, but there are also different ways to cook it, each of which can make you experience different levels of savory sensations.
I, on the one hand, love grilled salmon so much that I could eat it every day. But I don’t like to prepare and then grill salmon before eating.
It just takes too much time from my busy schedule, which is why I love the idea of freezing my grilled salmon and just reheat when I want to eat it.
Let me tell you a story!
Once, I went to a farmers’ market to buy salmon and realized there was a huge sale. So I couldn’t control myself and bought a bunch all at once.
But when I got home, I was left with too much salmon that I couldn’t eat even within a few days. So I decided to eat as much as my heart desired and freeze the rest.
Thus, began my journey of freezing grilled salmon, and I’m here to teach you how to do it.
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Is It Okay to Freeze Grilled Salmon?
As we all already know, salmon is a very nutritious seafood that should be incorporated into your diet.
And the best part about grilled salmon is that it tastes so good that you don’t even need to feel like it’s a job and that you have to eat it for your health.
So if you’re busy like me and don’t have the time to make your grilled salmon on a regular basis, it’s a great idea to freeze it.
But can you freeze grilled salmon?
Yes, you can absolutely freeze your grilled salmon and just reheat what you need whenever you need it. And the great thing is that you can freeze as much grilled salmon as you want for about three months or more!
It’s a known fact that salmon freezes well, so you don’t have to worry about it getting spoilt too soon.
Yes, it is true that your frozen grilled salmon will not taste the same as fresh salmon. But trust me when I say that even if you notice the difference, it’s still going to taste delicious.
So the small change in the taste won’t really matter much if you get used to the convenience of freezing your grilled salmon.
Read More: can you freeze grilled steak
How to Freeze Grilled Salmon
The time and energy you can save by freezing your grilled salmon are truly epic. You will only understand it when you start doing it trust me!
The whole process of freezing salmon starts with preparing the salmon. Then comes the grilling, cooling, bagging, sealing, labeling, and then freezing of the salmon properly.
Don’t you worry!
It’s not as complicated as it sounds, and I’ll prove it to you.
Preparing and Grilling the Salmon
What you need to do first is to choose the type of salmon you want to grill. Not all species of salmon are going to be perfect for grilling.
So I recommend you choose from Chinook, Sockeye, or even Atlantic, which have a higher amount of fat content that can accommodate to the high heat of a grill.
Now that you know which salmon to pick, you need to decide how much salmon you will need to grill in order to freeze it for the desired time.
What you have to do next is prepare your salmon, and I’ll share the way I do it:
- Remove the insides of the belly of your salmon and slice it uniformly
- Get rid of the pin bones and cut the salmon into four filet pieces
- Make sure each of the filet pieces is about six to eight ounces, and pat them dry
- Decide whether you want to marinate your salmon or not, but I personally don’t
- Coat your salmon with your seasoning without sugar (grilling with sugar creates a distasteful flavor) and olive oil
Now that you prepared your salmon, you need to grill it to perfection. You should try out this method:
- Preheat your grill with a really high heat
- Oil the grates
- Position your salmon’s skin side on the grate of the grill
- After 5-8 minutes, flip the salmon
- Take the temperature of the center of your salmon till it’s 135 to 140 degrees Fahrenheit
- Then take the salmon off of the grill
- Rest the salmon for about 10 minutes for carryover cooking
Now you are ready to go into the next step!
Cooling Down the Salmon
You need to coof down your freshly grilled salmon before you chuck it into the freezer, or it will be exposed to bacteria, which is harmful to eat for humans.
So you can’t put hot salmon in the freezer. This is why you should let the salmon cool down for about an hour so that it is cool to the touch.
Bagging the Salmon
When your salmon is completely cooled off, you need to start the bagging process. This is because it’s better to freeze your salmon the day you grill it.
You need freezer-friendly plastic bags with zippers for all your fillet pieces. It’s essential to use a single bag for a single piece because it helps you take out all the excess air easily.
Sealing the Salmon
It’s vital to seal your salmon, as it determines whether you can freeze it properly or not. Sealing your salmon correctly will ensure that it doesn’t get any freezer burns.
To avoid freezer burns, you need to remove the excess air from your bag before sealing it tightly. You can use a vacuum sealer for this.
Labeling the Salmon
It is crucial that you label all your salmon bags, or you might forget when you started freezing them and how long you should keep using them.
Just take a pen and a piece of paper to write down the date of freezing the salmon and tape it to each bag.
Freezing the Salmon
You need to ensure that your freezer is at a freezing temperature or below so that you can avoid any freezer burns.
Stack each bag on top of the other on a tray and place that inside the freezer. And now you can enjoy your grilled salmon just by reheating some when you need it.
How to Grill Salmon
What Not to Do When You Reheat Your Frozen Grilled Salmon
Reheating your frozen grilled salmon is very easy, isn’t it? Wrong! People avoid a few things that make tend not to bring out the best results, making the reheating process hard.
Don’t worry! I’ll let you in on the secrets of how to reheat frozen grilled chicken like a pro. Just make sure you don’t make these mistakes:
- Don’t use a microwave, or it will dry out your salmon with too much heat applied all at once. Always go for an oven, as you can easily manage the temperature manually.
- You shouldn’t use a really high temperature to reheat your salmon, or it will become overcooked and dry. Start with a preheated oven and bake for 15 minutes. You can always bake it for longer if it isn’t adequately heated.
- Whatever you do, don’t forget to cover your salmon tightly with a sheet of aluminum foil. Otherwise, it will dry out the edges of the fillet.
- As I’ve already mentioned, you can’t make get the same taste from a frozen grilled salmon as you would from a freshly grilled salmon. So just get used to the taste and accept it, or you might be in for a disappointment.
Final Words
So can you freeze grilled salmon? Of course, you can freeze grilled salmon and enjoy it regularly without having to make it from scratch.
Freezing grilled salmon not only saves you a lot of time and energy, but you are also able to enjoy salmon regularly, even with your busy schedule.
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