American
Lemon Pepper Salmon
Salmon fillets sear in butter with garlic, lemon zest, and plenty of black pepper. The fish is done at 145°F, when it flakes and the center is opaque.
- Prep
- 8 min
- Cook
- 12 min
- Total
- 20 min
- Servings
- 4
- Difficulty
- Easy
Why you’ll love it
- A hot skillet and dry fillets give the salmon a crust before the inside overcooks.
- Coarse black pepper and lemon zest are the seasoning, not a heavy sauce.
- 145°F in the thickest part is the stop. The fish will look slightly translucent a moment before and opaque at the temperature.
- Butter and garlic finish in the same pan so the spooned juices taste like the crust.
Ingredients
Ingredient amounts scale. Oven temperature and cook time do not. Salt, spices, and leaveners are a starting point after you scale. Taste and adjust.
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Instructions
- 1
Pat the salmon dry. Zest the lemons, then cut the lemons into wedges and juice one of them so you have about 2 tbsp juice.
- 2
Season the fillets with the kosher salt, coarse black pepper, and paprika.
- 3
Heat the olive oil in a skillet over medium-high heat. Place the salmon skin-side up if it has skin, or the presentation side down, and cook 4 minutes without moving it.
- 4
Flip. Add the butter, garlic, and zest. Cook until the thickest part of each fillet reaches 145°F and the fish flakes, about 3 to 4 minutes more.
- 5
Spoon the butter over the fillets as they finish.
- 6
Take the skillet off the heat. Stir the juice and parsley into the pan juices.
- 7
Serve the salmon with the remaining wedges and the pan juices.
Pro tips
- Pull the salmon at 145°F. It keeps cooking for a minute in the hot pan.
- If the pepper starts to smell burnt, lower the heat. Coarse pepper can scorch in a ripping-hot skillet.
- Leave the skin on for easier flipping, then eat it or lift the fillet off it.
Easy substitutions
- Salmon fillets
- Steelhead trout fillets, still cooked to 145°F
- Butter
- More olive oil
- Parsley
- Dill
Storage and reheating
Storage
Refrigerate up to 2 days.
Reheating
Warm gently in a covered skillet over low heat until just hot. High heat dries the salmon out.
Nutrition
Estimates per serving, using standard ingredient averages and rounded to the nearest gram. This is not a lab analysis, and it shifts if you change brands or add sides.
- Calories
- 373
- Protein
- 34 g
- Carbs
- 3 g
- Fat
- 25 g
- Fiber
- 1 g
Moderate · Stovetop · High Protein
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An air fryer with a real basket
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A half-sheet pan
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