Roasted Salmon Steaks with Lemon Butter Sauce feels elegant without being fussy – my favorite kind of cooking. Inspired by my mom’s go-to meal during a family camping trip in Alaska, this recipe highlights the rich flavor of salmon with just 7 ingredients and 5 minutes of prep. The result? Tender, flaky salmon with a silky lemon butter sauce that’s feels special enough for guests but is easy enough for a weeknight dinner. Quick, elegant, and satisfying – proof that great meals don’t need to be complicated.
Table of Contents
You Will Love This Recipe for Salmon Steaks in Oven
Here’s why I love this recipe and think you will, too:
- Ready in no time. Just five minutes of prep makes this ideal for busy nights when you still want something delicious.
- Few ingredients, big payoff. Seven ingredients are all you need for a dish that tastes like it took hours.
- Packed with flavor. The richness of salmon meets bright, buttery lemon sauce for a perfect pairing.
- Versatile and impressive. Perfect for weeknight dinners or special occasions when you want a little extra flair.
- Customizable sauce. Stick with the classic lemon butter or mix it up with fresh herbs or a splash of lime or orange juice.
- A family favorite. Born from a memorable camping trip in Alaska, this recipe brings comfort and nostalgia to the table.
Eating Fresh Salmon in Alaska
Basting salmon with a lemon-butter sauce is a traditional way to prepare most any fish – and it’s the first way I ever ate salmon as a child. In fact, I still have vivid memories of my family vacationing in Alaska when I was fifteen years old. We were camping in a rented Winnebago RV, seeing the sites, and fly fishing. One day, we arrived at our campground late, around 9pm. Amazingly, it was still light out, so dad grabbed his fly rod and headed to the nearby riverbank, just a short walk from our campsite. About 10 minutes later, he returned with a big, beautiful salmon!
Mom quickly melted some butter, added fresh lemon juice, Worcestershire sauce, salt and pepper. Next, she placed the fish (now cleaned by dad) on a large piece of foil, drizzled the sauce over the top, and folded up the foil to enclose the fish. Lastly, she put the foil packets on the grill and cooked them just until the salmon was medium-rare. OMG, it was sooo good! Moist, tender, fresh, and full of flavor.
Ingredients for Salmon Steaks With Lemon Butter Sauce
This flavorful salmon dish only calls for a handful of ingredients ( just 7!):
- Bone-in salmon steaks (can substitute salmon fillets)
- Melted butter
- Fresh lemon juice
- Worcestershire sauce
- Kosher salt
- Fresh ground black pepper
- Paprika (my addition – for color and a bit of complexity)
Variations and Additions to Enhance Your Lemon Butter Sauce
While this simple yet elegant sauce is delicious as is, you can easily customize it by varying the ingredients. Here are a few ideas:
Additions
- Chopped fresh garlic or garlic powder
- Chopped fresh herbs, including parsley, chives and/or dill
- Chopped green onion
- A bit of brown sugar instead of Worcestershire sauce
Substitutions
- Orange juice for the lemon juice
- Lime juice for the lemon juice
How to Cook Salmon Steaks in the Oven
I have taken mom’s same flavor profile and created a roasted salmon steak recipe of her campground grilled dish. (You can also use salmon filets.) Feel free to follow mom’s method as well, if you prefer grilling (see directions under Variation in the recipe card below). Here are the easy steps to roasting the salmon:
- Prep oven, pan and salmon.
Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Butter a large rimmed baking sheet (or dish) large enough to hold the salmon in one layer. Place salmon steaks in one layer in the prepared dish. - Prepare butter sauce.
In a small saucepan, melt butter over medium heat. When melted, remove from heat and whisk in lemon juice, Worcestershire sauce and paprika; add salt and fresh ground pepper to taste. Liberally drizzle sauce over salmon. - Cook salmon.
Roast salmon for 10 minutes per 1-inch of thickness, or until desired doneness. - Rest, then serve.
Remove salmon from oven and let rest at room temperature for around 5 minutes. Transfer to individual serving plates or a serving platter. Drizzle with any sauce remaining in baking dish. Garnish with parsley, basil or tarragon.
What Vegetables Go Well With Salmon Steaks
Salmon goes with many different vegetables – It’s delicious with asparagus, broccoli, zucchini, spinach, lettuce, carrots and potatoes to name a few! Here are some of the sides I like to serve it with:
How to Store Salmon Steaks
Cooked salmon should be stored in an airtight container, or well wrapped with plastic wrap or foil and refrigerated. It will last 3 to 4 days.
How to Cook a Salmon Steak FAQs
With a salmon fillet, the meaty part is cut away from the main center bone lengthwise – parallel to the backbone. For a salmon steak, the flesh is cut crosswise, through the bone, into slices.
Both terms are correct, and both refer to a boneless strip of meat. Filet is simply the French word for fillet.
1. Eat it the same day, or up to one day after purchasing.
2. Store it in the refrigerator, on top of a zip top baggie of ice – or one of those frozen ice blocks you put in a cooler.
3. Keep it refrigerated until shortly before cooking.
Wild salmon is preferable over farmed. Many farms use crowded pens where salmon can be infected with disease, and therefore some farmers feed them antibiotics.
There are numerous methods for cooking salmon – roasting, grilling, sautéing, poaching, even in a sous vide. Roasting is one of the mot popular ways to cook salmon.
You can purchase salmon whole, in fillets (the most popular and widely available cut), bone-in steaks or boneless steaks. When the bone is removed from a steak, it will resemble a fillet.
The rule of thumb for cooking salmon, like most fish, is 10 minutes per inch of thickness, if the fish has no topping. If a topping (like breadcrumbs) is added, then increase cook time by 2 minutes per inch.
The best way to know when your salmon is done is to use an instant read thermometer. For medium rare, the internal temperature (in the thickest portion) should be 125 to 130 degrees; for medium 130 to 135 degrees. Your salmon will be well done at 145 degrees (the USDA recommended minimum temperature).
Yes – in fact, most cuts of salmon will have some bones. You can remove them with strong tweezers or small pliers before cooking.
Roasted Salmon Steaks with Lemon Butter Sauce
Indulge in the delightful simplicity of our Roasted Salmon Steaks with Lemon Butter Sauce – a dish that effortlessly combines speed and elegance, while showcasing the rich, natural flavor of salmon. Inspired by a recipe my mom crafted during a memorable family camping trip in Alaska, this culinary gem requires just seven ingredients and a mere five minutes of preparation. The result? Tender, flaky, and consistently moist salmon that brings a taste of gourmet to your table in no time.
Prep Time: 5 mins
Resting time: 5 mins
Cook Time: 10 mins
Total Time: 20 minutes
Yield: 4 servings 1x
Diet: Gluten Free
Ingredients
Scale
- 4 (5 to 6-ounce) bone-in salmon steaks (see buying tips here), small bones removed
- 1/4 cup butter
- 3 tablespoons fresh lemon juice (from 1 lemon)
- 1 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce
- 1/4 teaspoon paprika
- Kosher salt, to taste
- Fresh ground pepper, to taste
- Italian (flat-leaf) parsley, basil or tarragon (chopped or stems), for garnish
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Butter a large rimmed baking sheet (or dish) large enough to hold the salmon in one layer.
- Arrange salmon steaks in one layer in the prepared dish.
- In a small saucepan, melt butter over medium heat. When melted, remove from heat and whisk in lemon juice, Worcestershire sauce and paprika; add salt and fresh ground pepper to taste. Liberally drizzle sauce over salmon.
- Bake salmon for 10 minutes per 1-inch of thickness, or until desired doneness.
- Remove from oven and let rest at room temperature for around 5 minutes.
- Transfer salmon steaks to individual serving plates or a serving platter. Drizzle with any sauce remaining in baking dish. Garnish with parsley, basil or tarragon.
Notes
Variation: Place each fish steak on its own large piece of foil (around 16 to 18 inches). Turn up edges. Drizzle butter mixture over top. Fold up two opposite edges of the foil, and fold over to seal. Fold up ends and seal. Place on grill and cook until desired tenderness.
Check out my tips on how to buy and store fresh fish!
- Category: main dish, fish, quick and easy
- Method: roasting, grilling
- Cuisine: American
Nutrition
- Serving Size: 1 steak
- Calories: 294
- Sugar: 0.5 g
- Sodium: 709 mg
- Fat: 18.2 g
- Saturated Fat: 8.3 g
- Carbohydrates: 1.7 g
- Fiber: 0.3 g
- Protein: 31.9 g
- Cholesterol: 102.9 mg
Wow! Soooo good. I’m not a lover of garlic, so this sauce was perfect. Will definitely be making it again! Thank you for a delicious recipe
So glad you enjoyed it, Bob – your kind words made my day!
Thank You for posting this easy-to-follow and absolutely delicious recipe.
I really enjoyed reading your blog about family trips to Alaska.
Your mom was really lucky.. dad taught me to catch and clean fish from the age of 3 (I was so proud of myself, but it freaked mom out completely.. she was sure I’d be without a few fingers at any point!)
Thanks, Jane. Dad taught me how to fly fish the summer following our Alaska trip, and I still fish today. Over the years I managed to avoid cleaning the fish! Fortunately, my dad and brother were available for that task. Like your mom, cleaning them made me nervous.
Wow, so easy and delicious. Appreciated all the detail provided. Thanks!
Glad you liked our recipe, and all the info in the post!
Your mom’s butter sauce sounds yummy. Can I make this with salmon filets? I can’t find steaks.
Yes you can definitely make this recipe with salmon fillets.
Forgot the star rating –
Love, love, love. So easy to make. Didn’t have steaks so made with fillets. I can’t get over all the flavor from just a few ingredients. Will definitely make again. thank you!
Thanks Sharrie! I’m happy to hear you liked our recipe.
Super easy!! Everyone loved their meal!! Thank you for sharing…..
You’re welcome! Happy to hear you all liked our recipe.
Great recipe! Salmon was tasty and everyone liked it. WSill definately make this a regular.
Thanks
Glad you liked it!
OMG, so delicious and so easy. This one is a keeper!
Thanks Gary!
Lee
We love this recipe!!
Thanks Carla!!
I love this recipe – salmon was super moist and the sauce was perfect. Thank you for sharing!
Thanks Debbie!
Easy and delicious!