Easy Baked Sockeye Salmon in Foil (Teriyaki-ish)

baked sockeye salmon in foil with green onion slices and teriyaki glaze on top

Easy Baked Sockeye Salmon in Foil (Teriyaki-ish)

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.

Course Main Course

Cuisine American, Japanese

Diet Low Fat, Low Lactose

Keyword make ahead

Prep Time 5

Cook Time 15

Servings

Calories 411kcal

Author Agile Test Kitchen

Equipment

1 baking sheet large enough to fit your salmon

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.

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.

Nutrition