Salmon with delicious twist
6-Ingredient Honey Garlic Salmon
This is honey garlic soy salmon, a dish made from just 6 ingredients in under 35 minutes. Enjoy big flavor with minimal effort! Serve with rice and steamed seasonal vegetables to complete the meal.
quick and easy dinner that delivers! This is honey garlic soy salmon, a dish made from just 6 ingredients in under 35 minutes. Marinate fresh salmon in a 5-ingredient sauce, and then reduce the rest down on the stove to a glaze as the salmon bakes. Serve with thickened glaze, brown rice, and your favorite vegetables for a simple, flavorful, and healthy meal.
Baking is certainly where my heart is, but it’s so much fun to share everyday dinner recipes with you. I struggle to find a meal my entire family enjoys, which includes young children who are often skeptical about what shows up on their plates! Today’s honey garlic soy glazed salmon is usually the answer when (1) I need dinner FAST, (2) I need dinner to be DELICIOUS for everyone, and (3) I need to use as few ingredients and dishes as possible.
You’ll Love This Honey Garlic Soy Salmon, Too:
• 35 minutes total: 15 minutes to marinate, 15–20 to bake
• Only 6 easy ingredients
• Marinade doubles as the glaze
• Minimal effort, maximum flavor
• Casual enough for the week, fancy enough for guests
• Healthy, wholesome, dairy free
Marinade Doubles as a Glaze
The 5-ingredient glaze is inspired by delicious Asian cuisine and made with soy sauce, ginger, garlic, honey, and a little sesame oil to help the marinade stick. As a marinade, it’s sweet and salty but has a deeper, more complex flavor from the garlic and fresh ginger. Use half of the mixture for a marinade, and then reduce the rest on the stove for a few minutes to drizzle over the cooked salmon. As a thickened glaze, the flavor is incredibly bold. It’s so, so tasty.
I also LOVE this honey soy sauce glazed salmon from the fantastic food blog Omnivore’s Kitchen. There’s a little whole-grain mustard and chili powder in that sauce.
This marinade/glaze reduction is also great on chicken. Replace the salmon with boneless chicken breasts or thighs and increase the bake time until the chicken is cooked through. See recipe Notes.
You can also skip the protein, make the sauce, reduce down on the stove and pour over a plate of steamed vegetables and rice. I’ve done that often and leftovers are delicious for lunch the next day.
Ingredients You Need & Why
There are so few ingredients in this honey garlic soy salmon dish… and each one has a key job!
• Salmon: The fresher the salmon, the better. You want about 24 ounces (680g) total, and purchasing individual fillets makes prep easier. Try to find salmon fillets that are an even thickness so that they all cook in the same amount of time. There are many different types of salmon and this how to buy salmon guide is a helpful resource. (Not affiliated at all, just a really handy article about fresh/frozen/types.)
• Honey: Honey is one of the main ingredients and pairs so well with garlic, something you may know if you’ve had this honey garlic shrimp before. (A similar, but even quicker dish!)
• Soy Sauce: I typically use Kikkoman less sodium tamari soy sauce, which is labeled gluten free. Again, not sponsored… just a fan! If you’re gluten sensitive or intolerant, you can use that or swap the soy sauce with actual tamari sauce.
• Sesame Oil: This is a new addition over the past couple years and I use it for sticking power. After dozens of times preparing this dish, I found the salmon holds onto the marinade a little better when there’s 1 Tablespoon of oil. If you don’t have sesame oil, olive oil is a fine replacement.
• Garlic: You can use fresh or jarred/minced.
• Fresh Ginger: Ginger
- salmon fillets, about 6 ounces (170g) each
- 1/3 cup (80ml) reduced sodium soy sauce (or regular)
- 1/3 cup (113g) honey
- 1 Tablespoon (15ml) sesame oil (or olive oil)
- 3 garlic cloves, minced (or 2 teaspoons jarred/minced)
- 1 teaspoon peeled minced fresh ginger
- optional for garnish: chopped green onion and/or sesame seeds
Can I Use Frozen Salmon?
Yes, you can use frozen uncooked salmon. Thaw completely and then follow the recipe as written, including marinating and baking. You can use frozen/thawed salmon when making this 5 ingredient honey chipotle salmon recipe too.
Step Photos: How to Make Honey Garlic Soy Salmon
Place salmon in a container or zipped-top bag. I usually use these glass containers for marinating and they work just as well for storing leftovers and freezing meals/baked goods. (See 8 Freezer Meals for some inspiration!) Mix the marinade ingredients together and pour about half over the salmon:
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Marinate the salmon for at least 15 minutes and up to 4 hours. You can stretch this to 8 hours if needed. You’ll love that this dish can work with any schedule, in a rush or not!
Place salmon on lined baking sheet; reserve used marinade if desired to reduce with the rest of the unused marinade:
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• gives this dish a wholesome flavour
The sauce will caramelize over the salmon as it bakes:
While the salmon bakes, reduce the remaining marinade on the stove to make a glaze. You want a rich, thick glaze:
Drizzle the glaze all over the warm baked salmon. You could even drizzle a spoonful onto the salmon fillets towards the end of the bake time and return them to the oven to finish baking.
And your dinner is hot & ready! Feel free to garnish the honey garlic soy salmon with green onion and/or sesame seeds. I like to steam broccoli and make a packet of brown rice as the salmon cooks
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