Quick and easy honey garlic salmon baked and ready in under 30 minutes. With a sweet and savory marinade and sauce of garlic, ginger, honey and soy sauce.
With the recent popularity of crispy honey garlic chicken and me being totally knocked off-guard by the deceptively humble sauce that just rocks that recipe, I’ve decided to make a baked salmon version. It’s simple, it has FIVE ingredients and it’s tasty. Also, it’s super addictive. I liked it so much, I made an air fryer version too. So if you own an air fryer, head on over and grab the 8-minute air fryer honey garlic salmon.
And if you’re a die-hard fan of the sauce and just can’t get enough, try out honey garlic chicken skillet, slow cooker honey garlic chicken, and the insanely popular honey garlic shrimp with over 2 million pins.
How To Make Honey Garlic Salmon (1 Min Video)
Ingredients in Honey Garlic Salmon
HONEY GARLIC SALMON RECIPE TIPS
Salmon: You can tell the salmon is done cooking when it is no longer translucent (red or raw) but opaque (pink). If the salmon flakes easily when pressed down gently with your finger or a fork (aka it separates easily along the white lines that run across the fillet), it is cooked! An easier way is to use a meat thermometer. I have several of these at home and they get used very often for chicken breasts and steaks as well so it’s a worthwhile investment. Back to salmon, the FDA recommends cooking fish to an internal temperature of 145° F.
Searing: I seared the top of the salmon in a skillet over medium-high heat for 1-2 minutes to brown it a little before baking. You can do the same thing by broiling the salmon for 1-2 minutes in the oven once it’s done cooking. This step is optional though, depending on how you like your salmon and how much work you want to do. I like crispy tops so it was worth the extra step for me.
Sauce: To quickly thicken the sauce over the stovetop, you can add a cornstarch slurry. Add it in once the sauce has come to a boil and keep stirring until the whiteness of the cornstarch slurry disappears into the sauce. This is when you know the cornstarch has worked and the sauce is as thick as it can get.
Honey: If you don’t have regular honey sitting in your pantry, you can substitute it with maple syrup.
Soy sauce: Regular or low sodium soy sauce both work. You can also substitute it with tamari or coconut aminos.
Garlic: You can use either fresh garlic or garlic powder. If you’re using fresh garlic, a little mini grater will come in handy so you don’t have to break out the cutting board and a knife.
Ginger: The ginger part here is optional but it does add a lot of flavor. If you’re not a fan, you can skip this and it will not break the recipe. Otherwise, use fresh minced ginger or a few dashes of powdered ginger.
Add more flavor: Add more flavor with red pepper flakes, smoked paprika, fresh lime, or lemon juice. Also, try toppings like black sesame seeds or freshly sliced green onions for texture and crunch.
And that’s it. I wasn’t kidding when I said it was super easy. Not too shabby for a dinner that’s also pretty healthy. Enjoy!
MORE SALMON RECIPES TO TRY
- Air Fryer Honey Garlic Salmon
- Honey Mustard Salmon
- Balsamic-Glazed Salmon
- Lemon and Parmesan-Crusted Salmon
- Salmon Piccata
- Everything Bagel Salmon
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PrintHoney Garlic Salmon
- Total Time: 30 mins
- Yield: 2 1x
Description
Quick and easy honey garlic salmon baked and ready in under 30 minutes. With a sweet and savory marinade and sauce of garlic, ginger, honey and soy sauce.
Ingredients
- 1 lb. salmon fillet
Sauce
- 1 teaspoon garlic, minced/ 1/4 teaspoon garlic powder
- 1/2 teaspoon ginger, minced (optional)
- 4 tablespoons honey
- 2 tablespoons soy sauce
Instructions
- Combine the sauce ingredients and divide the sauce in half.
- Marinate the salmon in half of the sauce for 15-30 minutes.
- Arrange salmon on a foil-lined baking sheet and bake at 350°F for 15-20 minutes, depending on the thickness of the salmon.
- Baste the salmon with the leftover marinade halfway through.
- [Optional step] Over medium-high heat, bring the other half of the sauce to a boil and simmer for 3-5 minutes until reduced.
- Dish and serve the salmon hot drizzled with the remaining sauce.
- Enjoy!
Notes
For a slightly crisp and caramelized top, sear the top of the salmon over medium-high heat for 1-2 minutes before baking or broil at the end for 1-2 minutes until browned.
If you own an air fryer version, try out air fryer honey garlic salmon.
- Prep Time: 10 mins
- Cook Time: 20 mins
♡ Affiliate disclosure: As an Amazon Associate, I earn commissions from qualifying purchases from Amazon.com. You can learn more about it here.
141 Comments
Seth
February 14, 2022 at 9:14 PMIm extremely confused how that recipe for marinate is gona yield enuf let alone enuf to boil into a sauce
The Cooking Jar
February 15, 2022 at 9:49 AMHey Seth. Six tablespoons of sauce are more than enough for a marinade and drizzling sauce. Split it in half for both purposes. Boiling down the drizzling half is an optional step for those that want a SUPER sticky sauce to drizzle with, otherwise, just drizzle it as is. The sauce won’t be enough to drown your rice or smother your potatoes but is more than enough to keep the salmon saucy.
Adam
May 9, 2021 at 4:03 PMI made this before and am making it again for my wife and kids. It is very very good and easy to make. This time I am going to put the fish over some rice and drizzle your sauce over it all.
★★★★★
The Cooking Jar
May 11, 2021 at 10:41 AMYum! Rice and salmon go so well together. I love adding some veggies on the side for a great balanced meal 🙂
Daisy
March 14, 2021 at 3:40 PMGreat recipe! I am a novice, very average cook and found this super easy and delicious. Thank you 🙂
★★★★★
The Cooking Jar
March 19, 2021 at 11:38 AMThank you, Daisy. It’s great to know it was easy enough to follow for a novice cook 🙂
Jacci Chambers
March 3, 2021 at 9:29 AMthis was AMAZING and SO easy–it may be my new way to make salmon–even my kids loved it and hubby came back for seconds–commenting this salmon is really good!!!
★★★★★
The Cooking Jar
March 8, 2021 at 10:19 AMYay! Thanks for coming back and rating it. It really helps 🙂 I love the sauce so much too. I’ve recently used it in an air fryer salmon version which we make once week while I’m trying to lose weight.
Lisette
May 27, 2020 at 6:25 PMI’m so glad I tried this recipe! Very easy and delicious. Thank you for sharing.
★★★★★
The Cooking Jar
March 8, 2021 at 10:18 AMYou’re very welcome, Lisette! Thank you for trying it out 🙂