Easy Dinner Party Food: Moist Grilled Salmon + Bonus Trick

by Natalie Grant

You are not going to read many posts on this site about food. But this Moist Grilled Salmon is SO GOOD, that it made it to my list of things I MUST write about. Plus I know we’re all looking for easy dinner party foods. This is it!

Don’t get me wrong, my Prince and I are foodies. We love all sorts of food. But I would much rather be in the garage working on a project than cooking behind the stove. That’s just the truth.

Lucky for me, Prince enjoys cooking. But his passion is grilling. And we recently leveled up his grill game with this 24” Weber Summit Kamado Charcoal Grill.

Custom grill cart table for 24" Weber Summit Kamado Grill

In case you don’t know, Kamado is a grill class that’s in a league of its own. A ceramic egg-shaped grill of Japanese origin. Some others in this class: Big Green Egg; Red Kamado Joe; and Char-Griller Akorn. Almost all of them in this class recommend lump charcoal.

He did all sorts of research before committing to this bad boy. And he’s had mostly WINS and very few fails with it. I told him that grill makes him look good 😊.

Anyway, back to the salmon: easy dinner party food. This salmon is so good (and easy) that we love to serve it for dinner parties. It’s great as an appetizer or main course. And if you’re inviting a large group, it’s a perfect option for hors d’oeuvres when served on lettuce or with crackers.

Which Salmon to Purchase

There are all types at our local market. We’ve found it doesn’t really matter which one he buys as long as he buys the type that has skin on one side and it must the FRESH.

So, he’ll usually buy whatever is on sale. But he also asks the butcher for what they have in the back. You want it to be FRESH! If it smells “fishy” don’t buy it – that means its not fresh.

Here he cut a salmon slab in half to show it has skin on it.

Raw salmon the beginning of easy dinner party food

Trick to Help the Salmon Slide Off Its Skin

Prince places the salmon, skin side down on regular newspaper. We use the weekly flyers that come in the mail. Then he rubs in this magic dust. We’ve used several in the past (any of these 3 are good) but my favorite is Meat Church Seafood Seasoning.

Then he’ll top it with fresh dill and sliced lemons. Next, he trims the excess paper from around the sides and puts it on the grill.

Easy dinner party food; raw salmon with lemon and dill being prepped for the grill

You would think putting newspaper on the grill would cause it to catch fire, but it does not. That’s because he grills it with indirect heat. He gets the grill between 200 and 225 degrees.

Easy dinner party food: Salmon on newspaper with indirect heat on the Weber Summit Kamado Grill

For moist salmon (your easy dinner party food) you’re looking for an internal temperature of 140 degrees. Prince will not grill anything without his trusty meat thermometer.

Here it is fresh off the grill!

easy dinner party food, moist and delicious salmon off the grill

I will eventually do a video (because this needs one) but trust when I say this is such a cool trick! You simply slice down into the grilled salmon with a small spatula and slide the meat right off the skin. The skin STICKS TO THE PAPER!!

Grilling salmon on newspaper makes the skin stick to the paper and helps the meat slide right off

Serving Suggestions for Your Next Dinner Party   

As an appetizer, I just sprinkle the salmon with fresh parmesan on a bed of arugula and other baby greens. You don’t even need dressing. (If you zoom in you can see the wet look of the salmon.) It’s sooooo moist this way.

Its also great served cold with crackers.

Moist and delicious salmon when cooked on Weber Summit Kamado Grill
Salmon skin sticks to newspaper when grilled with indirect heat

Items Used in Making this Easy Dinner Party Food

Weber Summit Kamado E6 24” Charcoal Grill

Meat Church Seafood Seasoning

Meat thermometer

Take Away for Easy Dinner Party Food

Quoting the incomparable, Dorothy Draper from her book: Entertaining is Fun! “If a hostess has fun, her guests will, too.” So, it’s important to reduce stress ahead of time. Find easy dinner party foods like this and other things you can prep in advance. That way a fun time can be enjoyed by all 🙂

Here’s to having fun at your dinner party and Making it Fabulous!

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