Salmon Roasted in Butter {Super Easy Recipe}

Published March 14, 2018. Updated October 8, 2018

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Salmon Roasted with Butter – does dinner get any better?? This oven baked salmon is super easy to prepare, it’s ready in 20 minutes, and the blend of simple flavors is here are just perfectly satisfying. You can’t go wrong with the combination of salmon, fresh herbs, butter, garlic and lemon. This is one to add to the recipe book!

Salmon Roasted in Butter

Baked Salmon with Butter

Salmon is incredibly healthy plus I love the way it tastes so I’m always looking for new ways to prepare it. This recipe does use butter but in my book I’m still going to consider it healthy, I think 1 Tbsp per serving wont hurt anyone. Butter makes everything better, even salmon.

I also love the way fresh herbs pair with salmon. We all know dill is a go-to pairing for salmon, it’s almost like salt and pepper. They’re just made to be together.

However, if dill isn’t your thing you can also replace it with more parsley (I’d recommend adding 4 Tbsp at the beginning of the roasting process vs. adding fresh at the end). Or I think minced fresh basil added at the end would give it a pesto like flavor.

Salmon Roasted in Butter

How to Roast Salmon

In my opinion roasting salmon is one of the easiest way to cook it. All you have to do is preheat your oven to a high temperature (here we go with 475). Then place the salmon in a baking dish, add a little fat to coat the salmon (butter, olive oil, etc) then you let it roast in that hot oven until cooked through.

Here we start with skin on salmon fillets so halfway through cooking you remove the fillets, peel the skin off and flip that now skinless side into the herb mixture for to soak up the flavor on that second side. I love that you don’t have to skin salmon first.

I think I’m finally starting to get the hang of skinning salmon (bring on that freshly sharpened knife) but it’s still a step I’d rather skip when I can. And here the oven does the hard part. The skin should easy pull right off after it’s roasted for a few minutes.

Salmon Roasted in Butter

The other thing I rarely don’t add to salmon is some sort of acidic ingredient like lemons, limes or a mild vinegar (balsamic, champagne etc). It perfect enhances the mellow flavors of the salmon and leaves you craving that bright flare you often find accompanying it. And here brings a good balance to the fats in the recipe.

So even though it’s only added at the end in the form of wedges or zest don’t omit it. Still a key ingredient.

Salmon Roasted in Butter

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Salmon Roasted in Butter
5 from 3 votes

Salmon Roasted in Butter

A super easy, perfectly tasty salmon recipe, ready from start to finish in 20 minutes! Salmon is roasted in a buttery herb mixture and finished with a slash of lemon juice or a sprinkle of zest (if you love lemon add both!). A simple yet elegant entree perfectly fit for any day of the week!
Servings: 4
Prep5 minutes
Cook15 minutes
Ready in: 20 minutes

Ingredients

Instructions

  • Preheat oven to 475 degrees. 
  • Place butter in small roasting dish, sprinkle dill evenly across. Place in oven and heat until butter has melted and dill is sizzling, about 4 - 5 minutes.
  • Remove pan from oven and place fillets skin-side up. Return to oven and roast 4 minutes. 
  • Remove from oven and pull skin from salmon (if the skin doesn't pull away roast another 1 - 2 minutes). 
  • Season the now skinless side with salt and pepper then carefully flip fillets and season opposite side with salt and pepper. Sprinkle garlic into melted butter around salmon. 
  • Return to oven and cook to desired doneness, about 3 - 4 minutes longer. 
  • Plate salmon and spoon butter in pan over salmon. Sprinkle with parsley and serve warm with lemon zest or lemon wedges for spritzing. 
  • Recipe source: adapted from NYT
Nutrition Facts
Salmon Roasted in Butter
Amount Per Serving
Calories 344 Calories from Fat 225
% Daily Value*
Fat 25g38%
Saturated Fat 9g56%
Polyunsaturated Fat 6g
Cholesterol 109mg36%
Sodium 64mg3%
Potassium 694mg20%
Protein 28g56%
Vitamin A 510IU10%
Vitamin C 1.7mg2%
Calcium 23mg2%
Iron 1.1mg6%
* Percent Daily Values are based on a 2000 calorie diet.
Nutrition values are estimates only. See full disclaimer here.

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8 Comments

  • L.James

    Made this tonite as I had made a New Year’s resolution to eat more salmon,
    It was so easy and delicious!! I used fresh basil as my herb, Your suggestion of peeling off the skin after roasting 5 minutes was great,
    Look forward to trying out your other salmon recipes

  • Jasmine

    I used ghee which has a higher smoking point and mine smoked up immediately at this temp. I used 400 instead and cooked a bit longer on each side. Like 7-8 min.

  • Theresa Capri

    I live on the Oregon coast and come from a commercial fishing family…who also fish the Bristol Bay sockeye salmon run. I love this recipe. I get everything from my garden except the butter and lemon. It is so delicious and EASY. It always turns out good. Thanks for posting.

  • Romina Regua

    Great recipe! My husband and I basically inhaled our plates. It was so easy to make, and doesn’t take that long to prepare either. I also love your way of skinning the salmon that way, they peeled off so easily! The only thing I tweaked was the temperature of the oven. My butter burned when I was melting it with the dill, so I changed the temperature to 400F and adjusted the cooking time accordingly, since I was also roasting veggies for a meal. Turned out great! Gonna make this recipe regularly for sure.

    • Jaclyn

      Jaclyn Bell

      I actually wondered the same thing but I trusted NYT and it didn’t burn. Must be that it’s not cooking very long or maybe that it blends with the fats from the salmon not totally sure.