Oven Baked Sockeye Salmon
Learn the best way to prepare sockeye salmon in the oven. This Baked Sockeye Salmon recipe is simple, flaky, and ready in minutes.
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“This was maybe the best baked salmon we have ever tasted! This will go into our regular rotation.”
—Rosa
“Absolutely delicious! I will make it again – it’s a new family favorite.”
—Nancy
This Is The Best Way To Prepare Sockeye Salmon
Many home cooks are intimidated by making salmon, but it doesn’t have to be that way. If you’ve ever been disappointed about the way your oven baked salmon has come out, we hope you’ll give it another try. Or, if you’ve never tried it at all, we’re here to walk you through it.
While many food blogs keep their primary focus on chicken and beef, we’re known for our salmon recipes around here. Our Salmon Pasta and Salmon Sandwich recipes have been at the top of Google for years, with millions of pageviews.
And just like with those recipes, we’re here today to share step-by-step tips that will give you a restaurant-quality meal at home, when you make the best baked salmon recipe of your life.
Bookmark this recipe and come back to it anytime you need an easy protein for a weeknight dinner, are doing meal prep, or need to cook salmon to make another recipe, like Fresh Salmon Cakes.
Why You’ll Love This Sockeye Salmon Recipe
- Baking salmon in the oven keeps it tender and flaky, with a melt-in-your-mouth texture.
- Use whatever herbs you have on hand, or skip them. Don’t have a lemon? Use an orange or lime. It’s all good!
- Just one baking sheet needed, so there’s minimal cleanup. No foil or parchment paper needed, unless you want to.
Sockeye Salmon: What It Is And Why It’s Perfect For Baking
Sockeye salmon is a type of salmon mainly found in the northern Pacific Ocean, near Alaska and Canada (especially British Columbia). Its flesh (when raw) has a very deep reddish-orange hue to it, making it easy to spot among the (primarily lighter orange) salmon varieties at your seafood market.
Sockeye is slightly oilier than other types of salmon, which means it’s loaded with omega-3s (so good for your heart!). This fattiness also helps it stay tender while it bakes.
It has a richer flavor than milder varieties like Atlantic salmon and coho salmon. If you’re the kind of person who orders salmon on purpose (not just because it’s “the lighter option”), sockeye is probably your fish.
Baked Sockeye Salmon Recipe Ingredients
A full recipe card, including exact ingredient amounts, appears at the bottom of this post.
- sockeye salmon – you’ll need 1-1/4 pounds (20 ounces) of sockeye salmon for this recipe. It can be one large sockeye salmon fillet or several smaller ones. We love the skin-on salmon fillets at Trader Joe’s! It’s consistently fresh for us.
- olive oil – a little bit of oil rubbed onto the salmon flesh keeps it nice and moist in the oven, and helps it brown as well.
- lemon juice and zest – 1 large lemon should give you enough juice and zest for this sockeye salmon recipe. Obviously, be sure to zest it before juicing!
- fresh herbs – we used a combination of rosemary and thyme for this recipe for sockeye salmon, but you can use all one or the other. Fresh dill, oregano and parsley are also good here!
- salt and pepper – seasoning is key to making oven baked salmon taste great.
How To Make Oven Baked Sockeye Salmon
- PREP. Brush a small sheet pan or baking dish with a bit of olive oil (line it with aluminum foil first for the easiest cleanup) and place the salmon, skin side down, in the center of the pan. Drizzle the salmon with olive oil, then lemon juice. Sprinkle it with the lemon zest, herbs and salt and pepper. If desired, arrange some lemon slices over the fish.
- BAKE. Transfer to a preheated oven and cook until the internal temperature of the thickest part of the fish reaches 145 degrees F and it flakes easily with a fork.
Baking Sockeye Salmon At 350 Degrees: How Long
Baking time for salmon at 350 degrees F can vary a little bit based on tcihe thickness of your piece of salmon. After all, every fish is different!
As a general guideline, cook 12 to 15 minutes for each inch of thickness, and then start checking the internal temperature using an instant-read thermometer. The thickest part of the fish needs to reach 145 degrees F.
Home Chef Tips For Baking Sockeye Salmon
- Invest in an instant read thermometer. This is the quickest, easiest and best way to check the internal temperature as your fish cooks without cutting into it and letting all the juices run out.
- Rub on some of our Salmon Seasoning Recipe for even more flavor.
- If you want to add a sprinkle of minced garlic, or a mixture of spices like paprika or onion powder to this baked sockeye salmon fillet, we won’t stop you!
Storage And Reheating
- Refrigerate: If you have leftover salmon, transfer it to an airtight container and place it in the fridge uncovered for a few hours until it is fully chilled, then cover it with the lid and keep in the refrigerator up to 2 days.
- Reheat: Warm in a 300 degree F oven or in the microwave at 50% power until heated through.
- Freeze: Chill and then freeze in an airtight container for up to 2 months. Thaw in the fridge overnight before reheating.
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Baked Sockeye Salmon Recipe
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Ingredients
- 1 ¼ pound sockeye salmon
- 3 tablespoons olive oil divided
- 2 tablespoon fresh lemon juice (be sure to zest lemon before juicing)
- 4 teaspoons grated lemon zest
- 4 teaspoons chopped fresh rosemary and/or thyme
- 1 teaspoon kosher salt
- ½ teaspoon cracked black pepper
- 1 lemon thinly sliced (optional)
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Brush small rimmed baking pan with 1 tablespoon olive oil. Place salmon, skin side down, in center of pan.
- Drizzle salmon with remaining 2 tablespoons olive oil, then drizzle with lemon juice. Sprinkle salmon with lemon zest, rosemary and/or thyme, and salt and pepper. If desired, arrange sliced lemon over salmon.
- Transfer to oven and bake 14 to 16 minutes or until internal temperature of thickest part of fish reaches 145 degrees F. Serve immediately.
Cooking this tonight! Hoping its as good as it sounds. I love that the recipe is just one page. This recipe uses my favorite spices.
I hope it turned out great, Colleen!
Absolutely delicious! I will make it again – it’s a new family favorite.
I’m so glad to hear that. Thank you so much, Nancy!
Outstanding, made along with the Greek yogurt feta mash.
Sounds like an amazing meal. So glad you liked this recipe Cathey!
Made it today and it was a hit. First time I bake sockeye salmon. Recommend without reservations.
Thanks for the lovely review, Carol!
Sockeye have bones to contend with?
All salmon have bones! Just run your finger along the fillet to feel any pinbones that your fishmonger may have missed, and then pull them out. I usually buy my sockeye salmon at Trader Joe’s, and haven’t found any bones.
This recipe is truly amazing. I tried it and it turned out very nice.
Yum yum!! Just made a whole fillet with this super easy recipe with the Greek smashed spuds! So good. Added a few handfuls of those good for you, or (so I’ve been told ) haha mixed young greens, out of the plastic thingy. I really don’t love to cook, but will for sure make these again. Thank you
I am so glad to hear you liked this, Cathy. Sounds like you had an easy, healthy dinner!
This was maybe the best baked salmon we have ever tasted! This will go into our regular rotation. Thank you!
I’m so glad to hear that, Rosa. Thanks for stopping by!
Wonderful meal and very easy to make…
I am so glad to hear that, Kimberly!