I make this baked salmon with a garlic butter sauce, lemon, fresh dill. It’s about the most perfect weeknight dinner I can put on my plate. Skin-on fillets bake over citrus slices in around 18 minutes and stay moist and juicy. I love serving mine over rice.
Funny enough, my family does not love salmon. That’s a problem for exactly none of us at dinner because it means more for me. Colin, my video producer, helped me finish off the whole tray the day we shot this, and neither of us was mad about it. Salmon is one of my favorite fish to cook at home. It is packed with protein and has a flavor you cannot mistake for any other fish. It goes ridiculously well with pretty much any side dish, whether that is a bed of rice, a side of potatoes, or whatever vegetable is in season. If you love salmon like me, I highly recommend you to try my easy honey garlic salmon and my pan seared salmon which are the two I go back to most. What makes this one unique is the garlic butter sauce, brightened with lemon and orange and finished with briny capers and torn dill.
Baked Salmon
Baked salmon is a fillet cooked in the dry heat of the oven until the flesh is just set and the top browns. Salmon is a rich fatty fish with a distinct flavor that stands apart from any other fish in the sea. This is why it takes so well to bright, briny, citrusy partners.
There is not much cooking to this one, which is the whole appeal. You season the fillets and let them sit. Then, whisk together a garlic butter sauce with citrus zest and capers. Finally, lay the salmon down on slices of lemon and orange and spoon most of the sauce over the top. It is baked it hot until the top browns and the inside is barely set. The only real skill is knowing when to take it out, which comes down to a thermometer and a couple of degrees. I’llwalk you through exactly where that is below.
The way I cook it at home has not changed in years, because it does not need to. I salt and pepper the fillets a good half hour before they go in the oven. This allows the the seasoning works its way down past the surface. I bake on a high rack where the oven is hottest so the top gets some color. Swap the orange out if you only have lemon, use olive oil instead of butter for a lighter sauce, and it still comes out great. I encourage you to cook this once at the right temperature and you will stop being scared of salmon for good.
Ingredients and Substitutions
The salmon and its seasoning are one short ingredient list. The garlic butter sauce is the other, so I split them out with the swaps I actually use:
For the salmon:
- Salmon – Skin-on fillets are the backbone of the recipe, and I am always an advocate for fresh wild caught. Sockeye, coho, or frozen and thawed all work, so buy what looks best and fits the budget.
- Salt and pepper – Season everything well, because when people tell me food tastes bland it is almost always underseasoned. I use Diamond Crystal kosher salt and grind my own peppercorns for a sharper hit than the pre-ground stuff.
For the garlic butter sauce:
- Unsalted butter – Melted butter is the base of the sauce, adding richness and helping the top of the salmon brown. I use unsalted so I control the salt myself. Olive oil is a direct swap if you want something lighter.
- Garlic grated fine on a microplane so it melts into the butter and coats the fish with a garlicky savory punch. Fresh grated is what you want here, since it works fast in the short bake time.
- Lemon – The zest goes in the sauce and the slices go under the fish. The fresh acid brightens the whole plate. Lime is a fine stand-in if that is all you have.
- Orange – A little zest and a few slices under the fish add a sweeter citrus note that plays off the lemon and dill. It is optional, but it is genuinely tasty here and worth zesting and slicing one.
- Capers – Salty, briny capers hit you right in the cheeks and add a little texture against the soft fish. Capers and salmon are a natural pairing, so do not skip them if you have them.
- Dijon mustard – A little Dijon helps emulsify the sauce so the butter and citrus stay combined. Its acidity helps season the fish. It is optional, but it keeps the sauce from separating on the salmon.
- Sweet paprika – Sweet paprika adds a mild peppery note. It’s other job is helping the top of the salmon brown. Do not use smoked paprika, if you are out of sweet paprika, a couple of teaspoons of honey browns it instead.
- Fresh dill is the herb that makes this taste like salmon is supposed to taste. Dried works if fresh is unavailable; use just a small sprinkle so it does not overwhelm the fish.
How to Make Baked Salmon
Season the salmon: Season the fillets on both sides with salt and pepper. Set them on a plate, and refrigerate uncovered for 30 minutes.
Preheat the oven: Set the oven to 450 F on convection, or 475 F with no fan. A hot oven is what browns the top instead of just cooking the fish through.
Mix the sauce: Whisk the melted butter, grated garlic, lemon zest, orange zest, Dijon, sweet paprika, capers, salt, and pepper together in a bowl until combined.
Slice the citrus: Slice the zested lemon and orange into thin rounds.
Line the tray: Line a sheet tray with foil, then lay parchment paper over the foil. Arrange the lemon and orange slices in a bed where the fillets will sit. The parchment keeps the citrus acid off the foil, and the citrus bed lifts the salmon off the tray so the bottom does not overcook.
Dry the fillets: Pat the salmon very dry on both sides with paper towels.
Sauce and arrange: Set the fillets skin-side down on the citrus slices. Then, drizzle and spoon about 3/4 of the garlic butter sauce over the top.
Bake the salmon: Bake uncovered on a rack in the upper-middle of the oven for 15 to 18 minutes. The fish should be 135 F to 140 F internally and the top browned.
Rest and finish: Take the salmon out and spoon the remaining quarter of the sauce over the top. Let it rest 3 to 4 minutes so the juices settle back into the fish.
Garnish and serve: Scatter the torn fresh dill over the top and serve.
Chef Tip + Notes
The temperature I trust every time I bake salmon is 135°F internal, and I never let it go past 140°F. Carryover heat keeps cooking the fish while it rests and drives it up into the low 140s. That is the window where salmon stays moist, juicy, and tender instead of dry and chalky. A thermometer in the thickest part of the fillet takes all the guesswork out if it. Once you’ve hit that mark a couple of times you will know it’s close just by the way the top has set.
- Leave the skin on: Bake the fillets skin-side down and keep the skin on through cooking. It shields the flesh from the hot tray and holds the juices in the fillet instead of letting them cook out onto the pan.
- Salt 30 minutes ahead: I recommend to season the fish and let it sit in the fridge uncovered for a half hour before it bakes. The salt penetrates past the surface so every forkful is seasoned, and the dry top browns better.
- Bake on a high, hot rack: Set the tray in the upper-middle of the oven where it is hottest. The goal is a browned top, and that browning is where a lot of the flavor comes from.
- Season the sauce, not just the fish: Taste the garlic butter sauce and adjust the salt before it goes on the salmon. It should taste flavorful on its own, because a flat sauce makes a flat plate no matter how well the fish is cooked.
- Skip the smoked paprika: Use sweet paprika for its mild pepper and its browning. Smoked paprika fights the lemon, orange, and dill and takes over the whole plate.
Serving Suggestions
On a weeknight I lay a baked fillet over a scoop of traditional rice pilaf, spoon the extra garlic butter sauce across the top, and place a delicious tray of easy roasted asparagus alongside. The sauce and capers slide down into the rice, which is honestly my favorite forkful of the plate.
When I want a heartier plate on a Sunday, I serve the salmon next to a bowl of creamy roasted garlic mashed potatoes and a pile of garlic green beans, and dinner comes across as a full meal. If there is any left, I flake it cold into an Italian salad the next day or warm a fillet low and slow for a quick lunch over rice with a squeeze of lemon.
Make-Ahead and Storage
Make-Ahead: I mix the garlic butter sauce and slice the citrus up to a day ahead and keep them covered in the fridge. The salmon has a temperature on it, so I bake that fresh, though I can hold a finished tray covered in a very low oven around 160 F for up to 20 minutes before serving.
How to Store: Cover the cooked salmon and keep it in the refrigerator for up to 4 days. Cover the cooked salmon and freeze it for up to 3 months, then thaw it in the refrigerator for a day, or until fully thawed, before reheating.
How to Reheat: Set a fillet in a small pan with a tablespoon of unsalted butter over the top, cover it with a lid or foil, and warm it on a middle rack at 350 F for 6 to 8 minutes, until heated through.
More Salmon Recipes
Baked Salmon Recipe
Ingredients
- 4 8-10 ounce skin on salmon fillets
- 1 stick melted unsalted butter
- 3 finely grated garlic cloves
- Zest of 1 lemon, plus thinly slice the lemon
- Zest of ½ orange, plus thinly slice the orange
- 2 tablespoons capers
- 1/2 teaspoons Dijon mustard
- 1/2 teaspoon sweet paprika
- 2 tablespoons fresh dill leaves for garnish
- salt and pepper to taste
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 450° F convection or 475° F no fan.
- Season the salmon on both sides with salt and pepper and refrigerate uncovered 30 minutes. Place them in the fridge uncovered.
- In the meantime, mix together the melted butter, finely grated garlic, lemon zest, orange zest, Dijon, sweet paprika, capers, salt, and pepper.
- Slice the zested orange and lemon into thin slices.
- Line a sheet tray with foil and then parchment paper over top. Then, evenly spread out the orange and lemon slices onto the parchment where the salmon slices will go.
- Next, pat the salmon fillets very dry on both sides. This will help with the browning process.
- Place the salmon skin side down over the orange and lemon slices. Drizzle and spread on ¾ of the melted butter-citrus mixture.
- Bake the salmon uncovered, on a rack towards the upper middle area of the oven for 15 to 18 minutes or until it reaches 135° to 140° F internally.
- Once it’s done remove it from the oven and drizzle on the remaining ¼ of the butter sauce and let it rest for 3 to 4 minutes.
- Garnish with the fresh dill and serve.
Baked Salmon Recipe