Traeger Grilled Whole Tilapia

5 from 9 votes

Traeger Grilled Whole Tilapia is packed with flavor from lime, garlic, serrano peppers, and fresh cilantro tucked inside each fish. A chili-lime sauce adds a sweet, tangy, savory kick as the tilapia cooks on the pellet grill. Serve it with the reserved sauce for an easy whole-fish dinner that looks impressive and tastes bright and fresh.

Prep Time25

Cook Time25

Total Time50

Course: Main Dish

Cuisine: American

Keyword: grilled whole tilapia, how to grill tilapia on a pellet grill, how to grill tilapia on a Traeger, how to smoke a whole tilapia on the Traeger, Traeger grilled whole tilapia, Traeger smoked whole tilapia

Servings: servings

Author: Joshua Boquist

Equipment

Ingredients

For the Tilapia

4 whole tilapia cleaned and descaled
2 tbsp olive oil
½ tsp salt
½ tsp pepper
2 limes sliced
½ onion sliced
8 cloves garlic sliced
2 serrano peppers sliced
½ bunch cilantro

For the Sauce

½ onion chopped
½ cup cilantro chopped
¼ cup soy sauce
¼ cup olive oil
¼ cup lime juice from 2 limes
3 tbsp brown sugar
2 tbsp fish sauce
4 cloves garlic minced
2 serrano peppers sliced

Instructions

Preheat the pellet grill to 400°F and oil the grill grates.
Make 3 to 4 vertical cuts on both sides of the fish.
Coat the fish with olive oil. Make sure to get inside the cavity. Season inside and out with salt and pepper.
Stuff the cavity of each fish with slices of lime, onion, garlic, Serrano pepper, and cilantro.
Stuff slices of garlic cloves inside the slits that you made on the fish.
Optional: Wrap the cooking twine around the fish to keep the cavity closed and prevent the stuffing from falling out. If you transfer the fish carefully, you don’t need to use twine.
Combine the sauce ingredients in a blender and blend until smooth.
Use half of the sauce to coat the fish. Make sure to get inside the slits and the cavity of the fish. Reserve the rest of the sauce to serve with the fish.
Grill the tilapia for 20 to 35 minutes (depending on the size of the fish) or until the internal temperature reaches 145°F. If you don’t have a thermometer, the fish should look opaque and flake easily when it is finished cooking.
Serve the fish with the remaining sauce.

Video

Notes

Scoring The Fish

Making cuts on the outside of the fish is optional but it provides more surface area to infuse flavor. We typically leave the skin intact on larger fish because the skin helps hold in the moisture. However, tilapia is small and cooks quite quickly.

Keep The Filling In Place

Since the cavity on tilapia is small, it helps to tie the fish closed with cooking twine so the stuffing doesn’t fall out. If you tie the fish with twine, make sure you use cooking twine so it doesn’t catch fire on the grill. You can skip this step if you transfer the fish carefully.

Reserve Clean Sauce

Set aside the serving portion before coating the raw fish. Keep the serving sauce and utensils separate from anything that touches raw fish.

Nutrition