3 Quick & Easy Salmon Recipes | Get Cookin' | Allrecipes

When it comes to cooking fish, salmon is the easiest fish to prepare by far. I'm showing you three super simple recipes that are also super fast. This is the way I like to buy my salmon. I think it's probably the most affordable way just to get a whole side, skin on and everything. Sometimes the skin is not on, but if it is, don't be scared. We got this. First, I'm gonna trim off some of the little edges and the little fatty parts, but you can save those and cook them up to make a little salmon dip or some salmon cakes. You could even just cook it up for your pets if you're real nice. They will have taken most of the scales off. If you're gonna cook some with the skin on, you can run the back of your knife along the edge to remove any loose bits. The first way I'm gonna show you how to cook the salmon is in a skillet. I think it's the easiest, fastest way, but sometimes people are a little intimidated to cook their fish in a skillet. So I'm gonna go ahead and cut a couple pieces with the skin because it is perfectly safe. So this gets nice and crispy. It's gonna be so delicious. But if you wanna take the skin off before, here's how you do it. At the tail end, you're gonna loosen it up a little bit with the knife, just barely under to get it started. Then you're gonna use a paper towel as your handle. And then you just use your hand to slide under between the flesh and the skin and it'll come right off. Voila, so easy. Really? Just taught the restaurant professionals. Now you've got your whole piece of fish. You can cook it in a whole piece like this. Since we're going to do pan searing, I'm going to cut it into little fillets. I'm making a lemon garlic butter salmon. You don't even need a nonstick skillet. I think everyone should have just a good stainless skillet. This can do everything. A spatula is good to help loosen it just in case, but tongs are my favorite way to flip the fish. You know the rule, whenever you're searing, you want your pan to be really hot. When you're trying to decide which side to put down first, you want to put your presentation side down first, okay? So my presentation side for the skinless fillets are gonna be the top, so I'm gonna put this side down first. But if I'm trying to achieve crispy skin, then I'm gonna sear my skin side down first. For seasoning, I am doing a simple salt and pepper. Y'all, I'm trying to keep this as simple and as budget friendly as I can. You want to use a high heat cooking oil, any kind of neutral oil. I'm doing avocado oil. Just enough to coat the bottom of your skillet, and then in goes your fish. Skin will want to curl up, but just kind of help press it down. And you can season your other side once that side's done. Don't flip the fish until it's ready. It will tell you when it's ready when it starts to easily release from the bottom. It's sticking just a little bit, so it's not quite ready, but we're getting close. Salmon also has a natural little thermometer, because as it cooks, that flesh starts to get more light colored and opaque. Look at that crust, oh yeah. Good and crispy and totally edible. I like to wait until I see a little bit of that milky white substance come out the side. That tells me it's cooked and it's gonna be perfectly flaky. The salmon is cooked and crispy. Is my light on? So I'm gonna tent this with some foil and keep it warm while we make the sauce. Into the same skillet, I'm gonna melt some butter. Into the butter as it melts, I'm going in with some garlic cloves. And I want to add the garlic now so that it infuses the butter as it heats up. And then just season it with a little salt and pepper. We're going in with a dash of oregano. How easy was that? Yum. Look at that. And then our no fuss, oh, I forgot the lemon. Little zest. Serving this with mashed potatoes on purpose, because the sauce is also gonna taste delicious on that. Perfectly crispy on the outside. Now let's see it flake. Just that crispy crust. That's perfection. Here's the thing. People think that salmon is a little fishier than some other fish. It's not when it's fresh and cooked right. Also wanted to show you on the skin piece that of course the skin is crispy and perfectly edible. So you can totally eat it just like that. But what's also great, if you don't feel like taking off the skin or if that whole process intimidates you, is you can eat it directly off the skin. It comes right off after it's cooked. Dish number two, firecracker salmon bites. I'm gonna take the skin off this salmon too. Ta-da! And then you're just going to cut up the salmon into chunks. Salmon is ready and now all you do is make a simple marinade So into the bowl goes a neutral flavored oil and some balsamic vinegar, some soy sauce, a good kick of crushed red pepper. But to balance out the spice, some sweet. So I'm going in with brown sugar. Extra flavor from just some garlic and ginger. I'm using fresh ginger, but you can also just use dried ginger. Totally fine. I think that's it. So I'm just gonna taste it. Woo! It's good. I'm going to reserve about half of this marinade for after they're cooked. Then I'm gonna take the other half and put the salmon in it. I'm gonna let this marinade while I clean up and get everything ready to air fry. Everyone has an air fryer now, right? If you don't, it's okay. You can still make the same recipe in the oven. I like to have my air fryer set high, so at least 400 and I'm just gonna have to keep my eye on it. I like to let it heat up for like two to three minutes before I add in my stuff. All right, air fryer's ready. Give it one more toss and pop it in the air fryer. And we wait. Look at those little nuggets of happiness. You see the way the brown sugar and balsamic have caramelized on the outside? Mm. And also, what I love, crispy on the outside, but tender on the inside. It's just a more forgiving fish to cook with because it's really hard to overcook it. It also has a higher fat content, so that's why it can stay nice and moist in the middle. I'm about to build a delicious dinner. I'm going to go in with some grains and some greens. I'm the star of the show. It's red onion, little cilantro, and then some of that marinade that we reserved. On a scale of like one to 10, one being easy, 10 being hard, this is a 0.5. Perfect bite, Tom. This, you could drink. All that together, mm. I mean, you can see all the flavor on it. Y'all should try this. My final trick, sheet pan salmon. I think a lot of people don't cook fish, sometimes especially salmon, because of the smell that it could permeate through your house. It's less likely to travel through your house because it's contained into that space. You could also boil a pot of lemons or brew a pot of coffee. That will help get rid of any smells. So I'm gonna toss my broccoli. You could do whatever vegetable you feel like cooking, or you can leave this part off altogether. Okay, I'm just gonna season it up with a little bit of salt, pepper, and garlic. All right, your base is done. Now just make room for your salmon filets. For today, I'm gonna go in with some Dijon, a little balsamic vinegar, some honey. Then you just wanna paint this mixture over the fish, and that will be the glue for your seasoning. The honey in here is also gonna help it brown, and if some carries over to the broccoli, that's a good thing. I'm doing Greek seasoning, but you could do just salt and pepper. You could do it like a lemon pepper, whatever kind of blend you like. That's it. I didn't reinvent the wheel, but I made a nice, healthy, affordable, delicious dinner for your family. You're gonna set your oven at a pretty high temperature, usually at least 400. For this recipe, I'm going at 450 because the fish does not take that long to cook, neither does the broccoli, and you want it to get caramelized on the outside, so we need that high temperature. This should take about 10 to 12 minutes. Oh, did I mention it's fast? It's so simple. That was about 12 minutes, so you get char on your broccoli, your fish is done, and you only dirtied one pan. This is purely optional, but a great little way to enhance all these flavors is by crumbling on a little salty, briny feta. I love salmon with sweet potatoes, so you can just pop one in the microwave or the oven, and you have a complete meal in less than 30 minutes. A little lemon to finish it off. This is like the kind of dinner that makes me happy. Perfectly flaky. This is like the foolproof way, 100%, to cook salmon. Did I mention it's salmon and not Salmon? Oh, sorry! Oh! And that's my boss.