This grilled salmon with nectarines and goat cheese is such an easy, light dinner, especially during the warmer months!

If you’ve never grilled nectarines or peaches, consider this your sign to start. We toss nectarine wedges with maple syrup and a pinch of red pepper flakes, then grill them until they are soft, sweet, and absolutely mouthwatering.

Serve them over a bed of couscous with simply grilled salmon and creamy goat cheese. It’s fresh and gorgeous, and it comes together so quickly. A total winner.

Key Ingredients

• Salmon: Any salmon fillet will work for this recipe. We especially love salmon with a higher fat content, like sockeye, king, and coho. Salmon with a higher fat content stays soft and moist after it is grilled.
• Nectarines: Grilled stone fruit is lovely. In this dish, we grill nectarines, but peaches or apricots would be excellent, too. Look for ripe, but slightly firmer fruit and save the really soft ones for eating fresh.
• Maple Syrup and Pepper Flakes: Toss the nectarines with these before grilling. The sugars in the maple syrup caramelize on the grill and get a little smoky.
• Couscous: Any cooked grain or quinoa is perfect here. Couscous, rice, quinoa, or orzo are all great. Before serving, fluff it and stir in a little olive oil, lemon juice, and a pinch of salt.
• Goat Cheese: Use fresh, soft goat cheese, usually sold in logs.
• Basil: Fresh herbs add a pop of color and fresh flavor. If you do not have basil, use parsley, cilantro, mint, or dill.

Find the full recipe with measurements below.

How to Make Grilled Salmon with Nectarines

You can make this recipe indoors with a grill pan or outdoors on an outdoor grill. Fish is delicate and can be a little tricky to grill, so I’ll tell you upfront that the most foolproof option is the grill pan on the stove. That said, grilling salmon on an outdoor grill is absolutely doable, so I’ve shared all my best tips below.

Tip 1: Prepping the grill. If you are staying inside, you’ll need a preheated grill pan over medium heat. If you are using an outdoor grill, preheat it for a good while and make sure the grates are very clean (otherwise the salmon will stick).

Tip 2: Have a fish spatula ready. When flipping the fish, you might find it sticks to the grates (even if you have oiled it and preheated the grill). A flexible fish spatula is really helpful for wiggling underneath the salmon fillets so you can flip them.

Tip 3: Keep the salmon skin on and oil the fish. In our photos, the salmon skin was removed. That said, I much prefer to cook my salmon with the skin still on. It acts as a little insulator, helping keep the fish moist and tender inside.

If you have salmon with the skin still on, keep it that way and place your fillets skin-side down when you start cooking them. Before you grill, rub the salmon all over with oil (adding the oil to the fish instead of the grill grates prevents it from sticking).

Tip 4: Grill salmon until an internal temperature of 125°F. I realize this is yet another gadget I am recommending for this recipe, but I promise it is worth it. When cooking delicate fish, like salmon, an internal thermometer is really helpful. Pierce it into the thicker part of a fillet for a reading. Remove the fish from the grill when it reaches 125°F, which means it will still be ever-so-slightly undercooked in the middle. That’s okay, though, because carryover cooking will finish it for you.

Tip 5: Grill the nectarines. After cutting them into wedges, toss the fruit with some maple syrup and a pinch of red pepper flakes. Then, add them to the grill. Look for them to pick up some color and grill marks, then flip.

Tip 6: Serve over seasoned couscous. Toss cooked couscous (or rice or quinoa) with a little olive oil, lemon juice, a pinch of salt, and a little fresh basil. It’s a simple step, but it adds so much more interest to the final dish.

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