Simple Broiled Trout with Brown Butter Lemon-Parsley Sauce
Learn How to Cook Trout perfectly under the broiler! This easy recipe features butterflied trout with a rich, nutty brown butter, lemon, and parsley sauce. Quick and elegant!
Ingredients
(Original recipe yields 2 servings)
Trout:
- ▢ 2 (8 ounce) whole trout, butterflied and deboned
- ▢ Salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste
- ▢ Approx. 1 teaspoon melted butter (from the ¼ cup total, for drizzling)
Brown Butter Lemon-Parsley Sauce:
- ▢ ¼ cup butter (1/2 stick)
- ▢ 2 tablespoons freshly squeezed lemon juice
- ▢ 2 tablespoons chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley
Instructions
1. Prepare Brown Butter Base (Initial Step):
- Gather all your ingredients.
- In a small to medium-sized saucepan (preferably with a light-colored bottom so you can see the color change), melt the ¼ cup of butter over medium-low to medium heat.
- Continue to cook the butter, swirling the pan occasionally. It will foam up, then the foaming will subside, and you’ll start to see golden brown milk solids forming at the bottom of the pan. The butter will smell nutty and toasted. This browning process might take about 1-3 minutes after it fully melts – watch it carefully as it can go from perfectly browned to burnt very quickly!
- As soon as the butter is golden brown and smells nutty, immediately turn off the heat. Set this brown butter aside for now. (Recipe implies some of this initial melted butter is used to drizzle on fish, then rest is reheated. Alternatively, make all sauce at end).
2. Prepare and Season Trout:
- Line a baking sheet with a piece of aluminum foil.
- Place the butterflied trout onto the foil-lined baking sheet, opening them up so the skin sides are down and the flesh is exposed.
- Drizzle each trout fillet with about 1/2 teaspoon of the melted (or browned) butter from your saucepan.
- Season the trout generously with salt and freshly ground black pepper.
3. Preheat Broiler:
- Adjust an oven rack so it is about 5 to 6 inches below the broiler heat source.
- Preheat the oven’s broiler on the HIGH heat setting.
4. Broil the Trout:
- Place the baking sheet with the prepared trout under the preheated broiler.
- Broil for 2 to 3 minutes, or until the trout is opaque, flakes easily with a fork, and is just barely firm to the touch. Trout cooks very quickly under the broiler, so watch it closely to prevent overcooking.
- Carefully remove the baking sheet from the oven once the trout is cooked.
5. Finish Brown Butter Lemon-Parsley Sauce:
- Return the saucepan containing the remaining browned butter to the stovetop over medium-high heat. (If you didn’t reserve any, or if it solidified too much, you can just gently re-warm all the brown butter).
- Stir in the 2 tablespoons of freshly squeezed lemon juice and the 2 tablespoons of chopped fresh parsley.
- Bring this butter sauce just to a boil (this will happen very quickly), whisking or stirring to combine all the ingredients. Cook for just a few seconds once boiling.
6. Serve:
- Carefully transfer the broiled trout fillets to serving plates.
- Immediately spoon the hot Brown Butter Lemon-Parsley Sauce generously over the trout.
- Serve at once and enjoy!