15 Baked Salmon Recipes For Easy Weeknight Dinners

There's a reason salmon is so popular. There are the well-known health benefits, the versatile flavor profile, and how easy it is to cook. But sometimes, easy ingredients are the hardest to improve upon since they turn out so well —regardless of what you do with them. While a simple salted salmon filet can fill you up, it won't necessarily feed your hunger for bold flavors and variety.

To that end, we've compiled a list of 15 different recipes that focus on baked salmon. There are other ways to prepare salmon, ranging from grilling to pan-frying, but baking is a super-convenient method for busy weeknights when you just want to toss the fish in the oven and let it cook. There's more prep work involved than simply shoving a frozen dinner in the microwave, but most of the recipes included here only take 30 minutes, and most of that time is in the oven.

Many of these recipes focus on the salmon filet itself, which can then be paired with sides or added to a larger dish like pasta. Others are fully fleshed-out main dishes that are ready for the table. If you're cooking wild salmon, make sure you're using it when it's in season. However, farm-raised salmon is good all year-round.

This is a great recipe for when you truly want to go the easy route. While there are plenty of mistakes to avoid when cooking with salmon, bringing it back to basics means you can enjoy the rich but subtle flavors of this popular fish without all the hassle. The recipe amounts to properly seasoning the salmon before topping it with lemon slices and placing it in the oven. It's really that simple, and it's perfect if you have a busy weeknight schedule.

Recipe: Lemon-Garlic Baked Salmon

If the last recipe was a little too bare bones for you, this honey citrus salmon dish is a nice step up in complexity. Instead of lemon slices, the salmon is flavored with a simple marinade that mixes honey, fresh orange juice, and minced garlic for a big burst of flavor. The marinade only needs 30 minutes to work its magic before you pop the salmon in the oven. The fish practically cooks itself.

Recipe: Simple Baked Honey Citrus Salmon

The sushi bake is an underrated culinary art form, and this salmon version is a great introduction to the dish. The cooking process takes a little longer since you cook the rice and salmon separately and then bake them together. However, you can step away through most of this, so it's not as demanding of your time as it may seem. If you love the taste of sushi but haven't worked up the courage to figure out how to start making sushi at home, this is a tasty middle ground.

Recipe: Salmon Sushi Bake

We're digging deep into our collective culinary history with this one, back to a time when people would lay a cut of salmon on a piece of wood and set the plank over an open fire to cook. This recipe doesn't call for an open flame, but its earthy, smoky flavor profile conjures the primal image all the same while combining bourbon, orange juice, and brown sugar. In case you're wondering, yes, a cedar plank is safe to use in the oven once it has been soaked in water.

Recipe: Cedar Plank-Baked Salmon

This is a great option for people who crave maximum flavor with minimum effort. Harissa is a sort of Moroccan chili paste that brings a spicy kick. It's made from chilis, garlic, and olive oil and provides a nice smoky flavor profile that makes it a great substitute for tomato paste for when you want to mix up a familiar dish. All this recipe requires is a generous slather of harissa on the salmon before throwing it in the oven. If you like heat, this recipe may just become your new weeknight staple.

Recipe: Harissa Baked Salmon

Delicious all year long but carrying strong autumn vibes, this salmon dish uses a cranberry compote to bring a bright tartness to the fish. Compote is often confused with jam, but apart from the fact that they both use fruit, there isn't a whole lot of overlap. This recipe requires cooking the cranberries, mixing them with nutmeg and balsamic vinegar, and spreading the mixture generously over the salmon before baking. Feel free to substitute other types of berries if you like.

Recipe: Glazed Salmon With Cranberry Balsamic Compote

It's amazing how fast this recipe comes together given how beautiful the salmon looks on a bed of seasoned chickpeas — but don't let this dish's appealing appearance stop you from taking a bite. The salmon gets much of its flavor from the pomegranate molasses and the hot honey, both of which deserve more time on the culinary playing field. The chickpeas act as a side dish, fleshing out the plate and providing a contrast in texture as you eat. Inspired by Middle Eastern cuisine, this is not one you want to miss.

Recipe: Hot Honey And Pomegranate-Glazed Salmon

This is an interesting dish that uses familiar ingredients in novel ways. Most of us are familiar with fennel as an herb for seasoning. In this recipe, we're going to take whole fennel and chop it up into bite-sized pieces that surround the salmon filet. The salmon gets a nice citrus marinade before being ringed with orange slices. Once it's finished baking, you get a seafood dinner bursting with bright citrus flavor and nice pieces of fennel for contrast.

Recipe: Orange Marmalade Salmon With Roasted Fennel

One of the wonderful things about salmon is how versatile it is, thanks to its relatively neutral flavor profile. That makes it great all on its own, but it's equally suited as an ingredient in a larger dish. This salmon and squash salad pairs roasted butternut squash and Bosc pears with flaky chunks of glazed salmon. It's a great way to add some vegetables to your dinner, and the bold pear dressing turns the yum factor up to 10.

Recipe: Salmon And Squash Salad With Roasted Pear Dressing

There are so many creative ways to use miso paste, and this miso-teriyaki salmon is a banger. As you may have realized, we're channeling the Far East with this dish, complete with rich umami flavors and a tantalizing sweetness. The nice thing about this recipe is it's perfectly enjoyable on its own but fits nicely into a larger dinner plan as well if you need it to. This versatile salmon recipe is a powerful addition to your culinary repertoire, so don't miss out.

Recipe: Miso-Teriyaki Salmon

If the name of this recipe sounds like something you'd find on a nice Italian restaurant's brunch menu, you aren't far off the mark. The food term "Florentine" refers to the Italian city of Florence and typically characterizes a dish that has a creamy sauce and spinach, and this dish doesn't buck that tradition. The creamy spinach sauce lends a richness to the salmon that feels indulgent, and it's perfect for when you want to impress your dinner guests. It's also quick because you cook the sauce while the salmon is baking in the oven.

Recipe: Salmon Florentine

Another versatile recipe that's just as good on its own as it is combined with side dishes, this honey lime salmon is a uniquely bright take. Although salmon is relatively neutral in flavor, we don't often see it paired with the bright citrus flavor of lime. This recipe amounts to a pleasantly marinated salmon filet, so prep work is kept to a minimum (and cleaning up after is a breeze). Consider pairing it with cilantro rice or shredding it up and using it as a taco filling.

Recipe: Honey Lime Salmon

This is a good option for when you want to prepare something in advance because most of the work revolves around the bourbon glaze. Simply spread the glaze over the salmon filet, bake, and serve. The flavors here are bold and beautiful, which means you won't want to serve anything that's going to compete with the salmon's central role. A simple side of rice and veggies is just fine. The salmon does all the talking.

Recipe: Bourbon Glazed Salmon

Another great recipe that allows you to prep the marinade beforehand, this miso salmon dish differs from the miso-teriyaki salmon we listed earlier by dropping the teriyaki sauce. The result is something a little less sweet that packs some powerfully delicious umami flavor, thanks to the brown miso in the marinade. This recipe makes for a great main dish since the flavors are so big. Side dishes such as rice and veggies work great as complementary additions to this dish.

Recipe: Miso Salmon

Toeing the line between spicy and sweet, this honey-glazed salmon pairs honey with chili flakes in a flavorful sesame oil marinade. The flavor profile borrows heavily from Eastern cuisine, and the marinade shares a similar flavor profile as chili crisp. There are lots of ways to get creative with chili crisp, and this salmon dish competes with the best. If you're worried about the heat, you can simply adjust the amount of chili flakes. This salmon goes great on a bed of pasta or as the star attraction in a salad.

Recipe: Spicy Honey-Glazed Salmon