Cedar Planked Salmon with Brown Sugar

I’d say that about ninety-five percent of the recipes I find printed on sugar packaging are for baked goods, generally cookies. A recipe like this one for Cedar Planked Salmon with Brown Sugar definitely stands out as unique. I’d never tried cedar plank grilling before, but at Whole Foods this weekend when my hand actually grazed a stack of individual portion-sized grilling planks as I was reaching for my salmon order, I took it as my cue that the time had come.


Ready to grill!
In case you haven’t tried it before, grilling with cedar planks imparts gentle smoky flavor into fish, poultry or meat. Coupled with the sweet brown sugar rub…I had no idea how much I was going to love this salmon!

After twelve minutes on the plank, the fish came out perfectly moist and juicy. I definitely got the wood and smoke flavor from the plank. But like I said, it’s a really gentle flavor – not strong like a smoked salmon. The brown sugar melts into a sweet glaze on top and makes the salmon irresistible.

I don’t think I want to grill salmon again without one of these planks!

Cedar Planked Salmon with Brown Sugar

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20 Comments

  1. I thought of you today while I was baking bread. I was using Bob’s red mill dark rye flour and happened to see a recipe on the side of the bag. Normally, I don’t even look at recipes on packages, but I figured Bob’s red mill would have some good stuff–turns out, he did—rye crackers! And the recipe only used 1/2 cup of the flour. Have you noticed that recipes on the side of packages often call for more than the amount of flour in the package you bought (to try to get you to buy two or more packages)??

    Posted 5.10.11 Reply
    • Kathy wrote:

      I’ve seen that recipe! Did you try it? I’ve been wondering how it is. The only times I’ve seen recipes that call for more than what’s in the package has been for chocolate recipes (e.g., it might take 2 or 3 bars of chocolate to make one batch of brownies).

      Posted 5.10.11 Reply
  2. All I can say after looking at this is : I wish I had a grill 🙂

    Posted 5.10.11 Reply
  3. I’ve been wanting to try cedar plank grilling for awhile now! Just as an aside, do you know the internal temperature salmon is supposed to get to when cooking? I always worry about that sort of thing..

    Posted 5.11.11 Reply
  4. That sounds amazing! Wish I had a grill to make this!

    Posted 5.11.11 Reply
  5. I’ve never ever grilled on a cedar plank, excited to try out this method

    Posted 5.11.11 Reply
    • Kathy wrote:

      It makes such a difference!

      Posted 5.11.11 Reply
  6. This sounds great. And beautiful display. I find salmon fairly difficult to photograph for some reason, but this looks great!

    Posted 5.11.11 Reply
  7. Maria wrote:

    I bought my dad cedar planks for Father’s Day last year, but I have never tried them myself. Time to buy myself a gift..ha!

    Posted 5.11.11 Reply
  8. Tracey wrote:

    I’ve been meaning to try grilling on cedar planks for a while. Thanks for the reminder, you salmon looks and sounds so good!!

    Posted 5.11.11 Reply
  9. Nicole wrote:

    I’ve actually never tried Cedar Planked Salmon, but it’s on my to-do list for the summer.

    Posted 5.11.11 Reply
  10. Cedar planks really do impart a wonderful flavor to salmon. What a great recipe!

    Posted 5.11.11 Reply
  11. Cari wrote:

    OMG looks amazing! I would love to feature your recipe with full links and credits back to yours. Please let me know by email if you are keen!

    Posted 5.11.11 Reply
  12. Julia wrote:

    I need to get some cedar planks because I’m drooling over this salmon!

    Posted 5.12.11 Reply
  13. This sounds like a wonderful recipe and so easy.

    Posted 5.15.11 Reply
  14. Sonia wrote:

    This sounds silly, but can you use the plank more than once? Just trying to not waste things…

    Posted 5.20.11 Reply
    • Kathy wrote:

      Not a silly question at all. I think it really depends on the plank. The one I used didn’t really look like it would survive a second grilling, especially with the burnt-on sugar, but I understand some are suitable to use more than once.

      Posted 5.20.11 Reply
  15. Mari wrote:

    Great way to use a cedar plank! I am sure this salmon steak tastes as delicious as it looks. thanks for the recipe.

    Posted 8.22.11 Reply
  16. Tara wrote:

    I just tried this recipe only I didn’t grill it and I didn’t use a cedar plank. However, I baked it in my oven on 350′ still following instructions. I rinse Salmon, seasoned with little pepper & salt then put brown sugar in a bowl and covered the entire fish with brown sugar even left chunks for more glaze after cooked! I wasnt expecting it to be good based on how it looked, i was skeptical but it was so good.. 5 stars.. My family LOVED it.

    Posted 1.13.13 Reply
    • So glad to hear it worked out well for you, Tara!

      Posted 1.13.13 Reply