Salmon with Garlic Honey Butter

Salmon with Garlic Honey Butter is my go-to favorite oven-baked salmon recipe topped with delicious compound butter for amazing flavor!  Honey butter salmon is simply seasoned and oven roasted in under 15 minutes.  You'll want to put that garlic honey butter on everything!

• A Dinner Staple - I doubt I'm alone when I say I love love love fish and seafood! But, here in the Midwest, salmon can get a bit pricey, so we save this healthy dinner for a monthly treat!

• Simple and Quick - Roasting salmon is one of our favorite simple dinners, kicked up a notch with a super easy honey garlic butter melted over the top! Salmon roasts quickly in the oven and is on the table in under 30 minutes! Plus it pairs with almost any side dish, any time of year.

• If you love this Honey Butter Garlic Salmon, try this Simple Roasted Wild Caught Salmon and these Salmon Avocado Bagels if you have any leftovers!

Ingredients

• Wild-Caught Salmon - I like to buy wild-caught salmon from one of the better quality grocery stores, or a fish market if you have one.  Farm-raised salmon just doesn't sound very good, a cage in the ocean being fed who knows what?!  Salmon is healthy, but it's really only as healthy as what it eats. So always buy wild-caught salmon if you can, it's salmon eating its natural diet. I'd rather have better quality salmon and eat it less often! Recently I've even started buying frozen wild salmon filets at our local co-op.  I was skeptical at first, but the quality is great and it's less expensive than fresh.  Plus, it's nice to have one in the freezer for an easy meal! In the summer, try my Salmon Zucchini Orzo Pasta too!

• The Seasoning - With good quality wild-caught salmon, you don't want to hide its flavor! I season this fish very simply with just olive oil, salt and pepper.

• Garlic Honey Butter - Wild-caught salmon is less fatty than farm-raised salmon, so garlic honey butter salmon, melting over the top makes the perfect balance! It's an absolutely delicious sweet and savory combo, melting over every bite! 

Instructions

Step 1 - The Paper Bag Trick - On a sheet pan, cut a brown paper bag to roughly fit under your salmon. Lay the salmon (skin side down) on the paper and season it with olive oil, salt and pepper.

The baked salmon skin will stick to the paper bag instead of the pan, allowing you to easily serve the salmon with a metal spatula, and easily clean the pan!

You can also score the salmon into serving size pieces with a serrated knife before cooking it, slicing down through the flesh but leaving the skin intact.  

This makes it easier to serve individual pieces without having ragged edges on your servings.  

Step 2 - Preheat the oven to 400°F, and bake about 11 to 15 minutes. The baking time really depends on the thickness of the salmon so check it after 10 minutes and don't overcook!

You can pull back the flesh with a fork to look inside and see if it's done.

Step 3 - While the salmon bakes, mix and mash together the garlic honey butter in a small bowl with a fork.

Step 4 - When the salmon is done, let it rest on the stove top for about 5 minutes.

Top it with the garlic honey butter, getting bits of it all over the salmon, and serve!

Recipe Tips

• The Paper Bag Trick - This is a great reason to save those paper bags when you buy a loaf of fancy bread. Cutting a paper bag to fit under your filet of salmon will allow the skin to stick to the bag instead of the pan. It's easy to serve the flesh as it pulls away from the skin, and it's easy to clean the pan!

• Perfectly Cooked - Salmon can be a tricky thing to get just right! It goes from not quite done to overcooked pretty fast! The perfect doneness can also be a thing of preference, some liking it a tiny bit on the medium rare side while others want it fully cooked. The amount of minutes will depend on the thickness, so you can't rely on that. Start with 10 or 11 minutes and pull it out to check. If you need to flake off a piece or pull up the thickest part with a fork to take a look, do it.

• Carry Over Cooking - Carry over cooking is the little bit of extra cooking the food does as it rests out of the oven, just from being still hot. With salmon, this is important because you can just slightly undercook the fish and count on carry over cooking to finish it. Make sure to rest it on the stovetop for 5 minutes before serving. You can cover it with foil if you like but you don't have to.

• Internal Temperature - You can also use a thermometer to check the internal temperature of the salmon. The FDA recommends 145° F, but keep in mind if you cook it to 145°, carry over cooking as it sits on the stovetop is going to overcook it. If you like your salmon a bit on the medium rare side, aim for somewhere between 125° and 135°.

• Leftover garlic honey butter salmon can be stored in an airtight container in the fridge for 2 days. If you have leftover salmon, try Salmon Avocado Bagels for another delicious dinner! Or make fish tacos, creamy pasta or salmon chowder with your leftovers!

• The garlic honey butter can also be made in larger quantities and frozen to use in any way.

What to Serve with Roasted Salmon

Roasted Honey Butter Salmon really goes with anything! I like to serve it with easy simple sides like Rosemary Garlic Mashed Potatoes or Roasted Potatoes with Broccoli, Blanched Green Beans or a salad like this Italian Mixed Greens Salad with Crispy Prosciutto.

• It's great in the winter, even around the holidays with Butternut Squash Casserole, Roasted Sweet Potato Slices, or Mashed Sweet Potatoes. Add a fancy Pear and Blue Cheese Salad with Glazed Honey Walnuts.

• In the summer, add a simple side dish like Green Bean Salad with Tomato and Feta, Parmesan Kale Chips or White Bean Bruschetta.

If you made this recipe, I'd love to hear how you liked it! Be sure to leave a star rating by clicking the stars in the recipe card, or leave a comment below!

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