It only needs 15 minutes in a 425°F oven to emerge perfectly cooked, moist, and tender! The only secret to perfectly baked salmon is to avoid drying it out. If you don’t overcook it, you’ll emerge from the kitchen with a delectable, tender fish that everyone will love. Whether I cook salmon steak, blackened salmon, teriyaki salmon, or paprika salmon, I always cook this fish to medium doneness - not a second longer!
Ingredients
Instructions
Storing Leftovers
Recipe Card
Salmon fillets: I use skin-on salmon. The skin is the best part! It also helps protect the fish from drying out. Olive oil: I use it to coat the fish before baking it. To season: Kosher salt, black pepper, garlic powder, and dried thyme. I prefer garlic powder to fresh minced garlic in this recipe; it coats the fish more uniformly. Optional ingredients: I sometimes add lemon slices and bake them with the fish. I sometimes also top the finished dish with chopped parsley for a pretty garnish.
You start by coating the salmon fillets with olive oil on all sides. I use a pastry brush, but you can use your hands.
Sprinkle the fish with salt, pepper, and spices. Place them on a rimmed baking dish. If using, place lemon slices around them.
There’s no need to cover the salmon in foil. You should leave it uncovered. If you use foil, the salmon will steam instead of baking.
Garnish with parsley and serve.
If you don’t have a thermometer, you can check with a fork. The center of each fillet should be opaque and flaky. If it’s still translucent and resists being flaked with a fork, it’s not done yet.
Here’s a photo that illustrates how the salmon should look on the inside when it’s done:
On the other hand, the salmon shown in the photos below is overcooked. See those white streaks? That’s Albumin, which appears on salmon when it’s overcooked. You can also see that the inside appears dry when it should be opaque but moist:
I often cook it in the same oven as roasted green beans, as shown in the photo below.
Here’s a dinner plate with baked salmon and roasted green beans:
Other sides that I often pair with this main course:
Roasted butternut squash Cauliflower gratin Roasted fennel Roasted cherry tomatoes Roasted Brussels sprouts Roasted cauliflower, as shown in the photo below.
Sauce
I don’t usually serve this salmon with a sauce. Unlike poached salmon, which has a mild flavor and can benefit from adding sauce, baked salmon is flavorful on its own, especially when cooked with the skin on and not overcooked.However, when I make steamed asparagus, microwave asparagus, or roasted asparagus to go with this dish, I make hollandaise sauce to drizzle on both. If you prefer to reheat the leftovers, do so very gently. Cover the fish and reheat it in the microwave at 50% power, turning often, until heated through.
