The $50,000 million salmon market is growing at a rate of 3.7% per year as more people discover the health benefits of this delicious fish.
Salmon is high in protein and healthy omega-3 fatty acids, but you’ll miss out on these important elements if you cook your salmon dinner incorrectly.
It’s easy to maximize your healthy salmon dinner recipes if you follow a few guidelines. Keep reading to find out what they are.
1. Prepare Your Salmon Properly
Even the best salmon dinner ideas can go down the tubes if someone chokes on a bone while eating their meal.
You must always remove the pin bones from salmon before cooking. If you get your salmon from a butcher, they’ll remove the pin bones for you.
Otherwise, check your fish carefully for bones before you cook it, and remove the bones with an ordinary pair of tweezers.
One thing you shouldn’t remove from salmon before cooking it is the skin. Crispy salmon skin is delicious and helps keep the meat moist.
You can maximize the skin by patting it dry with a paper towel and cooking the salmon skin-side down on a skillet warmed to medium-high heat.
2. Using the Right Pan
The trouble with cooking salmon this way is that the skin tends to stick to the pan. It’s easy to avoid this by using non-stick cookware.
Cast iron cookware doesn’t work well for salmon. You can opt for stainless steel when cooking a salmon sheet pan dinner, but you’ll need to check regularly to ensure it doesn’t stick.
3. How to Avoid Overcooking Salmon
Overcooked salmon is awful, and it’s way more common than you think. You shouldn’t leave salmon lingering in an oven or on the stovetop for a moment too long.
Always start your salmon dish by cooking the fish skin side down over medium heat on your stovetop. Once the skin starts to crisp, you can continue to cook the salmon over low heat.
Cooking salmon with the skin side down focuses the heat on this protective layer of skin and fat, and keeps your fillet tender and moist.
4. The Best Salmon Dinner Cooking Methods
From the above, it’s easy to see that pan-frying your salmon is the best way to ensure it stay tender and tasty. Yet, you can try some of these other dinner ideas with salmon when you become a little more experienced.
- Oven roasting, skin side down at 450° F
- Oven broiling for seven minutes per side
- Grilling over an open flame
- Poaching for 20 minutes
- Wrapped in parchment in the oven at 400° F
Wild caught king salmon is the fattiest of all salmon species and is best prepared on a well-oiled grill or broiled in a hot oven. You can also flash-fry small slices in a hot frying pan.
Enjoy Healthy Eating
When you’ve mastered the art of cooking the perfect salmon fillet, you can experiment with different salmon dinner sides and sauces to maximize both the flavor and health benefits of this fish.
It’s the best way to enjoy a healthy boost without sacrificing on taste. Would you like some more cooking tips and hacks? Browse our blog for more great ideas for maximizing your time in the kitchen.
