Smoked Whole Tilapia
Not only is smoked whole tilapia amazing, it is unbelievably inexpensive to make. I purchase them at my favorite Asian market, Dragonstar, for $1.59/lb, fully cleaned. It costs less than $3 per fish. Once smoked, they taste like they’d cost $10/lb. Since tilapia are a fairly mild fish, they take on whatever flavor you give them quite easily. Kinda like how chicken does. The tilapia only need 1 hour per lb. to brine and about the same to smoke them.
Equipment
- Electric Smoker
- Probe Thermometer
Ingredients
- 2 whole tilapia 1 1/2lbs - 2lbs each
Brine
- 1/2 gallon water
- 1/2 cup sea salt
- 1/4 cup sugar
- 1/2 tbsp black peppercorns
- 1/2 tbsp coriander seeds
- 3 bay leaves
Wood Chips
- alderwood
Instructions
- Mix all of the brining ingredients together.
- Score the tilapia 4-5 times on each side of the fish.
- Brine the tilapia for an hour per total weight between the 2 fish. The tilapia were 3lbs together, so they brined for 3 hours.
- Pat the tilapia dry with paper towels. Let rest on a rack at room temperature for an hour before smoking.
- Preheat your smoker to 250 degrees. Place the tilapia in on the bottom rack. Once the wood chips start smoking, turn the temperature down to 215 degrees.
- Smoke the tilapia for 2 1/2-3 hours depending on the size. You want the internal temperature to read 150 degrees at the thickest part of the fish.
- Let rest for 15 minutes before serving.
