Grilled Bacon-Wrapped Salmon Bites with Lemon Garlic Mayo

1. Stage

Fire up the grill for direct and indirect grilling:  For a charcoal grill , place the lit coals on one half of the grill, leaving the other half coal-free.  For a gas grill , turn on the burners on one side and keep the burners on the other side off.  Right above the fire, you’ll get direct heat. Away from the lit coals or above the burners kept off, you’ll get indirect heat.

2. Stage

Make the lemon garlic mayo: Zest the lemon into a small bowl. Reserve the lemon for the salmon. Stir in the mayonnaise, 1 or 2 cloves finely minced garlic, depending on how garlicky you’d like it, salt, and black pepper. Cover the bowl and chill until needed.

3. Stage

Prepare the salmon:  Lay the salmon on a cutting board. Use a sharp chef’s knife to slice it into 12 even cubes, each about 1 1/2 inches wide.

4. Stage

Season the salmon:  Sprinkle on lemon juice (from the lemon reserved after zesting for the mayo), chives, salt, and black pepper, and toss so they get evenly coated. You can do this right on the cutting board.

5. Stage

Wrap the salmon:  Lay one slice of bacon flat on the cutting board. Rest one piece of salmon at one end and roll the bacon to wrap the salmon. The bacon will overlap itself. The salmon won’t be fully covered—two sides will be exposed.  Pierce two cocktail skewers through the salmon to secure the bacon snugly in place. Wrap the remaining salmon with bacon. At this point, you can chill them in the fridge for a couple of hours, uncovered, if you’re not grilling straight away.

6. Stage

Sprinkle with paprika:  Just before cooking, evenly sprinkle the smoked paprika over the salmon bites, if you’d like.

7. Stage

Crisp up the bacon over high heat:  The grill should now be hot. Use a wire grill brush to give the grill bars a good scrub. Place the salmon bites bacon-side-down onto the grill bars right over the fire. Cook for 2 to 3 minutes, undisturbed, until the bacon is crispy. Use a fish spatula to ease the salmon bites off the grill and flip them over, bacon-side-down, to cook for 2 to 3 minutes.

8. Stage

Finish cooking the salmon bites:  Once the bacon is crisp, slide the cubes away from the fire over the unlit coals or burners. Place the lid on the grill and cook for 5 minutes to ensure the fish is cooked through. You can use a thermometer to check the internal temperature—you are looking for 140°F. The exact amount of time it takes to cook the salmon through depends on how hot the grill is.

9. Stage

Serve:  Transfer the crispy salmon bites onto a platter and serve hot off the grill with the lemon garlic mayo on the side. No need to remove the skewers, your guests can pick them up using the skewers with their hands! Did you love the recipe? Give us some stars below!