This honey garlic salmon recipe bursts with sweet and savory flavor from the sticky glaze! This easy dinner will impress everyone.
Looking for easy salmon recipes? When it comes to flavor and simplicity, this Honey Garlic Salmon recipe delivers. The salmon is pan fried for a brown, seared exterior, then baked in the oven until it’s perfectly tender. Drench it all in this sticky honey garlic sauce, a sweet savory glaze that adds layers of complexity. It’s one of our top salmon recipes to make at home, and goes over well with both kids and adults (a big winner, to say the least!).
Ingredients for honey garlic salmon
This honey garlic salmon recipe is simple to put together, featuring a homemade sauce and a few minutes on the stove and in the oven. Many of the sauce ingredients you’ll already have on hand in your pantry! As with any salmon recipe, the quality of the fish is key. Here’s what you’ll need for this recipe:
- Salmon fillets, skin on
- Neutral oil, for frying
- Soy sauce
- Honey
- Rice vinegar
- Olive oil
- Garlic powder
- Garlic
- Fresh ginger root
- Cornstarch
Keep in mind, you’ll want the neutral oil for frying because it can withstand higher temperatures than olive oil. If you prefer, you can use neutral oil in the sauce if you’d like to avoid using two types of oil.
Tips for buying good salmon
Our top recommendation for this recipe? Buy good salmon. The quality of this fish you can find at the store varies greatly. Lower quality salmon can taste very fishy and have a mushy texture, or have a lot of that white stuff (called albumin) when it’s cooked. Here are some things to think about when buying salmon for this honey garlic salmon recipe:
- Tend toward fresh salmon. Buying salmon fresh from the fish counter usually has the best flavor. However, frozen can work too: try to find higher-quality frozen salmon and avoid those big economy-sized bags (we’ve found this type can taste very fishy).
- Look for wild caught salmon. Fish that is wild caught in your country is usually a sustainable choice. (There are also quality options in well-regulated farms; see Seafood Watch Consumer Guide.)
- Know your types of salmon. We tend to like Coho salmon for its mild flavor: it’s a good middle of the road option in terms of price. Of course, King salmon is incredible but it’s on the expensive end. Atlantic salmon is often farmed, but can be a sustainable option. Ask about its source at the fish counter.
Tips for making honey garlic salmon
Some of the best tips we have for how to cook salmon? Invest in a food thermometer! It will help you cook the salmon to the perfect doneness. Here are a few particulars:
- Allow the salmon to come to room temperature before cooking. If the fish is too cold when you start, it can end up cooked on the outside but raw on the inside. It usually takes about 15 to 20 minutes sitting on the counter to come to room temperature: the time it takes to preheat the oven!
- Give the fillets a quick sear on high heat on the stovetop. This ensures a nice browned exterior.
- A fish spatula is helpful for flipping! If you don’t have one, it’s a great investment and can be used for flipping and serving lots of other foods.
- Bake until 125 to 130°F at the thickest point, about 5 minutes. Measuring with a food thermometer is the best way to assess doneness of a piece of salmon.
Ways to serve it
This honey garlic salmon works with loads of different side dishes. To make it a quick and simple meal, we like to pair it with a pasta or grain and a sauteed veggie or salad. Here are a few options:
- Orzo or couscous like Easy Lemon Orzo or Easy Couscous
- Rice (here’s How to Cook Rice)
- Sauteed veggies like Sauteed Broccolini, Simple Sauteed Broccoli, Sauteed Green Beans, or Green Bean Almondine
- Quick salads like Easy Arugula Salad, Watercress Salad or Crisp Apple Salad
More salmon recipes
Love meals with this tasty fish? Here are some more great salmon recipes:
- Go for Baked Salmon Pasta
- Try Salmon Sandwich or Salmon Caesar Salad
- Learn How to Cook Salmon, all the different ways!
- Make Salmon Tacos with Avocado Sauce or Classic Salmon Burgers
This honey garlic salmon recipe is…
Gluten-free, dairy-free and pescatarian.
Print
Honey Garlic Salmon
- Prep Time: 15 minutes
- Cook Time: 10 minutes
- Total Time: 25 minutes
- Yield: 4 1x
Description
This honey garlic salmon recipe bursts with sweet and savory flavor from the sticky glaze! This easy dinner will impress everyone.
Ingredients
- 1 pound salmon fillets, skin on
- ½ tablespoon neutral oil, for pan frying
- ¼ cup regular soy sauce (or tamari or coconut aminos, for gluten-free)
- ¼ cup honey
- 1 tablespoon rice vinegar
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- ¼ teaspoon garlic powder
- 2 garlic cloves, grated
- 1 teaspoon fresh grated ginger
- 1 tablespoon cornstarch
- 6 tablespoons water
- For the garnish: Minced green onions, toasted sesame seeds
Instructions
- Place the salmon on a plate on the counter and allow it to come to room temperature before cooking, about 15 to 20 minutes (this is about the time it takes for the oven to preheat). Pat the fillets dry, then rub neutral oil on all sides of salmon. Sprinkle with kosher salt.
- Preheat the oven to 400 degrees Fahrenheit.
- Meanwhile, make the sauce (makes ½ cup): In a small saucepan, combine the soy sauce, honey, rice vinegar, oil, garlic powder, grated ginger and grated garlic over medium heat. Bring to a simmer and then reduce the heat to low.
- In a small bowl, whisk together the water and cornstarch. Pour the mixture into the saucepan and whisk until the sauce thickens, about 1 minute. Remove from the heat. (Use immediately or refrigerate for up to 2 weeks.) Divide the honey garlic sauce into a bowl with 3 tablespoons and a bowl with the remainder.
- When the oven is preheated, heat a dry oven-proof skillet over high heat until very hot. Place the salmon skin side up onto the hot skillet. Cook without touching for 2 to 3 minutes to sear the top of the salmon, until the center of the salmon is starting to cook and you see a layer of cooked flesh. Turn off the heat and use a thin spatula to flip the salmon. Brush the top and sides of the salmon with the reserved 3 tablespoons honey garlic sauce.
- Place the skillet in the oven and bake for 3 to 5 minutes (depending on thickness of salmon), until just cooked through. The internal temperature should be between 125 to 130°F when measured at the thickest point of the fillet.
- Use a hot pad to remove the skillet from the oven. Spoon the desired amount of remaining honey garlic sauce onto the top (typically we use another 3 tablespoons). Sprinkle with sesame seeds and chopped green onions and serve.
- Category: Main dish
- Method: Baked
- Cuisine: Seafood
- Diet: Gluten Free
Keywords: Honey garlic salmon, honey garlic salmon recipe, garlic honey salmon, honey garlic glazed salmon
Let us know if you have any questions!
★★★★★
Excellent recipe. Only thing is that most regular soy sauces are not gluten free. I substituted with coconut aminos which tastes exactly the same as soy sauce and is gluten free.
★★★★★
Great point, I’ve updated the recipe to include the coconut aminos substitution! Thanks for making it.
★★★★★
This Honey Garlic Salmon dish is sure to be a hit! It’s a great way to get your daily dose of healthy fats and protein. Plus, it’s easy to prepare and full of flavor. Love your recipe!!
– Jack from Skilletguy.com
★★★★★
I really love how beautifully you put the honey garlic Salmon recipe in such an easy way that I person who doesn’t know how to cook (Like me) can cook it easily! I’ll surely try this recipe, Thanks Sonja!
★★★★★
Delicious! My whole family loved this, and my younger son decided that it was his new favourite way to have salmon :) I sauteed some kale in the leftover sauce, and we also added some of the sauce to our quinoa. I love how quick and easy this recipe was, I’ll definitely make it again. Thanks :)
★★★★★
My first try and I’m a novice cook. Everything was good but the honey garlic sauce never thickened up. Seems like 6 tablespoons of water was too much, either that or not enough corn starch. I added more but it still never thickened. Could be operator error!
★★★★
You probably just needed a little more heat. Sorry it didn’t work!
Same here, but I turned up the heat to a slight boil and it thickened up real quick! So good!
This was so good! Even my hubby, who doesn’t usually like salmon, loved it!
Incredibly good! I did the salmon in the air fryer and the sauce was so so good! I will definitely be making this again.
★★★★★
This salmon marinade was amazing! Both my son and I loved it! Quick question, can I freeze the leftover marinade or how long will it last in the refrigerator? Lastly, thinking this could work on chicken too? Thank you!
★★★★★