Talk about easy and healthy! It’s hard to beat a beautiful and delicious salmon fillet. You can dress it up or it can be a quick & easy weeknight meal. Serve it with whatever side(s) you want and voila! It’s a meal. The catch (haha – pun intended!) is to cook the salmon right. You want that nice crust on the outside and those tender, flavorful layers on the inside.
The Secret(s) to the Perfect Salmon Fillet:
Okay, so it’s not just one single secret; there are a few. I’ll go through the quick process and do a little recap of all the secrets at the end.
Secret #1 – Start with getting a fillet that has the skin on. Grocers usually de-scale, but just make sure all the scales are off before you go to cook it.
Secret #2 – Get your salmon out of the fridge about 10-15 minutes before you start cooking. This brings it closer to room temperature (which is fine). With a cold salmon fillet, you’ll overcook the outside before the inside gets any heat making for a dry fillet.
Make sure that while your nice, perfect salmon fillet is sitting on the counter, your cat doesn’t jump up and try to steal your dinner. Naughty kitty. No worries, that tip was free. 😉
Pre-heat your oven to 400 degrees and grab an ovenproof pan. I prefer my stainless steel pan.
Secret #3 – Pat your salmon fillet dry with paper towels. The dryer the better. This is a super important step because moisture is your enemy to getting a good sear.
Make sure the fillet will actually fit in your pan. Cut as needed.
Season with salt + pepper. I like to use Montreal Steak Seasoning.
Heat a little bit of oil in your pan. I like to use avocado oil, but you can use whatever high heat oil you want.
Secret #4 – Start cooking skin side down. Another super important step because most of the cooking will happen here. The skin will get crispy allowing for more even cooking for the rest of the fillet. Keep the fillet skin side down for a few (about 5-6) minutes depending on the thickness. Watch for it to start to change color to a more cooked “pink”.
Secret #5 – Using a fish spatula, flip it to the other side. Keep it on this side for 1-2 minutes and then…
Secret #6 – Let it finish cooking in the oven. You’ve got the sear on the stove top and when you finish baking it in the oven, it locks in all the flavor, tenderness, and goodness. It’s usually in the oven around 4-5 minutes.
Pull it out of the oven and boom! Perfectly cooked salmon! Crisp on the outside, tender flaky goodness on the inside. Works every. single. time.
Serve and enjoy!
Also, if you want to get all fancy / technical / precise, you can use a cooking thermometer. It’s probably recommended and a good thing, but I don’t use one.
Anyway, as promised, here’s the recap of my salmon secrets:
- Get a de-scaled, skin-on fillet.
- Let the salmon sit outside the fridge for 10-15 minutes before cooking.
- Pat the salmon dry with paper towels.
- Start cooking the fillet skin side down and do most of your cooking there.
- Use a fish spatula.
- Let it finish cooking in the oven.
There you have it! Six salmon secrets. Maybe that should have been the name of the post. 🙂
Let me know how yours turns out!
Hi Missy! I used your recipe for delicious salmon. I cooked salmon for our guest who had cooked a lot in her life in her own restaurant. She loves salmon and tried it in many restaurants, in many countries. She was very impressed, she said it was one of the best salmon dish! She liked especially the fact that I cooked it so fast! Thank you for sharing your secrets!
Hey Lyuba! I’m so glad you (and your guest) liked it! You’re quite the cook yourself, so I know it was delicious. I want to know your cooking secrets too. 😉 Maybe we can make guluptse together and share your guluptse secrets here on the blog!