Grilling fish can be a little challenging.  I admit it, I have ruined several filets of fish while trying to grill it perfectly, complete with those restaurant-style grill marks.  Sometimes when I grill fish it sticks to the grill/pan, sometimes it falls apart and sometimes it burns – all of which are no good and result in a total dinnertime fail.  This post will share with you my favorite tip for How to Grill Fish Indoors (perfectly, without sticking).

There’s no doubt about it, I am a grill-girl.  I love grilling and will use my grill throughout the year, even in the cooler months.  However, sometimes it’s just too cold to grill outside.  When the weather drops too low for me to venture outside I resort to using my indoor grill pan.

If you don’t have a grill pan I totally suggest investing in one.  The grill pan I use is cast iron.  I bought it from a major department store nearly 10 years ago for less than $20 dollars and I have been using it faithfully ever since.  I use my grill pan for everything - chicken, burgers, grilled veggies.  Because it is made of cast-iron it does have the tendency to stick, despite being well-seasoned.  So, when cooking fish on my grill pan I take a little extra caution and line my grill pan with parchment paper.

Parchment paper is one of my favorite kitchen supplies.  I use it often in my baking, cooking and other recipes.  Parchment paper — also called baking paper or baking parchment — is a heavy-duty paper sold on rolls in boxes, like aluminum foil and plastic wrap. It is moisture-resistant and grease-resistant, and has several uses in the kitchen.  Most often, parchment is used for lining baking pans. It eliminates greasing baking pans so there is virtually no clean-up and makes any pan the perfect non-stick pan.  Parchment also is used to make disposable pastry bags and to bake foods en papillote, a cooking method in which foods and seasonings are cooked together inside an envelope made with the parchment.

Ever since I started using parchment on my grill pan I have cooked the best grilled fish and haven’t burned or broken even the most delicate of filets.  All it takes is a piece of parchment paper to line the grill pan and you are set.  Check out how to grill fish indoors using this method. 

I started by placing my seasoned fish (in this case lemon and red pepper) directly on the parchment-lined grill pan.

Within minutes of cooking the grill marks appear on the fish.

The result is restaurant-style grilled fish, completely in tact.  The fish did not dry out and the seasoning stayed on the fish (and not stuck on the grill).

This is how the fish looked when plated.  I paired the grilled fish (salmon) with spinach-garlic quinoa.  The grilled fish tasted perfect and dinner was a total success.

Your homework for today is: purchase a grill pan (if you don’t own one already); purchase some parchment paper and make a plan to pick up your favorite fish from the grocery store. Before you know it, you will know how to grill fish indoors (perfectly, without sticking), too!

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