This easy salmon recipe, inspired by my recent trip to Alaska, gets loads of flavor from a sticky-sweet maple glaze. Add steamed rice and a vegetable and dinner is done in under 20 minutes!

What you’ll love about this salmon recipe: 

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• Ready in 20 minutes. It’s so quick and easy! Add some rice and a green vegetable and you have a complete meal in less time than it takes to watch a rerun.
• It tastes restaurant-worthy without restaurant-level effort. This is exactly my favorite category of recipe: impressive enough that you could serve it to guests, easy enough that you can make it after work without hating your life.
• Easy Clean Up: One pan and one measuring cup is pretty much all you need! 

The weeknight salmon recipe I’ve been making on repeat

I came home from Alaska with a lot of food memories: King crab legs that were so sweet they didn’t even need butter, one of the best grilled cheeses ever (and I’m a huge grilled cheese fan), and a rekindled obsession with salmon.

Salmon is everywhere in Alaska, and eating it there reminded me how much I love it. It also reminded me how easy it is to cook. Give it a good sear, add a simple sauce, and call dinner done.

That’s exactly what this recipe does.

The glaze is a combination of maple syrup, soy sauce, ginger, and garlic that tastes a little like teriyaki but with a distinct maple sweetness. It cooks down in the same skillet you used for the salmon until it’s glossy and thick enough to spoon right over the top. Add rice and a vegetable and you have the kind of dinner I would happily order at a restaurant.

maple salmon Ingredients

Real Maple Syrup. Maple gives the glaze sweetness but also a deeper caramel-like flavor that works really well with salmon. I used a “robust” syrup from a local maple farm for a more maple-y flavor.

Soy sauce. A little soy sauce balances out the sweet maple and adds some umami flavor. I like to use some kosher salt on my salmon, so using low sodium soy sauce keeps the flavors in check without being too salty.

Garlic and Ginger. For extra flavor. You can grate yours fresh or use refrigerated or frozen pastes.

Salmon. Look for fillets that are fairly similar in size/thickness so they cook at the same rate. I usually use skinless salmon, but if you want to use skin-on that’s good, too. Sear it skin-side down first and spoon the glaze over the meaty side to keep the skin as crisp as possible.

Tips for perfectly seared salmon

• Pat the salmon dry. Moisture is the enemy of browning, so don’t skip this!
• Make sure your skillet is hot. Heat your oil over medium-high heat before adding the salmon. Once the fish hits the pan, leave it alone long enough to develop some color before flipping. It will release from the pan easily when it’s ready, so don’t force it.
• Don’t overcook it. Overcooked salmon is dry and fishy. A medium cook is buttery and flaky.

types of salmon

One thing my trip to Alaska really drove home is the different kinds of salmon. Honestly, it turned me into a little bit of a salmon snob. Before, I’d just get whatever looked decent at the store and hope for the best. Sometimes it would be great and sometimes I’d wonder if I forgot how to cook. After learning about the types of wild Pacific salmon more, I have a better understanding of what to look for.

Alaska has five species of wild Pacific salmon — king, sockeye, coho, keta, and pink — and they vary quite a bit in richness, texture, color, and flavor.

King salmon, also called Chinook, has a high oil content, firm texture, and particularly succulent flesh. It’s the fattiest of Alaska’s five salmon species, with an amazing buttery texture. It’s also EXPENSIVE.

Sockeye, sometimes labeled red salmon, has that deep red color and a more assertive salmon flavor and a firm texture. This is probably the most “fishy” tasting of the salmon varieties.

Coho or silver salmon, is a middle of the road variety with a typical orangey-red color. It’s firm but flaky, with a more delicate flavor than sockeye. I personally don’t love this one.

Keta salmon is one of the leanest varieties, with a mild flavor. It isn’t as flaky as the other types of salmon since it’s doesn’t have the same fat marbling. It tends to be the most affordable option.

Pink salmon is very lean and usually reserved for canned salmon although can can sometimes be found fresh or frozen.

Atlantic salmon (which is always farm raised in the US) tends to fall somewhere between King and Sockeye, with a buttery texture and mild flavor.

For cooking at home, I like to use Sockeye or Atlantic salmon fillets.

Frequently asked questions

Other salmon recipes you might like:

• Ginger Soy Sheet Pan Salmon
• Salmon with Lemon and Capers
• Hot Honey Salmon with Gnocchi
• Creamy Salmon Pasta
• How to cook frozen salmon in the air fryer
• Maple BBQ Salmon Skewers