The Best Smoked Fish Dip Recipes You’ve Ever Tasted!

Want to know how to make smoked fish dip?

Then you came to the right place!

Welcome to the ultimate post on the best smoked fish dip recipes…

When most people think of preparing fish, they think of doing it three ways:

• Fried
• Grilled
• Baked

For some reason, smoked fish dip has been long overlooked.

At Salt Strong, we believe it’s time to change that.

I love smoked meat.

I’m talking about a true love affair…

Brisket, ribs, Boston butts, sausages, chicken, turkey… You name it. I’ll smoke it. I’ll eat it.

Fish was one meat that had always avoided my smoker.

For whatever reason, I had never given it a try.

I had heard of smoked fish before; a lot of restaurants here in Tampa smoke fish and offer it on their menus, I had just never gotten around to trying it myself.

Good news!

Smoked fish dip is amazing!

We here at Salt Strong have taken it upon ourselves to find THE BEST smoked fish recipes for you guys.

Selecting Your Seafood

Obviously, some fish are going to be better for smoking than others.

The ideal fish to smoke are going to be ones that are high in fat content.

High fat-content fish soak up the smoky flavor better than extremely lean fish.

Some great fatty fish to consider smoking are king mackerel, Spanish mackerel, mullet, and salmon.

You can definitely smoke any type of fish you prefer; those are just my personal picks.

Preparation Makes Perfect

If you’ve ever smoked any type of meat before, you know the importance of selecting the right wood chips.

When I smoke Pork, Brisket, etc. I almost only use hickory chips. You can use hickory chips for fish, however, if you want to preserve the mild flavor of the fish, consider trying a wood like apple or cherry.

The night before smoking the fish, go ahead and smoke the chips in water to be sure that they don’t catch on fire in your smoker.

The Best Smoked Fish Dip Recipes 

After selecting the best fish possible for smoking and preparing your wood chips for smoking, its time to cook the fish.

Here are some recipes we love and we know will win over the hearts of any dinner guests you may have.

1. Smoked Kingfish Dip

Key West Kayak Fishing has a phenomenal video that walks through every process of making smoked kingfish dip.

If you’ve never made a smoked fish dip, this is a great video to start with.

This is a longer video, but it is worth your time if you’re totally clueless when it comes to smoking fish or making smoked fish dip!

2. Smoked Mullet Fish Dip

Our Friends over at How to Do Florida have a simple, mouthwatering recipe for making smoked mullet fish dip.

Give it a shot!

Note: recipe below video

Here is the recipe for the smoked mullet fish dip:

2 8-ounce package light cream cheese, softened
3 tablespoons lemon juice
2 tablespoons grated onion 1/4 cup onion, diced small
1 cup multicolored Florida bell peppers, diced small
1 teaspoon hot pepper sauce or to taste
3 cups smoked mullet meat, flakes off the bone
3 tablespoons chopped parsley Sea salt and fresh ground pepper to taste

3. Smoked Salmon Fish Dip

Here is another great recipe we found.

This time the chef uses smoked salmon.

Enjoy.

This is a quick and easy recipe for great fish dip.

You can find the full recipe for smoked salmon fish dip here.

4. South Florida Smoked Fish Dip

South Floridians love their fish dip and we at Salt Strong love this recipe!

Its incredibly easy and takes just 15 minutes of prep time.

What are you waiting for?

Go ahead and try making South Florida Smoked Fish Dip.

Here’s the full recipe.

5. Smoked Whitefish Dip with Horseradish

Maybe you’re the type of person who enjoys food with a little KICK!

Well, we have the perfect fish dip for you.

This Horseradish Dip is sure to give your taste buds a little Salt Strong “Pa-Pow!!!”

Check out the full recipe here.

6. Key West Smoked Fish Dip

There are two things I know for sure about Key West:

1. They have some interesting characters
2. They know seafood

This recipe was inspired by the food culture of Key West and it’s a winner in my book.

Give the Key West Smoked Fish Dip a shot next time you’re set to entertain a host of Floridians.

You can check out the full recipe here.

Salt Strong Fishing Tribe Member Smoked Fish Recipes

Our amazing Facebook group (Salt Strong Fishing Tribe) members have some pretty great recipes too.

Seriously guys… I can’t even get on the page anymore without wanting to cook up some fish!

Check out some great recipes our members submitted. If you want access to awesome content like this, be sure to join our Facebook group: “Salt
Strong Fishing.”

From Angler Dave Neuts

I’ll share my recipe…

And it sways over everyone that brined their fish…

mix together 4 to 1 Brown sugar to coarse sea salt.

Spread heavily over boneless skinless fillets on your racks…

I smoke for about 2 to 3 hours and then remove… flip over gently… repeat sugar and salt… smoke heavily to the desired doneness…

This works awesome on oily fish…

I prefer my smoked fish on the dry side…

I know it sounds too simple to be great… but it is !!!!

From Angler Kevin Stankus

Make brine. Soak for 24 hrs.
8 cups water
1 cup soy sauce
1 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup canning salt
1 tablespoon garlic
1 red pepper

From Angler Steve McAdoo

I brine with salt and brown sugar and water.

1/2 gallon of water to 2 heaping tablespoons of each salt and brown sugar.

Let brine for at least 3 hours.

I use hickory chunks soaked in water for at least an hour.

I use several chunks. Smoke until just done. Tender not dried out. Take them off to cool.

In a food processor grind half an onion, one garlic clove, 4 oz of cream cheese and several spoonfuls of sour cream.

Fill halfway with chunks of tender fish.

Grind well.

Add sour cream until it is creamy enough to scoop with a cracker.

Add a few more chunks and another spoon of sour cream for chunky bits. Serve with hot sauce to your liking and crackers.

From Angler Eddie Oesterle

Ok, here we go…

I use jacks as they are a fishier tasting fish.

Filet the jacks but leave the skin on, season with both season salt and Everglades seasoning)when the smoking is completed let them cool down then remove the meat from the skin in about 2-inch sections, then using your fingers kind of grind up the meat really good and feel for bones and stuff…

I also remove the dark blood line in the center of the filet. Keep doing this until all filets are ground up.

Next using a chopper thing or blender grind up an onion and some celery, season how you like (I use season all and Everglades seasoning)

Next, I use mayonnaise (others use cream cheese????) mix it all up until you get a nice thick spread.

From Angler Mike Dunn

• Fillet
• smoke
• crumble jack
• 8oz cream cheese
• 8oz sour cream
• 2 tbsp wet minced garlic
• juice of 1 lime
• bundle of chopped green onions
• 2 chopped jalapeños
• 1 small yellow onion finely chopped
• 2 celery stalks chopped
• about 2 tbsp Sriracha sauce

Enjoy.

From Angler Gary Gautreaux 

• 1lb smoked fish filets
• 2 boiled eggs
• 1/2 medium sweet onion
• 1 tablespoon parsley flakes
• 3/4 cup mayonnaise
• 1/2 cup tartar sauce
• Salt and pepper to taste
• Garlic powder to taste
• Squeeze half a lime
• Tabasco for extra taste

Remove the skin and blood line (dark line that runs the length of the filet) from the smoked fish and chop in food processor, along with the onion and parsley flakes.

Finely chop eggs and combine with the fish mixture in medium mixing bowl.

Add mayonnaise, tartar sauce, garlic powder, lime, Tabasco, salt, and pepper.

Keep refrigerated until ready to use. Serve with club crackers.

To die for!

From Angler Justin Rabon

Here is what I use. Only thing I change is smoking the fish instead of boiling it, and I use Paul Prudhomme’s Blackened Redfish Magic instead of Tony Chachere’s.

I use king mackerel for this recipe, but any fish works. I season the fish with the Prudhomme’s before smoking as well.

Good Stuff, Thanks MS PAT!

I copied this from the ECPFF a long time ago; Good Stuff, Thanks MS PAT!

Ms. Pat’s Mac Salad

1. Get 4 to 5 lbs of filleted fish, no bones, no skin, no bloodlines. Put a large pot of water on to boil with 1 cup of liquid crab boil (more for spicier, less for milder). And some salt. When water boils drop fish in and let boil 20 min. Shut off heat and let sit in water til it cools down.

2. While fish is boiling, cut up: 1 large onion (Vidalia), 1 bell pepper, 6 to 8 stalks of celery; two bunches of green onions to include the green part about half way up and throw in large bowl.

3. Make dressing- 1 large bottle ranch dressing, 1 bottle of golden’s Vidalia onion dressing, 1/2 cup spicy mustard, 2 tablespoons of horseradish, 2 tablespoons of chopped jalapeno peppers (can add more if you want spicier), 1 8 oz jar of sweet pickle relish and mix up.

4. When fish is done, put in large flat pan and flake (mush it up with a spoon or fork) and pour 1 to 2 cups of the water the fish was boiled in over the fish to keep moist.

5. Sprinkle with 2 tablespoons of Mrs. Dash original, and about the same amount of Tony C’s seasoning. Pepper and salt to taste.

6. Mix the fish into the bowl with veggies, pour on the dressing and mix. You may have some dressing left over – sav

From Angler Craig Barnard

Mix half and half kosher salt and brown sugar in 2 qts water add ice and chill it in freezer.

Cut fish in inch square strip 8 inches long. remove skin bone and blood line.

Soak overnight..add ice.

Take out pat dry.

Charcoal water smoker add soaked hickory chunks.

Load up oiled racks with fish. 4 hrs of moderate smoking.

Remove and cool in fridge then wrap double in tin foil. Back in fridge… lasts months

Man, you guys have some great recipes!

Luckily the Kingfish are starting to run the beaches here in the Tampa Bay area so I should be able to get plenty of meat to try some of the recipes you submitted!

Do you have any other ways that you like to make smoked fish dip?

Let us know in the comments.

Finally, make sure to join our private Facebook Group “The Salt Strong Fishing Tribe” for more fish pics, fishing tips, fish recipes, and more.

Related Fish Recipe Posts:

• Best Way To Cook Mahi Mahi (Top Recipes) – see it here 
• The Best Way To Cook Redfish (10 Amazing Redfish Recipes) – see it here
• The Best Way To Cook Grouper (10 Amazing Grouper Recipes) – see it here
• The Best Way To Cook Salmon – see it here
• How To Grill Snook To Perfection – see it here

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