I hate dried out cooked salmon. And yet… that’s all I seemed to cook and I couldn’t figure out why. I spent the past year in search of the best way to cook salmon only to discover that my mom had the perfect oven steamed salmon recipe. She nailed it so why mess with perfection, right?
At this point, I can’t tell you how many recipes I followed online trying toget my salmon to turn out buttery soft. It didn’t matter if a recipe promised the perfect salmon, it never was. It always turned out chunky and dried out. And that’s when I finally called my mom and asked “how do you get yours to be so perfect?”
Turns out that she wasn’t pan-frying it or even traditionally baking it. She was oven steaming the salmon and honestly… it’s divine. I took notes on how to get mine to match hers and have been happily making delicious salmon ever since. I figured that I’d share with you this incredibly easy, perfect oven steamed salmon recipe since I’m apparently not alone in struggling to cook salmon.
Perfect Oven Steamed Salmon Recipe
You may not know this about me, but I’ve only recently begun to like fish. For the majority of my life, I hated fish and other seafood. This may explain why you won’t find many recipes here that involve them with exception of two recipes. One is my favorite way to make a white fish that’s just utterly heaven and the other is a curry dish.
Everyone has their things in life that they just don’t like and that’s okay. My tastebuds have started to change in favor offish (but not other seafood) in the past couple of years and so I try to make fish weekly now.
One of the best parts of this recipe is that if you make extra salmon, it actually will stay good in the fridge for a couple of days. So I’ll use the extra for leftovers, to make salmon salad and eat in a wrap, or to top a fresh garden salad at lunch. There’s plenty you can do to be creative with this main course and you don’t have to be afraid that it will be funky and dried out the next day… it won’t.
What Type of Salmon is Best?
The healthiest salmon is wild-caught. There are strict regulations around salmon that’s caught in Alaska, so you can look for label information denoting that the fish is from Alaska.
Alaskan or Pacific salmon may look different from Atlantic salmon because it is. Atlantic salmon is fed pellets that give it that pink flesh tone that you’re familiar with. The problem is that because Atlantic salmon haven’t eaten what salmon normally eat, they don’t have as good of an Omega-3 healthy fat profile and therefore, aren’t as good for you. I’m not saying that it’s bad for you… just not as good or healthy as Alaskan or Pacific salmon.
There’s nothing wrong with buying frozen filets (I buy them all of the time), but make sure to check the packaging to ensure that there are no additional ingredients added to the fish and that they aren’t “processed” in China. It’s not uncommon for fish to be shipped to China for processing (since it’s cheaper for the company selling the fish) and then shipped back to the US.
I don’t know about you, but I’d rather that mysalmonhasn’t traveled to more places in the world than I have before it reaches my plate.
If you live in a rural area where getting access to good quality salmon is tricky or you’re not sure if you can trust your local grocer, Vital Choice Seafood maybe the best way to go. They offer so much more than just salmon and it’s a source that I personally trust for really good quality fish.
Using the salmon from Vital Choice Seafood will totally up the nutrient density in this oven steamed salmon recipe… and everyone will love it!
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Super Moist Oven Steamed Salmon
Super Moist Oven Steamed Salmon
| Prep Time | Cook Time |
| 5minutes | 12 to 16minutes |
- Course Main Dish
- Cuisine Americas
- Gluten Free Courses Gluten Free Mains
| Prep Time |
| 5minutes |
| Cook Time |
| 12 to 16minutes |
Ingredients
- 1 piece salmon ideally wild-caught
- 1 light dusting sea salt
- 1 light dusting garlic powder
- 1 light dusting white pepper
- fresh lemon slices
- Water
Servings:
Units:
Ingredients
- 1 piece salmon ideally wild-caught
- 1 light dusting sea salt
- 1 light dusting garlic powder
- 1 light dusting white pepper
- fresh lemon slices
- Water
Servings:
Units:
Instructions
- Pre heat the oven to 375 F.
- Place fish skin side down in the middle of a glass or pyrex cooking dish. The fish should not feel cramped because you'll need room around the fish for water in order for it to steam.
- Lightly dust the top of the fish with sea salt, white pepper and garlic powder.
- Place lemon slices on top of the fish. As an example, you might use one or two for a single serving of fish.
- Add enough water to the baking dish so that there's about 1/8 to 1/4 inch of water surround the fish. Cover the baking dish with foil and place into the oven.
- Timing is everything with this recipe. Typically I'll leave the fish in for 8 minutes undisturbed. The flesh should have turned a lighter pink color and should easily flake apart if done. If it's not, wait another 4 minutes and check again. Repeat if necessary. It's rare that you'll have to cook the fish past 16 minutes unless the filet is very thick (more than 2 inches at the thickest part).
- Remove from the oven and enjoy!
- Save extras in a sealed container in the fridge to use for the next couple of days.
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