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Perfectly cooked Pan-Seared Salmon (with skin!)

4.8 from 5 reviews
  • Author: Teri

Description

The perfectly cooked seared salmon with skin! This salmon is cooked on the stovetop and then finished in the oven! Foolproof!


Ingredients

Scale
  • 1 filet salmon, skin on (thawed if purchased frozen)
  • 12 tablespoons olive oil
  • Freshly ground black better
  • Salt
    • I especially like pre-mixed fancy salt with herbs since it gives it more flavor but doesn’t require more of my time.


Instructions

  1. Preheat oven to 425*.
  2. Season salmon with salt and freshly ground black pepper. Be liberal! You can also sprinkle a little sugar on top to help it caramelize.
  3. Heat an oven-safe skillet over medium-high. Add olive oil and once it’s warm (easily swirls in the pan), place your salmon face down (skin-side up) in the pan. Cook for 3-5 minutes until well seared. Carefully flip and cook for 2 more minutes.
  4. Move the salmon — in the skillet you cooked it in! — into the pre-heated oven (skin side still down). Cook for 5-7 minutes, until internal temperature reaches 145*.
  5. If desired, carefully remove the skin from the salmon before serving. It should peel off very easily if you lift an edge with a knife.


Notes

  • Sometimes I turn on my broiler to help it preheat faster if I’m making this at lunch – maybe it’s in my head but I think it works!
  • If your salmon isn’t thawed, you can microwave it for 30 seconds to defrost it! Not as ideal as letting it thaw in the fridge, but I do it all the time. 🙂
  • You can cook the fish to a lower internal temperature if you like it a little more rare, like I do. I usually take it out around 130*. I LOVE this thermometer for cooking fish (and all meat).
  • You can easily double or quadruple this depending on how many people you’re serving.
  • If you don’t have a pepper grinder, GET ONE. Freshly ground pepper is a game changer compared to pre-ground pepper. It will last you forever if you get a nice one and you just refill it with peppercorns as needed