This Pan Seared Salmon is a simple recipe that lets the salmon shine, but it’s honestly restaurant quality right in your home! Beautifully browned on the outside and so delicately rich on the inside. It’s such a simple recipe and with a just a few key tricks you’ll have success every time. It is one of my very favorite recipes and I’ve been making it at least once a month for probably a decade!
Keys to Success with Pan Seared Salmon
Heat up your pan over medium high heat until it sizzles strongly when you splash water in. If it’s a weak sizzle, keep heating it up. When you do have a strong sizzle that’s not a scary sizzle, the pan is ready. If you don’t like playing the sizzle game, consider investing in a Laser Thermometer and aim for the pan to be around 400ºF.
Add the butter once the pan is hot and spread it out to coat the entire bottom of the pan. Then let it heat for about 20 to 30 seconds. This creates a barrier between the pan and your food to help prevent sticking. Do not add the butter when the pan is cold or it will burn.
Cook the salmon until the internal temp reaches 130 to 135ºF in the thickest part of the salmon. Then immediately remove it from the pan. Overcooking salmon makes it tough. If you want buttery salmon, this is the key!
How Long to Cook Pan Seared Salmon
Salmon can take 8 to 12 minutes to cook in the pan depending on the thickness of your salmon and the temperature of the pan. The only way to not overcook salmon, which makes it tough, OR undercook your salmon, which can be unsafe to eat, is to use a Meat Thermometer. Aim for an internal temperature of 130 to 135ºF in the thickest part of the salmon.
Be sure all other dishes are ready or at least in the oven when you start cooking the salmon. It goes REALLY fast and if you walk away, there’s a risk of overcooking the salmon.
This dish also benefits from Dry Brining, which is sprinkling salt on the salmon and letting it sink in. Because fish is porous, it doesn’t require much time though, I try to give it 15 to 20 minutes. So I’ll skin the salmon, cut it into portions, then salt it. Put it back in the fridge if it’s going to take longer than 20 minutes to finish your other dishes. I’ve seen some recipes say to bring raw meat to room temperature, but bacteria thrive at warm temperatures. In the food safety course I’ve taken, it states restaurants are required to keep foods refrigerated until ready to cook. So if restaurants take this approach I will to!
How to Skin Salmon
For those that don’t love eating the skin, it takes about 1 minute to remove it once you learn and practice this method.
Use a fillet knife or a long, sharp flexible knife.
Lay the salmon skin side down with the small tail end towards your non-dominant hand (the one not holding the knife). If it’s curling up at the sides as all, try to flatten it so it’s laying completely flat on the board
Use the tips of your fingers on your non-dominant hand to hold the tail end down and make sure it’s secure. Then next to your fingers start to cut down towards the skin, then turn the knife so it’s parallel to the skin. There is a little waste at the tail end, but you can cut off this chunk later, it’s just so much easier to get it started and hold onto.
Create room to grasp the skin by using a gentle back and forth motion to start skinning the fish at least an inch.
Grasp the skin and pull tightly with your non-dominant hand! While pulling tightly, move the skin up and down and this will help the knife glide to skin the rest of the fish. Continue to grab more skin and pull/move it side to side until the entire fish is skinned.
Adjustments for Kids
If your kids are new to salmon, just start with one bite without skin on their plate. It may take a few tries to get them to like it and that’s ok. By exposing them to new flavors slowly (meaning low quantities) but often, they will start to get used to the new flavor and may even start to love it!
Remember for some foods it can take an average of 12 tries before a kid (and even some adults) will start to like the flavor. One bite today is a win! For more tips check out this article on 10 Strategies to Encourage Picky Eaters.
Skin the salmon if desired (see tips in the blog). Cut the salmon into portion sizes. Sprinkle on salt, pepper and then flour on both sides. If you have time, let the salmon rest to allow the salt to soak in for 15 to 20 minutes.
Finely chop the parsley and chop the pecans.
Heat the pan over medium-high heat until the pan has a strong sizzle when splashing water in or around 400ºF. Add the butter to the pan, coating the entire bottom of the pan and letting it heat for 20 to 30 seconds.
Add the salmon to the pan, top side down. Let it took for 2 minutes, then peek to see if the top is golden. If it's not releasing easily, let it cook for another 30 seconds. Once golden, use a spatula to flip the salmon to the skinned side.
Let the salmon cook for another 2 to 3 minutes on the skinned side until golden. Once golden, flip to the side of the salmon if it's thick enough to stand up. Cook for another 2 to 3 minutes until golden on this side as well, then flip to the last side.
Once golden on each side, check the internal temperature of the salmon with a meat thermometer. Once the internal temperature at the thickest part of the salmon reads 130 to 135ºF, remove the salmon from the pan onto a plate. If the temp isn't at the targeted temp yet, carefully continue to flip on various sides to finish cooking.
If the empty pan is looking dry, a little more butter can be added and spread out. Then add the chopped pecans and parsley. Shake a little salt on the pecans & parsley to make their flavors pop. After about 30 seconds of cooking, top each piece of salmon with the pecan and parsley topping. Pour any remaining butter from the pan onto the salmon and serve!
Prep Time:2 minutes
Cook Time:10 minutes
Category:Main Course
Cuisine:Healthy American
Variations
It’s easy and fun to switch up this recipe by swapping out the herbs and nuts. Try this recipe using thyme, dill, marjoram or really any of your favorite herbs. It also works well with chopped walnuts or sliced almonds.
Let us know how it turned out and if you tried any variations in the comments!
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