This Salmon Cream Sauce recipe has an easy, quick lemon cream sauce that comes together while the fish is searing. Dinner will be on the table in 20 minutes!
It is always difficult to plan a fish meal here because everything depends on what the market offers fresh. You can show up at the shop with the best of intentions to secure a thick halibut steak, only to be disappointed by what clearly looks like it’s been under the jar for a few days.
Fish is best fresh, there is no getting around it. The fresher the better! So the best attitude to approach the fish department with is: what looks best?
How can you tell when fish is fresh?
With whole fish you can usually only tell by the eyes – they should be clear, not foggy and sunken. If the surface of fillets has dried out and looks tired, that’s not a good sign. The fillet should be shiny, like it was just cut, and smell fresh, not fishy.
The day we cooked this salmon it was the best looking fish on the counter and it did not disappoint. In fact, it was so good I called my dad and told him to stop eating his lunch, pack it up and come over here to eat this salmon. Which of course he did, because if fish is good, it must be eaten immediately.
Salmon and lemon cream sauce in a pan
The recipe is easy! It’s simply salmon fillets fried on the stovetop in a high smoke point oil (we like to use rice bran oil) and served with a sauce of lemon juice, broth and cream.
In this recipe, we pan fry the salmon. If you prefer, you can just as easily bake or poach the salmon and serve with the same sauce.
Updated recipe and photos, first published in 2012.
More cream sauces for fish
- Orange butter sauce (Beurre Blanc) for seafood
- Angel Hair Pasta with Prawns and Parmesan Lemon Cream Sauce
- Angel Hair Pasta with Salmon, Arugula and Creamy Lemon Parmesan Sauce
- Lemon Garlic Seafood Butter Sauce
- Baked Lingcod with Lemon Garlic Butter Sauce
From the editors of Simply Recipes
Salmon with lemon cream sauce
We used skinned salmon for this recipe, but you can use skinless fillets if you’d like. The skin tastes great fried and crispy (salmon bacon!).
When buying fish with skin, make sure the fish is scaled. Ask your fishmonger to do this in store.
Make sure you use “heavy” whipping cream for the sauce or it will curdle.
This recipe is based on an Arctic Char recipe in The Country Cooking of Ireland by Coleman Andrews
ingredients
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3 tablespoon lemon juice
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1/4 Cup chicken soupFish broth, clam juice, white wine or water
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2/3 Cup heavy cream
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1 tablespoon Extra virgin olive oil or rice bran oil
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Kosher salt
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Fresh ground black pepper
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1 1/2 lb salmon fillets
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Parsely, for garnish
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Sliced thin lemonfor garnish
method
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Cook sauce:
Place the lemon juice, broth, and cream in a small saucepan and bring to a simmer. Immediately reduce the heat to minimum, cover the pot and simmer gently for 10 minutes. Season with salt and pepper. Cover the pot for the last minute or two and increase the heat to high to reduce the sauce slightly.
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Prepare the salmon:
While the sauce is cooking, check the salmon for any stray scales (if covered with skin). Use needle nose pliers to remove all pin bones.
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Prepare salmon fillets:
Pour the oil into a frying pan large enough to hold the fillets in one layer. Heat the pan on high and allow the pan to heat up for 90 seconds.
Place the fillets in the hot pan and reduce the heat to medium.
Simple tip!
You can place the fillets in the pan either skin-side down or skin-side up. Placing the fillets skin-side down helps crisp up the skin, which is great to eat (try it if you haven’t, it tastes like salmon bacon!).
Laying the fillets skin-side up first will make it easier to turn the fillets without falling apart, since the raw skin will help hold the fillet together. Your decision.
Let the fillets sizzle evenly for 3 to 5 minutes, depending on how thick the fish is. A 2.5 cm thick fillet takes about 5 minutes.
Using a metal spatula, gently turn the fillets. Cook for an additional 1 to 5 minutes depending on how well done you like your fish.
We like our salmon a little rarer in the middle, so we cook the second side of a 1-inch fillet for about 3 minutes.
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Pour the lemon cream sauce over the salmon:
Arrange the salmon fillets on plates, pour over the lemon cream sauce and sprinkle with chopped parsley to serve.
Once you’ve crisped the skin, serve the fillets skin-side up to keep them crispy. Otherwise, serve the fillets skin-side down.
| nutritional information (per serving) | |
|---|---|
| 592 | calories |
| 39g | Fat |
| 24g | carbohydrates |
| 41g | protein |
