Grilled Catfish: A Very Simple Way To Cook Your Catch

Grilled catfish is an easy, delicious, and simple way to cook the hard fighting, abundant but often underappreciated bottom-dwelling catfish. Catfish throw their weight around equally, in the water and on the table, providing anglers with bulldog battles with the rod and reel and follow that up with dinner plates full of delicious meat.

How To Grill Catfish

We’ll show you the step-by-step process to grill a catfish with a simple Cajun blend and olive oil. You can purchase pre-mixed Cajun seasoning at the store or make a homemade version with things like salt, pepper, paprika, cayenne pepper, garlic powder, onion powder, red pepper flakes, and thyme.

Ingredients:

• Catfish Fillets (leaving skin on is optional)
• Olive Oil
• Cajun Seasoning
• Butter
• Milk
• Salt + Pepper
• Lemon (optional)

Time needed: 1 hour.

How To Grill Catfish

1. Soaking The Fish Before cooking, soak fish filets in milk for 30-90 minutes. This will help mask the fishy taste.
2. Rinse And Dry Your Catfish Rinse your catfish under cool water, and then pat the filets dry.
3. Adding The Oil And Seasonings Drizzle and then rub olive oil all around your catfish and then liberally smother the fish in Cajun seasoning.
4. Prepping The Grill Make sure your grill is grate is hot, clean, and covered with oil to prevent the fish from sticking.
5. Laying Things Down Lay the catfish diagonally across the hot part of the grill with the skin side down (will work with or without skin).
6. Grilling The Catfish It usually takes 4-5 minutes for the fish to cook. You will know it's ready when the sides begin to stiffen.
7. Flip The Catfish Once ready, flip the catfish gently to get the solid grill marks on the other side.
8. Top Off Your Grilled Catfish To finish off, add a little slice of butter and some fresh lemon juice.

This is the 5 pound flathead catfish that provided the filets for this recipe. It was caught with cut bait while fishing from the shore of a small river.

Soaking catfish in milk before grilling will add flavors and help set you up for a delicious meal.

Make your own Cajun seasoning with a handful of ingredients found in most spice drawers.

Grilling a fish with the skin side down adds tenderness while stiffing up the fish, making your next flip easier.

After 5-6 minutes over hot coals, the catfish should turn crispy and will come off easily if you want to remove it before serving.

Set the grilled catfish to the side and top with lemon and butter.