Firecracker Salmon Recipe (Singapore BBQ Edition)

Firecracker salmon is super easy to make and is always a hit at any gathering. It can be served however you like – in its tin foil wrapper or even on a pizza!

Shout-out to Karina at Café Delites for the original Firecracker Salmon recipe.

Buy salmon, hot sauces, fresh garlic & ginger and make sure you have olive oil, soy sauce, salt, pepper, paprika powder and a little brown sugar available.

Here’s what we’re aiming for, Firecracker Salmon fresh from the BBQ.
Note, it’s not actually that spicy!

Time involved

Preparation: 15 minutes
Marinade: overnight or 2-3 hours
Cooking: +/- 15 minutes

Salmon can be quite dear in Singapore, so it’s good to have recipes that allow you to use all parts of the salmon. Fresh or frozen, it all works. Nice fresh salmon fillets are advised though.

Let’s prepare the marinade

These are the specific sauces I used for this Singapore BBQ edition of the firecracker salmon recipe. The are easy to find in Singapore. If you can’t, do what I did, and simply buy a couple that you like the look of – and it will allow you to adjust the sweet/spicy ratio. Also, if you have some spicy sauces left from takeaways you can add those too!

In a bowl (or plastic container), whisk together:

a couple of cloves of minced garlic
a stick of minced ginger
1 tbsp olive oil
1 tbsp soy sauce
a whole bunch of Thai chili sauce
a bunch of Indonesian extra hot chili sauce (sambal extra pedis)
a large dribble of Yuzu Sco (or Tabasco, but that’s sweeter and not as hot)
ground up red chili flakes (or spicy paprika powder)
optional: a few tubs of random spicy sauce from takeaway menus
optional: a little bit of brown sugar

When combining the ingredients make sure your mixture doesn’t become too oily. If it does, just add extra sauces until it looks and behaves like a sauce again.

Now prepare and marinate your salmon

If necessary, defrost your salmon fillets & place them on kitchen paper towels to dry them.

Leave the skin on the salmon. Season salmon with salt, pepper and paprika. Add marinade to the salmon, either on top of some tin foil in a bowl, or directly in a tupperware plastic container.

Your tupperware box will likely fit a number of salmon fillets, which you can fill up nicely with the marinade.

Tupperware filled salmon, ready for the fridge!

If you marinade directly in your aluminium foil, your salmon will look like a bit of a bloodbath after pouring the marinade on. It still works though!

Close your plastic container or the tin foil packages.

Neat tin foil packages. Wrapping your salmon up in small packages will make it easier to serve to guests at a bbq.

Marinate in the refrigerator for at least 2 hours.

Once marinated, your salmon should come out looking like this. If there are any patches, just dribble a bit of left over marinade before closing up your tin foil packages.

Time to bake the salmon

Optional: pan sear the salmon for a minute or two on the skin-side for extra crispy skin – right before you bake them.

If you have marinated your salmon in a plastic container, now is the time to wrap the salmon in aluminium foil.

BBQ (or stick in the oven) for a while. The smaller the packages of salmon, the shorter they need. Big fillets will need a bit longer – up to 12-15 minutes.

Serve in the wrappers & enjoy!