Simple Baked Salmon with Butter, Lemon, and Thyme
Seafood is something that I try to make a point of getting into our diet at least once a week. Yes, it is expensive, but it is important enough to make a priority in our food budget. I think of it as a supplement in a way.
A variation of this recipe is what I use most often when cooking fish. I don’t have a lot of experience cooking fish or seafood, so keeping it simple helps in a myriad of ways.
The simplicity of this dish allow the flavors of each ingredient to shine through. Plus it is so easy it basically cooks itself, a huge bonus when you have small children.
Baked Wild Salmon with Butter, Lemon, and Thyme
Ingredients
- 1 – 2 lb. wild Alaskan salmon fillets (see sources)
- 1 lemon
- 4 tablespoons grass-fed butter or ghee (see sources)
- a few sprigs of fresh thyme or a sprinkling of dried thyme
Directions
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Lay salmon fillets in a buttered 9×13" pan or a rimmed baking sheet. Sprinkle with sea salt and pepper.
- Cut lemon in half. Slice one half of the lemon into thin slices. Reserve the other half of the lemon for after baking.
- Lay lemon slices evenly over salmon fillets. Place a large pat of butter over each salmon fillet. Lay sprigs of thyme over top of lemon and butter. If your thyme stems are woody simply pull the leaves from the top of the stem to the bottom to remove them and sprinkle them over salmon fillets.
- Bake at 350 for about 10-20 minutes, depending on the thickness of your fish. Cook until just cooked through.
- Juice the other half of the lemon over top of the salmon fillets and serve.
How do you prepare fish?
While I was admiring your salmon, I noticed your link for the salmon patties. I never had looked up how to make those things even though I had eaten a lot of them when I was a child. I wrote down your recipe and plan on trying them in the next two-three days. See–an 67 year old dog can learn new tricks! I appreciate learning to use more things out of my emergency food stocks so that I can keep that stuff cycled more. Thanks. We eat very few things out of cans or boxes, but I know in an emergency I would be using items I have squirreled away in my “pantry” in the basement. Also, it is easier to find good wild salmon in a can than it is to find fresh wild caught salmon here in the middle of Colorado.
Thanks for this! I laid out some salmon for dinner, and wasn’t sure what I was going to do with it this time. 🙂
Salmon is so flavorful, it takes such a simple treatment to make a delicious meal. With only four ingredients, this looks easy and tasty. Thanks for sharing!
I had some salmon last night! I have been baking mine at a 350 degree oven. It comes out perfect every time. I will add various seasonings and really enjoyed it with lemon juice last weekend.
Yesterday I decided to try something a little different…
I made a random macadamia nut/coconut milk sauce…. Wow! It was delicious! Pick your favorite nut butter and mix about equal parts with coconut milk and drizzle a little honey if you wish – its awesome!
I enjoyed it with some homegrown asparagus that was fabulous as well. Next time I have some salmon I will have to add lemon juice, butter, and thyme!!
Just made this (yep, at 3:30 AM!) and it was SO yummy! I even did it in the toaster oven and worked great. Love that thing! I haven’t had fresh (well, frozen) salmon in awhile. I think I put a little too much butter, since I practically had to drink it at the end, but I have no regrets since it was good grass fed butter 🙂 Thanks for the easy fish recipe! I’d love to see more if you have any! My husband eats mostly meat/fish and veggies (paleolithic), so I’m looking for more easy (and hopefully somewhat sorta frugal too, if possible) dinner recipes for me to cook for him. Love your blog! 🙂
Carrie – Great! I love it when people come back and share their results, even if they’re not a fan. I eat fairly paleolithic myself, though don’t call it that. I will have to share more frugal recipes in the future.
Made this tonight and it was fabulous! Luckily we had plenty of thyme in our garden! Thanks for the recipe…
I made a version of this tonight and it was wonderful! Shared it on my FB page. Thanks!
Thanks so much for sharing this recipe! I’ve made it several times, and my boyfriend and I are making it for our New Year’s eve dinner tonight. I love how simple it is to make, and how incredibly tasty the results are.
Wow! We just used this recipe for 2 pounds of fresh, wild, Alaskan salmon. We cut the fillet into 6 portions before cooking and placed them on parchment paper. We baked it for 15 minutes. Alaskan salmon has a such a rich flavor and this was just the right amount of seasoning. It was so moist and full of flavor. It felt like butter melting in my mouth. My husband and I both said that it was the best salmon we’ve ever eaten. Thanks for the recipe!