Incredibly Easy Asian Baked Salmon makes weeknights taste great! With this sesame ginger glaze, you don’t have to compromise flavor for speed.
Incredibly Easy Asian Baked Salmon makes weeknights taste great! With this sesame ginger glaze, you don’t have to compromise flavor for speed.In under 30 minutes this yummy and Incredibly Easy Asian Baked Salmon can go from fridge to table. Best part is this recipe creates a juicy, flaky salmon fillet. More time to make an upscale cocktail!
It’s not even fall yet, and I’m feeling the time crunch of shorter days. Over the summer I put on a few pounds (vacations, desserts, being busy…) so now I’m trying to step up my exercise game. Trouble is I’m an unapologetic night owl. I just don’t bother to get up early because it messes up my groove.
This leaves me with very little daylight for walking the dog, making breakfast lunch, answering all those business emails, taking awesome food photos (which includes making the food) and going for a long evening hike. It’s been a sprint to fit everything in before sunset… or at least by sunset (I’m totally waving to all the wonderful NPS rangers who have never locked me into Murphy’s Farm).
So, dinner has to get easier and faster! because I’m always running out of time.
Enter this incredibly easy Asian baked salmon! I love how fast seafood cooks and how quickly it thaws out if you forgot to plan (yeah, that’s how we roll here). Then there’s the fact that salmon is so healthy which makes it s a natural weeknight meal.
There are only two fresh ingredients in this recipe: salmon and ginger. That means that if your fridge is empty you can go to the store and still get this on the table tonight. Y’all are foodies, so your pantry is stocked with the other Asian staples, right?
First, this ah-mazing glaze gets blended and then reduced on the stove (like 10-15 minutes total) and you paint it onto your gorgeous salmon fillets.
Now you have 10-13 minutes to make a cocktail while the salmon bakes. I guess you could also make rice, a salad or vegetables…but I have my priorities ;-)
Ding! Cucumber cocktail in hand, your timer goes off and you have this wonderfully moist, lacquered salmon. It’s got all the flavors..sweet, salty, spicy, gingery… And see how flaky it is? That’s because you cook it just to 145F. For goodness sake, don’t bake your fish to death… you really don’t want to eat hard, dry, hockey puck fish!
If you don’t have an instant read thermometer, test your salmon with a fork. When it’s opaque inside and easily flakes, it’s done. See? This was a thick fillet and it took 13 minutes.
Now if this incredibly easy Asian baked salmon makes it to the plate you can drizzle some more of the glaze on (after I took the photos, I seriously ate this fillet from the tray while standing up…not ashamed I was hungry and running out of time).
If you’re watching your calories the extra glaze is not necessary, but nice it you’re eating it with steamed veggies or rice. Incredibly yummy! Even though I called this out as a weeknight meal, this glazed salmon is delicious enough to serve to weekend guests (more time to clean the house because see, I’m always a step behind).
You’re drooling, right? You want to eat this now, I know it! But if you’re a planner with limited time, see the extra tip below the recipe…
Asian Glazed Salmon Recipe
Ingredients
Salmon Glaze
- 2 tablespoons fresh ginger coarsely chopped
- ¼ cup soy sauce
- ¼ cup organic sugar
- ½ teaspoon sesame oil
- 2 tablespoons coconut oil
- 1 teaspoon black pepper
- ½ teaspoon red chile flakes
Baked Salmon
- Salmon glaze divided
- 4 -5 ounce salmon fillets
Instructions
Salmon Glaze
- Preheat oven to 350F
- Place all glaze ingredients in a blender and process until smooth (a little texture from the red pepper is okay but get that ginger blended up).
- Dump mixture into a small sauce pan over medium high heat.
- Cook, stirring constantly, until the sauce turns into a thick glaze (it will cover the back of a spoon without running off).
- Divide sauce in half.
Baking the salmon
- Line a baking sheet with foil and lightly oil it.
- Place fillets on baking sheet and coat with half of the glaze.
- Bake until the thickest part of the the fillet registers 145F on an instant read thermometer, about 10-13 minutes.
- With a clean spoon or pastry brush, coat salmon with reserved glaze then serve
Notes
Nutrition
Plan for later:
With just a few more minutes, you can make extra sauce to freeze for later. I made 6 batches of sauce today and froze 5 for later. You’ll need a lot of ginger (3/4 cup) and it will take a little longer to thicken the sauce, but it’s worth it. The days are only getting shorter and busier…
Salmon glaze for freezing
Ingredients
- 3/4 cup fresh ginger coarsely chopped
- 1 1/2 cups soy sauce
- 1 1/2 cups cups organic sugar
- 1 TB sesame oil
- 3/4 cup coconut oil
- 2 TB black pepper
- 1 TB red chile flakes
Instructions
- Place all ingredients in a blender and process until smooth (a little texture from the red pepper is okay but get that ginger blended up).
- Dump mixture into a large skillet over medium high heat.
- Cook, stirring constantly, until the sauce turns into a thick glaze (it will cover the back of a spoon without running off).
- Pour into small jam jars and freeze.
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judigraber says
Salmon is a favorite and I especially like your Asian glaze. What a great idea to freeze it – I often have fresh ginger in my refrigerator but it does not keep forever. Thanks for sharing with Fiesta Friday.
Vintage Kitty says
Exactly! I always have fresh ginger but sometimes I go to pull it out and its gone bad, but it does last a good while if it was super fresh in the store.