Why You’ll Love This Easy Salmon Recipe

• Simple to Make: This recipe is designed for simplicity without compromising on flavor. Even novice cooks will find the steps easy to follow, allowing you to create a restaurant-quality meal with minimal stress and effort. It’s a truly straightforward approach to gourmet salmon.
• Delicious Flavor Profile: The unique blend of bourbon and brown sugar creates an irresistible glaze that caramelizes beautifully on the salmon, infusing it with a complex sweet and savory taste. It’s a flavor profile that stands out and will have everyone asking for seconds. The glaze offers layers of flavor – the warmth of bourbon, the mellow sweetness of brown sugar, a subtle tang from Dijon and lemon, and a rich umami depth from soy and Worcestershire.
• Quick Weeknight Preparation: Forget lengthy cooking sessions. This dish comes together quickly, with much of the cooking being hands-off oven time. It’s an ideal solution for those busy weeknights when you crave something special but don’t have hours to spend in the kitchen. From prep to plate, it’s surprisingly fast.
• Fantastic Presentation: The rich, caramelized glaze gives the salmon a gorgeous, inviting sheen, making it look as impressive as it tastes. It’s a visually appealing dish that’s perfect for entertaining guests or elevating a casual dinner into a memorable ‘date night’ experience.
• Versatile Pairing: This glazed salmon pairs wonderfully with a wide array of side dishes, from simple rice and green vegetables to more elaborate salads. It’s a flexible main course that can adapt to your culinary mood and what you have on hand.

Best Ways to Cook Salmon for Every Palate

While this recipe champions the incredible results of oven-roasted salmon, it’s worth noting the remarkable versatility of this magnificent fish. There truly isn’t one “best” way to cook salmon, as each technique unlocks different textures and flavor nuances. Exploring these various cooking methods allows you to enjoy salmon in countless delicious ways, adapting to your preferences and available equipment.

• Oven Roasting/Baking: As highlighted in this recipe, oven roasting delivers a tender, flaky interior with a beautifully caramelized exterior, especially when paired with a rich glaze. It’s a mostly hands-off method that’s perfect for consistent results.
• Grilling: Grilling imparts a wonderful smoky char and distinctive flavor, ideal for outdoor cooking. The high heat seals in moisture while creating inviting grill marks.
• Sous Vide: For precise, consistent doneness and incredibly succulent fish, sous vide is an excellent choice. This method gently cooks the salmon in a temperature-controlled water bath, resulting in an unparalleled tender texture.
• Poaching: Poaching offers a delicate, moist texture, perfect for lighter preparations or when serving salmon cold in salads. It allows the natural flavors of the fish to shine through subtly.
• Steaming: Steaming preserves the salmon’s natural flavors and nutrients, resulting in a very light and healthy preparation. It keeps the fish incredibly moist without added fats.
• Pan-Searing: Pan-searing creates a wonderfully crispy skin and a tender, moist interior. This quick-cooking method is excellent for developing rich flavors on the surface of the fillet.
• Smoking: Popular around the world, smoked salmon offers a distinct, rich flavor profile and can be enjoyed hot or cold. It’s a fantastic method for preserving and enhancing the fish’s natural oils.

Each cooking technique presents a unique canvas for introducing additional flavors, whether through marinades, rubs, or vibrant glazes like our bourbon brown sugar creation.

Essential Ingredients for Bourbon Brown Sugar Glazed Salmon

Here is what you need to create this incredibly flavorful and easy salmon recipe, with insights into why each component is key:

• Salmon: The star of our dish! For the best results, we highly recommend using high-quality salmon fillets, preferably with the skin on. The skin helps protect the delicate flesh during roasting and makes for easier handling and cleanup, as it often sticks to the rack, leaving you with perfectly cooked, skinless fillets. While farmed salmon is widely available, wild-caught varieties often offer a richer flavor and firmer texture, so opt for wild salmon if your grocery store carries it.
• Bourbon: More than just a spirit, bourbon forms the complex backbone of our glaze. Its distinct caramel, vanilla, and oak notes elevate the sweetness of the brown sugar, creating a sophisticated depth of flavor. Choose a bourbon you enjoy drinking, as its character will shine through in the final glaze, imparting a wonderfully warm and inviting aroma.
• Brown Sugar: This isn’t just for sweetness; brown sugar is crucial for the glaze’s texture and color. Its molasses content helps create a beautiful caramelization on the salmon’s surface during roasting, while also contributing to the glaze’s rich, thick consistency. Packed brown sugar is preferred for accurate measurements.
• Dijon Mustard: A secret ingredient that adds a subtle tang and emulsifying quality without imparting a strong ‘mustard’ flavor. It helps to bind the glaze ingredients, creating a smooth mixture, and provides a slight sharpness that beautifully cuts through the sweetness, balancing the overall profile.
• Low-Sodium Soy Sauce: We always prefer low-sodium soy sauce to give us better control over the overall saltiness of the dish. It introduces a vital umami element, adding a savory depth that balances the sweetness of the brown sugar and the richness of the salmon, enhancing the overall complexity.
• Worcestershire Sauce: Another umami powerhouse, Worcestershire sauce deepens the glaze’s complexity with its savory, slightly tangy, and subtly spiced profile. It’s a classic enhancer that rounds out the flavor beautifully, adding a layer of sophisticated taste.
• Kosher Salt and Black Pepper: Essential seasoning to enhance all the other flavors. Kosher salt provides a clean, mild salinity that brings out the best in the salmon and glaze, and freshly ground black pepper adds a gentle warmth and aromatic kick.
• Shallot: Finely diced shallots melt into the glaze, offering a delicate, sweet onion flavor that is less pungent than regular onion. This subtle aromatic layer adds depth and a hint of savory complexity to the sauce.
• Lemon Juice: A touch of fresh lemon juice is essential for brightness and balance. While you won’t taste overt lemon flavor in the finished salmon, its acidity is crucial for cutting through the richness and harmonizing the sweet and savory notes of the glaze, preventing it from being cloyingly sweet.
• Water: Just a small amount of water is added to the glaze to help dilute the bourbon slightly and ensure the glaze reaches the right consistency without becoming overly thick or syrupy too quickly during preparation.
• Lemon Wedges: Perfect for garnish, fresh lemon wedges offer a burst of vibrant freshness when squeezed over the cooked salmon just before serving, brightening the entire dish.
• Green Onions: Thinly sliced green onions add a final touch of vibrant color and a mild, oniony crunch, providing a fresh contrast to the rich glaze.

Please refer to the detailed recipe card below for precise ingredient amounts and quantities.

Common Ingredient Substitutions for Glazed Salmon

Don’t have an ingredient on hand, or simply want to experiment? Here are a couple of common substitutions for the ingredients in this brown sugar-glazed salmon recipe that will still yield a delicious meal:

• Salmon: Although the natural fattiness of salmon helps it absorb the rich glaze beautifully, you can certainly use other types of fish. Firmer, flakier fish such as trout, swordfish, or mackerel are excellent alternatives that can stand up to the bold flavors of this glaze.
• Bourbon: Feel free to get creative with the spirit! While bourbon’s classic caramel and vanilla notes perfectly complement brown sugar, other spirits like brandy or dark rum can introduce fascinating variations to the glaze. Each will lend a unique character, so choose one you enjoy and explore new flavor dimensions.
• Brown Sugar: For a delightful twist and a different kind of natural sweetness, you can easily replace the brown sugar with pure maple syrup. This will result in a rich, maple-flavored glaze that is especially wonderful during cooler months.
• Soy Sauce: If you need a gluten-free option, tamari is an excellent substitute for soy sauce. It provides the same essential umami depth without the wheat, ensuring the dish remains accessible for those with dietary restrictions.
• Shallot: A finely minced small onion or even a touch of onion powder (use sparingly, about ¼ teaspoon) can be used in place of fresh shallots if you don’t have them on hand. The flavor will be slightly different—a bit bolder with onion, but still very tasty and aromatic.

Crafting Your Perfect Bourbon Brown Sugar Glazed Salmon

Creating this show-stopping Bourbon Brown Sugar Glazed Salmon is simpler than you might imagine. The salmon itself requires minimal preparation—just a sprinkle of salt and pepper—and then it’s generously basted with our incredible glaze throughout the roasting process. The most ‘involved’ part is crafting the glaze, but even that comes together remarkably fast, making this a truly easy and impressive dinner. The layers of flavor and the beautiful caramelization are well worth the minimal effort.

Essential Equipment for This Dish

To ensure a smooth cooking process and perfect results, gather these essential kitchen tools:

• Roasting pan or rimmed baking sheet tray with a wire rack (the rack is crucial for even cooking and skin release).
• Small Saucepan to gently simmer and create the delectable glaze.
• Whisk for thoroughly combining the glaze ingredients.
• Silicone brush or natural pastry brush to evenly apply the glaze onto the salmon fillets.
• Metal spatula for carefully removing the cooked fish from the rack for serving, ensuring it stays intact.
• Instant-read thermometer to accurately check the salmon’s internal temperature for perfect doneness.

Step-by-Step Guide to Perfect Glazed Salmon

Prepare the Salmon

1. Preheat your oven to 400°F (200°C). Thoroughly clean your salmon fillets under cool running water and pat them completely dry with paper towels. This crucial step helps the seasoning adhere and ensures a beautiful crust. Arrange the dry salmon fillets, skin-side down, on a wire rack set over an aluminum foil-lined rimmed baking sheet. Transfer them to the refrigerator for approximately 20 minutes while you prepare the glaze and allow the oven to fully preheat. Chilling the salmon slightly can help it cook more evenly and firm up the flesh.

Make the Glaze

1. In a small saucepan, combine the bourbon, brown sugar, Dijon mustard, low-sodium soy sauce, Worcestershire sauce, a pinch of kosher salt, black pepper, finely diced shallots, lemon juice, and water. Whisk these ingredients together until well combined.
2. Place the saucepan over medium-low heat. It’s important to heat the glaze gently and carefully, as bourbon is flammable. Let the mixture simmer softly for several minutes, stirring frequently to prevent scorching. During this time, the brown sugar will fully dissolve, and the glaze will begin to thicken slightly. You’ll notice the alcohol aroma diminishing, indicating it’s cooking off. Once it just starts to thicken and the alcohol smell dissipates, remove the pan from the heat immediately. Be vigilant not to overcook the glaze, as you don’t want it to caramelize and become hard in the saucepan; it should remain a pourable, slightly viscous liquid.

Roast the Salmon

1. Retrieve the chilled salmon from the refrigerator. Season the top and sides of each fillet with another pinch of kosher salt and black pepper. Using a silicone brush or a natural pastry brush, generously baste the salmon fillets with a portion of the prepared bourbon brown sugar glaze. Place the baking sheet with the glazed salmon in the preheated oven on the lower or center rack. Roast for an initial 10 minutes.
2. After 10 minutes, carefully pull the baking sheet out of the oven. Apply another generous layer of glaze to the salmon fillets. Return the salmon to the oven for an additional 5 minutes. Following this, remove the salmon once more and turn your oven to the broiler setting (high heat). Apply a final coat of glaze. Place the baking sheet on the top rack under the broiler for about 3 minutes. Keep a close eye on it during this time, as broilers can vary, and the glaze can quickly go from caramelized to burnt. The salmon should be just flaky when tested with a fork, but not overdone. Cooking times can vary significantly based on the thickness of your salmon fillets, so use visual cues and an instant-read thermometer for precision.
3. For perfectly cooked salmon, we aim for an internal temperature between 125-145°F (52-63°C), depending on your preference. We personally favor a medium-rare doneness, around 125°F (52°C), which yields incredibly tender, moist, and flaky salmon. If you prefer your salmon cooked more thoroughly, return it to the lower oven rack for an extra minute or two (do not continue broiling, as this can dry out the fish). Always trust your thermometer for the best results.

Finish the Dish

1. Once cooked to your liking, remove the salmon from the oven. If any glaze remains in your saucepan, feel free to drizzle it over the cooked salmon fillets for an extra burst of flavor and a beautiful sheen. Allow the salmon to rest on the rack for a few minutes; this helps the juices redistribute and prevents it from drying out.
2. To serve, carefully slide a metal spatula between the skin and the flesh of each fish fillet. The skin should adhere to the wire rack, allowing you to easily lift off perfectly skinless, glazed salmon portions. Garnish generously with fresh lemon wedges and thinly sliced green onions for a bright finish and a touch of color.

Delicious Variations for Your Glazed Salmon

This Bourbon Brown Sugar Glazed Salmon recipe is fantastic as is, but it also serves as a wonderful base for creative variations:

• Serve Cold as a Salmon Salad: Don’t let any leftover salmon go to waste! This glazed salmon is surprisingly delicious when chilled and flaked into a vibrant salmon salad. Mix it with a light vinaigrette, fresh herbs, and crisp vegetables for a refreshing lunch or appetizer. It’s an excellent way to reinvent leftovers.
• Grilled Cedar Plank or Direct Grill: For an entirely different culinary experience, adapt this recipe for the grill. Cooking on a cedar plank infuses the salmon with a wonderful smoky aroma and keeps it incredibly moist. Alternatively, grilling directly over medium heat provides a beautiful char and intensifies the glaze’s caramelization. The sweet and savory glaze works beautifully with the smoky notes of grilling, adding a delightful depth.

Storing and Reheating Glazed Salmon

Proper storage ensures you can enjoy your delicious leftovers safely.

How to store leftover glazed salmon: Store any leftover Bourbon Brown Sugar Glazed Salmon in an airtight container in the refrigerator for 2-3 days. For best quality and to prevent condensation, allow the salmon to cool to room temperature before sealing and refrigerating.

How to reheat leftover glazed salmon: While many enjoy this salmon cold, if you prefer it warm, gently reheat leftover salmon in an oven preheated to 300°F (150°C) until just warmed through. Avoid high heat or prolonged reheating, which can dry out the delicate fish. A few minutes in a warm oven is usually sufficient.

Can you freeze leftover salmon? Freezing cooked salmon is generally not recommended. The delicate texture, vibrant color, and fresh flavor can all suffer significantly upon thawing and reheating, leading to a less pleasant eating experience. It’s best enjoyed fresh or within a couple of days from the refrigerator rather than freezing.

Top Tip for Perfect Salmon Skin Release

Achieving the perfect texture with your salmon begins with proper preparation. This recipe is optimized for skin-on salmon fillets. When placing the salmon on the wire rack for roasting, resist the urge to oil the rack where the skin will sit. The goal is for the salmon skin to ‘weld’ itself to the rack during cooking. This clever trick allows you to easily slide a metal spatula between the flesh and the crispy, stuck-on skin after cooking, leaving you with perfectly cooked, skinless fillets ready for serving. This method provides clean, beautiful portions without the fuss of trying to remove soft skin from the fish itself.

If you are cooking skinless salmon fillets, we strongly advise lining your baking sheet with parchment paper and lightly spraying it with cooking spray. This will prevent the delicate fillets from sticking to the pan, ensuring they can be easily removed and served intact.

Troubleshooting Your Glaze

Making the glaze is straightforward, but two common pitfalls can occur. Firstly, exercise extreme caution when heating the bourbon; it is flammable, so always keep the heat on medium-low and be mindful of open flames in your kitchen. Never leave it unattended. Secondly, the glaze can easily be over-reduced. If the glaze simmers for too long or at too high a heat, it can transform into a hard, crunchy caramel instead of a pourable, slightly thick liquid. While a tiny bit of crispy caramel on the salmon is lovely, an entire batch of rock-hard glaze is not ideal. Pay close attention to its consistency: it should reduce to a slightly thickened but still very runny sauce when it’s ready to be brushed onto the fish. If it looks too thick, a splash of water can sometimes rescue it, but prevention is key.

Delicious Sides to Serve with Glazed Salmon

This Bourbon Brown Sugar Glazed Salmon is a star dish that pairs wonderfully with a variety of complementary sides. The rich, sweet, and savory flavors of the salmon are versatile enough to harmonize with many accompaniments.

• Our favorite side dishes to serve with this dish include fragrant white rice or nutty brown rice. These provide a comforting base that beautifully soaks up any leftover glaze, ensuring every bite is flavorful.
• Complementing the richness of the salmon with vibrant green vegetables is always a good idea. Consider elegant balsamic green beans with sliced almonds for a delightful texture contrast and a hint of tang.
• For those who enjoy a bit of heat, spicy charred Calabrian chili broccolini makes an excellent vibrant and flavorful pairing.
• Other fantastic options include roasted asparagus, steamed broccoli, or a light cucumber and dill salad to add freshness.

Ultimately, just about anything will be fantastic, so feel free to use your favorite veggies and grains to create a perfectly balanced meal!

Perfect Wine & Cocktail Pairings

Choosing the right beverage to accompany this Bourbon Brown Sugar Glazed Salmon can significantly elevate your dining experience. The dish’s sweet and savory profile, coupled with the rich flavor of salmon, opens up several exciting pairing possibilities.

• Pinot Noir: Pinot Noir has long been a classic go-to pairing for salmon, and for excellent reason! Its light-to-medium body, delicate red fruit notes, and subtle earthy undertones wonderfully complement the richness of salmon without overpowering the sweet and savory glaze. It’s a harmonious match that enhances both the fish and the sauce.
• Chardonnay: If white wine is more to your taste, a crisp (unoaked or lightly oaked) Chardonnay makes for a delightful pairing. Its vibrant acidity and notes of green apple or citrus can cut through the richness of the salmon and cleanse the palate.
• Pinot Grigio: A refreshing Pinot Grigio is another excellent white wine option. Its light body and bright, crisp flavors provide a lovely contrast to the glazed salmon, offering a clean and enjoyable sip between bites.
• Manhattan or Old Fashioned: For those looking to fully embrace the ‘bourbon’ element of the glaze, venture ‘outside the box’ and try serving this dish with a classic Manhattan or an Old Fashioned. These bourbon-based cocktails beautifully echo the glaze’s flavors, creating a cohesive and exceptionally enjoyable culinary adventure that ties the entire meal together.

Prep Time: 20 mins

Cook Time: 30 mins

Total Time: 50 mins

Course: Main Course

Cuisine: American

Servings: 2

Calories: 499 kcal

Equipment

• Roasting pan or rimmed baking sheet tray with a wire rack
• Small saucepan to make the glaze
• Whisk
• Silicone brush or natural brush to brush the glaze onto the salmon
• Metal spatula to remove the fish from the rack for serving
• Instant read thermometer

Ingredients

• 2 Skin-on salmon fillets (about 6 oz each)
• ½ cup bourbon
• ¼ cup brown sugar (packed)
• 1 teaspoon dijon mustard
• 1 teaspoon low sodium soy sauce
• 1 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce
• Pinch kosher salt
• Pinch black pepper
• 1 small shallot (diced fine)
• 1 teaspoon lemon juice
• 2 Tablespoons water
• Lemon wedges for garnish
• Green onions for garnish

Instructions

Prepare the Salmon

1. Preheat the oven to 400°F (200°C). Clean and pat dry your salmon fillets with paper towels. Place salmon fillets on a rack over an aluminum foil lined rimmed baking sheet, skin side down, in the refrigerator for 20 minutes or so as you make the glaze and let the oven preheat.

Make the Glaze

1. For the glaze, whisk the bourbon, brown sugar, dijon mustard, soy sauce, Worcestershire sauce, a pinch of kosher salt and black pepper, finely diced shallots, lemon juice, and the water in a saucepan. Turn the heat to medium low and carefully heat the glaze. Bourbon is flammable, so keep the heat down and let it simmer gently for several minutes, stirring often. The sugar will dissolve and the mixture will just start to thicken.
2. At this point, remove the pan from the heat. The alcohol from the bourbon should have cooked off – you’ll be able to tell by the smell. Be careful not to cook your glaze too much – you do not want it to caramelize in the pan.

Roast the Salmon

1. Remove the salmon from the fridge. Sprinkle the top of the salmon fillets with a pinch of kosher salt and black pepper. Baste on the top and sides with some of the glaze using a silicone brush or natural brush. Place the salmon in the preheated oven on the lower or center rack for 10 minutes.
2. While the salmon cooks, pull the salmon out briefly to brush with more of the glaze. Return to the oven for 5 minutes more, then remove the salmon and turn the heat to broil. Brush the salmon fillets again with the glaze and place on the top rack to broil for 3 minutes. The salmon should be just flaky but not overdone but the cooking times will depend on the thickness of your salmon fillets.
3. If you like the salmon cooked more, return it to the oven on the lower rack (do not continue to broil the salmon) for a minute or two. The internal temperature of cooked salmon should be between 125-145°F (52-63°C) based on preference – we prefer our salmon cooked around 125°F (52°C) for flaky salmon that is still very tender at medium rare doneness.

Finish the Dish

1. Remove the salmon from the oven. If you have remaining glaze, pour it over the salmon fillets. Let it rest for a few minutes, then remove it from the rack by sliding a metal spatula between the skin and the flesh of the fish. The skin should remove easily and will be left behind, as it should stick to the rack.
2. Serve the salmon, garnished with lemon wedges and green onions.

Notes

Substitutions:

• Salmon: Although the fattiness of salmon helps take in the glaze, you could use other fish, such as trout, swordfish or mackerel.
• Bourbon: You could actually use any spirit you choose here! The bourbon complements the brown sugar but experimenting with other spirits like brandy or rum is fair game here.
• Brown sugar: Replace the brown sugar with maple syrup for a maple flavored glaze.
• Soy sauce: You could use tamari for a gluten free option.
• Shallot: Onion is a good substitute for shallot in this recipe.

Storage:

How to store leftover glazed salmon: Store leftover glazed salmon in a covered airtight container in the refrigerator for 2-3 days. Bring the salmon to room temperature before storing.

How to reheat leftover glazed salmon: You can eat it cold, but if you want to reheat it, place in the oven at 300°F (150°C) until warmed through.

Top tip:

This recipe assumes you are using salmon fillets with the skin on. When you first put the salmon on the rack, do not put anything on the rack to make the skin release (unless you really want to eat it) after cooking. That way the skin can be left welded to the rack after cooking and you can easily remove it for serving.

If cooking the salmon without skin, we recommend cooking it on a sheet pan with parchment paper sprayed with cooking spray so that you can easily remove the fillets to serve.

Nutrition

Keyword: bourbon, brown sugar, glaze, salmon