Salmon is such a great dinner to have, if you can, once a week. You get a lot of omega-3s, which is great for your brain, and it’s got some good protein in there, which is great for your muscles. It’s just such a great food to incorporate, if you can, at least once a week.
And it is not as complicated as some people may think. People may feel intimidated, thinking oh, it’s so fishy, what do I have to do to flavor it and minimize the fishy flavor? But actually, there’s a lot you can do with salmon, and nearly every vegetable pairs well with it.
1) Sheet-Pan Salmon and Vegetables
This is so easy. You just literally get your cookie sheet out, get that parchment paper, put your salmon down skin side down, and then you can season it. Right there on the same sheet, on the other side of it, you can add some veggies and bake it all together.
A favorite for me would be some Parmesan breadcrumb crusted Brussels sprouts. If you want to be quick and easy, you could just put some asparagus spears, some avocado oil, and some cracked pepper and salt on top. Then you have your protein and your veggie right there. You could also add some halved small potatoes on the same sheet if you’d like to make it more of a complete meal, adding in those carbs.
2) Honey Garlic Salmon
Delicious. You’ve got the honey for the sweetness, you’ve got the garlic, and there are so many health benefits to adding garlic in. This is going to be such a delicious meal and really not complicated.
You can pair this with any carb or veggie of your choosing. You could do some sort of mashed potato, some pasta, some green beans, or some broccoli. You could even do the honey garlic salmon with broccoli served over rice. That would be a really fun combination.
3) Lemon Butter Baked Salmon
This is such an easy combination. The lemon really helps bring out the flavor in the salmon while also minimizing the fishy flavor. It’s going to add a lot of flavor, and you can combine this with any carb or veggies that you’d like.
You could add it with some quinoa, and then do some sort of veggie with it like some asparagus or some green beans. That would be really delicious.
4) Teriyaki Salmon
This is a favorite in our house. We typically serve this over a bed of rice. You could do brown rice if you want to add a little more fiber, or white rice.
Our favorite veggies to use with teriyaki salmon would be broccoli and carrots, making it like a teriyaki bowl and stirring that together. That’s hands down the way I would do this one.
5) Pesto Salmon
This is a go-to in our house, and I’ll tell you why. Just find your favorite pesto. We enjoy the one from Costco, and Trader Joe’s also has a delicious one. You just pour that pesto on top of the salmon, which is on a cookie sheet with parchment paper, and that salmon’s good to go. That’s all it needs is some pesto poured on top.
It gives it such a delicious flavor, and it pairs with literally any vegetable. If we’re in a hurry, we’ll do asparagus spears with avocado oil and salt and pepper. If we want a little more fun and fancy, we’ll do the Parmesan and breadcrumb crusted halved Brussels sprouts.
I also really like some diced up sweet potatoes. Typically I’ll do the sweet potato on the side in a cast iron pan with some avocado oil, then I’ll dice up some rosemary, thyme, and oregano and toss that around with the diced sweet potatoes. Chef’s kiss, it’s my favorite dinner.
6) Garlic Butter Salmon Bites
This is really fun. It’s like the salmon but in bites. It’s cubed up, and that’s fun to just poke with your fork and eat. You can serve this over a salad, which would be a perfect use of this.
Go with some sort of dark salad, maybe a spinach salad. You could also do a spring salad or a kale salad with maybe some dried cranberries in there. That sounds delicious with some sort of fun dressing. I like a balsamic vinaigrette, but your favorite dressing with this, having lots of color with that salmon, would be delicious.
7) Maple Glazed Salmon
Absolutely yes, I love this one. So good and such a crowd pleaser. I find that for people who don’t typically like salmon, the maple glaze is really going to give it a delicious flavor that minimizes the fishy flavor.
You can combine this with the carb and veggie of your choice, like some green beans, broccoli, or carrots, and the carb could be some mashed potatoes if you’d like. Or if you want to lean into an Asian theme with it, you could do some rice and a veggie of your choice like a bok choy or something fun like that.
8) Salmon Salad
Love a salmon salad. You can cook your salmon, bake it, and then shred it up or cube it up. Then you can add fun things like avocado, cucumber, and some sort of vinaigrette.
Add whatever you like to that salad and whatever dressing you like. You could lean into an Asian theme with the salad or go more of a balsamic. It’s just going to be such a beautiful presentation with the bright orange salmon and the colorful salad below. It’s beautiful.
9) Blackened Salmon
Delicious. You just put that blackened seasoning right on top and then sear it on your skillet. Then you can put whatever you like with this combination.
You can lean into the blackened flavor and do a Louisiana style with this one if you’d like. You could do a side of jambalaya soup, or some black-eyed peas, and some bok choy or okra, or whatever sort of theme you want to go with. This blackened salmon is such a good combination.
10) Seared Salmon with Asparagus
I love salmon with asparagus. These are such a great combination, and you can pair it with any carb that you like. You could really make this a quick dinner, cooking it all together on one pan in the oven.
You could serve it over quinoa, rice, mashed potatoes, diced potatoes, or a big baked potato. Make a little baked potato bar next to your seared salmon and asparagus. You’re going to sear that salmon right there on the stove, and that’s going to be delicious.
11) Salmon Tacos
Delicious. It’s like fish tacos, and instead of the fish being a white fish, it’s salmon. Why not, right? Make sure you get the lime in there, and you can add some avocado and some coleslaw. Those would be some really great combinations.
So colorful, right? You could have that purple cabbage in there, which would be really beautiful, maybe some cilantro as well if you like, and some fresh tomatoes. This would be a really fun combination, and you can use corn or flour tortillas of your choice.
12) Salmon Patties
Yes, salmon patties are so delicious. The great thing about salmon patties is you can use canned or fresh salmon. I’ve previously baked the salmon in the oven as I normally would, adding whatever flavoring you want, salt and pepper, and then let it cool down and shred it up. Even easier is getting the canned or packaged cooked salmon, that way it’s already cooked and you’re skipping a step.
Then you can mix it in with some eggs and bread crumbs. You could add some diced green onions, some mustard if you like, and some lemon. Roll them up into little balls, put some bread crumbs on the outside, and cook that right there on the stove. So delicious.
I usually serve this with some veggies on the side. You could do a salad, I like that combination, or serve it with some mashed potatoes and some asparagus or broccoli, or whatever your favorite vegetable is of the day.
13) Mediterranean Salmon with Tapenade
This is delicious. It’s going to be really salty because of the olives in the tapenade, which gives the salmon a lot of flavor, and it’s going to be really colorful. You could easily cook this right on the sheet pan, which is perfect because you have fewer dishes anyway.
You could really turn this into a Mediterranean evening. You can have some hummus on the side, some naan bread if you’d like, and any other Greek style dish like a Greek salad on the side would be really yummy to have with this. This would be a really fun Mediterranean themed evening.
14) Cajun Salmon
If you like a spicy, Louisiana style meal, this one is a really fun one. You can have it with some pasta or rice to minimize the heat. You can lean into the Cajun theme and have some other Cajun related items with your dinner as well to really embrace the theme that evening.
15) Salmon Rice Bowl
Love this. Salmon and rice go really well together. You could cook the salmon right there in the oven, and then put the rice on the stove or in the rice cooker, which is what we like to do since it’s the easiest way to cook the rice. You could do white or brown rice.
Then serve it with whatever vegetable you have in the fridge, whatever you have on hand. Chop it up, mix it together, and that’s going to be really great. You could put some sort of spicy mayo or teriyaki or whatever seasoning you have, throw it all together, and it’s going to be delish.
16) Miso Salmon
This will be so great. It’s going to give so much flavor to your salmon, and you can broil it until it caramelizes. It’s going to be so delicious.
You could serve this over rice with some sort of vegetables, it could be steamed green beans or broccoli. The flavors are just going to come together so nicely with this one, making sure you have the carb, the protein, and the veggie together.
17) Baked Salmon with Broccoli
Yes, and I love to do this on one big cookie sheet with parchment paper, putting everything on that cookie sheet so I have fewer dishes to wash afterward. The broccoli is so nice in the oven because it gives such a nice crisp texture.
You could even flip it over midway through the baking. I usually bake my salmon about 20 minutes at 400°F, so you could flip your veggies midway through so they get browned on multiple sides. I like to put a little avocado oil, salt, and pepper, and you could put a little Parmesan cheese on top of your veggies if you like that too.
I would dice up or halve some small potatoes on there to get some carbs with this. You could really do any carbs you want with this one, even some garlic bread, pasta, or rice.
18) Salmon Foil Packets
This is a great way to cook salmon without having a lot of mess, and you’re going to cook the salmon to the perfect doneness in the middle. You’re going to bake the salmon in these foil packets and have a nice combination of lemon and butter. You’re going to add some veggies and some carbs to this, and cleanup is going to be such a snap with this method.
19) Honey Mustard Salmon
Love it. You can use different mustards with this if you like. You could use your standard mustard, or a Dijon mustard. I just love the combination of the honey and the mustard together on the salmon. It adds some sweetness but also an improved texture in the salmon, just some moisture in there.
I’ll cook that in the oven for about 20 minutes at 400°F. You can combine it with any sort of veggies, or a salad would be a really fun combination, and then get some carbs in there too so you can really maximize and have a well-rounded meal.
20) Salmon Quinoa Plate
Yes, this is such a great combination. Quinoa is so great because it’s a carb but it also gives you some protein and some fiber, and salmon combines well with anything, especially here with the quinoa. Then whatever veggies you have on hand, just throw them together, and this is a great easy meal.
