Steamed Salmon with Garlic, Herbs and Lemon is quite possibly the easiest way to cook salmon EVER. End of story.
- there's basically no clean up due to the parchment paper... a major win there.
- you don't risk your kitchen smelling fishy because there's no opportunity for the salmon to splatter all over your counter when you sear it.
- it's a one-pot dish and we all LOVE that.
If there's one cookbook that's stayed in the front of my mind recently (besides my own) it's 100% Istanbul from Cookbook Club #10! There's a steamed salmon recipe in the book that drives me WILD. And I'm convinced it's 100% the best way to cook fish.
All of that boils down to a recipe for success! I've been making this for dinner parties for ages. Add to that the fact that Poppy LOVES it! I'll serve it up with some steamed white rice that I've tossed with plenty of mint for extra flavor. And then a veggie on the side. It's simple, incredibly flavorful, and I am 10000% positive you guys will be obsessed!!
Side note: this recipe is perfectly PERFECT and you could serve it on it's own but... I also included a really delish herby yogurt sauce for drizzling on top if you want to add even more flavor. It also make an appearance in these Loaded Steak Salad Bowls which I can't get enough of!
Steamed Salmon with Garlic, Herbs and Lemon
Ingredients
- 1 ½ lbs skin on salmon cut into 4 equal sized pieces
- 1 yellow onion thinly sliced
- 6 garlic cloves thinly sliced
- â…“ cup roughly chopped parsley
- â…“ cup roughly chopped dill
- 1 teaspoon kosher salt
- ½ teaspoon freshly cracked black pepper
- ¼ cup olive oil
- 2 lemons sliced as thin as possible
- â…“ cup dry white wine
Optional Green Yogurt Sauce
- 1 shallot, roughly chopped
- 2 cups tightly packed basil leaves, stems removed
- 1 clove garlic
- ½ teaspoon red pepper flakes
- ½ cup olive oil
- 2 tablespoons red wine vinegar
- 1 teaspoons kosher salt
- ½ cup full fat greek yogurt or labneh
Instructions
- Cut a 2 foot length of parchment paper and center it in a 10-inch heavy bottom skillet that has a lid (Le Creuset or something of the sort)
- Put the fish, onion, garlic, herbs, salt and pepper in a medium bowl and drizzle with 2 tablespoons of olive oil. Toss to combine. Transfer all of it to the lined skillet with the fish skin side down. Arrange the lemon sliced in a single layer over the fish and drizzle with the remaining olive oil and wine. Fold the paper over to cover the fish and crimp the edges together to seal. Cover the pan with the lid. Cook over medium high heat for 5 minutes. DO NOT OPEN THE PAN. Reduce the heat to medium and continue to cook for another 8-10 minutes depending on if you want your fish medium to well done. Remove the pan from the heat and let rest for 5 minutes.
- Remove the lid, carefully open the paper and serve directly from the skillet so you can get all the juices at the bottom. Serve alongside a bowl of steamed white rice with mint
To make the Sauce
- Blend everything together in a blender until smooth. Season with salt and pepper to taste
First off, I don't like many types of fish. I'll eat salmon maybe twice a year because it's healthy. I just made this and it is by far the best tasting fish dish I've ever had. I actually said to my husband that I could eat this every week. I did cook it in the oven via en papillote with foil because I ran out of parchment paper and it worked fine. I also didn't add the wine because my toddler would be eating it too. Thank you for this recipe and I will definitely be making this again. I think it's good enough to serve for a dinner party!
Could not get any skin-on salmon this week, but even without skin, this recipe rocks. The salmon formed a deep golden crust underneath, surrounded by all this juicy sauce, I needed to use up my green onions, so I chopped them up instead of yellow onion. I melted some semi-salted butter and drizzled it all over the fish after opening up the paper, instead of the extra olive oil, just so there would more to mop up and enjoy. It works!
Really love this cooking method and would love to try it with other types of fish and flavor combinations! For halibut or cod would you recommend the same cook time as salmon?
I would!!
This recipe was absolutely delicious! Really fresh, clean, and bright flavors. This is 100% a new favorite!
The only way i'll be making fish from now on.
My absolute favorite way to prepare salmon. Super easy, hard to overcook, super moist and flavorful. One of my favorite weeknight meals that is good enough to serve when you have guests.
I really don’t like salmon. but I was having a lot of family over, and felt that chicken wasn’t fun enough (we had a non-red meat eater) so I tried this recipe. I like salmon now
Just made this tonight, along with the cucumber avocado salad (like from IGTV) — such a great pairing and so good all around! I was concerned about needing a braiser, but I used a regular 10-inch cast iron skillet with a lid and it worked perfectly. Definitely putting this on the rotation!
Is there a brand of olive oil that you think works best for this recipe?
I use the generic one from Whole Foods
This was amazing!!! Thank you so much for sharing!!
This was delicious. I made it with arctic char, rather than salmon. I think the oil could be reduced, perhaps by 1 T, so a total of 3T. Also, I used only 1 lemon, as there wasn't room for more. I might reduce the dill next time, as it was a bit dense. I steamed it exactly as described, and it was perfectly cooked.
Was wondering if I could sous vide this?
haven't tested it that way but feels like it would work!
Made this tonight with cod and it was delicious! I forgot the wine and it was still super tasty. Thank you, Gaby
Hi, how to replace white wine if you dont consume any alconol? Just omit? Thanks!
honestly the wine is a super key ingredient in this - are you able to use non-alcoholic white wine? If not, you could use stock but it won't be quite as flavorful
1) this was the quickest but most gourmet post-work dinner I ever made! The salmon was so tender and flavorful and delicious
2) that being said, all the onions and herbs at the bottom of my parchment paper burnt. Do you think o used too high heat? Unequal distribution / not enough oil? I cut the recipe in half to make a single portion, maybe not enough stuff in the Dutch oven to capture and create steam? Will 100% make again!!!
the heat might have been too high - and did you use a smaller dutch oven to make up for the empty space?
I did not, which now seems like the obvious thing to do! Honestly, I am probably going to try it again tonight, it was so good! Super appreciative you took the time to respond!! 🙂