Roasted Salmon Steaks with a lemon-butter sauce are super quick and easy to prepare, and super delicious, too. Modeled after a recipe my mom created while on a family camping trip in Alaska, it calls for only 6 ingredients, with only 5 minutes of prep time. And, the salmon comes out flaky and moist every time!
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Salmon Steaks Recipe
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.
Eating Fresh Salmon in Alaska
I 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. 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. 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. She then put it on the grill and cooked it just until it was medium-rare. OMG, it was sooo good! Moist, tender, fresh, and full of flavor.
Salmon Steak Recipe Ingredients
The easy sauce for this flavorful salmon dish only calls for 6 ingredients. Mom’s original sauce included four; I added in one more:
- Bone-in salmon steaks (can substitute fillets)
- Melted butter
- Fresh lemon juice
- Worcestershire sauce
- Kosher salt
- Fresh ground pepper
- Paprika (my addition – for color and a bit of complexity)
How to cook Salmon Steaks
I have taken mom’s same flavor profile and created a roasted salmon version of her campground grilled dish, using salmon steaks. (You can also use fillets.) 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. Arrange 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.
“Super easy!! Everyone loved their meal!! Thank you for sharing.”
Diana
What vegetables go well with salmon
Salmon goes with many different vegetables. It’s delicious with asparagus, broccoli, zucchini, Brussels sprouts, spinach, kale, lettuce, carrots and potatoes to name a few!
How to Store Salmon Steak After Roasting
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.
Salmon and Salmon Steaks FAQ
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.
More of Lee’s Favorite Recipes
Roasted Salmon Steaks Recipe
Roasted Salmon Steaks with a lemon-butter sauce are super quick and easy to prepare, and super delicious, too. Modeled after a recipe my mom created while on a family camping trip in Alaska, it calls for only 6 ingredients, with 5 minutes of prep time. And, the salmon comes out flaky and moist every time! Can also be grilled in foil (see Variation below).
- Prep Time: 5 mins
- Resting time: 5 mins
- Cook Time: 10 mins
- Total Time: 20 minutes
- Yield: 4 servings 1x
- Diet: Gluten Free
Ingredients
- 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
Keywords: roasted fish, lemon butter sauce
Easy and delicious!
★★★★★
I love this recipe – salmon was super moist and the sauce was perfect. Thank you for sharing!
★★★★★
Thanks Debbie!
We love this recipe!!
★★★★★
Thanks Carla!!
OMG, so delicious and so easy. This one is a keeper!
★★★★★
Thanks Gary!
Lee
Great recipe! Salmon was tasty and everyone liked it. WSill definately make this a regular.
Thanks
★★★★★
Glad you liked it!
Super easy!! Everyone loved their meal!! Thank you for sharing…..
★★★★★
You’re welcome! Happy to hear you all liked our recipe.
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.
Forgot the star rating –
★★★★★