Recipe for honey glazed salmon with apple cider for a delicious caramelized taste. Salmon fillets are stove-top cooked in a honey and apple cider glaze, then served atop fresh, wilted spinach.
Glazed salmon recipe
A lovely way to prepare salmon is with a simple honey and apple cider glaze. You might think that this honey-glazed salmon combo would make the dish too sweet, but it just adds a delicious caramelized flavor to the fish.
Note that we’ve changed this glazed salmon recipe quite a bit since we first posted it years ago. The original recipe comes from a story in the Boston Globe about a country house in Ireland. This glazed salmon recipe required finishing the salmon fillets in the oven, which is not at all necessary, especially for a home cook. No need to heat the house with the oven when you can just make the whole dish on the stove!
How to Make Honey Glazed Salmon
Make the glaze first by boiling apple cider (or juice) and honey together until well reduced. Then pour this glaze over the raw fillets and let them marinate a bit in it. Then cook the salmon fillets on the stovetop while you finish brushing the glaze!
Serve the glazed salmon fillets on a bed of wilted baby spinach.
Salmon glazed with honey cider
You can make this recipe with salmon with or without the skin. If it’s with skin, the skin will help hold the salmon fillets together when you turn them in the pan. You can always easily remove the skin before serving if you wish. (We love the salmon skin, it’s like salmon bacon!)
The salmon should be just cooked through and still slightly translucent in the center when you remove the pan from the heat. The fillets will cook in their own heat for another minute or two. You can always go back to the pan if the salmon isn’t quite cooked enough, but you can’t go back if you’ve (unfortunately) overcooked the fish.
ingredients
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1/2 cup unfiltered apple juice or apple cider (no apple cider)
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1 1/2 tablespoons honey
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4 salmon fillets (6 ounces each)
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1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
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Salt
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2 teaspoons lemon juice
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1 tablespoon butter
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8 ounces fresh baby spinach
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Freshly ground black pepper
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Lemon slices for garnish
method
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Make Apple Cider Honey Glaze:
Heat apple cider and honey in a small shallow pan over medium-high heat. Bring to a boil and cook until mixture is reduced by about half, leaving just over 1/4 cup of glaze. Leave to cool for a minute.
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Allow raw salmon fillets to sit in the prepared glaze:
Arrange the salmon fillets (skin side down if using skinned salmon fillets) in a rimmed bowl large enough to accommodate all the fillets in a single layer. Pour the honey glaze over the salmon.
Let sit for 5 minutes, then turn the salmon pieces over and let sit in the glaze for another 5 minutes.
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Place the fillets in the hot pan, flesh side down:
Heat olive oil in a large skillet over medium-high. (Using a relatively non-stick pan like hard-anodized aluminum helps.) Sprinkle the flesh side of the salmon fillets with salt.
Place the fillets in the hot pan, flesh side down (skin side up). Cook for 2 minutes over medium heat.
While you cook the fish, brush the sides of the fillets with some glaze.
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Turn fillets flesh side up:
Turn the salmon fillets (skin side down now) and brush with the remaining honey cider glaze.
Drizzle salmon with lemon juice. Reduce the heat to medium. Cook until salmon is just tender, 3 to 5 minutes.
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Brush the cooked fillets with remaining pan glaze:
Remove the pan from the heat. Some of the glaze should have caramelized in the pan. Use a pastry brush to brush any drippings over the top of the fillets.
Cover with foil to keep warm.
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Young baby spinach:
In a separate large skillet, melt the butter over medium-high heat. Add the baby spinach to the pan. Boil for a minute.
When the spinach starts to wilt, use tongs to turn the leaves in the pan to brush the leaves with some butter.
Sprinkle with salt and pepper. Continue cooking for a minute or two until the spinach has wilted.
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Surcharge:
To serve, divide the spinach among 4 plates. Arrange a piece of salmon next to or on top and garnish with a lemon wedge.
Inspired by a Boston Globe recipe based on a story about Irish chef Kevin Dundon of Dunbrody Country House in County Wexford.
Links:
Salmon with sake and ginger glaze
Hoisin Glazed Salmon
Miso Glazed Salmon
