Baked Sockeye Salmon Recipe

This Baked Sockeye Salmon recipe is a foolproof way to prepare fish at home. Simple ingredients + 5 minutes of prep time, and a perfectly flaky piece of salmon with lemon and herbs will be ready!

Even though we have America’s favorites like buttermilk chicken and fettuccine bolognese, the #1 most popular protein around here has been salmon for quite awhile. While many home cooks are intimidated by making salmon, it doesn’t have to be that way.

I’m happy to keep providing easy salmon recipes with step-by-step tips that will give you restaurant-quality meals at home, like salmon pasta and salmon pesto pasta.

Just like my grilled sockeye salmon, this lemon herb baked sockeye salmon recipe is very simple yet very delicious.

It’s great for just eating on it’s own with a side of roasted glazed carrots, or as a way of cooking salmon to make another recipe, like Cajun salmon pasta or salmon cakes.

“This was maybe the best baked salmon we have ever tasted! This will go into our regular rotation.”

-Rosa

What is sockeye salmon?

Sockeye salmon is a type of salmon mainly found in the northern Pacific ocean. It’s flesh (when raw) has a very deep reddish-orange hue to it, making it easy to spot amongst 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-3’s (so good for your heart!).

It has a rich flavor, so this type of salmon will probably be most enjoyed by people who really like salmon.

Sockeye salmon stands up well to grilling, baking (like pesto salmon and bourbon glazed salmon), broiling, or even used for crab stuffed salmon – just about any way you can think of to cook it!

The ingredients for baked sockeye salmon are simple:

• sockeye salmon – you’ll need 12 ounces of sockeye salmon for this recipe. It can be one large sockeye salmon fillet or two smaller ones. I love the sockeye salmon fillets at Trader Joe’s! It’s always fresh.
• 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! If you’re a lemon lover like me, maybe just buy a whole bag of lemons and make lemon creme brulee or a lemon curd cake for dessert!
• fresh herbs – I used a combination of rosemary and thyme for this recipe for sockeye salmon, but you can use all one or the other. If you buy a clamshell of fresh rosemary, you’ll surely have some left over, so homemade rosemary simple syrup for bourbon rosemary cocktails and rosemary gin cocktails are always a great option to use it up. A Couple Cooks have some great thyme recipes if you have extra thyme, too.
• salt and pepper – seasoning is key to making baked sockeye salmon taste great.

How to cook sockeye salmon:

As mentioned above, there are many options, but I think the best way to cook sockeye salmon is in the oven (this is also the way I prepare it for salmon alfredo and for a salmon sandwich when I’m not grilling).

First, you’ll want to lightly brush a rimmed baking pan with olive oil (or spray it with cooking spray) so that the fish does not stick to the pan. Place the salmon, skin side down, on the pan.

Drizzle the salmon with olive oil, then some lemon juice. Sprinkle it with lemon zest, herbs, and salt and pepper. And, if you’d like to, arrange a few lemon slices over the fish.

Bake the sockeye salmon at 350 degrees for 14 to 16 minutes or until the internal temperature of the thickest part of the fish reaches 145 degrees F.

No matter how you plan on cooking sockeye salmon, I recommend investing in a good instant-read thermometer. That way, you can check to be sure the internal temperature of the salmon reaches 145 degrees F but doesn’t get overcooked for sockeye salmon recipe.

What to serve on the side?

I love the combination of salmon and a green vegetable, so balsamic asparagus or balsamic green beans would be a yummy choice to go with this sockeye salmon recipe.

You can never go wrong with a great green salad with homemade miso dressing or citrus vinaigrette with baked sockeye salmon.

Butternut squash noodles, Greek yogurt mashed potatoes or a roasted radicchio wedge salad are other great side dish options. All of these pair well with salmon piccata, too!

Note: This recipe was originally published in 2020 The recipe was updated in 2023 to be even better, the photos were reshot, and the post was revised accordingly. The original photos appear below.