Baked Lemon Salmon On Veggies

This Baked Lemon Salmon On Fresh Veggies is not only a super healthy dish but also super quick and easy to prepare! Made with fresh lemon slices and herbs for amazing flavor and baked in the oven for a juicy and flaky fish! This tasty salmon recipe is the perfect weeknight dinner and will also impress your guests!

Reasons to make this recipe

• Weeknight dinner: This recipe is made in no time with barely any hands-on work.
• Special occasion dish: This tasty salmon dish is nor only good for busy nights but also for special occasions where you want to impress your guests with great flavor and a good looking plate.
• Prefect to make ahead: You can easily prepare the fish beforehand and already cook the veggies.
• Healthy: This recipe is low calories and is packed with protein and veggies.
• Easy: Making this dish really could not be any easier. No matter how your cooking skills are, you will be able to make this any time.
• Low Equipment: All you need is a cutting board and knife to prepare the dish and then a pan or pot and the oven to cook. Barely anything you will have to clean.

If you love this healthy baked lemon salmon recipe you might also like this polenta recipe!

Ingredients to make this baked lemon salmon recipe

To make this quick oven-baked salmon dish you will need:

• Salmon filet: This recipe uses salmon filets without the skin on. Get high quality salmon either fresh from the store or frozen ones which are vacuum sealed.
• Lemons: Get medium sized, organic lemons that are untreated as we will use the whole lemon.
• Thyme: Use fresh thyme sprigs for a fresh herby flavor. You can easily substitute the thyme with any other fresh herb. If you do not have any fresh herbs around simply use dried herbs and rub it on the fish. You will get the best flavor with the fresh herbs tough
• Olive Oil: Any kind of olive oil works. However, extra-virgin olive oil is highly recommended. It can be substituted with vegetable oil.
• Lemon Pepper & Fleur De Sel: For the best flavor this recipe uses lemon pepper and plain fleur de sel. You can substitute this with normal pepper and salt or use a flavored fleur de sel too.
• Veggies: Spinach & Mushrooms, you can use any mushrooms you like.
• Cream: Cream is optional but highly recommended to get a nice and creamy spinach.

Tips for buying good salmon:

Shopping for fish can be intimidating. If you follow these simple steps you will easily find a good salmon:

• Look at the color of your fish. A good salmon has a very vibrant pink/orange color
• Stay away from fish looking dried out or that has weird spots on them. A good filet is moist and has an even pink color.
• Smell the fish if possible. If it smells overly fishy the salmon is not fresh and you will want to stay far away from it. Only get salmon that does not smell fishy.
• Get fresh fish over the frozen one! That way you can actually look at the fish and could ask the employee questions about it.
• If you do purchase pre-packaged frozen fish check that it is vacuum sealed and that the package is not broken anywhere.
• Check the food labels! There are many different food labels used for seafood that can help you choose the right one. Here is an overview of them.

How to make the veggies and the oven baked lemon salmon

This recipe is super simple and can easily be prepared ahead. Simply get the salmon ready but do not bake it yet. Keep the salmon package in the fridge till you bake it.

While your salmon bakes you can make the veggies. One big plus point of this recipe is that you won’t need much equipment to prepare it and therefore have barely anything to clean afterwards.

Let’s get started:

Oven baked lemon salmon

In this recipe you bake your salmon in a little pocket made out of parchment paper. This will make sure that the salmon does not dry out and stay nice and moist. On top of that the oven temperature is kept low which will also keep it from drying out. Do not bake your salmon at a higher temperature!

Preheat the oven to 180 °C / 355 °F.

Start with the mis en place: Cut the lemon into thin slices, get your salmon filets and the thyme out. Then prepare the parchment paper by laying it on a flat surface.

Arrange the ingredients to make the salmon pocket. Place 3 lemon slices in the middle of the parchment paper. On top of that the salmon filet. Drizzle some olive oil on top of the salmon and place a thyme sprig on top. Do not season the fish yet. Then add 3 more lemon sliced on top.

As this recipe uses fleur de sel and lemon pepper we will season the fish after cooking.

Fold one side of the parchment paper over the salmon. Then fold the other side of the parchment paper so it slightly overlaps with the other side that got folded up before. Now keep folding the parchment paper over till you are down by the salmon to seal the top of the parchment paper. Lastly fold the sides under the salmon.

Place the parchment paper pockets on a baking sheet.

Bake the salmon in the preheated oven for 20 minutes. If you are not sure if the fish is cooked remove a pocket from the oven and open it up to check how the fish looks.

Spinach and mushrooms

While the salmon bakes prepare the veggies.

Heat up some olive oil in a medium size pot or pan on to medium heat.

Add in the mushrooms and let them sweat for a minute or two. Then add in the spinach.

Put on a lid and let the veggies cook till the mushrooms are soft and the spinach has shrunken a lot (about 10 minutes).

Season with fleur de sel. Now you could also add the cream to make the spinach extra creamy. If you want to keep it healthy you can leave that out.

Chefs Tip:

Add 2 tbsp horseradish and cream to the spinach! This makes a super creamy and flavorful spinach that goes perfectly with the salmon

Assemble the dish

Open the baked salmon packages and remove the lemon slices.

Season the salmon with fleur de sel and pepper.

Serve the salmon over the veggie bed.

Enjoy!

How to Store and Reheat

This dish can easily be stored for up to 3 days. Simply put everything in an airtight container and keep it in the fridge.

There are different ways to reheat this dish.

Our family always uses the steamer in the steam regeneration mode to reheat out meal. It keeps the fish nice and moist and warms everything up nicely without killing any nutrients.

Microwaving is possible but not recommended. Microwaving your food will kill lots of the nutrients in it and also tends to dry out your fish. If you do not own a steamer you should reheat your dish on the stove and in the oven.

Reheating your baked salmon and veggies on the stove and oven is simple. Add your veggies to a pot or pan, add in some splashes of water and heat it up on low. You can do the same with the salmon in a pan with some splashes of water or preheat your oven to 120 °C / 250 °F and warm up your salmon for 5 minutes in the oven, keep the salmon in the little parchment paper pocket for that.

Variations

This oven baked lemon salmon can be served in soooo many ways! This spinach and mushroom bed is just one of the many options we love to make in our house. Here are a few more ideas we absolutely love to make:

• Keep it seasonal: Serve your salmon together with any seasonal veggies. In spring we highly recommend nice and juicy asparagus!
• Add some carbs: If you need some more carbs we highly recommend a creamy risotto. A delicious lemon risotto would go amazingly with the salmon
• Add garlic: If you family loves garlic you can switch it up and put some grated garlic on the fish before baking additionally to everything else.

Frequently asked questions

Q: Can I substitute the thyme?

A: You can use any other herb you like instead of the thyme if you want. If you do not have any fresh herbs around you can simply use dried herbs and rub them on the fish.

Q: Can I substitute the olive oil with vegetable oil?

A: Yes, you absolutely can.

Q: Can I make this dish ahead?

A: Yes, you can prepare the salmon pockets beforehand and keep them in the fridge until you bake them.