This is hands down my favorite grilled swordfish recipe! Meaty swordfish is grilled on skewers with fresh lemon slices until tender and melt-in-your-mouth. Serve with an easy, herbaceous Italian salsa verde, which takes it way over the top. It’s made with fresh parsley, anchovies, garlic, capers, red pepper flakes, lemon, and garlic. It’s seriously amazing drizzled on top of the grilled swordfish.
While this swordfish recipe feels fancy, it actually requires very little effort. I think you’re going to love it too!
Looking for more swordfish recipes? Be sure to try my pan-seared swordfish with olive relish, these swordfish fillets with lemon caper sauce, my oven-baked swordfish with fresh corn and tomatoes next!
Ingredient Notes
I love grilling high quality, fresh swordfish steaks with nothing more than fresh lemons, olive oil, Kosher salt, and black pepper. This would be delicious on its own — no really, grilled swordfish with a squeeze of lemon is the best! — but we’re taking it to the next level with a fragrant, herbaceous sauce that you won’t want to live without!
For The Italian Salsa Verde:
- Lots of freshly chopped parsley
- 2 anchovies
- Drained capers
- Garlic
- Kosher salt
- A pinch of crushed red pepper flakes
- Half a lemon zested and juiced
- High quality extra virgin olive oil
Since the Italian salsa verde is an uncooked sauce, you want to make sure to use high quality ingredients that taste fresh and delicious when eaten raw.
How To Make Italian Salsa Verde
Italian salsa verde is a vibrant green sauce made with anchovies, capers, and red pepper flakes, differing from versions like Argentinian chimichurri, which includes vinegar. While various regions have their own takes, all salsa verdes share the key traits of being uncooked, herb-based, and served at room temperature.
- Finely chop all ingredients. Using a sharp knife, finely chop all Italian salsa verde ingredients, then place in a medium mixing bowl.
- Whisk with olive oil. Next, stream in the olive oil and whisk until thoroughly combined. Taste and adjust seasoning as needed.
Alternatively, you can place all sauce ingredients in the bowl of a food processor fitted with blade attachment, process until finely chopped, then drizzle in the olive oil to combine. Both methods work great!
The Italian salsa verde can sit out at room temperature until needed. This will keep for up to 5 days when covered.
How To Cook Swordfish On The Grill
Full instructions and quantities can be found in the recipe card below.
- Preheat the grill to 450-475°F with the lid closed.
- Prepare the swordfish by removing the skin and cutting it into 2-inch pieces. Season generously with salt and pepper.
- Assemble the skewers by alternating swordfish pieces with folded lemon slices. Use metal skewers or pre-soaked wooden skewers (soak for 1 hour first).
- Grill the skewers on lightly greased grates for 2-3 minutes per side, until the fish easily lifts and reaches an internal temperature of 130-135°F. Remove and serve immediately with salsa verde!
Expert Tips
The trick to cooking any type of seafood on the grill and not having it stick are simple:
- To prevent sticking, always start with a clean, hot grill—clean it while it’s still warm after grilling for easy debris removal.
- Preheat the grill well above your target temperature since opening the lid causes heat loss.
- When grilling swordfish, don’t flip too soon—if it doesn’t release easily, let it cook a bit longer until it lifts effortlessly.
These swordfish skewers are for you if (1) you like simple meals that cook quickly, and (2) you want to feel like you’re eating a restaurant-worthy meal at home. Yes, please!
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Grilled Swordfish Skewers Recipe with Italian Salsa Verde
Equipment
Ingredients
For the swordfish
- 3 swordfish steaks about ~1 ¾-2 lb total
- 2 large lemons thinly sliced, plus more for serving
For the Italian salsa verde
- 2 cups finely chopped parsley
- 2 anchovies
- 1 large garlic clove
- 1 Tbsp capers drained
- ½ lemon zested and juiced
- pinch of red pepper flakes
- ½ tsp Kosher salt
- ¼ cup extra virgin olive oil
Instructions
- Make the sauce. Using a sharp knife, finely chop 2 cups parsley, 2 anchovies, 1 large garlic clove, 1 Tbsp capers and place in a medium mixing bowl with juice and zest from ½ a lemon, a pinch of red pepper flakes and ½ tsp of Kosher salt.
- Whisk with olive oil. Next, stream in ¼ cup olive oil and whisk until thoroughly combined. Taste and adjust seasoning as needed.
- Preheat the grill. Preheat a grill with the lid down until an temperature of 450-475F is reached.
- Prepare the swordfish. Carefully slice off swordfish skin, then discard. Cut remaining swordfish steaks into large, roughly equal sized pieces about 2" wide. Season generously on all sides with Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper.
- Assemble the skewers. If using metal skewers, simply alternate pieces of seasoned swordfish cubes with folded over slices of lemon. We recommend 3-4 pieces of swordfish per skewer. If using wooden or bamboo skewers, soak in water for 1 hour first, then assemble the skewers.
- Grill swordfish. When the grill is hot, lightly grease the grates with olive oil or grill spray. Carefully place the skewers down, then cook 2-3 minutes on the first side, or until the swordfish easily pulls away from the grates. Flip the skewers over (wearing grill gloves helps tremendously!) and cook an additional 2-3 minutes, or until swordfish registers with an internal temperature of 130-135F is reached. Remove from the grill and serve immediately with salsa verde!
Notes
- Make sure the grill is extremely clean. The easiest way to clean a grill is when it’s hot. That means when you finish grilling, always go back over the grates with a grill brush while it’s still warm — you’ll more easily remove any excess food that stuck to the grates.
- Make sure the grill is very hot. If you don’t want the swordfish steaks or skewers to stick to the grill, it has to be hot. Remember, the grill will go down in temperature when you open the top, so let it heat up a little warmer than the temperature you’d like to cook at.
- Don’t turn the seafood until it easily releases from the grill grates. If you try to lift and turn the grilled swordfish and it doesn’t pull away easily from the grill grates, let it continue to cook. When it’s ready, and assuming you followed the above rules, it will release easily so you can flip it over.
Nutrition
*This post was sponsored by Balducci’s. All opinions are my own. I only support and promote brands that I believe in and use in my own kitchen – I hope you’ll check them out! Thank you for supporting the brands that make Well Seasoned possible.
This was incredible! The flavors in the Italian salsa were so good with the lemony swordfish! Would be so easy to make for a dinner party since you can make the salsa ahead of time! We loved it!!
Thanks, Tracy! We love this too and have definitely entertained with it. Easy and delicious. xo, Ari
Made this for dinner tonight and it was as good or better than going out—definitely a restaurant quality meal! So delicious. The swordfish was moist (I cooked it on a grill pan on the stove top because it was just too hot to fire up the grill) and the salsa is great. I served it with a light French bistro salad We were both very happy! Thanks, Ari!
Oh wow, this looks amazing, Ellen! That sauce is good on everything. Cheers, Ari
This was amazing! Thank you! I was hesitant to try it but swordfish was on sale. The flavor was perfect and it was so tender. I didn’t have enough parsley so I substituted basil and it still worked. The swordfish was perfect all on its own too though.
I just think these swordfish skewers are so reliably delicious every single time. And man, that salsa verde! Subbing in basil sounds perfect. Glad you enjoyed! Cheers, Ari