There’s a specific weekend every year when Wyoming wakes up. The cottonwoods are finally leafed out, the rivers are starting to clear from runoff, and somebody, somewhere, is firing up a grill at 10 a.m. on a Sunday. Memorial Day weekend is when the season really starts for us — the campers come out of storage, the fly rods come off the wall, and the first trout of the year hits the grates.
Kimi and I moved to Wyoming in 2022, and I’ll be honest, I didn’t grow up fishing. I grew up cooking — wild game, Mexican food, anything that involved a long story and a hot pan. But Wyoming has a way of pulling you toward water. After a few seasons of stumbling around the North Platte, the Wind, and a couple of small creeks I’m not telling you about, I figured out that the best thing you can do with a Wyoming trout is the simplest thing. Salt. Butter. Fire. Lemon. Done.
This grilled trout recipe is the one I make every Memorial Day weekend. It’s the one I make when friends come over and look at me like, “you’re putting a whole fish on the grill?” Yes. Yes I am. And in twelve minutes you’re going to be eating one of the best things to ever come out of a cold Wyoming river.
If you’ve never figured out how to grill trout without it sticking, falling apart, or turning into a sad situation — stick with me. We’re going to fix that today.
Why Wyoming Trout Is Different
Here’s the thing about Wyoming trout that people who don’t live here don’t quite get. Our water is cold. Really cold. Mountain runoff feeds rivers that stay in the 40s and 50s for most of the year, and that cold, oxygen-rich water grows fish with firm, clean, almost sweet flesh. There’s no muddiness. No “fishy” flavor that people complain about with grocery-store trout. A rainbow or brown pulled from the Wind River Range in May tastes like the place it came from.
You can absolutely make this recipe with farm-raised trout from the grocery store — and that’s a great Memorial Day option if you’re not a fisherman. But if you’ve got a buddy who came back from a weekend on the Bighorn with a cooler full, or you caught your own at opener, this is the recipe. This is what those fish are asking for.
Ingredients
For the trout:
- 2 whole Wyoming trout (about 12-14 oz each), cleaned, scaled, head on or off — your call
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- Kosher salt
- Fresh cracked black pepper
- 1 lemon, sliced into thin rounds
- A few sprigs of fresh thyme and dill
For the lemon herb butter:
- 1 stick (8 tablespoons) unsalted butter, softened
- 2 tablespoons fresh dill, finely chopped
- 1 tablespoon fresh chives, finely chopped
- 1 tablespoon fresh parsley, finely chopped
- 1 clove garlic, grated
- Zest of 1 lemon
- 1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice
- 1/2 teaspoon flaky finishing salt (I love Jacobsen Salt Co. lemon zest sea salt for this — it adds a citrus pop that wakes the whole thing up)
How to Grill Trout — The Right Way
Step 1: Make the butter first
Always make the compound butter before you touch the fish. In a small bowl, mash together the softened butter, herbs, garlic, lemon zest, lemon juice, and finishing salt with a fork until it looks like the inside of a fancy restaurant. Scoop it onto a piece of plastic wrap, roll it into a log, twist the ends, and stash it in the fridge to firm up. Twenty minutes is plenty.
You can absolutely make this a day ahead — and honestly, the flavor gets better as it sits. This is the same lemon herb butter for fish that I’ll use on grilled walleye, lake trout, and even a hot ribeye in a pinch.
Step 2: Prep the grill (this is the part everyone gets wrong)
Get your grill screaming hot. Medium-high, around 425-450°F. Then — and this is the move — clean the grates with a wire brush while they’re hot, then oil them. I take a folded paper towel, soak it in neutral oil, grip it with long tongs, and wipe the grates down two or three times. Slick grates are how you grill fish without it sticking.
If you’ve had bad luck with whole fish on the grill before, do yourself a favor and grab a fish basket. I use an Outset fish grill basket and it’s a game changer for whole trout — you flip the whole basket, the fish doesn’t move, the skin stays put. No prayers required.
Step 3: Prep the trout
Pat the trout dry. Bone dry. Wet fish steams; dry fish sears. Brush both sides with olive oil and season generously inside and out with kosher salt and pepper. Stuff the cavity with lemon slices, thyme, and dill. Don’t be shy with the herbs — they perfume the flesh while it cooks.
Step 4: Grill it
Lay the trout on the hot, oiled grates (or in the basket). Close the lid. Don’t touch it for 4-5 minutes. I mean it. The number one reason fish sticks is people poking at it before the skin has set. When the skin releases cleanly and you see good grill marks, slide a fish spatula underneath — I swear by the OXO Good Grips fish turner, thin enough to get under the skin without tearing it — and flip carefully.
Another 4-5 minutes on the second side. The fish is done when the flesh near the spine is opaque and flakes easily with a fork. Internal temp should hit 145°F if you’re a thermometer person. Total cook time: about 10-12 minutes for a 12-14 oz trout.
Step 5: Butter it up
Pull the trout off the grill onto a warm platter. Cut a few generous coins off your butter log and lay them right on top of the hot fish. Watch it melt down into the skin and pool around the lemon slices. That right there is the moment.
Tips for Grilling Fish Without Losing Your Mind
- Dry fish, oiled grates, hot grill. Memorize that. It’s the trinity.
- For crispy skin: the grill needs to be properly preheated, and you need to leave the fish alone on the first side. Moving it = no crisp.
- Whole fish is more forgiving than fillets. The skin and bones protect the flesh from overcooking. If you’re new to grilling trout, start with whole fish, not fillets.
- No fish basket? No problem. Lay the trout on a bed of lemon slices directly on the grates. The lemon acts as a buffer and adds flavor.
- Smoke is your friend. If you’ve got a chunk of cherry or apple wood, throw it on the coals. It plays beautifully with trout.
What to Serve With Grilled Trout
Memorial Day weekend in Wyoming means everybody brings something. Grilled trout pairs with basically every cookout side you can think of — but a few favorites at our place: blistered asparagus with the same lemon herb butter, a cold cucumber salad with dill and red onion, a pile of grilled corn, and a really cold beer. If you’re feeding a crowd and want a meat-and-fish situation, this trout is a beautiful counterpart to my Smoked Brisket Wyoming Style — the fish keeps the menu from feeling too heavy.
For the wild-game crowd, this recipe sits right alongside my Venison Backstrap with Herb Butter, and if you want to go deeper into cooking Wyoming’s wild bounty, my Wild Game Season: A Wyoming Hunter’s Guide to the Table is the long-form playbook.
Get Out There
Whether you caught your trout in a high mountain creek or you grabbed two beautiful ones from your local grocer, this is the kind of recipe that reminds you why we live here. It’s simple. It’s honest. It tastes like a Wyoming summer.
If you make this for Memorial Day, send me a picture — tag @wyofood on Instagram or find Wyo Food on Facebook. And if you’ve got a Wyoming fishing spot you love (or a trout recipe that beats this one), I want to hear about it.
Now go grill some fish.
— Sean