If you have time to marinate your fish for at least an hour, this easy sockeye salmon is ideal. Baking in foil leaves little mess for this sticky teriyaki-ish sauce.
Since you can leave this in the marinade for up to 3 days, I like to make this when sockeye salmon is on sale. I can leave it in the marinade and not feel pressure to cook it the same day I buy it.
If you don't have time to marinate this salmon for 30 minutes, you can try this quick recpe for pan seared salmon.
Serve this salmon with a quick side of garlic broccoli, baked brussel sprouts, or shrimp chow fun.
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What does it taste like?
It's not too sugary or sweet and not too salty. The marinade is rather mild. To make it extra restaurant style-ish, a glaze is made with the leftover marinade.
I call this Teriyaki-ish because my thought is that a true teriyaki sauce is made with mirin, the Japanese sweet cooking wine. Not everyone has this in their pantry, so this recipe is meant to use things readily available is most pantries.
Ingredients
- Sockeye salmon – Wild sockeye salmon can be much easier and less expensive to find than wild king salmon. Sockeye salmon is a smaller fish and the filets tend to be much thinner than other types of salmon. That makes it distasteful to salmon who would prefer a big, juicy chunk of flesh to bite into. But the beauty of sockeye slamon filets are they are quick to cook. For pan searing on the stove top, there is no guess work and little fiear of whether they are cooked in the middle. Even if it is overcooked, per se, you can say it’s ‘meaty’ instead of ‘dry.’ I also leave the skin on the salmon, so it holds the flesh together while cooking. You can remove it before or after cooking if you wish.
- Soy Sauce -
- Brown Sugar – That little bit of molasses that gets added to brown sugar is a classic addition to many salmon recipes. Use the sweetener of your choice if you don’t have brown sugar on hand.
- Garlic Powder – Use fresh minced garlic if you don’t have garlic powder. They taste different but add great flavor to this recipe.
- Ginger Powder – Use fresh minced garlic if you don’t have garlic powder. They taste different but add great flavor to this recipe.
See recipe card for quantities.
Instructions
Mix up the marinade ingredients and marinate the salmon for at least 30 minutes.
Remove the salmon from the marinade and place onto a foil lined baking sheet. Put into a preheated 375 degree oven.
While the salmon is baking, put the leftover marinade into a sauce pan and bring to a boil.
Reudce the heat to a simmer and cook until the sauce is thick enough to coat the back of a spoon.
The salmon should take 10-15 minutes until cooked.
Pour on the glaze and garnish with green onions. Scrunch up the foil, and serve the salmon in the foil on a serving dish for easy cleanup.
Cooked vs. Overcooked?
Sockeye salmon is generally cooked to a well done state because it is so thin.
With all types of salmon (King, Atlantic, Sockeye), you can tell if it's 'overcooked,' if the white albumen starts peeking through the orange flesh. Some people don't like this, and some people don't mind it.
The reason you might end up 'overcooking' the sockeye salmon is if you think the marinade will make the salmon browner. It won't.
Hint: The brownness of the cooked salmon is ultimately due to the extend the salmon stays in the soy sauce marinade rather than the length of time it's cooked in the oven.
Forgive and forget: Since it's so thin, sockeye salmon is generally served well done and you won't notice too much if it's dry because that's just how sockeye salmon is.
Tips to Make it Better @Home
- The salmon can be kept as one long fillet or sliced into smaller fillets.
- If you don't have time to marinate the salmon, you can just leave it for 10 minutes or so. You just won't get as much liquid coming out for the sauce. You can also marinade this up to 3 days for a more intense soy flavor. (Inside tip: I've actually left in the fridge for up to a week. It just starts to draw out more water and because more intense, salty, and dark.)
- Variation: Add 2 teaspoon of liquid smoke for a smokey flavor.
- Scrunch up the foil, and serve the salmon in the foil on a serving dish for easy cleanup.
- Sockeye salmon is hard to overcook. Since it's so thin, it's generally served well done and you won't notice too much if it's dry because that's just how sockeye salmon is.
Related Seafood Recipes
Side Dishes
Recipe
Easy Baked Sockeye Salmon in Foil (Teriyaki-ish)
Ingredients
- 1 - 1 ¼ lb sockeye salmon pin bones removed, skin on
- oil for greasing the foil baking sheet
Marinade
- 3 Tb soy sauce
- 3 Tb brown sugar packed
- ½ teaspoon ginger powder or fresh minced ginger
- ½ teaspoon garlic powder or fresh minced garlic
Optional
- sliced green onions for garnish
Instructions
- Mix the marinade ingredients together in a nonreactive dish or ziploc bag large enough to hold the salmon. (I had a 1 lb fillet that fit into a gallon size ziploc freezer bag).
- Add the salmon to the container and make sure both sides of the salmon get coated with the marinade. Let the salmon sit in the fridge for 30 minutes or up to 3 days. See Note 2 for further notes on marination time.
- Preheat the oven teo 375 degrees F. This should be done about 10-15 minutes before you're ready to cook the salmon.
- Remove the salmon from the marinade, and place on a greased, foil lined baking sheet. I do this for easier cleanup, since the sugar can caramelize on to the baking pan. The alternative is parchment paper, but it tends to get soggy and tear. Save the excess marinade for the glaze.
- Bake the salmon for 10-15 minutes until firm to the touch. The flesh should start flaking when you push it with your finger rather than allowing you to make an indent, meaning the inside is still. If you have a thermometer, it should readh 145 degrees F in the thickest part of the flesh. The cooking time will vary depending on the thickness of the fillet. Generally 1 inch of thickness requires at least 10 minutes of cooking.
- While the salmon is cooking, take the excess marinade and pour it into a small saucepan. Bring to a boil over medium high heat and let it simmer until the sauce coats the back of a spoon. It will thicken further as it cools.
- Remove the salmon from the oven, and pour on the glaze. Garnish with green onion. Serve it inside or outside of the foil.
Notes
- The salmon can be kept as one long fillet or sliced into smaller fillets.
- If you don't have time to marinate the salmon, you can just leave it for 10 minutes or so. You just won't get as much liquid coming out for the sauce. You can also marinade this up to 3 days for a more intense soy flavor. I've actually left in the fridge for up to a week. It just starts to draw out more water and because more intense, salty, and dark.
- The brownness of the cooked salmon is ultimately due to the extend the salmon stays in the soy sauce marinade rather than the
- Variation: Add 2 teaspoon of liquid smoke for a smokey flavor.
- Scrunch up the foil, and serve the salmon in the foil on a serving dish for easy cleanup.
- Sockeye salmon is hard to overcook. Since it's so thin, it's generally served well done and you won't notice too much if it's dry because that's just how sockeye salmon is.
Nutrition
Food safety
- Do not use the same utensils on cooked food, that previously touched raw fish
- Wash hands after touching raw fish
- Don't leave food sitting out at room temperature for extended periods
- Never leave cooking food unattended
- Use oils with high smoking point to avoid harmful compounds
- Always have good ventilation when using a gas stove
See more guidelines at USDA.gov.
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