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This lemon garlic salmon is out-of-this-world delicious. With only a few ingredients you get tender, just-flaky salmon enveloped in a rich yet tart lemon butter sauce. It’s a 25-minute salmon recipe that’s good enough for company but easy enough for a weeknights!
See recipe card below for full list of measurements, ingredients, and instructions.
What I Love About This Salmon Recipe
- I’m awfully picky when it comes to salmon. It has to be absolutely jam packed full of flavor. Otherwise? Pass. I’ll get the roast chicken or the vegetarian pasta or the kids’ meal even, since we’re obviously at a kid-friendly banquet right now. But, not this lemon garlic salmon recipe which is packed with zesty, hard-hitting lemony garlic butter flavors.
- It’s both elegant and easy, which means it can do double duty as both an easy weeknight protein option and something you can serve to guests — just choose simple or some slightly more special sides accordingly!
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What I Learned Testing This Recipe
- The lemon garlic butter sauce can easily made dairy-free by using olive or avocado oil. You can use vegan butter, too, if you like!
- I prefer my salmon medium rare or medium. It wasn’t until I started eating salmon this way that I liked it at all! I highly recommend trying it this way. However, if you prefer your salmon totally opaque and easily flaky, just cook the salmon to 125-135°F.
- Pat the salmon dry before adding the seasonings. When I’ve skipped this step I’ve ended up with watery salmon that has been more than a little disappointing!
Ingredient Notes
Salmon fillets – You want these to be about 6 ounces each. Choose middle-cut fillets so they cook evenly, with the skin still on. Even if you take it off when you’re ready to eat keeping the skin on will help keep the fish in once piece in the pan, and will help keep things nice and moist!
Olive Oil – Or any other neutral oil for cooking the salmon.
Butter – Butter is best (choose high-quality, grass-fed butter if you can) but I’ve made Whole30 / paleo versions of this that were also delicious with ghee. You can also use olive oil or vegan butter for a dairy-free version.
Shallot – With a much more delicate flavor than brown or white onion it helps elevate the lemon butter sauce to something restaurant-worthy!
Garlic – Fresh garlic is best in this recipe for flavor, but pre-minced garlic would work. But as you’ve got to mince the shallot anyway, it really is worth going the extra mile with this recipe.
Dry white wine – This is what gives the sauce such a refined flavor — the alcohol will cook off during cooking.
Lemon juice – Fresh lemon juice is non-negotiable in this recipe!
Chopped parsley – Chopped tarragon or pickled thyme leaves would also be delicious with the lemon butter sauce and the salmon.
Serving & Storage Suggestions
For side dishes if you want to keep things simple rice (to soak up all that delicious sauce) or some air fryer potatoes are great on a weeknight, perhaps also alongside some simply cooked asparagus or brussels sprouts. If you’re entertaining so you want to keep things a little less basic, you can’t go wrong with fondant potatoes and green beans almondine!
Leftovers will keep in the refrigerator for up to 3 days, but I’d discard any leftover sauce and just focus on preserving the salmon. Don’t re-heat it (both for flavour and food safety reasons!) but instead use it on salad bowls or folded into fried rice at the end of cooking just to warm through.
Frequently Asked Questions
Yes! Thaw the salmon completely in the refrigerator overnight, and pat it dry before cooking — you should do this whenever you’re pan frying fish, but it is super important with frozen fish as it will have more excess moisture than fresh fillets. Too much moisture will mean the salmon might be a little watery when it comes out of the oven.
Atlantic, coho, sockeye, and king salmon all work well.
Making changes to a recipe can result in recipe failure. Any substitutions or variations listed are simple changes that I believe will work in this recipe, but results are not guaranteed.
Lemon Garlic Salmon with Lemon Butter Sauce
Equipment
- large baking sheet
- baking parchment
- Small saucepan
Ingredients
Salmon
- 4 salmon fillets about 6 ounces each, with the skin on
- salt
- black pepper
- olive oil
Lemon Butter Sauce
- 6 tablespoons butter
- 1 small shallot minced
- 4-5 cloves garlic minced
- â…“ cup dry white wine
- 3 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
- pinch salt
- 1-2 tablespoons chopped parsley
- lemon slices optional, to serve
Instructions
Salmon
- Preheat the oven to 350°F. Line a baking sheet with baking parchment.
- Season the salmon with plenty of salt and pepper. Place the salmon fillets on the baking sheet, keeping them well spaced apart. Drizzle lightly with olive oil.
- Bake for 12-15 minutes until salmon reaches an internal temperature of about 120–125°F. Leave to rest for 5 minutes before serving.
Lemon Butter Sauce
- Make the lemon butter sauce while the salmon bakes. Melt the butter in a small pan over medium heat. Add the shallot and garlic, and cook for 1–2 minutes until just softened. Add the white wine and simmer for about 2 minutes until the sauce has slightly reduced. Stir in the lemon juice and a pinch of salt. Remove from the heat and stir in the parsley.
- Spoon the lemon butter sauce over the salmon, and serve.
Approximate Information for One Serving
Nutrition Disclaimers
Number of total servings shown is approximate. Actual number of servings will depend on your preferred portion sizes.
Nutritional values shown are general guidelines and reflect information for 1 serving using the ingredients listed, not including any optional ingredients. Actual macros may vary slightly depending on specific brands and types of ingredients used.
To determine the weight of one serving, prepare the recipe as instructed. Weigh the finished recipe, then divide the weight of the finished recipe (not including the weight of the container the food is in) by the desired number of servings. Result will be the weight of one serving.
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This salmon is amazing and so worth the time! The first time I made it, I served it with broccoli and plain rice. I made extra sauce, and we smothered the sauce over everything. Delicious!
So glad you love the salmon, Katie! Extra sauce is always a good idea! 😋
Middle aged single father of 3 w/ average cooking skills reporting on this recipe… two thumbs down! Pan frying fish w/ Olive oil couldn’t have gone worse. Hot oil everywhere and fish sticking to the pan (both sides, total loss of the yummy fish skin. Tried this for my 15 yr old son’s birthday meal and he normally loves Salmon… but this was a bust.
Oh, no! I’m so sorry that was your experience with this dish, Steve – and especially on your son’s birthday. Having not been there, it’s hard to say exactly where things might’ve gone wrong, but I’d love to help troubleshoot if I can.
I see you tried cooking the fish in olive oil rather than the avocado oil we used. It sounds like the oil was much too hot if it was splashing everywhere? The temperature of the oil would definitely lead to some of the sticking you experienced.
Did you pat the salmon fillets dry before seasoning them and placing them in the skillet? That’s another important step to prevent the salmon sticking to the pan. And you started cooking the flesh-side first, with the skin-side facing up?
I made this once and while I found it labor intensive with prepping all of the fresh ingredients, it truly was out of this world in flavor and well worth it.
I hunted this recipe down so I could make it again…nearly a year later!
Hi, Meagan! Fresh ingredients can be a pain sometimes but are so worth it!! We are so glad you love it! Thanks for coming back! 😊
I really enjoyed this recipe! It was easy, quick and delicious. And I added some frozen spinach as another commenter suggested, and that turned out well too. I made a little post about it at sisterhoodofthetravelingcats.com
So glad you enjoyed it! And spinach is a great addition.
I’ addicted to this recipe now.
I also trow some spinach in the pan after taking the salmon out with the sauce yummy in my tummy