Perfectly roast Mexican salmon in the oven using 5 helpful tips!
Oven roasted Mexican salmon is the perfect (secretly healthy) weeknight dinner! This easy salmon recipe uses lots of spices to pack a punch of flavor in the dish. The salmon is seasoned with garlic, ginger, and adobo. Even better, the whole dinner comes together in under 30 minutes! If you want to learn to cook the perfect oven baked salmon, this recipe is for you!
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Having a delicious weeknight dinner in your recipe arsenal is never a bad idea! When the day is crazy and you need a quick, but impressive, 30 minute meal, this garlic, ginger, and adobo salmon is your answer!
Whether or not you've made salmon before, I have some helpful tips to guide the purchasing, storing, and cooking process of salmon! This recipe will inspire you to start cooking up more seafood dishes.
Ingredients to Season Mexican Salmon
The sauce that we use to season this salmon is really what makes the dish. It is everything!! We start out this Mexican salmon with some adobo sauce. If you've never cooked with adobo, it has the best smokey, ever so slightly spicy taste. It typically comes in a can of chiptole peppers, but you can also sometimes find just the adobo sauce in a jar if you'd prefer.
Next up we're adding garlic and ginger to the salmon sauce. Make sure to purchase fresh garlic and ginger. The flavor is so much stronger if you buy fresh. It really packs up punch!
Then finally, we're adding some dried spices - chili powder, cumin, and paprika - to round out this sauce! Trust me when I say this is going to be your new favorite! You could also use this sauce on shredded chicken for tacos if you were looking to use it multiple ways!
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Purchasing & Storing Salmon
Making sure you purchase good quality fish will help any salmon recipe turn out for the better! Here's the thing about fish. It can turn from good to bad really quickly! So make sure you are doing everything you can to keep fresh fish at the correct temperature (30°F - 34°F).
Fresh fish stored in a refrigerator (typically 40°F) will have half of the shelf life as fish stored properly at 30°F - 34°F. This is why you see most fish stored on ice at the grocery store.
If you choose to purchase frozen fish, make sure the fish is kept in the freezer (0°F) until you are ready to use it. Then, the fish can be thawed in the refrigerator and treated like fresh fish.
A few helpful tips to consider when selecting a fresh piece of salmon:
Smell: Smell is one of the best tools for determining freshness. Take a sniff. The salmon should have a slight sea smell or no odor at all.
Feel/Texture: Look for salmon with flesh that is firm. The skin should spring back when pressed with a finger.
Sight/Appearance: The fish should be moist and glistening. Avoid bruises, dark spots, and signs of dryness.
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How Can I Tell When Salmon is Cooked?
Overcooking salmon is one of the most common mistakes people make! Don't let this happen to you! Here's the best way to avoid over-cooked fish:
First, and maybe most importantly, cook the fish according to the piece of salmon you purchased. Meaning, there is not going to be one set cooking time for every piece of fish. The cooking time will vary depending on the thickness of YOUR fish.
It's recommended that fish is cooked 10 minutes for every inch of thickness, regardless of cooking method. This is a great place to start to estimate your cooking time.
If that scares you, or you really want to make sure your fish is completely cooked, I recommend using a thermometer. The recommended internal temperature for fish is 145 °F. I like to pull my fish off around 135 °F and allow it to rest and come to temperature.
You can also tell your salmon is cooked through by:
- Testing the flesh of the salmon. Give it a gentle push with your finger. If the flesh springs back quickly, it's done. Mushy or soft flesh is a sign that the fish is still raw/undercooked.
- The flesh begins to flake. The big thing here is making sure you don't wait until the the whole salmon flesh is easily flaking. By that point it is overdone and dry. So just make sure you pull it out of the oven right as it begins to flake, then allow it to rest for 10 minutes.
- The flesh becomes opaque. As the salmon cooks, the flesh will become opaque as the proteins form into a solid.
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Oven Roasted Garlic Adobo Mexican Salmon
Ingredients
- 3 cloves garlic finely grated
- 1 inch ginger finely grated
- 3 tablespoons adobo sauce
- 1 teaspoon dried chili powder
- 1 teaspoon dried cumin
- 1 teaspoon dried paprika
- ½ teaspoon kosher salt
- ¼ teaspoon black pepper
- 2 pound salmon fillet
- 2 green onions thinly cut on the bias
Instructions
- Heat the oven to 425°F.
- In a medium bowl, whisk together the grated garlic, grated ginger, adobo sauce, chili powder, cumin, chili powder, salt, and pepper.
- Add a layer of parchment paper to the bottom of a 11 x 17 inch metal baking pan. Lay the salmon (skin side down) on the parchment paper. Pat fish dry.
- Spread a thin layer of the adobo spice mixture to the top of the salmon.
- Cook salmon for approximately 20 - 25 minutes, until the internal temperature reaches 135 °F. Be sure the thickest part of the salmon is completely cooked. Allow salmon to rest for 10 minutes (the temperature should rise to 145 °F).
- Garnish fish with green onions. Serve immediately.
Peter
I loved the sauce on this salmon. It was very unique compared to our normal lemon salmon, but my husband and I really loved it!