Sheet pan Baked Salmon:
This Lemon Garlic Parsley Baked Salmon with Cauliflower is a one pan meal that produces perfectly baked salmon each and every time.
Drizzled in a rich garlic herb butter, this succulent, oven baked salmon provides a meal that is ready to serve and eat in just a short 30 minutes.
Serve with Wild Rice Pilaf for an excellent meal.
Sheet pan meals are our favorite, and sheet pan fish like this Roasted Halibut Sheet Pan Dinner gives you bold flavor, and low mess. Which is why we had to create this amazing sheet pan salmon!
Lemon Garlic Parsley Baked Salmon with Cauliflower is such a decadent baked salmon dish, you will feel like you have transformed your kitchen into a top notch restaurant with such minimal prep. This low carb baked salmon recipe is perfect for even those who are on a keto diet.
You get a whole meal on one pan!
How Do I Bake The Perfect Salmon?
I love salmon, but salmon can quickly go from being perfectly cooked to something that resembles cat food if you aren’t careful.
What I love about this Lemon Garlic Parsley Baked Salmon with Cauliflower recipe is that you don’t have to be experienced with cooking fish.
Just follow the easy step by step directions and you will get a satisfying dish with a perfectly cooked salmon as the hero to the meal.
Salmon is not hard to cook. You just have to be aware of a few things. Once you know a few easy tips, you will be cooking salmon like a pro.
How Do You Cook Salmon Perfectly?
Remove the fish bones ahead of time.
Nothing ruins a meal quicker than biting down onto a perfectly cooked piece of fish and getting a bone stuck in your tooth. Yuck.
Don’t go to all the trouble of making a nice meal and sabotaging the end result by forgetting this step.
Cook salmon skin side down.
Resist the urge to remove the skin ahead of time, unless you are poaching the salmon.
The skin serves as a source of protection for the rest of the fish. It serves as a slight barrier to the heat in order to help prevent the fish from becoming overdone.
Don’t overcook your salmon.
Remember how I mentioned how a once elevated dish can quickly resemble looking like something you would feed to your cat? Yep, this can happen if your fish is overcooked.
The goal is to end with a medium or medium rare cook on the salmon.
2 Easy Ways To Make Sure Salmon Is Cooked Properly:
- Salmon should be opaque in color and flake easily with a fork.
- Internal temperature should be about 145 degrees.
Note: You can take your salmon out a little bit before it reaches an internal temperature of 145 degrees and then let the salmon rest for a few minutes or so. The salmon will continue to cook out of the oven, resulting in the internal temperature slightly rising.
What Is The White Stuff That Comes Out Of My Salmon?
Sometimes I am at a restaurant and I think, “Do I really want to know what that unidentified substance is that I just put into my mouth?”
Rest assured though the white stuff you see when you eat salmon, although may look unappetizing at times, is not harmful.
The white stuff is referred to as albumin, which is not a fancy word for something disgusting. It’s basically a type of protein that changes form once cooked.
When the salmon is uncooked this protein is in liquid form so it probably doesn’t really catch anyone’s eye.
Once albumin comes in contact with heat it changes form and becomes more of a solid substance.
Although it doesn’t taste bad and it isn’t bad for you, the less you see on your salmon the more appetizing the dish looks.
Some salmon has more of this albumin or protein substance visible than other salmon. Why is this? The answer goes back to how the fish is cooked.
How Do You Minimize The Amount Of Visible White Stuff On Your Salmon?
Cook salmon at a lower temperature. Heat instigates the change in form of this protein. The greater the heat the more visible white, coagulated protein there will be.
So with this recipe or any recipe, if you are worried about seeing the coagulated protein, you can slightly adapt the temperature and cooking times.
Just simply cook the salmon on a lower temperature, but for longer if you are worried about seeing too much of the “ white stuff. ”
What Is The Keto Diet And Is Salmon Good On It?
As the keto diet seems to be rising in popularity it feels like more and more people are talking about it. What is keto? What can you eat on keto?
In a nutshell, the keto diet is a diet that focuses on high fat and low carbs, with the expectation that the body will in turn burn fat instead of carbohydrates.
Many on this diet try to follow the food guidelines very strictly with the goal in mind of reaching a state of ketosis.
What is Ketosis?
Ketosis is where your body is practically fueld by almost only fat and the possible result is accelerated weight loss.
So, is salmon okay to eat on keto?
Yes! Salmon consists of omega 3 fatty acids, which is the good fat. Also, it basically has no carbs so it fits into that low carb expectation.
Now, although salmon is keto friendly, unfortunately that does not mean all salmon dishes are. Some salmon dishes may be accompanied with high in carb sides or sauces that have high carb ingredients.
Good news though, this oven baked salmon recipe is great for the keto diet. You will find that the ingredients used are keto friendly and the cauliflower used in this dish makes for a nice keto friendly side.
So, go ahead and enjoy this low carb baked salmon recipe.
Bring On The Oven Baked Salmon!
Now that we have discussed how to bake a salmon properly, a delicious oven baked salmon recipe awaits to be cooked.
Lemon Garlic Parsley Baked Salmon with Cauliflower is a fabulous dish whether you are concerned with your daily carb intake or not. It’s a fast and easy, yet elevated dish that will add a change to the basic run of the mill dishes that are so often made due to time constraints.
And since you are now basically an expert on the trick and tips for how to make a great salmon, also try Garlic Rosemary Salmon with Creamy Dill Sauce and Dukkah-Crusted Baked Salmon Fillets. Both dishes will surely make you a salmon fan.
Other Salmon Recipes:
- Salmon Rice Bowls
- Oven Poached Salmon
- Cajun Baked Salmon
- Salmon Avocado Salad
- Garlic Rosemary Salmon with Creamy Dill Sauce
- Asian Marinated Salmon
- Miso Salmon
Keto Sheet Pan Salmon
Ingredients
- 1/4 cup butter divided
- 3 cloves garlic minced
- 2 tbsp fresh parsley chopped
- 1 lb cauliflower florets
- Salt and pepper
- 1 1/2 lb salmon filet cut into 4 equal portions
- 1 tsp lemon zest
- Lemon wedges for serving
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 400F and place 2 tbsp of the butter on a rimmed baking sheet. Place the baking sheet in the oven as it preheats.
- Melt the remaining butter in a small bowl and whisk in the garlic, parsley and lemon zest.
- Remove the pan from the oven when the butter is melted and add the cauliflower florets. Sprinkle with salt and pepper and toss to coat in the butter. Bake 10 minutes.
- Remove the pan from the oven and make space for the salmon filets. Sprinkle with salt and pepper, then drizzle with plenty of the garlic butter.
- Bake another 10 to 12 minutes, until the fish is opaque and flakes easily with a fork. How long will depend on how thick your filets are.
- Serve hot with wedges of lemon.
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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Bonnie says
I have a slab of sockeye and some broccoli in the fridge–do you think this would translate well with the broccoli instead of the cauliflower?
Rachael says
Bonnie, yes for sure!