Sweet, spicy, and delicious this air fryer salmon recipe is a must make. Air fryer salmon is ready in about 10-13 minutes it’s both quick and easy. A great recipe for beginners, and experienced cooks. With the nutritional benefits of Salmon’s omega 3 fatty acids, you can’t go wrong.
Make a bed of rice to go with your salmon, here’s a recipe!
What’s So Great About Salmon
Salmon is a great source of protein, with roughly 17 grams of protein per 3 oz fillet. The fat in salmon is a great source of omega 3 fatty acids that offer health benefits, such as supporting brain and nervous system function and supporting heart health.
While Farm-raised Salmon is higher in fat it is lower in omega 3 fatty acids. There are arguments to be made for both farm-raised salmon, and wild-caught. Whichever you feel is the better choice for you is fine. I will however recommend you cook wild-caught salmon slightly more than farm-raised to render the extra fat, to achieve a better mouthfeel.
Ingredients
- Salmon Fillet
- Honey
- Chipotle Peppers in Adobo Sauce
- Soy Sauce
- Vegetable Oil
- Salt and Pepper
Cracking The Air Fryer Code
I admit I am sort of new to air fryer cooking. With over 20 years as a working chef/cook in the restaurant business, I have a bit of an advantage approaching a new method of cooking food. While I have had my air fryer for close to a year now I am still mastering the technique.
With that being said when I submit a recipe for Home Pressure Cooking is only after multiple attempts at perfecting it, both in flavor profile, and cooking method. My first few attempts at this salmon recipe left me with dry grainy salmon, even though it was cooked more or less perfectly.
The aggressive convection within an air fryer has a way of drying out proteins before they reach a safe temperature. In this case, the solution was wrapping the salmon in foil for the first 2/3rds of the cooking process. It worked like a charm, the salmon gently steamed in the foil till I was ready to apply the glaze resulting in succulent flakey salmon the rivaled any salmon cooked with traditional methods.
The Glaze is Amaze!
I love this sauce/glaze. It’s less sweet than you would think. The soy sauce is the perfect balance to the sweetness of the honey. I of course adjusted the spicy level to my taste.
Feel free to go heavier if you like with cooking the salmon for several minutes before applying the glaze the surface of the air fryer salmon is cooked before I apply it, so there is little or no chance for cross-contamination allowing it to be used as a finishing sauce as well. If you are worried the salmon may have been undercooked when you apply it go ahead and nuke it for 2-3 minutes to ensure that it is safe.
What To Serve With The Salmon
This of course is your choice. I served mine with yellow rice (Rice cooked in chicken stock with garlic and herbs)
and some pickled sweet peppers and fresh grape tomatoes. The sweetness of the peppers complimented the sweetness of the glaze, and the acidy of the tomato’s balanced the fattiness of the salmon. The rice was a nice savory balance to everything on the plate. A garnish of green onions and cilantro gave it the final touch to make it a restaurant-worthy dish.
I hope you enjoy this recipe, I will be making it again soon.
Thanks for reading – Chef Eric
Air Fryer Salmon With A Honey Chipotle Glaze
Equipment
- Air Fryer
- tin foil
- mixing bowl
- Tongs
- Basting Brush
Ingredients
- 1 portion salmon fillet or steak
- salt and pepper to taste
- 1/2 tsp vegetable oil
Honey Chipotle Glaze/Sauce (Recipe makes enough for several pieces of Salmon with some left over for finishing.)
- 2 tbsp honey
- 1 tbsp soy sauce
- 2 tbsp chopped chipotles in adobo sauce
Instructions
Glaze/sauce
- Combine all of the "honey chipotle glaze/sauce" ingredients in a small mixing bowl and mix well.
Salmon
- Lightly coat salmon with vegetable oil. Salt and pepper to taste.
- Wrap in tin foil. (Try to make it easy to open to check on cooking progress part way through cooking.)
- Preheat air fryer to 350 F or 176 C. Cook salmon for 4-5 minutes.
- Open foil, and check salmon. It should be close to done. fold foil over so salmon will get direct heat. Baste liberally with glaze.
- Continue cooking and basting at one minute intervals till salmon is flakey and flesh is opaque.
Video
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Salmon Recipes
Check out our Instant Pot Salmon Risotto or our Keto Sushi Rolls.
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