This juicy, grilled pineapple salmon is brushed with a mouthwatering sweet and savory pineapple glaze. The salmon is topped with a fresh and easy pineapple salsa that gives all the tropical vibes. Serve this elevated summer dish for a weeknight dinner on top of a bed of your favorite rice.
Why You’ll Love This Pineapple Salsa Salmon
As we head into grilling season, this grilled pineapple salmon with fresh pineapple salsa needs to be at the top of your summer recipe list, and I’ll tell you why!
Grilled salmon is the BEST! Fear not, because I’m telling you my foolproof method on grilling perfect salmon every time for juicy, charred, and flavorful fish.
Pineapple glaze slathered on each and every bite. This pineapple glaze is made with strong flavors like pineapple juice, fresh lime juice, ginger, and fresh garlic for the ultimate flavor bomb.
Fresh pineapple salsa is a flavor vibe for summer. This pineapple salsa is whipped together with 5 simple ingredients: red bell peppers, fresh pineapple chunks, red onion, jalapeno, cilantro, fresh lime juice, and a little salt. Leave it on the side or serve it right on top of the salmon. It’s also amazing just with your favorite tortilla chips!
More Salmon recipes to love
Key Ingredients
This recipe is full of simple and fresh ingredients, and your taste buds will definitely be able to tell. It’s a flavor fusion you won’t be able to get enough of! Here’s everything you’ll need to make this delicious grilled salmon.
- fresh pineapple
- red onion
- jalapeno
- red bell pepper
- lime juice
- cornstarch
- soy sauce
- pineapple juice
- honey
- sriracha
- garlic
- fresh ginger
- (4-6) salmon fillets
- olive oil
How To Make Pineapple Salmon
Here I’ve written out my salmon-making process with tips and tricks I’ve learned along the way, but you can click below to skip ahead and view the recipe card directly.
Jump to RecipeStep 1: Prep the pineapple salsa & pineapple glaze
For the salsa, simply toss all the ingredients together and refrigerate until serving! You can do this a few hours before if you’re serving it for a dinner party or the next day.
For the glaze, whisk all your glaze ingredients together in a small saucepot and heat on medium for 5-6 minutes. The mixture will quickly become thicker and oh so saucy. It’s truly the ultimate flavor bomb. Keep this mixture warm until the salmon is finished cooking.
Step 2: how to grill your salmon
- Prepare your grill by brushing your grates clean and heating to 450-550 F with the lid closed.
- Blot salmon filets dry with paper towels. The salmon should be very dry. This will ensure it from sticking to the grill.
- Brush salmon filets with olive oil and season evenly with kosher salt and black pepper.
- Grill the salmon skin side down over direct heat with the lid closed for 5-6 minutes or until the fish lightens in color and you can flip the salmon filets without them sticking.
- Gently turn the salmon over, close the lid and cook for an additional 2 minutes or until desired doneness or fish flakes off easily. 130 F is salmons’ finished temperature.
- Let it rest: Cover the salmon tightly with foil and let it rest for 3-5 minutes before serving, this will ensure optimum juiciness!
I personally think grilled salmon is perfect for this recipe, but you could also pan sear it in a skillet on medium heat for 3-4 minutes on each side OR make baked salmon in the oven at 450 F for 12-15 minutes (or until it flakes off easily).
Step 3: Brush on the glaze & enjoy
After your salmon is finished cooking, be sure to generously brush on the delicious pineapple glaze and top with the fresh pineapple salsa before serving. Enjoy your delicious pineapple salsa salmon!
Faqs
The only plus to grilling salmon in foil is that it ensures the fish doesn’t fall apart on the grill. Unless you’re worried about that, I think the salmon tastes much better when it’s grilled directly on the grates.
Oil, for sure! I mean, butter is an option, but the oil has a higher smoke point, so it lends itself to the high heat of the grill, and oil will make sure it doesn’t stick much better than butter would.
Absolutely! I love the summer flavor that comes from grilling salmon, but you can easily make this a pineapple baked salmon recipe if you want. Just bake it at 450 F for 12-15 minutes, or until the fish flakes off easily. The rest of the recipe stays the same!
Summer Dinner Serving Suggestions
This pineapple salmon dinner is so flavorful that sometimes I forget I can build a whole meal around it. Let’s make a dinner menu, shall we?
- Drinks: Oh, there are so many options! Since I love a theme and flavor pairing, my #1 choice would be a pineapple coconut spritz. It’s light, fruity, refreshing, and goes perfectly with this dish. On the other hand, you could go for a more neutrally flavored cocktail like a cucumber mojito. But it wouldn’t be a summer dinner party without a limoncello spritz, so here’s a big batched recipe for that.
- Apps: Start with an Italian melon and mozzarella cheeseboard or prosciutto melon skewers for a light and summery snack.
- Side Dish: Simply serve your fish with rice for an easy option, or you serve it alongside a salad for some added greens and veggies.
- Dessert: Round out your dinner with a summer berry trifle or a no-bake strawberry icebox cake!
Pineapple Salmon
ingredients
Pineapple Salsa
- 1 cup diced fresh pineapple
- ¼ red onion finely diced
- 1 jalapeno seeds and ribs removed, minced
- ½ cup chopped fresh cilantro
- ½ red bell pepper diced
- 1 Lime juice
- ½ tsp salt
Pineapple Glaze
- 1 tbsp cornstarch
- ⅓ cup soy sauce
- ¼ cup pineapple juice
- 2 oz lime juice juice from a lime
- 2 tbsp honey
- 2 tsp sriracha
- 5 garlic cloves minced
- 1 inch piece fresh ginger minced
Grilled Salmon
- 4-6 oz salmon fillets
- 2 tbsp olive oil
- 2 tsp kosher salt
- 2 tsp cracked black pepper
instructions
- For pineapple salsa: Stir together fresh pineapple pieces, red onion, jalapeno, red bell pepper, lime juice and salt. Taste test for seasonings and set aside.
- In a small bowl whisk together glaze ingredients: corn starch, soy sauce, pineapple juice, lime juice, honey, sriracha, garlic and ginger.
- Heat glaze in a small saucepan over medium heat for 2-3 minutes, whisking often, until glaze has thickened slightly. Keep warm and set aside.
- To grill the salmon: Prepare your grill by brushing your grates clean heating to 450-550 F.
- Blot salmon filets dry with paper towels. The salmon should be very dry. This will ensure it from not sticking to the grill. Brush salmon filets generously with olive oil and season evenly with kosher salt and black pepper.
- Grill the salmon skin side down over direct heat with the lid closed for 5-7 minutes or until the fish lightens in color and you can flip the salmon filets without them sticking.
- Turn the salmon over, close the lid and cook for an additional 2 minutes or until desired doneness or fish flakes off easily. 130 F is salmon ‘finished’ temperature.
- Let it rest: Cover the salmon tightly and let it rest for 3-5 minutes before serving, this will ensure optimum juiciness!
- Drizzle/brush salmon filets with pineapple glaze evenly and top with pineapple salsa before serving.
notes
Nutrition
Easy and perfect!
This was delicious!! I had myself a plate, and my significant other is a farmer so I ended up putting his in a wrap. I loved the little bit of heat.
This was fantastic – can’t wait to make again.
I love to cook, but making dinner in quarantine has become a real chore. While looking for new ideas to mix it up, I made this salmon and omg it was so good! Made it over rice and it was better than a restaurant. I had some sauce and salsa left over and threw it over grilled chicken the next night, was just as delicious! Thank you for this recipe!!
Hi Erin! I am SO happy you loved this recipe! It’s such a great summer staple to have on hand! I am so with you about cooking in quarantine, I’ll make a trip outside to the grill anytime I can. Happy cooking!
Not just saying because I know that college housewife is the best on the planet but this Salmon dish was out of the world! What a great idea and awesome verbiage throughout made me feel like I was really in the kitchen with her. Made it for dinner party everybody loved it. what what!
Yeeeee! You’re the absolute best! So happy I could ‘cook’ with you even from TX. Happy cooking (and eating) (love you!)
Delicious!! Pretty easy to make – really straightforward and quick.
While the grill was heating up, I made the salsa & threw it back in the fridge to wait til later. Put the salmon on the grill, set a timer, and went back inside to do the glaze. Grabbed the salmon and let it rest while the glaze thickened, and then served it all up.
Hubby went back for seconds & we plan to add this to our summer rotation. Yum!!
Hey Laura, thank you so much for making the recipe! I’m so glad you guys loved it! We have also put it in a taco and it works wonderfully! Happy cooking!
We made this for dinner last night and it was sooo delicious!! It was simple and easy to make, and definitely hit the spot! Yum! Thanks so much College Housewife!!
YAY YAY YAY! You’re the best Lauren, I’m so happy you guys enjoyed it!