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Made this recipe for the first time tonight and I am already excited to make it again. Absolutely delicious! Wonderful recipe, so simple and yet complex!
Alyssa
Caramelized salmon.
Do I need to go on? Because the word caramelized pretty much speaks itself straight into my soul.
There’s just something about food – any food, including but not limited to meat and vegetables – that becomes sweet and salty and textured and browned into some kind of caramelized dream that makes me never want to stop eating. It’s regular food meets candy meets me floating on food lovers’ cloud nine.
HOW TO MAKE OUR CARAMELIZED SALMON:
So this salmon is caramelized. It’s like you’re painting a beautiful and crunchy caramelized outer crust on one of America’s most beloved fish-es. ← a hard fact based on my opinions and perspectives.
But it’s the truth, right? I think everybody and their mom either completely loves or feels obligated to love this healthy, pretty, pink-colored fish.
On a personal fish preference note, I like salmon, but it has always been more of that magazine-article-reading obligation kind of liking. Or as an excuse to work an Asian glaze and a hot pile of rice into my dinners. Mmhmm.
I became a pure salmon lover just for the simple goodness of salmon about three days ago when I had this at a restaurant, stolen straight off Bjork’s plate in the middle of the restaurant with no thought about what our dinner guests would think of us because everybody shares off each other’s plates in public, right? Er, uhh, yeah. If you must know, I didn’t order the salmon because I HAD to have the grilled portabella burger with Gouda and roasted red peppers and chipotle aoli + a side of the world’s best French fries instead. Which, in hindsight, I actually do not regret. But anyways.
Ultimately the point of salmon obsession happened when I walked, no, ran home and recreated this restaurant caramelized salmon beauty in my own kitchen.
Here are the three ingredients you need to make salmon taste browned, glazey, salty-sweet, and a teensy bit spicy.
That’s it.
You’re either in love with the short spice ingredient list and thinking about how fast you can get into the kitchen and make this, orrrr your mind is already racing with at least 30 other spices that you could add to that spice mixture. And more power to you if that’s deep down in your heart.
Howwwever. Let me just say this. In my moments of strongest temptation to take a simple recipe and add lots of spice and sauce and garnish and glaze and three kinds of sprinkles, I try to remind myself that more isn’t always better. A nice filet of high-quality salmon just shines with these extremely basic seasonings and a gorgeous cooking technique (that would be you, my caramelization magic).
Review = Five ingredients. Twenty minutes. Perfect texture. Addicting flavor. Healthy for your bod. Pretty to look at.
Caramelized salmon for dinner tonight? Okay, cool.
Three More Perfect Salmon Recipes
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Caramelized Salmon
- Total Time: 25 minutes
- Yield: 4 1x
Description
This caramelized salmon is simple, healthy and completely gorgeous. Just five ingredients and 20 minutes get that browned caramelized crust on the salmon.
Ingredients
- 1/2 cup sugar
- 1 teaspoon of salt (if using coarse salt, use 1 1/2 tablespoons and pulse it in a food processor a few times to make it less coarse)
- a few dashes of freshly crushed black pepper
- 16 ounces salmon, cut into 4 filets, with skin
- olive oil
Instructions
- Combine the sugar, salt, and black pepper in a shallow bowl. Dip each filet into the bowl and coat the entire surface of the salmon with the sugar/salt mixture.
- Heat a little bit of olive oil in a large nonstick skillet over medium heat. When the oil is hot, add the salmon, skin side down in the pan, and saute for about 5 minutes. If you’re worried about the burnt sugar in the pan (or if there’s too much oil/liquid) just drain it off or spoon it out of the pan. If there’s a lot of oil splattering, turn the heat down. I would not recommend going higher than medium heat.
- Flip each salmon filet (carefully! keep the skin on there because it helps the filets hold together) and saute for another 2-3 minutes. Flip to the side and saute each of the sides for another 2-3 minutes, if the filet is thick enough.
- Preheat the broiler to 450 degrees. Sprinkle the top of each salmon filet with a teaspoon or two of additional sugar/salt mixture. Transfer the pan from the stovetop into the oven. Let the salmon broil for 5-10 minutes, checking occasionally to make sure it’s not burning. The sugar in the pan might look burnt but that’s okay as long as the tops of the salmon are looking golden brown. When the salmon is done cooking, remove from the oven and allow to cool for a few minutes (that sugar gets HOT). Gently peel off the skin before eating – it will be very dark because it’s totally caramelized with sugar, and it should come off very easily.
Notes
If you’re using regular table salt, start with just 1 tablespoon and add more salt as necessary.
- Prep Time: 5 mins
- Cook Time: 20 mins
- Category: Dinner
- Cuisine: American
Nutrition Facts
- Daily value: 11% Total Fat 8.8g
- Daily value: 19% Cholesterol 57.8mg
- Daily value: 80% Sodium 1832.8mg
- Daily value: 9% Total Carbohydrate 25g
- Daily value: 0% Dietary Fiber 0g
- Sugars 25g
- Daily value: 50% Protein 25.2g
- Daily value: 6% Vitamin A 55.5µg
- Daily value: 0% Vitamin C 0mg
- Daily value: 3% Iron 0.5mg
- Daily value: 9% Potassium 416.8mg
- Daily value: 23% Phosphorus 291.3mg
Keywords: caramelized salmon, salmon recipe, healthy salmon recipe
Have you tried this in an air fryer?
We have not but I think it would work well!
This salmon should honestly come with a warning. It will spoil you for most other salmon recipes. Quick, easy and absolutely delicious. I have made it many, many times. Love it! Thank you.
I didn’t end up using even 1/4 cup of the sugar and it was still almost too much. This recipe is basically “sugar salamon”, and I can’t say nearly straight sugar complements salamon super well. I did give it two stars because the caramelization did work. I could imagine this texture working well in like a sugar garlic glaze, maybe with some orange or other supporting flavors. There was something in the idea here that worked, but to me it’s a first draft.
Lindsay,
All I can say is omg 😳 the taste was incredible! I love salmon this is a simple recipe that adds so much flavor. Thank you😊
This is incredibly delicious. I kind of wish I had never found this recipe because it has honestly spoiled me for any other salmon preparation. I know it’s not the healthiest way to make salmon but it just might be the most yummy. Thanks! (I use Maldon salt and only use a slightly heaped tablespoon.)
Glad to hear it!
Hope it’s good
Looks delicious.Definitely going to try out caramelized salmon . Thanks for sharing the recipe.
This would have been good, but wow this called for way too much salt. We could not even eat the salmon it was so salty. 1 Tablespoon would have been more than enough. I am very upset that this caused us to waste the salmon we bought.
Quick and tasty – thanks!
Would there be a problem with just cooking in the pan without transferring to the oven? I only have regular pans (not nonstick, not iron) and they cannot transfer to the oven.
You might miss out on a bit of the caramelization.
This was awesome! So easy and tasted fantastic. Thanks for teaching me how to prepare fresh salmon!
Glad you enjoyed the salmon, Angela!
I live and fish in Alaska, and why this maybe good, try brining fish in salt and water for 20 minutes, pat dry and season fish with salt & pepper and put into a cold, that’s right cold fry pan and turn on medium this will be the best and easiest salmon. No need for any sugar, add some fresh dill and lemon when plated
Sounds delicious, Annie! Thanks for the tip. 🙂
I want to make this but our broiler doesn’t have any racks so can I bake it in the oven
Hi, Kathi! We’d really recommend a broiler to help caramelize the salmon. If the racks in your oven can be moved up closer to the heating element, this should work to help broil.
The salmon was really good, it was just very salty. I was wondering if it was supposed to say 2 1/2 tsp instead on tablespoons?
The amount is correct, but we’d make sure you’re using coarse sea salt and not table salt!
one thing I learned is thrilling any kind of food, whether it be salmon, Tiger shrimp, slab of beef, steak or chicken on the grill marinated in Mr. Yoshida’s marinade sauce will bring out a delicious caramelized taste that of keeping tastebuds wanting more. Keep up the good work with your “side hustle millionaire blogging,” Lindsay. 🙂
I meant to say “grilling,” not [thrilling]. Speech recognition typographical error. LOL 🙂
This recipe made my salmon gross!
I am usually pretty good at cooking salmon., but I wanted to mix it up a little and try something different. I found your recipe online and put my complete faith in everything I read. The result was a very happy wife and a ton of other freeloaders who she called over to try it out. Thanks for making me look like a hero. This recipe will definitely be used again on a weekly basis.
The cook time plus broil time sounds a bit long for salmon. Won’t the fish be dry?
4000 mg sodium? Better call an ambulance or have Lasix on hand cause people will be in congestive heart failure within 15 min after eating
I think you could probably just decrease the amount of salt you mix in with the sugar if worried about your heart.
This recipe is delicious! I have made it several times and it never fails. It has become the go-to salmon recipe in our house. Thank you for such a simple, yet delicious recipe!
Stumbled across this recipe tonight and made it for my family + inlaws (whew, that was a lot of salmon!) and it was WONDERFUL. Thanks so much for taking the time to share it!
what does it mean to pin this recipe
I made this recipe tonight with just a tiny bit less salt but everything else the same. Every single bite melted in our mouths. It was fabulous and soooooo simple. It’s now my favorite.
Thanks for this excellent and very simple recipe. Wild sockeye salmon is by far healthier than farmed salmon simply because it’s more naturally bred. Farmed salmon is fed artificially and because their flesh would otherwise be an unappealing pale pink and not too attractive for market, an ingredient (astaxanthin) which is actually a by-product of petroleum is added to their feed to artificially give their flesh a deeper pink color! If you can afford it, go for wild sockeye salmon whenever you can.
Ref: The Four Corners program revealed that farmed fish are often fed a synthetic version of astaxanthin, without which they would be grey or off-white in colour.
Just did this recipe … served it over a bed of fresh watercress tossed with rice vinegar, water, sugar, a touch of fish sauce and soy sauce and a little chopped Thai chilies. Ate it over rice with a little Nước chấm. Absolutely wonderful!