If you’re looking to up your fish-grilling game, join Daniel Arms as he shows you how to grill red snapper. In this Backyard Life video, the Arms Family Homestead host does what he calls “a good ol’ fashion catch, clean and cook video,” with some fresh-caught red snapper. And, Arms will be doing the cooking on his most recent Father’s Day gift: a Pit Boss pellet grill.
The Catch
To start, Arms shares some footage from the boat he shared with family and friends for a little Pensacola Beach, FL red snapper fishing. Captain Trevor helped put them on some good red snapper, then, afterwards, helped them clean and ice the fish. Back at home, Arms has had them on ice since in preparation for cooking.
Grillin’ Sides
Back on the family homestead, Arms is getting ready to throw the snapper on the grill. He’s also going to make some jalapeno pepper poppers, which he says are super, super simple. “It’s some jalapenos out of our garden. You slice them in half. Take the seeds out. Then, fill them with cream cheese and wrap them in bacon,” he explains. Then, you grill them for about 30 minutes. Arms is also grilling some okra straight from the garden, and drizzled with olive oil. Finally, he’s going to grill some zucchini with Italian dressing.
How to Grill Red Snapper
Arms is cooking the red snapper filets on what he calls, “the half shell.” This is a technique in which the skin’s left on one side of the filet. He’s drizzled some olive oil on the fish and sprinkled on some Zarda seasoning found in his local grocery store. “It’s not exactly made for fish, but it goes really good on this red snapper,” says Arms.
The filets don’t need to cook long; only 8 to 10 minutes at 350 degrees until white and flaky. “They’re gonna be good!” Arms knows this because he snuck a couple onto the grill previously while they were also frying some up. “We fried some of the red snapper just like we would bass or catfish or anything else,” says Arms. “And, my wife and kids said it was the best fried fish we’ve ever prepared at our house.” Now, his wife thinks they need to move to the Gulf Coast! But, Arms says he’s not quite ready to leave Oklahoma—and the farm life they have— quite yet.
As Arms prepares to pull everything off the grill, he notes that most people only fry okra. “But, if you’ve never tried it on the grill, you’re missing out. And, it’s a lot more healthy than fried okra.”
Once the fish has been cooked, Arms takes a moment to comment on his new pellet grill. He’s not sponsored by Pit Boss; his wife just bought it for him. Typically, all he’s ever had to grill fish on was a propane grill, which tends to dry it out quickly. “But. With this pellet grill, there’s nothing that we’ve cooked that dries out. This fish is so juicy, there’s actually juices running off the cutting board.”
Inside the kitchen, everyone dives in. The verdict? His family gives a thumbs up to the white, flaky, fresh-caught red snapper on the half shell. “It’s good stuff.”
As for Florida…
Lastly, Arms adds that his family loves spending time in Pensacola, FL. “It’s a great place for our family to go, relax and get away.” If you’ve never experienced it, he highly recommends it as a great place to fish and to hang out on the beach.
