Baked Honey Balsamic Salmon
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Super flavorful, flaky and moist, Honey Balsamic Salmon is a simple baked fish recipe that’s perfect for busy weeknights. It comes together in about 45 minutes for a wholesome, healthy and delicious high protein dinner!
Honey Balsamic Salmon
After a long day, it’s nice to have a simple, flavor-packed and healthy meal to eat. This baked salmon recipe only takes 30 minutes from prep to plate, which is why it’s a favorite of mine!
The sweet and tangy flavors of honey and balsamic vinegar are a delicious pair with salmon. The mild flavor isn’t too fancy for kids to enjoy, and it’s fantastic with sides like broccoli rice or honey roasted parsnips and carrots.
Why I Love This Baked Fish Recipe
- Healthy, high protein dinner idea. Salmon is full of heart-healthy, Omega-3 fats, and one serving of this baked salmon has a whopping 34 grams of protein!
- Quick and easy. There’s very little prep because there are just 3 ingredients in the marinade.
- Effortless clean-up. Because you’ll bake it in a foil-lined baking dish, clean up is really easy!
If you’re looking for other high protein recipe ideas, check out my High Protein Overnight Oats recipe. Or, make a batch of chocolate pumpkin protein balls your afternoon snack. Another high protein dinner that you might enjoy is this Zesty Ranch Salmon.
Ingredient Notes and Substitutions
Aside from the fish, you’ll need just 3 ingredients, for the marinade:
- olive oil – If you want to use a different cooking oil, avocado oil is a good option.
- honey – Be sure to use real honey, often labeled as raw honey.
- balsamic vinegar – You can use either traditional dark balsamic or white balsamic vinegar
The healthiest salmon to use is wild-caught. Look for skin-on salmon filets, each weighing about 6 ounces. If you can only find larger size filets, that’s fine! Just cut them down to the size you need.
By the way, this marinade is also delicious on other types of fish, and even seafood like shrimp and scallops. If you want to try a different flavor, I have several other easy salmon marinades that you can make!
Making Honey Balsamic Salmon
- Make the honey balsamic marinade. To make the marinade, whisk the ingredients together in a bowl.
- Marinate the fish. Unlike beef and beef and pork, fish doesn’t have any fibrous connective tissue to break down. So, marinating salmon is just to add flavor, which only takes 30 minutes to an hour.
In fact, if you marinate fish for too long, it can become mushy.
Baking Salmon in the Oven
- While your oven is preheating, transfer your fish filets from the marinade to a foil-lined baking dish. Aluminum foil helps to crisp up the skin of the salmon, and it makes clean up easier, too.
- Place the filets skin side down on the foil, then spoon a couple of tablespoons of the honey balsamic marinade over the fish.
Important Note: After removing the raw fish, do not serve or reuse the remaining marinade. Immediately throw out the leftovers.
Per USDA recommendations, it is not considered safe to reuse for any purpose unless it is boiled for several minutes first.
- Bake and serve. How long to bake the honey balsamic salmon depends on the size and thickness of the filets. On average, it takes about 15 minutes in a 400 degree Fahrenheit oven for salmon to cook all the way through.
To test if your salmon is cooked through, use a fork to gently pull away a small piece of the fish. It it flakes easily (like in the photo, below), it's ready to pull out of the oven.
What to Serve with Baked Fish
The sweet honey and tart balsamic flavors pair really well with almost any vegetable side dish.
Fish is high in protein, so I try to balance it out with some low carb veggies. To keep things healthy, you could make some asparagus in the air fryer, and/or Instant Pot cauliflower mashed potatoes. For an extra pop of color on the plate, consider making air fryer beets!
This baked fish recipe is part of my weekly menu rotation. I hope it becomes a favorite of yours too!
Like my Honey Balsamic Salmon recipe? Drop a star rating below!
I’d love to hear about your experience making it, and I’d love to see it, too — Snap a photo and tag me on Instagram. I’d be thrilled to re-post to my stories!
Baked Honey Balsamic Salmon
Ingredients
- 12 ounces salmon fillets two skin-on fillets, about 6 ounces each
For the Marinade
- 2 tablespoons olive oil or avocado oil
- 1½ tablespoons honey
- 2 tablespoons balsamic vinegar
- 1 pinch salt and pepper or more/less to taste, as desired
Instructions
- Add the marinade ingredients to a small bowl and whisk to combine.*You can make the marinade a day in advance if you'd like. Cover the bowl and store in the refrigerator until you're ready to use it.
- Pat the salmon fillets dry with paper towels. Transfer to a glass baking dish or heavy-duty zip top storage bag.
- Pour the marinade over the salmon, turning to make sure there's a nice coating on both sides.
- Marinate at room temperature for 30 minutes, or cover and transfer to the refrigerator to marinate for up to an hour.*Alternatively, you can seal the bag or container and freeze the salmon in the marinade for up to 4 months.
Bake
- Preheat the oven to 400°F (204°C). Remove fish from marinade, shaking off any excess. Set the salmon skin side down in a foil-lined baking dish.
- Pour a little of the marinade over the fish (this helps to keep it moist as it cooks). Discard remaining marinade, as it is not safe to reuse. *See Notes
- Set the baking dish in the oven and cook for 13-15 minutes, or until the fish is cooked through and flakes easily when pierced with a fork.
Notes
- Reusing and/or serving marinade as a dipping sauce is not recommended. Uncooked fish, meat, and poultry contain bacteria that transfer to the marinade. Per USDA recommendations, it is not considered safe to reuse for any purpose unless it is boiled for several minutes first.
