CAJUN BAKED SALMON
Bold, cajun seasoning, on deliciously flaky, and tender salmon baked to perfection on a sheet pan with vegetables. Then topped with a cajun butter sauce. A complete meal in under 15 minutes.
This recipe is delicious, affordable, easy to make, and a crowd pleaser. And because it comes together quickly it is perfect for any night of the week.
Pair with Easy Rice Pilaf and Air Fryer Asparagus!
I love cajun flavors, from Cajun Pulled Pork to Sheet Pan Cajun Garlic Chicken & Fries, or Cajun Chicken Alfredo Skillet Pasta. But pairing salmon with Cajun flavors is unreal.
Cajun baked salmon turns out great every time. In this post, I am sharing all the tips for getting perfect salmon baked in the oven so you too can feel confident making this recipe for your family and friends.
You will find a simple homemade cajun seasoning rub and a delicious cajun butter sauce, but keep in mind, this baked salmon recipe is easy to customize with your favorite seasonings and flavors. So feel free to adjust the amounts or flavors to your preference.
BAKED SALMON INGREDIENTS
To make this amazingly flavorful baked salmon you are going to need the following:
SALMON:
How can you know what salmon is good and what is not? Where should you buy salmon, especially if you are landlocked like me? These are all important questions to consider when buying salmon. As much as I would love to have a fish market I could visit each morning for fresh fish, this is not an option for me.
When it comes to a great dish, it starts with great ingredients, and buying fish can be a challenge. Getting quality fish from the right sources can be difficult, which is why I am excited to share PrimeWaters Seafood with you.
PrimeWaters Seafood is a brand that offers amazing, high-quality fresh salmon delivered directly to your door, making getting dinner on the table eazy peazy. And to make things even easier, you can literally order PrimeWaters Seafood on Amazon.
Salmon is one of my favorite fish to cook because it is delicious, protein-packed, and rich in omega-3s. In fact, PrimeWaters Atlantic Salmon has 2300 mg of omega-3 fatty acids per serving and PrimeWaters Coho Salmon has 1680mg Omega-3 fatty acids per serving
I used to think the only salmon worth eating was wild caught and sustainably harvested. But I want to share with you why I am changing my view, and why I am excited to use PrimeWaters Seafood for delicious salmon conveniently delivered right to my door.
The convenience factor is awesome. I love that I can Shop now on Amazon, and have it delivered. But I also love how transparent, and consistent PrimeWaters Seafood is.
PrimeWaters Seafood is farm-raised, but farm-raised salmon you can trust. They have nothing to hide. They are raising high-quality salmon in pristine locations in Chilean Patagonia and Norway in constantly moving water, avoiding many of the problems associated with farm-raised salmon. The quality is high, and the fish delicious.
PrimeWaters Seafood takes pride in the strict standards they have for themselves and their farmers to ensure the highest level of quality and consistency.
You can see here I am using Coho Salmon from Chile. Even though it is farm-raised, it is only available six months of the year as it is raised in the deep cold waters of Chile. Then it is custom packed in dry ice and shipped directly to my door! Awesome.
This salmon is known for the gorgeous, deep red color, and delicate flesh. It is the perfect salmon to pair with a sauce like the cajun butter sauce!
Are you drooling? I know when this showed up at my door I could not wait to dive in and make it. You can order right on Amazon with this link:
PrimeWaters Coho Salmon Filets
When selecting salmon, you want salmon whose skin is bright and silvery. The flesh should be shiny, moist, and brightly colored. And it should smell like the ocean, not fishy! This PrimeWaters Salmon checks all the boxes and more.
Skin on: These salmon fillets come skin on, and I love cooking with skin on salmon! I personally feel cooking with the skin helps prevent your fish from drying out while cooking, and it is easy enough to remove after cooking.
COOKING OIL:
For this recipe, I like using a high-quality olive oil or avocado oil for the salmon. I don’t want something that will impart too much flavor, as I want the seasonings and the fish to really shine.
SEASONINGS:
One thing to keep in mind with this recipe is to customize it to your personal preference. I am using a cajun seasoning mixture that is homemade. This means as you make it you can customize the seasonings, making it spicy if you like a little heat.
You can also season the fish as lightly or heavily as you like. I wanted a heavy season for this dish because I wanted to really hammer home those cajun flavors.
But trust me, the fish still has a chance to shine. The flavors in the spice rub enhance and compliment the natural, flavorful, coho salmon.
CAJUN BUTTER SAUCE:
This sauce is so fun. It is a garlic and butter sauce with a nice Cajun flavor, but the real flavor comes from the roasted red peppers and celery.
These add some depth and complexity to the flavor. But it is a sauce, so the nice thing is you can taste it and use it or not depending on your preference.
I loved it and slathered it on my fish, while my son dipped his in a little at a time.
BAKED SALMON COOKING TOOLS:
AN INSTANT-READ THERMOMETER:
When new cooks ask me what my favorite kitchen tool is I tell them a cooking thermometer. It is the only way to ensure 100% accuracy of doneness with any meats you cook. And the same holds true for salmon.
It is super easy to use an instant-read thermometer, and using one will help you know your salmon is not over- or under-cooked.
If you do not have one, might I suggest when you hop on to order your Salmon, you add an instant-read thermometer to the cart?
A SHEET PAN:
I grew up calling these cookie sheets, and I am obsessed with them for cooking a full dinner with limited mess. The lovely thing about this recipe is the salmon and the vegetables cook at the same time. You DO have the cajun butter sauce, so it is not a true one pan meal, but the sauce is worth it.
Salmon skin can stick to the baking sheet, so you may want to use a silicone mat or cover the pan with foil before placing the salmon on it. This is not necessary though.
HOW TO BAKE SALMON:
How should you cook this delicious Coho salmon? Bake or broil it! This is my favorite method. To bake salmon in the oven, simply:
Preheat your oven. For this recipe, I set my oven to broil, but you could also simply set your oven to a high baking temperature of 450 degrees or 500 degrees.
Bring the salmon to room temperature. I do this by letting it sit on my counter for 15 minutes or so before I cook it. Now you might be wondering why you would want to bring your salmon up to room temp before you cook it, and the simplest answer is it means it will cook more evenly.
Next, you want to place your salmon on your baking tray, skin side down. This is going to make it easier to remove the salmon from the skin later, but also help to keep your salmon moist while cooking.
Blot your salmon dry with a paper towel, then use a pastry brush to spread oil over the top and season with the spice rub. This is the stage I add the veggies in it too. But if you are cooking veggies that take longer than the salmon to cook, you could still use a one sheet pan method, and start them, then add the salmon in for the last 15 minutes or so of cooking time.
Bake. Then bake at 450°F or on Broil, and bake until the internal temperature of the salmon reaches 140°F- 145°F. If you like your salmon to be a little underdone, cook to 135 °F and let it rest for a bit. It will continue to cook and reach a safe temperature.
Even though I highly recommend using a meat thermometer, if you do not have one, you can see if your fish is done by seeing if it will easily flake with a fork. Or check the color.
This Coho Salon will not be as opaque as Atlantic salmon, but you will be able to see a difference between cooked and uncooked flesh.
Once you remove it from the oven, then you sauce it up, squeeze on lemon if you desire, and enjoy.
Salmon can be stored in a sealed container in the refrigerator for up to 2 days.
Get your salmon delivered to your door from Amazon
Other Great Recipes
- Asian Marinated Salmon
- Salmon Rice Bowls
- Oven Poached Salmon
- Miso Salmon
- Salmon Avocado Salad
- Sheet Pan Baked Salmon
Cajun Baked Salmon
Ingredients
- 2 lb fillet of PrimeWaters Seafood Coho Salmon
- 1 Tbs Olive oil
Cajun Seasoning
- 2 tablespoons garlic powder
- 2 tablespoons Italian seasoning
- 2 tablespoons paprika
- 2 tablespoons salt
- 1 tablespoon black pepper
- 1 1/2 tablespoon cayenne pepper
- 1 tablespoon thyme
- 1 tablespoon onion powder
Cajun Butter Sauce
- 1/2 cup butter
- 1/2 Tablespoon Minced Garlic
- 1 Tablespoon Cajun seasoning from above
- 1 cup roasted red peppers
- 1/4 cup celery
- 1/2 lemon juiced
Vegetables
- 1 Tbs olive oil
- 1 lb Asparagus
- 2 cups zucchini chopped
Instructions
Cajun Seasoning
- Combine all seasoning ingredients together in a bowl and whisk together, set aside.
Salmon
- Turn oven on to the broil setting on high to preheat.
- Let salmon rest on the counter for 15-30 minutes to come up to room temperature.
- Place Coho Salmon fillet skin-side-down on a baking sheet. If the ends of the salmon filet are thin, tuck them under for more even cooking.
- Pat Salmon dry with a paper towel, then brush olive oil over the top. Generously season with Cajun seasoning mixture (use about 1/4 a cup, less if you don't like a lot of seasoning). Set aside.
- Vegetables
- Clean vegetables and chop zucchini. Snap the rough ends off asparagus.
- Toss vegetables with 1 Tbs cajun seasoning mixture and 1 Tbs olive oil and place around the salmon filet on the sheet pan.
- Cook in Oven set to Broil for 10-14 minutes, until Salmon is cooked through and vegetables are tender. Internal temperature of the salmon should reach 135-140°F
Cajun Butter Sauce
- While salmon and vegetables bake, add all of the cajun butter sauce ingredients into a medium sized saucepan except the lemon juice, and bring to a boil with medium high heat.
- Once boiling, use a stick blender to blend until smooth. Or pour into a blender and blend until smooth.
- Taste, and add lemon juice to preference.
- Carefully spoon cajun butter sauce over salmon, and serve!
Notes
Nutrition
Our recipe card software calculates these nutrition facts based on averages for the above ingredients, different brands, and quality of produce/meats may have different nutritional information, always calculate your own based on the specific products you use in order to achieve accurate macros for this recipe.
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Becky Hardin says
This looks and sounds so delicious! I can not wait to try.
Charity says
Cajun butter sauce? Heck yeah! Adding this to my dinner rotation.
Tamara says
SO EXCITED TO MAKE THIS! BEEN TRYING TO FIND WAY TO INCORPORATE MORE SEAFOOD INTO OUR FAMILY DINNERS
lauren kelly says
My family loves salmon! This has wonderful flavors!
Billy says
Thanks is one good looking salmon!
Jocelyn says
The seasoning and butter on this salmon was absolutely amazing!