Marinated Grilled Halibut with Cumin and Lime
If halibut is not available or not in the budget, just use any firm fish to make this delicious Marinated Grilled Halibut with Cumin and Lime! And if you have leftover fish, you can use it to make amazing fish tacos!
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Imagine you’re sitting on the top deck of a houseboat looking out at Utah’s gorgeous Lake Powell while you’re eating a wonderful dinner featuring this Marinated Grilled Halibut with Cumin and Lime. That’s the memory I had when I sat on my deck eating this a few days ago. And back in the days when I catered houseboat trips at the lake, this was always a popular dinner option.
Of course grilled fish doesn’t have to be marinated, but the touch of cumin and fresh-squeezed lime juice that’s added to the marinade makes this grilled fish recipe so flavorful. And this is a healthy low-carb dinner that’s also perfect for Keto.
What ingredients do you need for this recipe?
(This is only a list of ingredients; please scroll down for complete printable recipe. Or if you use the JUMP TO RECIPE link at the top of the page, it will take you directly to the complete recipe.)
- halibut steaks or fillets (or other firm fish fillets, see below)
- fresh-squeezed lime juice, I used my fresh-frozen lime juice
- oil, preferably Peanut Oil (affiliate link)
- Worcestershire sauce or Gluten-Free Worcestershire Sauce (affiliate link)
- Onion Powder (affiliate link)
- garlic puree or Minced Garlic (affiliate link)
- ground cumin (affiliate link) (see notes)
- zested lime rind (probably optional but good)
- coarse ground black pepper
- fresh cut limes for squeezing on cooked fish (optional)
What other fish can you use for this marinated grilled fish recipe?
Halibut was much cheaper in the days when I was cooking at Lake Powell, and the cumin and lime marinade is perfect for halibut. But if you don’t have halibut you can use any kind of mild fish that’s firm enough to stay together on the grill such as sea bass, red snapper, grouper, cod, tuna, Mahi Mahi, and of course Salmon.
Does grilled fish benefit from being marinated?
Fish definitely can be cooked on the grill without being marinated. And when you’re marinating fish it’s just to add flavor, and it can be a great technique add flavor to mild fish. But be sure you don’t marinate the fish too long with a marinade that has lime or lemon juice because the marinade will start to “cook” the fish. Because they’re used for shorter times, fish marinades are often stronger than those designed for beef, pork, or chicken, but you can reduce the spices a little if you prefer. I’m a huge fan of cumin, so I used the whole 2 teaspoons of cumin in this recipe, and really loved the flavor it added to the grilled fish.
How can you keep fish from sticking to the grill?
- Be sure your grill grates are completely clean.
- Spray the grill grates well with a non-stick spray like Pam for Grilling (affiliate link) or rub with a paper towel dipped in a high smoke-point oil if you don’t have a non-stick grilling spray.
- Rub both sides of the fish well with olive oil (or another type of oil of your choice) before you season the fish.
- Preheat the grill to high, then immediately turn to medium-high when you put on the fish.
- Let fish cook 3 minutes without touching it, then lift the edge of a piece to see if you have nice grill marks and if the fish is ready to rotate.
- Rotate to cook 2-3 minutes going the other angle on the grill grates to make grill marks.
- Then carefully turn, using a Fish Spatula (affiliate link) will make that easier. Cook 3-4 minutes on second side, or until fish is firm.
Can you make Marinated Grilled Halibut without an outdoor grill?
If you don’t have an outdoor grill (or it’s not grilling weather), grilled fish like this can be cooked on a stove-top grill pan with ridges (affiliate link) or a George Foreman Grill (affiliate link) with good results. Remember that the George Foreman Grill cooks both sides at once so grilling time will be a lot shorter!
More tasty options for grilled halibut:
If you want more options for grilled halibut, check out Grilled Halibut with Basil Vinaigrette and Grilled Halibut with Garlic Cilantro Sauce.
What can you do with any leftover fish?
If you’re lucky enough to have some leftover fish from this Marinated Grilled Halibut recipe, it’s perfect for making Fish Taco Cabbage Bowls or use that recipe as a guide and make fish tacos with low-carb tortillas or lettuce wraps! And this delicious grilled halibut is amazing served with Fresh Tomatillo Salsa if you have time for making that!
Marinating the fish for Marinated Grilled Halibut:
(This is only a summary of the steps for the recipe; please scroll down for complete printable recipe. Or if you use the JUMP TO RECIPE link at the top of the page, it will take you directly to the complete recipe.)
- Zest the skin of one lime. Just use a fine cheese grater to do this if you don’t have a microplane grater (affiliate link).
- Mix together lime juice, peanut oil (or other neutral-flavored oil), Worcestershire sauce or Gluten-Free Worcestershire Sauce (affiliate link), onion powder, garlic puree, ground cumin, lime zest, and black pepper.
- Put fish pieces into a Ziploc bag or a flat plastic container with a tight-fitting lid, pour in the marinade, and let it marinate in the fridge for 2-3 hours (but not longer.)
Cooking the fish for Marinated Grilled Halibut:
- Take fish out of the fridge, drain it and discard the marinade, and let the fish come to room temperature.
- Oil the grill or spray with non-stick spray and preheat to high (or only medium-high for a charcoal grill.)
- When the fish is room temperature, brush on both sides with peanut oil (or other high-smoke point oil.)
- For diagonal marks, lay the fish at an angle to the grill grates.
- Immediately turn the heat down to medium-high and let fish cook 3 minutes without touching it.
- Then lift up the edge of the fish and as soon as you see grill marks have formed and fish lifts up without sticking, rotate each piece of fish so it’s going the opposite way and cook 3 more minutes to get criss-cross grill marks.
- Then turn the fish over carefully using a Fish Spatula (affiliate link) if you have one and cook on the second side until the fish feels firm (but not hard) to the touch.
- Total cooking time for grilled fish is about 10 minutes per inch of thickness. This was perfectly done in 10 minutes.
- Serve hot, with extra cut limes to squeeze on if desired.
More Delicious Grilled Fish:
- Grilled Cod with Garlic, Basil, and Lemon
- Grilled Salmon Burgers with Caper Mayonnaise
- Grilled Mahi Mahi with Korean Dipping Sauce
Marinated Grilled Halibut with Cumin and Lime
This recipe for Marinated Grilled Halibut with Cumin and Lime can be made using any firm white fish. And if you're lucky enough to have some of this cumin-lime halibut left over it's perfect for making dish tacos!
Ingredients
Ingredients
- 4 halibut steaks or fillets (or other firm fish fillets)
Marinade Ingredients
- 1/4 cup fresh lime juice
- 1/4 cup oil of your choice (see notes)
- 2 T Worcestershire sauce (see notes)
- 2 tsp. onion powder
- 1 tsp. garlic puree or minced fresh garlic
- 2 tsp. ground cumin (see notes)
- 1 tsp. zested lime rind
- 1/4Â tsp. coarse ground black pepper
- fresh cut limes for squeezing on cooked fish (optional)
Instructions
- Zest the skin of one small lime. You can use a fine cheese grater to do this if you don't have a microplane grater (affiliate link), but this is one of my favorite kitchen tools.
- Mix together lime juice, peanut oil (or other neutral-flavored oil), Worcestershire sauce or Gluten-Free Worcestershire Sauce (affiliate link), onion powder, garlic puree, ground cumin, lime zest, and black pepper to make the marinade.
- Put the fish pieces into a Ziploc bag or a flat plastic container with a tight-fitting lid, pour in the marinade, and let it marinate in the fridge for 2-3 hours (but definitely not longer than that.)
- Take fish out of the fridge, drain it and discard the marinade, and let the pieces of fish come to room temperature.
- Oil the grill or spray with non-stick spray and preheat to high (or only medium-high for a charcoal grill.)
- When the fish is room temperature, brush on both sides with peanut oil (or any high-smoke point oil.)
- If you want nice diagonal marks, lay the fish at an angle to the grill grates. Immediately turn the heat to medium-high and let fish cook at least 3 minutes without touching it.
- Then lift up the edge of the fish and as soon as you see grill marks have formed and fish lifts up without sticking, rotate each piece of fish so it's going the opposite way and cook about 3 more minutes to get criss-cross grill marks.
- Then turn the fish over carefully using a Fish Spatula (affiliate link) if you have one and cook on the second side until the fish feels firm (but not hard) to the touch. Total cooking time for grilled fish is about 10 minutes per inch of thickness. This was perfectly done in 10 minutes.
- Serve hot, with extra cut limes to squeeze on if desired.
Notes
I’ve made this mostly with halibut but any kind of mild fish which is substantial enough to hold up on the grill would work here. I would use Peanut Oil (affiliate link) but any neutral-flavored oil will work. Be sure to use Gluten-Free Worcestershire Sauce (affiliate link) if needed. I used 2 tsp. ground cumin, but if you don’t love cumin you might want less.
Recipe created by Kalyn.
Nutrition Information
Yield
4Serving Size
1Amount Per Serving Calories 452Total Fat 15gSaturated Fat 6gTrans Fat 0gUnsaturated Fat 19gCholesterol 129mgSodium 209mgCarbohydrates 5gFiber 1gSugar 2gProtein 45g
Nutrition information is automatically calculated by the Recipe Plug-In I am using. I am not a nutritionist and cannot guarantee 100% accuracy, since many variables affect those calculations.
Low-Carb Diet / Low-Glycemic Diet / South Beach Diet Suggestions:
This Marinated Grilled Halibut is not only delicious, it’s perfect for any low-carb or Keto diet plan, or any phase of the original South Beach Diet.
Find More Recipes Like This One:
Use Grilling Recipes to find more tasty recipes like this one. Use the Diet Type Index to find more recipes suitable for a specific eating plan. You might also like to follow Kalyn’s Kitchen on Pinterest, on Facebook, on Instagram, on TikTok, or on YouTube to see all the good recipes I’m sharing there.
Historical Notes for this Recipe:
This marinated halibut recipe was first posted in 2011. It was last updated in 2023.
32 Comments on “Marinated Grilled Halibut with Cumin and Lime”
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Does anyone know if this would work in a George Foreman electric grill? Thanks!
I haven’t cooked fish on the George Foreman Grill but can’t imagine why it won’t work. Just remember the George Foreman cooks both sides at once, so the cooking time will be shorter.
Oh, my! This was delicious, but I am going to have to double the recipe next time. Everyone was fighting for more!
So glad to hear it was a hit!
Definitely you could leave out the Worcestershire, or sub a little soy sauce.
I'm not nuts about Worcestershire, so I don't keep it in my pantry, but I think I could skip that ingredient still have a GREAT piece of fish!
That looks like a perfect beat-the-heat meal!
Glad you liked it, and good to know it worked well with salmon.
My gf and I did this over marinade over the weekend with salmon on the grill. Excellent!
Love halibut, love cumin never put them together. So lets give this a try then. The lime is going to be a nice touch instead of the usual lemon you have with some fish dishes.
This looks DELICIOUS! Thanks for posting! I'm always on the lookout for new fish recipes.
Miri, so glad you like the marinade.
This looks simply delicious! Fantastic marinade.
Catherine if you don't have an outdoor grill, I think broiling would work very well. BTW, I have a recipe coming for how I turned this into fish tacos with a sauce that really worked well.
I love fish tacos and this looks perfect for them. But, I don't have a grill/bbq so do you think this would be better broiled (or grilled as they say over in the UK) or pan fried?
Wanda, I agree; wish we were there right now! I remember listening to "Reggae Nights" by Jimmy Cliff over and over until everyone was ready to kill me. Lots of other reggae artists too. Also The Pretenders!
Love, love, love this recipe, Kalyn. I am always looking for healthy fish recipes. Yes, you are bringing back delicious memories of your houseboat trips…ahhh…to be there now, lounging on the upper deck watching the scenery go by while listening to our favorite music. What were some of those sounds?
Christine, thanks!
Berneda and Anonymous, the salad isn't really a recipe; it's just mini-cucumbers, cherry tomatoes, and romaine lettuce tossed with some blue cheese dressing. I buy Lighthouse Blue Cheese and mix it half and half with buttermilk to make it lower in saturated fat so it's South Beach friendly. It also makes the dressing thinner so you don't need so much to coat the greens.
Shirley, so glad you liked it. And thanks for telling me about the typo! (Very odd, because the url is correct and I didn't remember changing the title, but I must have.)
Jenn, I'm not familiar with Kalamansi, but any type of mild white fish will work as long as it's solid enough to hold together on the grill.
Looks fabulous. So does the salad next to it. What is that?
Beautiful presentation and it definitely looks deliciously good. I wonder though if using kalamansi would have the same result. I guess I'll find out soon. 🙂
I love fish and cumin and lime together are wonderful–yum! Great point on marinating fish, too, Kalyn. I've seen recipes with directions to marinate for an hour or more. I didn't have an hour so I marinated for 15 to 20 minutes or so while doing other dinner prep and the results were perfect. 🙂 Thanks for another great, healthy recipe!
Shirley
what's the salad with it?
Great recipe! Yummy!
Pam, having the grill super hot when you put the meat on is key!
I can never get those fancy grill marks!
Lindsey, would LOVE to have you! (And I could finally meet you and you'd love meeting Julie and Kelly. They're both so great!)
Can I come too?! Wow. I love fish on the grill.
Thanks Kelly! (Why don't you come on up for dinner when Julie comes?)
I love a good piece of fish with a citrus marinade — like you said — just enough to give it a nice flavor. It cooks so quickly on the grill, too. This sounds like a great recipe.
Julie, ANY TIME!! (Seriously, I would love to have a guest from Canada!)
YUM! When can I come over??