7 Easy Salmon Recipes to Make Dinner More Interesting

Salmon is one of those ingredients I buy regularly, but it’s very easy to fall into the habit of cooking it exactly the same way every time. A little seasoning, into the oven, something green on the side and dinner is done.

There’s nothing wrong with keeping things simple, but salmon is far too versatile to stop there.

It works with sweet and sticky glazes, fresh herbs, chilli, creamy sauces and punchy spices, which means you can start with the same familiar salmon fillets and end up with completely different dinners.

These easy salmon recipes are designed for exactly that. There are no complicated techniques or hard-to-find ingredients, and most are straightforward enough for a midweek meal.

From my own garlic and preserved lemon salmon to a ridiculously simple cream cheese and black pepper version, here are seven ways to make salmon a little more interesting.

1. Honey, Soy and Garlic Salmon

Sweet, salty and sticky, honey and soy salmon is one of the easiest ways to give a couple of ordinary salmon fillets plenty of flavour.

The glaze takes minutes to make and begins to caramelise as the salmon cooks.

Ingredients

Serves 2

• 2 salmon fillets
• 2 tbsp soy sauce
• 1 tbsp runny honey
• 1 garlic clove, crushed or finely grated
• 1 tsp sesame oil
• Juice of ½ lime
• 2 spring onions, finely sliced
• Sesame seeds, optional

Method

Heat the oven to 200°C/180°C fan.

Mix the soy sauce, honey, garlic, sesame oil and lime juice in a small bowl.

Place the salmon fillets in a shallow ovenproof dish and spoon the glaze generously over them. If you have time, leave them for around 10–15 minutes before cooking so the flavours have a chance to develop.

Bake for approximately 12–15 minutes, depending on the thickness of your salmon.

Spoon some of the glaze from the dish back over the fish before serving and finish with sliced spring onions and sesame seeds.

Serve with: steamed jasmine rice and tenderstem broccoli, pak choi or stir-fried vegetables.

2. Garlic, Herb and Preserved Lemon Salmon

This one is a little more personal because it’s a salmon recipe I make myself at home.

I bought preserved lemons on a whim and have been slightly obsessed with them ever since. They have a much deeper, saltier and more savoury citrus flavour than fresh lemon and work particularly well with oily fish such as salmon.

My original version uses a generous amount of garlic and fresh herbs to create a thick marinade that forms a fragrant crust as it cooks.

Ingredients

Serves 2

• 2 salmon fillets
• Large bunch of fresh coriander, roughly chopped
• Generous handful of fresh chives, roughly chopped
• 1 whole bulb of garlic, cloves peeled
• 4 preserved lemons, deseeded
• Generous glug of extra virgin olive oil
• Juice of ½ fresh lemon
• Coarse sea salt
• Plenty of freshly ground black pepper

Method

Add the coriander, chives, garlic cloves and preserved lemons to a blender.

Pour in a generous glug of olive oil, season with sea salt and plenty of black pepper and blend until you have a thick green paste.

Add the fresh lemon juice and blitz once more.

Coat the salmon thoroughly in the marinade, cover and refrigerate for around three hours. I wouldn’t leave it much longer because the citrus will gradually begin to change the texture of the fish.

Preheat the air fryer and cook the salmon until cooked through and the herb coating has started to caramelise around the edges.

Air fryers vary considerably, as does the thickness of salmon fillets, so check the fish as it cooks rather than treating a particular cooking time as absolute.

One of the best parts is the mixture of herb oil and salmon juices that collects underneath the fish as it cooks. Spoon that over your potatoes rather than leaving it behind.

Serve with: buttery baby potatoes and peas, roasted new potatoes or green vegetables.

If you want the complete step-by-step version, you can also read my Garlic, Herb & Preserved Lemon Salmon recipe.

3. Sweet Chilli and Lime Salmon

This is probably one of the easiest salmon recipes on the list.

Sweet chilli sauce does most of the work, while fresh lime stops the glaze becoming overly sweet. Coriander and fresh chilli at the end make the whole thing taste much fresher.

Ingredients

Serves 2

• 2 salmon fillets
• 2 tbsp sweet chilli sauce
• Juice of ½ lime
• 1 tsp soy sauce
• Small handful of fresh coriander
• 1 fresh red chilli, finely sliced, optional

Method

Heat the oven to 200°C/180°C fan.

Mix the sweet chilli sauce, lime juice and soy sauce.

Put the salmon on a lined baking tray and brush generously with the glaze.

Bake for approximately 12–15 minutes, brushing over a little more glaze partway through cooking.

Scatter with fresh coriander and sliced chilli just before serving.

You can also cook sweet chilli salmon in an air fryer. Around 190°C for 7–10 minutes is a useful starting point, but check it earlier if your fillets are small as appliances and fillet sizes vary.

Serve with: jasmine rice, cucumber and crunchy slaw.

4. Creamy Tuscan-Style Salmon

This is the one for nights when you don’t particularly want your salmon to feel virtuous.

A creamy garlic sauce with tomatoes, spinach, Parmesan and basil turns two fillets into a much more indulgent dinner, yet everything can still be made in one pan.

Ingredients

Serves 2

• 2 salmon fillets
• 1 tsp olive oil
• 2 garlic cloves, crushed
• 150ml double cream
• 8 cherry tomatoes, halved
• Large handful of baby spinach
• 2 tbsp finely grated Parmesan
• Freshly ground black pepper
• Small handful of fresh basil

Method

Heat the olive oil in a large frying pan over a medium-high heat.

Add the salmon and cook for around 3–4 minutes on each side, adjusting the time for particularly thick or thin fillets. Remove from the pan and set aside.

Turn down the heat and add the garlic. Cook briefly without allowing it to burn, then add the tomatoes.

Pour in the cream and stir through the Parmesan.

Add the spinach and allow it to wilt into the sauce before returning the salmon to the pan.

Gently cook until the salmon is cooked through and the sauce has thickened slightly.

Finish with plenty of black pepper and torn fresh basil.

Serve with: pasta if you want something substantial, or crusty bread and green vegetables if you’d rather let the creamy salmon remain the main event.

5. Cajun Salmon

Salmon can handle big flavours surprisingly well, and Cajun spices are a particularly good match.

You can use a ready-made Cajun seasoning, but making a simple version yourself means you can control the heat.

Ingredients

Serves 2

• 2 salmon fillets
• 1 tbsp olive oil
• 1 tsp smoked paprika
• ½ tsp garlic powder
• ½ tsp dried oregano
• ½ tsp dried thyme
• Pinch of cayenne pepper
• Sea salt
• Freshly ground black pepper
• Lime wedges, to serve

Method

Combine the smoked paprika, garlic powder, oregano, thyme and cayenne with a little salt and black pepper.

Rub the salmon lightly with olive oil before coating it evenly with the seasoning.

For pan-fried Cajun salmon, heat a frying pan over a medium-high heat and cook for approximately 3–4 minutes on each side, adjusting according to thickness.

Alternatively, bake at 200°C/180°C fan for around 12–15 minutes.

Squeeze fresh lime generously over the salmon just before serving.

Serve with: spicy rice, corn, avocado and a spoonful of soured cream.

6. Cream Cheese and Black Pepper Salmon

Sometimes the ideas that sound almost too simple turn out to be the ones you make most often.

Spreading cream cheese over a salmon fillet before baking creates a rich, creamy topping while plenty of cracked black pepper provides the bite it needs.

There are only a handful of ingredients, virtually no preparation and nothing complicated about it.

Ingredients

Serves 2

• 2 salmon fillets
• 3–4 tbsp full-fat cream cheese
• Plenty of freshly cracked black pepper
• Small pinch of sea salt
• Small handful of fresh chives, finely chopped
• Squeeze of fresh lemon, optional

Method

Heat the oven to 200°C/180°C fan.

Put the salmon on a lined baking tray and season lightly with salt.

Spread a generous layer of cream cheese over each fillet.

Grind plenty of black pepper over the top. Pepper is one of the main flavours here, so you want considerably more than a token twist of the pepper mill.

Bake for approximately 12–15 minutes, adjusting the time according to the thickness of the fillets.

Scatter over the chopped chives before serving. A squeeze of fresh lemon is also good if you want something sharp to cut through the richness.

You could also mix chopped chives or dill directly into the cream cheese before spreading it onto the fish.

Serve with: crushed new potatoes and green beans, asparagus or simply steamed seasonal vegetables.

7. Mediterranean Salmon Traybake

A salmon traybake is ideal when the priority is getting dinner on the table with as little washing-up as possible.

Tomatoes, courgette, red onion, olives, lemon and herbs provide plenty of flavour, and most of the cooking happens in a single roasting tray.

Ingredients

Serves 2

• 2 salmon fillets
• 250g cherry tomatoes
• 1 courgette, sliced
• ½ red onion, sliced
• Handful of olives
• 1 tbsp olive oil
• 1 tsp dried oregano
• ½ lemon, sliced
• Sea salt and black pepper
• Fresh parsley or basil

Method

Heat the oven to 200°C/180°C fan.

Put the tomatoes, courgette and red onion into a roasting tray. Add the olive oil, oregano and black pepper, toss together and roast for approximately 10 minutes.

Remove the tray from the oven and make two spaces among the vegetables for the salmon.

Add the salmon, olives and lemon slices and return to the oven for another 12–15 minutes, or until the fish is cooked through.

Scatter generously with fresh parsley or basil before serving.

Serve with: couscous, baby potatoes or warm crusty bread. Alternatively, leave the carbohydrates out entirely and eat it just as it is.

What Is the Easiest Way to Cook Salmon?

For beginners, baking is probably the most forgiving method.

Put the salmon on a lined baking tray or in an ovenproof dish, add your chosen seasoning, glaze or topping and let the oven do most of the work.

Cooking at around 200°C/180°C fan works well for many salmon recipes, with individual fillets commonly taking somewhere around 12–15 minutes. However, fillets vary considerably in thickness, so use cooking times as guidance rather than relying on the clock alone.

Air frying is another particularly convenient option when you’re cooking one or two portions, while pan frying is useful when you want more colour or crisp skin.

How Do You Know When Salmon Is Cooked?

Overcooking is one of the main reasons people think they don’t like salmon. Leave it cooking for too long and that lovely moist texture quickly disappears.

Rather than relying purely on time, look at the fish itself.

The Food Standards Agency advises that thoroughly cooked fish should turn opaque rather than remaining transparent and should separate easily with a fork. If using a food thermometer to check food is thoroughly cooked, its general guidance gives 70°C for two minutes as one safe core temperature/time combination, with other equivalent combinations also possible.

The thickness of the fillet matters enormously, which is why the timings throughout these recipes should always be treated as a guide.

Can You Cook Salmon in an Air Fryer?

Absolutely, and salmon is particularly well suited to it.

An air fryer circulates hot air around a relatively small cooking chamber, so individual fillets can cook considerably faster than they would in a conventional oven.

Glazes and marinades can work especially well because the intense heat helps the surface caramelise.

The important thing is not to assume that every air fryer cooks at exactly the same speed. Check your salmon early, particularly the first time you make a recipe, and follow the instructions for your particular appliance.

Can You Cook Salmon From Frozen?

Yes, although defrosting it first generally makes it easier to season evenly and gives you greater control over cooking.

If you’re cooking salmon directly from frozen, follow the cooking instructions supplied with the fish, allow for the additional cooking time and make sure it is thoroughly cooked before serving.

For recipes involving marinades, coatings and glazes, I prefer to defrost the salmon first so the flavour can actually reach the fish.

Should You Remove Salmon Skin Before Cooking?

You don’t have to.

If you’re baking salmon, you can leave the skin attached and simply remove it after cooking if you don’t want to eat it.

For pan-fried salmon, leaving the skin on has an added advantage: you can cook the fillet skin-side down and allow it to become crisp.

Patting the skin dry before it goes into the pan will help, as will resisting the temptation to constantly move the fish around.

What Flavours Go Well With Salmon?

This is where salmon really earns its place as a regular midweek ingredient.

For fresh flavours, try lemon, lime, coriander, dill, parsley or chives.

For something richer, cream, cream cheese, Parmesan, garlic and mustard all work particularly well.

If you want something with an Asian influence, reach for soy, sesame, ginger, honey, sweet chilli and spring onions.

And when you want more heat, smoked paprika, cayenne, chilli and Cajun-style spices can completely change the character of a simple salmon fillet.

Preserved lemon is another ingredient worth trying. Unlike the bright acidity of fresh lemon, preserving gives the fruit a deeper salty, savoury citrus flavour. It’s become one of my favourite ingredients to use with salmon.

What Can You Serve With Salmon?

You don’t need to overthink the sides.

For a quick midweek dinner, try salmon with:

• Baby or new potatoes
• Rice or couscous
• Tenderstem broccoli
• Asparagus
• Green beans
• Peas
• Roasted Mediterranean vegetables
• Stir-fried vegetables
• A crisp green salad
• Slaw

The best accompaniment really depends on the salmon recipe. Sweet chilli salmon is crying out for rice, while creamy salmon works beautifully with pasta and the Mediterranean version needs little more than bread to mop up the juices.

Seven Easy Salmon Recipes, One Very Useful Ingredient

The best thing about salmon isn’t simply that it’s quick to cook. It’s how easily you can take it in completely different directions.

The same two fillets can become sticky honey and soy salmon one evening, spicy Cajun salmon the next or something much more indulgent with cream cheese and black pepper.

And that’s the point of these easy salmon recipes.

You don’t need seven different cooking techniques or a cupboard full of specialist ingredients. Once you know how to cook a salmon fillet confidently, changing the glaze, seasoning, marinade or sauce is enough to stop it feeling like the same dinner every week.

If you’re new to cooking salmon, start with whichever recipe uses ingredients you already enjoy. Once you’ve mastered the basic cooking method, it’s an incredibly easy fish to experiment with.

This article has been completely rewritten and expanded from an earlier Crave seafood feature. The preserved lemon salmon is based on a recipe developed and cooked by Joanne Brook-Smith for Crave Magazine.

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