Fish Dishes
Baked Salmon
Thick, skin-on salmon fillets roasted on a very hot tray in a gentle oven, so the skin crisps while the flesh stays moist and just translucent in the middle, then topped with a melting lemon, garlic and dill butter (with a little Dijon mustard if you like).
- Serves 4
- Hands-on 10 min
- Cook 10–14 min
- Gluten-free
- British
Method
Put a sturdy baking tray on the middle shelf and heat the oven to 240°C (fan 220°C, gas 9) for at least 15 minutes.
Meanwhile, beat the butter (40 g) with the garlic (1 clove), the lemon zest (1 lemon), dill (10 g), mustard (1 tsp) if using, and a little pepper. Chill until needed.
Pat the salmon (600 g) very dry with kitchen paper. Make two or three shallow cuts through the skin of each piece (this stops it curling), rub with the oil (1 tbsp) and season both sides well (to taste).
Turn the oven down to 140°C (fan 120°C, gas 1). Take out the hot tray, lay the fillets on it skin side down and put it straight back in the oven.
Roast for 10–14 minutes, depending on thickness, until the thickest part is just opaque on the outside and still slightly translucent in the very centre (50°C on a probe thermometer for moist, medium salmon; 60°C if you prefer it well done).
Lift the fillets onto warm plates (the skin should come away crisp from the tray), top each with a slice of the herb butter and serve with lemon wedges.
Tip: tap a step to tick it off as you cook.
See also
Chef’s notes
- The hot tray sears and crisps the skin from below while the low oven cooks the flesh gently, so there is a wide margin before the salmon dries out.
- Skinless fillets: bake at 180°C (fan 160°C, gas 4) for 12–15 minutes on a lightly oiled tray instead.
- Parcel version: wrap each fillet in oiled foil with a slice of the butter and a splash of white wine, and bake at 180°C (fan 160°C) for 12–14 minutes. Nothing can stick and the juices make a little sauce.
- Good with new potatoes and green beans or buttered spinach. Cold leftovers flake beautifully into a salad.
How this recipe was developed
We compared Christopher Kimball’s America’s Test Kitchen method and Rick Stein’s salmon parcel with the most-rated baked salmon recipes on BBC Good Food and Allrecipes.
- Hot tray, gentle oven. America’s Test Kitchen heats the baking sheet in a very hot oven, then turns the heat right down as the salmon goes in, skin side down. It is the most forgiving method we tried, and the one we use.
- Scored skin. The test kitchen slashes the skin so it lies flat and renders its fat; it then lifts away crisp.
- Take it out early. BBC Good Food’s baked salmon (4.8/5 from 31 ratings) bakes skinless fillets at 180°C for 10–15 minutes; we give that as the skinless option and a probe temperature for both.
- Butter and mustard. Allrecipes’ Baked Dijon Salmon (4.6/5 from 3,734 ratings) shows how well Dijon mustard and butter go with salmon; we fold a little into an optional herb butter.
- Parcels. Rick Stein bakes salmon in foil parcels at 180°C for 12–14 minutes; our parcel variation uses his timing.
Sources we compared (ratings as shown on each site on 31 October 2026):
- America's Test Kitchen (Christopher Kimball era): Oven-Roasted Salmon
- Rick Stein: Salmon in a parcel
- BBC Good Food: Baked salmon (4.8/5, 31 ratings)
- Allrecipes: Baked Dijon Salmon (4.6/5, 3,734 ratings)
This is an original Cookeryonline recipe written in our own words. Ingredient choices and techniques are credited above; no source text has been copied.