Baked Five Spice Salmon (30 minute meal!)

This five spice salmon is the easiest dish you will ever make, and it all comes together in 30 minutes! Serve this salmon with some vegetables and rice, and you’ve got a yummy weeknight dinner.

Salmon is one of my favorite ingredients because it’s so easy to cook and can take on a lot of flavor. Personally, I treat salmon like meat. A lot of the seasonings and cooking methods I use for meat, I often can apply to salmon. That’s how I came up with the idea for this five spice salmon recipe. I used the marinade I used for my five spice chicken and applied it here with a few changes. Serve this salmon with some veggies and rice, and you have the perfect weeknight meal!

Ingredients, Substitutions & Adjustments

• Salmon – Use any cut of salmon you can find. I personally like to use salmon filets.
• Salt for seasoning
• Five spice powder – I used Simple Organic’s five spice powder which included a mixture of star anise, cinnamon, fennel, cloves, and white pepper. Use any kind of five spice powder you can find.
• Fish sauce – Adds umami flavor to the salmon. I liked to use Three Crabs Fish Sauce, but I also like Red Boat Fish Sauce.
• Soy sauce – Soy sauce also adds umami flavor to the marinade. For a gluten free alternative, use tamari as a substitute.
• Rice wine vinegar – Because there are so many strong flavors in this marinade, the rice wine vinegar helps balance that out. If you don’t have rice wine vinegar, use white distilled vinegar as a substitute.
• Light brown sugar – Adds sweetness to balance out the umami flavors in the marinade. This can be substituted with dark brown sugar, but I would use 3 tsp instead of 4 tsp of sugar because dark brown sugar is slightly sweeter than light brown sugar. For a healthier alternative to brown sugar, use coconut sugar as a substitute.
• Garlic – Garlic adds flavor and helps take away some of the fishiness of the salmon.
• Olive oil – Helps the salmon release from the baking sheet and helps it cook better. Substitute with any kind of neutral oil like vegetable oil or grapeseed oil.

What is five spice powder?

Five spice powder is something that is associated with Asian cuisine, specifically Chinese and Taiwanese cuisine. It is made up of a mixture of 5 spices like its name suggests: star anise, cloves, cinnamon, Sichuan pepper, and fennel seeds. These are the most common spices included in five spice powder but there are variations that include a variety of different spices like anise seeds, ginger root, and nutmeg. I used Simply Organic’s five spice powder which includes cinnamon, fennel, cloves, star anise, and white pepper.

Five spice powder is a great spice to use in both sweet and savory dishes. It is most commonly used with poultry like with duck or chicken. But I think it goes really well with meatier fish like in this salmon recipe.

How to make my five spice salmon

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F (204 degrees C). Make the marinade. Combine salt, five spice powder, fish sauce, rice wine vinegar, soy sauce, sugar, and garlic into a small bowl. Whisk together and set aside.

Add the salmon to the Ziploc bag. Pour the marinade over the top. Shake the bag a few times to coat the salmon in the marinade. Let the salmon marinate for 15 minutes.

Once done marinating, place the salmon skin side down on a baking sheet. Bake in the oven for 15-20 minutes until cooked through. While the salmon is baking, make the sauce. Pour the marinade into a sauce pan and heat over high heat until the edges start to bubble (30 seconds to 1 minute). Pour sauce through a fine mesh sieve into a small bowl. Set aside. Once done baking, drizzle the sauce over the top. Serve over a bed of rice and roasted vegetables.

Tips on how to make the perfect five spice salmon

Crispy skin hack

This is such a great hack for baking fish. While you are preheating the oven, put your baking sheet in the oven, so it preheats with your oven. Then when you place your fish on the baking sheet the skin will sizzle a bit and get crispy as it bakes.

Why you should place your salmon skin side down on the baking sheet

The skin acts as a barrier between the heat from the baking sheet and the meat of the salmon, so the meat doesn’t burn or overcook.

What can you serve five spice salmon with?

This dish has a lot of strong flavors, so it is best served with something that is more bland like rice and vegetables. Some good options for vegetables include roasted broccoli, zucchini, or asparagus. I also like eating it with freshly cut cucumbers!

How do you store this five spice salmon?

Store in an airtight container for up to 3 days in the fridge and up to 3 months in the freezer.

Did you make this dish?

If you made this dish, I would love to see!

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