Roasted Salmon Steaks

Salmon Steaks Recipe

Basting salmon with a lemon-butter sauce is a traditional way to prepare most any fish – and it’s the first way I ever ate salmon as a child.

Eating Fresh Salmon in Alaska

I have vivid memories of my family vacationing in Alaska when I was fifteen years old. We were camping in a rented Winnebago RV, seeing the sites, and fly fishing. One day, we arrived at our campground late, around 9pm. It was still light out, so dad grabbed his fly rod and headed to the nearby riverbank, just a short walk from our campsite. About 10 minutes later, he returned with a big, beautiful salmon!

Mom quickly melted some butter, added fresh lemon juice, Worcestershire sauce, salt and pepper. She placed the fish (now cleaned by dad) on a large piece of foil, drizzled the sauce over the top, and folded up the foil to enclose the fish. She then put it on the grill and cooked it just until it was medium-rare. OMG, it was sooo good! Moist, tender, fresh, and full of flavor.

Salmon Steak Recipe Ingredients

The easy sauce for this flavorful salmon dish only calls for 5 ingredients (so 6 ingredients total, with the salmon). Mom’s original sauce included four; I added in one more:

• Melted butter
• Fresh lemon juice
• Worcestershire sauce
• Kosher salt
• Fresh ground pepper
• Paprika (my addition – for color and a bit of complexity)

How to cook Salmon Steaks

I have taken mom’s same flavor profile and created a roasted salmon version of her campground dish, using salmon steaks. (You can also use fillets.) Feel free to follow mom’s method as well, if you prefer grilling (see directions under Variation in the recipe card below). Here are the easy steps to roasting the salmon:

1. Prep oven, pan and salmon. Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Butter a large rimmed baking sheet (or dish) large enough to hold the salmon in one layer. Arrange salmon steaks in one layer in the prepared dish.
2. Prepare butter sauce. In a small saucepan, melt butter over medium heat. When melted, remove from heat and whisk in lemon juice, Worcestershire sauce and paprika; add salt and fresh ground pepper to taste. Liberally drizzle sauce over salmon.
3. Cook salmon. Roast salmon for 10 minutes per 1-inch of thickness, or until desired doneness.
4. Rest, then serve. Remove salmon from oven and let rest at room temperature for around 5 minutes. Transfer to individual serving plates or a serving platter. Drizzle with any sauce remaining in baking dish. Garnish with parsley, basil or tarragon.

What vegetables go well with salmon

Salmon goes with many different vegetables. It’s delicious with asparagus, broccoli, zucchini, Brussels sprouts, spinach, kale, lettuce, carrots and potatoes to name a few!

How to Store Salmon Steak After Roasting

Cooked salmon should be stored in an airtight container, or well wrapped with plastic wrap or foil and refrigerated. It will last 3 to 4 days.

Salmon and Salmon Steaks FAQ

Salmon Steak vs Fillet? With a salmon fillet, the meaty part is cut away from the main center bone lengthwise – parallel to the backbone. For a salmon steak, the flesh is cut crosswise, through the bone, into slices.

Filet or fillet? Both terms are correct, and both refer to a boneless strip of meat. Filet is simply the French word for fillet.

What’s the best way to store fresh salmon steak? 1. Eat it the same day, or up to one day after purchasing. 2. Store it in the refrigerator, on top of a zip top baggie of ice – or one of those frozen ice blocks you put in a cooler. 3. Keep it refrigerated until shortly before cooking.

Wild Salmon vs Farm Raised? Wild salmon is preferable over farmed. Many farms use crowded pens where salmon can be infected with disease, and therefore some farmers feed them antibiotics.

What’s the most popular way to cook salmon? There are numerous methods for cooking salmon – roasting, grilling, sautéing, poaching, even in a sous vide. Roasting is one of the mot popular ways to cook salmon.

What are the different cuts of salmon? You can purchase salmon whole, in fillets (the most popular and widely available cut), bone-in steaks or boneless steaks. When the bone is removed from a steak, it will resemble a fillet.

How long should salmon be cooked? The rule of thumb for cooking salmon, like most fish, is 10 minutes per inch of thickness, if the fish has no topping. If a topping (like breadcrumbs) is added, then increase cook time by 2 minutes per inch.

How do I know when my salmon is cooked? The best way to know when your salmon is done is to use an instant read thermometer. For medium rare, the internal temperature (in the thickest portion) should be 125 to 130 degrees; for medium 130 to 135 degrees. Your salmon will be well done at 145 degrees (the USDA recommended minimum temperature).

Does a salmon steak have bones? Yes – in fact, most cuts of salmon will have some bones. You can remove them with strong tweezers or small pliers before cooking.

I’m Lee Clayton Roper, and I’m passionate about making cooking and entertaining easy, elegant and fun. Here you’ll find scrumptious recipes, helpful tips and seasonal menus that will spark inspiration in your kitchen!