Baked Blackened Salmon – 😋🍍🙌🏻🥭 Rich, buttery salmon is baked with a homemade blackening season for restaurant-worthy salmon! It’s perfectly smoky, a little bit spicy, and a little bit sweet. This salmon is tender, so EASY, bursting with flavor, and ready in just 15 minutes! Serve it with a fruit salsa for even more juicy flavor!
Easy Blackened Salmon Recipe
If you’re wondering for a way to jazz up baked salmon look no further than this easy baked blackened salmon recipe. It’s so incredibly easy and the flavor that the salmon is the perfect blend of smoky, a little spicy (scale the cayenne pepper up or down to taste), a little bit sweet, and it all just works together so well.
What I love about this salmon recipe is that the blackening seasoning is made with common pantry spices. Just mix them up and pat them into the salmon and bake.
Another bonus: this salmon bakes quickly! In about 10 minutes which makes this a go-to recipe that’s perfect for busy weeknight dinners, or lazy evenings when you can’t begin to tackle anything too complicated!
I like serving the salmon with a fruit salsa, especially in the summer, but it’s optional. My favorites are my Pineapple Salsa or this Peach Mango Salsa. The sweetness of the fruit is a nice balance to the smoky spice of the blackening seasoning. But if you’re a rice, mashed potatoes, roasted asparagus, roasted vegetables person as your side dishes, that’s all great too.
Ingredients in Blackened Salmon
For this healthy-ish, high protein, low-carb, and gluten-free salmon recipe, you’ll need the following very common pantry ingredients to make the spice blend:
- Olive oil
- Salmon – see the FAQs below for what type of salmon I recommend
- Smoked paprika
- Kosher salt
- Black pepper
- Garlic powder
- Brown sugar
- Dried basil
- Dried oregano
- Cayenne pepper
- Fresh herbs, optional for serving such as cilantro, parsley, etc.
Note: Scroll down to the recipe card section of the post for the ingredients with amounts included and for more complete directions.
How to Make Oven Baked Blackened Salmon
- Preheat your oven, drizzle a sheet pan with olive oil (or lined baking sheet with parchment paper), and make the homemade blackening seasoning by combining all the spices in a small bowl.
- Pat the salmon filets dry with paper towels, drizzle with olive oil, and sprinkle the seasoning over the tops of the filets, patting it in as necessary.
- Bake in the preheated oven for about 10 minutes, or until salmon is done.
- While the salmon bakes, optionally make a fruit salsa. I love my Pineapple Salsa or this Peach Mango Salsa is also wonderful.
- Optionally garnish your blackened fish with fresh herbs and serve!
what to serve with salmon
Storage
In the Refrigerator: This recipe will keep in an airtight container in the fridge for up to 4-5 days. Store fish and salsa separately.
In the Freezer: This recipe will keep airtight in the freezer for up to 2-3 months.
To Reheat: I tend to just let leftover salmon come up to room temp on my counter for about 30 minutes. Or use a microwave for quickness and ease and reheat for about 30 seconds on high, or as needed. Just easy-does-it because too much heat can dry it out in a hurry.
Fun Way to Repurpose Leftovers: Make salmon tacos! Layer chunks of salmon into tortillas, add salsa, avocado, and voila!
Recipe FAQs
For this recipe I used 4 salmon filets, which are the center cut of the salmon, and about 6 ounces each, uncooked weight. However, this is the most expensive way to purchase salmon because you’re purchasing convenience as well as the thickest, meatiest portion.
For a cheaper option, consider buying a large piece of salmon (a whole salmon filet) that’s about 1.5 pounds like I use in many of the salmon recipes below the recipe card (with photos) such as my super viral Garlic Butter Salmon or Honey Lemon Salmon. It will take longer to bake since it’s one large piece rather than 4 smaller pieces, but 20ish minutes, depending on the cut is about right.
You can use frozen and thawed (cheaper), or fresh salmon that you buy from your grocer’s seafood counter, which is what I do.
You can use skin-on or skinless salmon. The skin side (or what was the skin side) should be down, resting on the baking sheet.
If you’re short on something for your blend of spices, it’s likely fine that you can just omit it. I would not omit the smoked paprika because you’ll miss out on smoky flavor. Nor would I omit the cayenne pepper because it provides heat and the brown sugar is essential for just a hint of sweetness that balances the whole dish. Other than those 3, it’s a pretty flexible seasoning mixture.
Or want to add onion powder or use chili powder or dried thyme, go for it!
Not exactly but they’re close cousins. If you want to use your favorite cajun seasoning plus a bit of brown sugar mixed into it and spread that on your salmon fillets, I won’t tell.
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Preheat oven to 425F and drizzle 1 tablespoon of the olive oil over a baking sheet. Tip – To protect your baking sheet and make for easier cleanup, I always line with foil or parchment paper and THEN drizzle the olive oil but do as you see fit.
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Pat the salmon dry with paper towels, place it on the baking sheet evenly spaced, and either drizzle or brush the remaining 1 tablespoon oil over the top, distributed evenly. Set aside momentarily.
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Combine all the dry spices in a small bowl, and mix with a little spoon. Seasoning Tips – The ratios of the ingredients in the spice blend are very flexible. I always add extra salt (2 tsp rather than 1) and extra cayenne powder (at least 1/2 tsp if not more) because that’s how we like it. If you don’t have one or two of the spices, or want to add something else like onion powder, dried thyme, etc. it’ll likely be just fine. This is a very flexible dry rub.
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Evenly spoon the mixture over the top of each salmon filet, pressing it in and patting it in with your fingers to help it adhere if necessary.
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Bake for about 8 to 10 minutes, or until the salmon is done. Baking Tips – Because this is quite a hot oven, the salmon filets are thin, and salmon cooks quickly in general, it will bake very quickly. Salmon is done when it’s lightly crisped on top, flakes easily with a fork, and is done to your liking in the center. The technical correct safe temperature to cook salmon is to 145F, however in my experience, you’ll have no trouble quickly reaching that temp and overcooking is more of an issue rather than undercooking. Rotate your pan once during baking if desired for more even cooking.
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Optionally make a fruit salsa while the salmon bakes. See Notes below for my two favorite quick and easy fruit salsas.
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Optionally garnish the baked salmon with fresh herbs and serve.
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Storage – Leftovers will keep airtight for up to 4-5 days in the fridge, or for up to 2-3 months in the freezer. However, fish in general is always best when freshly made and enjoyed. You can reheat leftover salmon in your microwave for 20-30 seconds or as needed, or just let it come to room temp for about 30 minutes before you plan to eat the leftovers.
For a cheaper option, consider buying a large piece of salmon (a whole salmon filet) that’s about 1.5 pounds like I use in many of the salmon recipes below the recipe card (with photos) such as my super viral Garlic Butter Salmon or Honey Lemon Salmon. It will take longer to bake since it’s one large piece rather than 4 smaller pieces, but 20ish minutes, depending on the cut is about right.
You can use frozen and thawed (cheaper), or fresh salmon that you buy from your grocer’s seafood counter, which is what I do.
You can use skin-on or skinless salmon. The skin side (or what was the skin side) should be down, resting on the baking sheet.
Fruit Salsa – I like serving the salmon with my Pineapple Salsa or my Peach Mango Salsa. The sweetness of the fruit is a nice balance to the smoky spice of the blackening seasoning but they’re optional.
Serving: 1filet, Calories: 316kcal, Carbohydrates: 3g, Protein: 34g, Fat: 18g, Saturated Fat: 3g, Polyunsaturated Fat: 5g, Monounsaturated Fat: 9g, Cholesterol: 94mg, Sodium: 658mg, Potassium: 884mg, Fiber: 1g, Sugar: 1g, Vitamin A: 501IU, Vitamin C: 0.1mg, Calcium: 36mg, Iron: 2mg
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
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