A delicious pan seared salmon, with crispy edges, slathered in a sweet and savory butter sauce. This is such an easy recipe, only a handful of ingredient and a few minutes to make!
Why This Pan Seared Salmon Is So Good
- 5-ingredient salmon recipe
- Microwave: butter + your favorite fruit jam + balsamic vinegar = delicious!
- Use the sauce on shrimp, pork chops, fish or steamed vegetables
Ingredients
For The Magical Butter
- Butter
- Fruit preserves
- Balsamic vinegar
- Salt and pepper
- Minced herbs
For The Fish
- Salmon fillet
- Salt and pepper
- Cooking oil
How To Make Pan seared Salmon With Magical Butter Sauce – Step By Step
- Season the salmon with salt and pepper. Roll the salmon. Use kitchen twine to tie the salmon in 4 places, evenly spaced. Make sure you tie it tight! Cut between the twine to make 4 evenly sized pieces, about 1 1/4″ thick.
- Heat a large frying pan with some vegetable oil over high heat. When hot, add the salmon steaks. Cook for 2 minutes. Turn the salmon over. Cook an additional 1 minute. Turn heat to medium-low, then cover pan loosely with tin foil. Cook for 4-5 minutes, or until the salmon is cooked through. Remove salmon to clean plate.
- To the same pan on medium-low heat, add the Magical Butter ingredients. Cook until bubbly and butter is melted, about 30 seconds. Pour on top of the salmon.
How To Pan Sear Salmon
When I buy salmon fillet, I try to get the most even piece – meaning, even in thickness. But, it’s not always possible. Even when thickness is just a little different, it can cause parts of the salmon to overcook.
I like to just roll the salmon piece and tie with twine (skin or no skin it’s up to you.) This gives me a nice, even salmon “steak” that cooks evenly. With the piece of salmon that I have here, I removed the skin, then rolled the salmon. Tied twine in 2 or 3 different places. Then cut that roll in 2 or 3 pieces – so that I have several pieces of salmon steak, each about an 1 1/4-inches thick. The larger the salmon piece, the more steaks you can make.
Season with salt and pepper.
Heat a little oil in the pan, place salmon down in the pan. Sear for 2 minutes.
I have kitchen envy…these photos were taken 4 years ago, in my old house when I had a real gas stove.
Turn salmon over. See that nice crust? Cook for 1 minute.
Turn heat to medium-low, then cover loosely with tin foil.
The loose tin foil traps heat to cook the inside of the salmon – but it still lets steam escape, so that you don’t lose that nice crust you’ve created.
Alternatively, you can do this in the oven. But cooking this way on the stovetop saves you from having to heat up the oven.
What’s The Best Pan?
While it’s certainly not the only way, we prefer sticking with a large stainless steel or cast iron skillet when cooking pan-seared salmon; make sure it’s a pan that’s large and wide enough to accommodate the fillets without overcrowding. And because the best results happen when the fish is cooked on a super-hot surface, it’s best to skip the nonstick cookware this time around.
A Magical Butter Sauce!
This sauce is so good, you’ll want to put it on everything, from all the meat to all the veggies! It’s easy to make, just mix butter, your favorite fruit jam and balsamic vinegar. Then put it in the microwave.
It’s divine on asparagus! Magical butter sauce is the best.
Top Tips For This Pan Seared Salmon
- When cooking salmon in the oven or on the grill, one large piece of fish works well. But when pan-searing on the stovetop, opt for individual fillets.
- Very fresh salmon fillets do not benefit from a rinse, but salmon with a little, or a lot of age will benefit.
- If you’re buying multiple fillets, don’t be afraid to ask your fishmonger to portion them for you.
- While the salmon will cook on both sides, the process should always start by adding the fish to the pan skin-side down.
Check Out These Other Delicious Salmon Recipes
Have you tried this Pan Seared Salmon recipe? Feel free to leave a star rating and I’d love to hear from you in the comments below!
Salmon with Magical Butter Sauce Recipe
Ingredients
FOR THE MAGICAL BUTTER SAUCE
- 1/2 cup butter
- 3 tablespoons fruit preserves like apricot, mango-jalapeno, blackberry, etc.
- 1 1/2 tablespoons balsamic vinegar
- salt and pepper
- 1 tablespoon minced herbs like parsley, cilantro, basil, chives
FOR THE FISH
- 1 piece skinless salmon fillet about 5-6 inches long
- salt and pepper
- Vegetable oil for cooking
Instructions
- Season the salmon with salt and pepper. Roll the salmon. Use kitchen twine to tie the salmon in 4 places, evenly spaced. Make sure you tie it tight! Cut between the twine to make 4 evenly sized pieces, about 1 1/4" thick.
- Heat a large frying pan with some vegetable oil over high heat. When hot, add the salmon steaks. Cook for 2 minutes. Turn the salmon over. Cook an additional 1 minute. Turn heat to medium-low, then cover pan loosely with tin foil. Cook for 4-5 minutes, or until the salmon is cooked through. Remove salmon to clean plate.
- To the same pan on medium-low heat, add the Magical Butter ingredients. Cook until bubbly and butter is melted, about 30 seconds. Pour on top of the salmon.
Nutrition
Did you try this recipe? Please leave a star rating in the recipe card below and leave a review in the comment section! I always appreciate your feedback and I know other readers do, too!
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HI Jaden n Duke , I tried making the pan seared salmon w magical butter sauce , it turned out great and very easy to make , very tasty , I also tried it on a bass I caught a couple of days ago and worked very well on the bass too , I though figuring it was fish that It would be nice to add a tangy flavor so I used orange marmalade as my preserve , I didn’t use very much when I first made it but when I made the bass I used more and deemed both meals tasty indeed , awesome recipe , thanks 🙂
Thank you! This was delicious. I eyeballed the magic sauce ingredients so came out a little sweet, easily remedied with a little soy sauce. Served the whole thing topped with Oriental vegetables. I used
drum given to us by our fisherman friend. Delicious!!
Can we do the exact recipe but not tie the salmon at all; just use similar cuts? (similar size fillets)
Absolutely! Works great with sea bass and even chicken breasts.
All I have is orange marmalade…will it work ?
Absolutely!!!
Made this for the Honey last night. I could have eaten the whole thing by myself (so could he!!!) it was so incredibly tasty. I did it slightly different though. I used a 2.5 pound salmon (didn’t cut into fillets) baked at 400° for about 20 minutes and basted it with the sauce every 5 minutes; so tender and flavorful. I used orange marmalade instead of preserves (though I think it would be amazing with jalapeño strawberry jam) basil and parsely. Thank you so much for sharing this recipe.
Thanks so much Rhonda!
I can say with my hand on my heart that this was the single most gorgeous sauce I have ever eaten with salmon. Absolutely stunning. Trout next.
Thank you for this sauce recipe – absolutely brilliant, a great success and so quick and easy to make.
Good recipe!
I tried this recipe tonight and totally failed with the fish! I butchered it trying to roll and tie it. Is there a trick? Maybe my salmon wasn’t wide enough? It’s like it just wanted to fold in half. And the skinny ends were unusable? I just had to buy new salmon, trying to impress some work colleagues.
Hi Brooke, it shouldn’t be hard to roll – did you use twine?
Made this last night and it was a perfect “10”. I did not roll and tie up the fish and it was just perfect. I only used half the recipe for the sauce. I try to keep my butter count low. It was plenty of sauce. In fact, the sauce was so good that I am thinking of trying it on a grilled chicken recipe. Thank you for sharing this “beauty”.
This Recipe is Absolutely Brilliant. I discovered in the local newspaper. The newspaper version recommends finishing the salmon in the oven. Does the oven make a big difference? Does olive oil vs.vegatable oil make a difference? The sauce and the recipe made me a believer. 😀
Olive oil has a great taste if used as a finish but it shouldnt be used for cooking. It has a low smoke point and if heated too high, as needed to sear a salmon, it will burn and thus have a horrible taste. Vegetable or canola oil would be best for the searing. Another option would be to combine olive oil with canola oil to increase the smoke point and still have the good flavor of the olive oil, not the bitter taste of burned olive oil.
This was really good, for our tastes though next time, we’d cut the butter by half and maybe increase the preserves. It was just a little butter heavy but will try again for sure.
Thanks Jaden!
I will make it soon.
I will like to receive your recipes ones a week, they look soooooo good.
Thank you very much.
Love the idea of the magical sauce but not sure if you are rolling the salmon tail to large part of fish and do you tie it horizontally and make 4 steaks out of it? Seems it would be very thin and doesn’t look at all like the thick piece you show in picture.
Perfect timing…I added red pepper flakes . Good, really good 😃
At my markets, salmon steaks are usually cheaper than the fillets. If you bone them, skin them, fold one “tail” in half, wrap the other around, and tie, you get the same thing, for a little more work and less money — I do it all the time!
The “Magical Butter Sauce” sounds so good; I can’t wait to try it!
Lynne, I stalk the fish counter and wait until the salmon steaks are on sale! I’m so cheap – so hard to pay full price for anything LOL.
Thanks Jaden.
This smells a lot like the smoke salmon with herbs that my Canadian friend did.
But yours seems more sweet and juicy! I’ll surely try this!
Made this tonight… with Halibut (it’s what I had) and added some red pepper flakes! YUM! The whole family loved it (except the vegetarian, not the recipes fault :)!)
As always, thanks for sharing!
I’m loving the magical butter sauce! And I adore smoked oysters on either Ritz or Club crackers ~ I’ll have to try the homemade sriracha (I’ve been looking for a good hot sauce to put on my everything bagel with cream cheese.)
Really just wanted to say Happy Thanksgiving to you and your family, Jaden. Thank you for all of the wonderful recipes you share and the fabulous giveaways.
New to your site, love the method for salmon, makes so much sense! Wish I’d seen this yesterday. Also, it’s club crackers for me, that’s how my dad eats his smoked oysters.
Tried this tonight, so good! 🙂 Thanks for sharing this recipe.
Hi Jaden! It’s my first time to visit your blog. Who would’ve thought that dish could be cooked simply? It looks so gourmet. Smart idea to tie the salmon.
Hi Kitchen Maiden! I love Marie Forleo too – I just found out about her videos a couple of months ago – she’s hilarious! (and smart) I haven’t watched the Cupcake Wars interview yet 🙂
Love the simple (but delicious) recipe! I take short cuts and don’t tie the fish. Still usually turns out tasting OK (but not as pretty).
Thanks for the suggestion for an even cooked piece of fish, going to cook this tonight using some apricot jam.
WOW!!!!!!!!!!!!! DELICIOUS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! THANK YOU FOR THE RECIPE!!!!
Looks yummy! Love your new layout, Jaden!
Love the glistering look of the sauce!!
Wow, so easy and sounds yummy. Will try soon—-thanks for sharing
Jaden!! I feel like you just went into my head and pried out MY favorite guilty pleasure with that whole Ritz + smoked oysters situation. Whenever I have a solo night, I convince myself I’ve earned such a treat and saddle up to the coffee table with a sleeve of crackers and a tin of oysters in hand. I mean, I already liked you plenty, but I feel like I might be crushing juuuust a little harder now. 🙂
What are the measurements for your magical butter sauce? It sounds so good, I would hate to mess it up.
Well duh! I forgot to put the code in for the recipe to show up…fixed!