Salmon made with a garlic herb butter sauce served with asparagus, lemon garlic rice and dill sauce. Can be baked in the oven or on a smoker grill.

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A white plate with salmon asparagus and rice, topped with a sauce and herbs.

Ways to Prepare Salmon

We have a few different ways we like to eat salmon. We have steamed, baked, grilled, smoked and have served it with many different options. One thing we like to consider before we cook salmon is the type.

Pink or Humpy

If it is a pink or humpy salmon we usually save those for a batch of smoking. They do not have the best flavor but once you brine and smoke for 4 hours it really doesn't matter. That is why I would never smoke a king or coho. You really dont want to cover up the fresh flavors of those cuts.

If we do cook our pink salmon, I tend to mix it up with a pesto or creamy sauce or make some fish tacos.

King or Coho

If we are lucky enough to bring home a king or coho there is only one way to prepare it. That's with garlic, lemon, and some dill. King salmon is so flavorful we do not like to mask it with a lot of heavy flavors. I like to stick with fresh citrus and herbs. I typically think the darker the meat is the fewer ingredients I use to cook it.

Trout

If we catch trout its almost always cooked over a camp fire, pan fried or smoked.

Today I am sharing our go to garlic herb butter salmon recipe with a side of lemon garlic rice and dill sauce. We love to cook our on our Trager grill but this will work just as great in the oven. As the summer goes on I will share some of the other ways we like to cook fish.

We use the big game food saver to package all of our meat. We used to have a standard one but we were constantly getting freezer burns or the seals would break. This one is working so much better so far. It's a lot of work to clean, debone and vacuum seal fish, so having it go bad wasn't an option anymore.

Ingredients

For the Salmon

1 lb Salmon Filet
½ Diced onion
2 tbsp Butter Melted
2 Garlic Cloves Pressed or minced
1 tbsp Fresh Parsley Finely chopped
1 tbsp Fresh Dill 1 teaspoon if dried
1 Lemon Cut in half
½ tsp Sea Salt

For the Asparagus

1 lb Asparagus ends trimmed
1 tbsp Olive Oil
½ tsp Sea Salt
¼ tsp Pepper

For the Garlic Lemon Rice

1 tbsp Olive Oil
2 Garlic Cloves pressed or minced
1.5 Cups Vegetable Stock
1 Cup Basmati Rice could also use Jasmine Rice
2 tbsp Fresh Parsley finely chopped
2 tbsp Fresh Lemon Juice

Serve with a fresh and tangy lemon dill sauce.

When you look at the ingredient list you might be a tad overwhelmed. Please don't worry! Most of them are the same for each component so there is a lot of crossover.

With that said, this dish is super easy and fast to make because you can prepare your garlic, dill, parsley, and lemons at one time for all the components. You can also prepare the rice and sauce while the salmon is cooking.

For this demo, I had to use dried dill but I strongly recommend fresh dill. Unfortunately, my grocery store was completely out.

Fresh coho salmon with herbs garlic, onion and lemons. — Fresh coho salmon my husband caught last summer

Iinstructions

Prep your asparagus and salmon first.

Start with the asparagus by cleaning and removing the ends. Then toss in olive oil, salt and pepper.

A hand tossing asparagus in oil and salt and pepper.

Next, make your butter spread for the salmon. I prefer to press my garlic for this step as it really brings out all the juices of the garlic. You can also mince it. When I make the rice I simply mince it since it's being sautéed down.

Arrange your baking sheet with the salmon in the middle, onions around it, and then asparagus. If you don't like onions you can skip those.

Sheet pan with salmon asparagus lemon and fresh herbs.

Coat salmon in the butter spread and squeeze half of the lemon over the entire baking sheet. Make sure to get the salmon, onions, and asparagus. Take the other half of the lemon and cut thin slices to place on top of the salmon.

While the salmon is cooking, start the rice. Heat up the olive oil in a small pot and add in the garlic. Sauté for 30 seconds.

Then add in the vegetable stock and rice. Bring to a boil, reduce to simmer, and cook covered for 10 minutes.

When the rice is done remove it from heat. Fluff it with a fork, add in the parsley and lemon and cover until the salmon is ready

Of course, nothing makes it to our dinner table without some kind of sauce. Prepare the dill sauce by combining the mayo, greek yogurt, dill, sea salt, and pepper in a small bowl.

You know when your salmon is done when it is opaque and flakey. Very important you do not overcook salmon.

Flakey salmon topped with lemon and herbs.

When the salmon is finished serve with rice, asparagus, and dill sauce.

Plate with fresh salmon, asparagus, rice topped with sauce.

Tip for serving kids: When serving fish to kids, what I always like to do is make sure they get the pieces closest to the tail. There is a greater chance that they won't get any pin bones that may have been missed.

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FoodSaver Vacuum Sealer GM710-000 GameSaver Big Game Sealing System, reg, Black

Baking sheets

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