A 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.
Desserts are 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
- Easy recipe to halve or double
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!
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 and this baked lemon garlic salmon, too.
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.
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:
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 bakes.
The edges are crisp, the honey garlic soy salmon is tender, and the flavors are unbelievable!
Honey Garlic Soy Glazed Salmon Recipe
Ingredients You’ll Need
Instructions
- Place salmon fillets into a large zippered food storage bag or shallow dish/container. In a medium bowl, whisk soy sauce, honey, sesame oil, garlic, and ginger together. Pour about half of the mixture (just eyeball it) over salmon. Turn salmon to coat. Seal the bag/cover the dish and refrigerate for at least 15 minutes and up to 4 hours.
- Meanwhile, preheat oven to 375°F (191°C). Line a baking sheet with aluminum foil, parchment paper, or a silicone baking mat. Set aside.
- Line the marinated salmon fillets on the baking sheet, skin side down. You can hold onto this used marinade—see step 5. Bake salmon for 15–20 minutes or until done, which is 10 minutes per inch thickness measured from the thickest part of the fillet. (Salmon is considered done when an instant read thermometer reads the center of the thickest part as at least 145°F (63°C).) Feel free to turn your oven to broil for the last minute to really crisp the edges.
- Meanwhile, as the salmon bakes, pour the remaining unused marinade into a small saucepan or skillet over medium-high heat. If you want, you can add the remaining (used) marinade as well. Bring to a boil, and then reduce heat to medium-low and simmer for 3–4 minutes or until slightly thickened. Keep a close eye on it because it can quickly burn. It will bubble up a lot as it reduces. Remove from heat.
- Drizzle thickened glaze over baked salmon and serve with optional garnish.
- Leftovers keep well in the refrigerator for a few days. Reheat to your liking.
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