This is an age-old recipe in my family, and one of the recipes I remember eating the most. Garlic Butter Baked Salmon with onions and lemon is a great first recipe to start to cooking fish. You only need garlic, butter, onions, salmon, lemons and a baking pan (with oil for sticking). I serve this Garlic butter baked salmon with rice and a steamed vegetable (usually broccoli), and it is a pretty good weeknight dinner.
If your family isn’t a fan of fish, then this is also a good recipe because of the intensity of garlic, butter, and lemon helps with the fish taste. If I have Atlantic salmon, or any salmon that isn’t king or steelhead, then this is the recipe I go to frequently. Atlantic salmon is not quite as oily, so you often need to provide a lot of external flavors to the fish to make the dish taste good.
Tips for cooking Garlic Butter Baked Salmon
- Salmon type – I almost always choose steelhead (orange in color and similar to salmon), because it is a lot oiler and much more forgiving of overcooking. You can choose Atlantic fish in this recipe too, and it will taste great too.
- Butter – The more butter the better. Don’t skip on the butter as it provides moisture to your fish. Feel free to add more butter if you aren’t able to cover the entire fish with the amount of butter included in this recipe instruction.
- Lemon – If your family doesn’t really like lemon feel free to reduce the amount of lemon juice you add to this recipe. The juice adds a bit of tang as a contrast to the buttery smoothness.
- Oven – Your oven is a just a little bit different than my oven, and my oven is just a little different than your friend’s oven. Ovens heat up and hold heat differently, so after you make this salmon dish make a note if you felt the fish was overcooked or perfectly cooked. If it is possible, I would also make a note of how thick your salmon was too. The thickness of your fish will determine how long you have to cook it. As a home cooking tip, I always try to buy the same thickness of salmon whenever I cook, because then I know how to cook it consistently in my oven.
What to eat with the baked Salmon
- Steamed rice – I’m a big fan of steamed white rice (or brown) with baked salmon. You are baking the salmon in the oven for 45 minutes so you can cook rice at the same time. It makes for a really efficient dinner.
- Steamed Broccoli – Broccoli is a great contrast to baked salmon. It is also perfect to cook when the salmon is in the oven. Since you aren’t using the oven you can cook on the stovetop at the same time.
- Garlic spinach – If you prefer your food on the savory side then this garlic spinach recipe is a perfect complement to the baked salmon.
Salmon is one of my favorite things to cook at home, because it is healthy and it has a great taste. If you want more of a sweet tasting salmon then I would try this Teriyaki Salmon recipe. If you want a saltier salmon and don’t mind waiting 2 days for the salt to sink into the salmon than this Shioyaki salmon is awesome! Getting a bit more complex, my Mom’s Baked Brown sugar and mustard glaze salmon is a popular dish.
Garlic Butter Baked Salmon
Equipment
- Baking pan
Ingredients
- 1 lb Salmon
- 1/2 Onion
- 2 Lemons
- 4 tbsp Butter
- 2 cloves Garlic
Instructions
- Get Ingredients
- Wash and dice your onion
- Get your garlic and dice it.
- Put the 3 tbsps of butter in a mixing bowl and add your minced garlic to the bowl. Mix around really good with a fork or to really mix in the garlic and the butter. If the butter is too hard then heat it up in the microwave for a 5 to 10 seconds. Note, you don't want the butter to be completely melted as it is going to melt in the oven.
- Get a baking pan and put foil on it. I put 1 tbsp of vegetable or olive oil on the bottom to prevent sticking.
- Preheat your oven to 350 degrees.
- Rinse and pat your salmon dry, and then put your salmon on the baking pan.
- Add 1 tbsp of thin sliced butter to the top of your salmon.
- Put your diced onion on top of the salmon.
- Add your garlic butter to the top of the diced onions and salmon.
- Cut your lemons and squeeze them on top of the salmon.
- Cook for 45 minutes.
- Serve with steamed rice and vegetables, and add parsley if you are feeling fancy. If you don't have parsley don't sweat it.
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