Easy Honey Garlic Salmon https://cafedelites.com/easy-honey-garlic-salmon/

Dinner ready in under 15 minutes, including prep time! A throw together recipe in one pan and a handful of ingredients! A 5-ingredient garlicky sauce with a hint of lemon.

This Salmon Recipe is it. The browned butter mixed through that honey garlic sauce is what makes that salmon recipe stand out from the rest. However, there comes a time when people want to keep things simple, and there’s nothing wrong with simplifying a recipe! In fact, you guys are going to love this one if not more than the previous one.

pan seared salmon This salmon gets cooked right in the sauce. There’s no searing or frying first. Why? Because a lot of people get anxiety at the thought of frying then flipping salmon and having the fillets fall apart on them halfway through cooking.

Q. But how do I get the same crispy edges from searing? A. Once the salmon is half way done, you’re going to broil your fillets for a couple more minutes (or grill them if you’re in Australia) for that extra golden, crispy and caramelised finish.

Easy Honey Garlic Salmon is a throw together recipe in one pan and a perfect sweet and savoury 5-ingredient garlicky sauce with a hint of lemon! For a stronger lemon flavoured salmon, add the wedges into the pan when your sauce is bubbling (the peel provides all of the flavour this way). For a milder flavour, leave them out. Make this Easy Honey Garlic Salmon for your dinner table tonight!

PREP: 10 min COOK: 10 min TOTAL: 20 min SERVES: 4

INGREDIENTS 4 wild caught salmon fillets about 1/2 pound each, skin off or on Salt and pepper, to season Lemon wedges to serve SAUCE 4 Tbsp honey 2 Tbsp butter 1 Tbsp fresh squeezed lemon juice 1 Tbsp water 4 garlic cloves - finely chopped or minced 1/2 tsp paprika (mild, sweet or smokey) 2 tsp soy sauce - SKIP THIS

INSTRUCTIONS Arrange oven shelf to the middle of your oven.

Preheat oven to broil/grill settings on medium heat. If your stove cannot control the broiler temperature, set it on broil and move the rack to the middle to broil the salmon.

Season salmon with salt, pepper and paprika. Set aside.

Heat the butter in a skillet or pan over medium-high heat until melted.

Add the garlic and sauté for about a minute, until fragrant.

Pour in the honey, water (and soy sauce?); allow the flavours to heat through and combine.

Add in the lemon juice; stir well to combine all of the flavours together.

Add the salmon steaks to the sauce in the pan; cook each fillet (skin-side down if there’s any skin) for 3-4 minutes or until golden, while basting the tops with the pan juices. Season with salt and pepper, to taste (if desired). Optional – Add the lemon wedges around the salmon (adds a stronger lemon taste).

Baste salmon one more time then transfer the pan to your oven to broil/grill for a further 5-6 minutes, or until the tops of the salmon are nicely charred, and the salmon is cooked to your liking.

To serve, drizzle with the sauce and a squeeze of lemon juice.

Serve with steamed vegetables; over rice, or with a salad.

Side note for those who said the sauce hardened or dried up: Odds are much of it evaporated while it was on the stove-top. When you add the garlic, you should saute for a max of 30 seconds before adding the other wet ingredients, and as soon as it’s all mixed together, add the salmon immediately. Even an additional 30 seconds in a hot cast iron will quickly reduce your sauce, so if you are left with just a thin layer when it hits the oven, then that’s why it’s drying out. The only other problem may be the size of your salmon pieces. If they’re not filling your pan pretty snugly, then you’re going to get a quicker evaporation, and end up with the same problem. I had 4 nice big fillets that left us with a wonderful sauce at the end which we were literally pouring over our rice and mopping up with each bite. It was incredible! I realised too late I’d used a pan that was too big, so lost all the sauce volume on the stove top then it caramelised too far under the grill. Next time I’ll try a smaller pan and maybe transfer the sauce to keep warm on the side before I put the salmon under the grill.

The only thing I did different besides omit the water was the method. In my small kitchen, all my stovetop burners were in use. I put the butter in a cast iron pan in a 425 degree oven to melt with the garlic, then took it out and added the rest of the ingredients. Now, having a burner available, I put it on the stovetop on med hi briefly until it bubbled, then put the salmon in the pan, skin side up and put it in the oven for about 4 min. Took it out of the oven and the skin peeled off nicely, then flipped it over, put it in the oven to cook for an additional 3ish minutes. Perfect. No basting required.

Broiling to get the top a little crunchy made all the difference.

I recommend adding some green onions for garnish and extra flavor.

Instead of pan frying, you can bake it in the oven on a sheet pan. The flavor may not be as intense and the salmon may not be as tender since it needs the juices to keep it from drying out.

Made this and it was delicious. My only problem was the sauce dried out and there was none to baste the finished salmon. I used a cast iron skillet and the lowest level to broil.

Is there a way to use this recipe with frozen salmon? You can always thaw the salmon too before cooking it.

I cooked it on the stove (vs. oven) and just needed to watch the liquid to make sure the sauce didn’t dry up. I ended up needing to add a couple Tbsp more water towards the end to finish cooking the salmon.

What kind of pan do you cook this in? I like to use a STAUB pan for my skillet cooking on the stove top then I can transfer it to the oven if needed! Hope that helps!

If I don’t have garlic cloves at home, would garlic powder be an acceptable substitute? I would probably leave out the garlic powder - it can be grainy and change the texture of the salmon.

I baked it instead of broiling (broiler is broken) and it came out great.