Teriyaki Salmon

Growing up my mom and I occasionally had special lunch dates together. One of my favorite places to go with her was a local Japanese restaurant. We both loved their ridiculously delicious Teriyaki Salmon bento boxes. The combination of getting some special alone time with my mom and the yummy salmon was always such a happy experience.

We never really made teriyaki salmon at home, so I really only had it out while on those lunch dates with my mom. Our recipe today is extra special for me and really all about nostalgia. Our recipe is so simple and always results in tender, flaky, flavorful salmon.

How to Make Our Teriyaki Salmon Recipe

Ingredients

Process

1. Divide marinade in half and set half aside. Pour half of remaining teriyaki marinade in a baking dish and top with salmon.
2. Pour rest of that half of marinade over fillets and refrigerate for 30 minutes.

3. Remove fillets from baking dish and pat dry.
4. Preheat oven to 375˚F. Lightly grease a baking sheet.
5. Top baking sheet with salmon fillets and bake for 8 to 12 minutes, depending on thickness of fillets and desired doneness.

6. While salmon is baking, pour unused marinade into a pan and simmer over medium heat.
7. Combine 1/4 cup water with 1 1/2 tablespoons cornstarch and stir together to make a slurry.
8. Once marinade is simmering, stir slurry into the small saucepan and continue to stir over medium-low heat, until sauce thickens enough to coat the back of a spoon. Remove sauce from heat.

**Refer to this post on Teriyaki Sauce for helpful process images of turning our marinade into a thickened glaze/sauce and for other useful teriyaki marinade/sauce tips**

9. Remove salmon from oven and set broiler on high.
10. Brush each fillet with a generous amount of teriyaki sauce and place under broiler for 1 to 2 minutes.

11. Remove from heat and top fillets with green onions and toasted sesame seeds. Season with salt and pepper, only if needed.

Tools You Will Need

• cutting board
• knife
• liquid measuring cup
• measuring spoons
• baking dish
• small mixing bowl
• baking sheet
• small whisk
• small pot
• pastry brush

Why This is the Best Teriyaki Salmon Recipe

• We use our own homemade teriyaki sauce and marinade (containing, soy sauce, garlic, ginger, honey, mirin, brown sugar, sesame oil, and cornstarch) which is packed with bright and delicious flavor with no additives or artificial preservatives.
• Keeping things simple is key and we keep things very simple in our teriyaki salmon recipe. There aren’t any hard to find ingredients, nor any complicated or unnecessary steps – making this a great recipe to make any day of the week.
• We glaze the fish in sauce and broil it for a minute, giving the top a slightly caramelized and pleasant char broiled flavor.

Tips and Tricks for Teriyaki Salmon Success

• We used wild caught salmon for our recipe, which tends to be leaner and cooks up faster than farm-raised salmon. If using farm raised salmon bake fillets for 10 to 13 minutes (depending on desired doneness and thickness of fillet)..
• If you want a light teriyaki flavor, you can skip marinating the fillets and just brush the thickened sauce onto the fillets before baking them.
• Broiling the fillets before serving slightly caramelizes the tops of the salmon, giving them a light and pleasant char flavor.

Can Our Teriyaki Salmon Recipe be Made Ahead of Time?

We don’t recommend making our teriyaki salmon ahead of time for serving, as it’s really best served fresh out of the oven.

Reheating Leftovers

If you have leftovers, you can reheat the fillets in the microwave. Cover the fillets with a damp paper towel and heat for 30 seconds to 1 minute.

You can also reheat the fillets in the oven. Set the oven to 325˚F, pour a couple tablespoons water in a baking dish and top with fillets. Tightly cover baking dish with foil and bake for 6 to 8 minutes or until just heated through.

The fillets will be tougher when reheating, but still delicious. The added toughness to the fillets is why we don’t recommend making this dish ahead of time and reheating for serving.

What to Serve with Our Teriyaki Salmon Recipe

There are so many ways to serve teriyaki salmon. We love serving our teriyaki salmon with steamed white or brown rice (quinoa is delicious too!), fresh cucumber and carrot (peeled into ribbons, sliced into thin coins, or diced) and steamed edamame.

Alternatively, we love serving this with a medley of stir-fried vegetables like mushrooms, bamboo shoots, snow peas, and bell peppers.

We also love serving this dish over a simple salad with arugula, spinach, sliced romaine, or mixed greens, along with some sliced almonds and a citrus vinaigrette. Delicious!

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