Chef notes
Salmon is one of the most popular types of fish around. This oily fish has a buttery flavor and is rich in vitamin D. It’s also a blank slate for so many different flavor profiles and cooking preparations. This recipe features a honey and brown sugar glaze, which creates a subtly sweet and smoky flavor. Cooking the salmon low and slow ensures that you don’t overcook it, resulting in a flaky, pink piece of fish. The joy of this recipe is that it comes in under 30 minutes, making it ideal for a weeknight dinner. Don’t reserve this recipe for busy Mondays only — the flavor is festive enough to serve for the holidays, too.
The recipe starts off with the glaze. Butter, brown sugar and spices are simmered until the butter melts and the sauce has thickened. Ginger, paprika, nutmeg and allspice add a warmth and spiced flavor (without the heat) to the glaze. Each salmon filet gets draped in the brown sugar mixture and then drizzled with honey. That’s all it takes — from there, pop the salmon in the oven until it's baked to perfection. I like serving the salmon garnished with orange slices to add some acidity to the honey glaze.
Get Ingredients: If you don’t have everything you need on hand, you can easily purchase all of the ingredients (just click the orange button below that says ‘Get Ingredients’). You can pick and choose exactly what ingredients you need based on what’s in your pantry and they’ll be on your doorstep before you know it.
Technique Tip: While we love this glaze with salmon, it also works well on a holiday ham.
Swap Option: This method of cooking salmon is foolproof. This sweet and smoky honey glaze is hard to beat, but you can use this same preparation with any seasonings you have on hand.
Ingredients
- 1 (1¼-pound) salmon fillet, cut into four 2½- to 3-inch pieces
- kosher salt
- 1/4 cup unsalted butter
- 1/4 cup dark brown sugar
- 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- 1 teaspoon ground ginger
- 1/2 teaspoon smoked paprika
- 1/2 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg
- 1/4 teaspoon ground allspice
- 2 tablespoons honey
- thiny sliced oranges, for serving (optional)
- smoked flaky salt, for serving (optional)
Preparation
1.Arrange a rack in the middle of the oven and heat the oven to 300 F. Prepare a large sheet pan with parchment paper.
2.Place the salmon onto a cutting board and pat dry with a paper towel on both sides. Place the salmon skin-side down on the sheet pan and season with salt.
3.Place a small pot over medium heat and add the butter, brown sugar, cinnamon, ginger, paprika, nutmeg and allspice. Cook for 3 minutes, or until the butter is completely melted and the sauce slightly thickens.
4.Evenly spoon the brown sugar sauce over each piece of salmon. Once the salmon is coated with the brown sugar sauce, drizzle honey onto each piece.
5.Place the salmon into the oven and bake for 15 to 18 minutes, or until the internal temperature reaches 125 F to 130 F and the salmon is just opaque in the center.
6.Once the salmon is cooked, allow it to rest for 10 minutes before serving. Garnish with orange slices and a sprinkle of smoked flaky salt, if desired.
