This delicious pan seared Salmon with Spinach Cream Sauce is an easy family friendly dinner packed with veggies. It's also fancy enough to serve at a dinner party. Hands up if you like dinners with less dishes? This is a one pot and ready in 25 minutes too.
I'll warn you, the sauce in this recipe is completely addictive. Rich and creamy but with added lemon for freshness and parmesan for that salty savory kick, it hits every taste spot. Finished with peas, spinach and dill this one pot is truly a meal in itself.
Why you should try this Salmon With Spinach Cream Sauce
- This dish is an easy and tasty salmon standby to help ensure your family is eating enough fish.
- It looks and tastes like restaurant quality for when you're craving something special. But it's actually one of the easiest things you could make. So it's great if you're entertaining.
- It's full of veggies so no need to bother with a separate side dishs . And the veggies don't need chopping, which makes prep a breeze.
- If you're dairy free or would prefer not to use cream this also tastes great with coconut cream, just like my other favorite one pot Coconut Cream Salmon with Tomatoes.
How To Make Salmon With Spinach Cream Sauce - A Step By Step Video
How to Cook Perfect Salmon
Pan searing salmon may sound scary at first. But honestly it’s a very simple method of cooking fish.
It also gives that delicious crispy outside and juicy inside that restaurants do so well. And it helps to avoid the dry and chalky overcooked fish that kids (and adults) hate.
Should I use skin on or skin off Salmon?
You can use skin off salmon but I do recommend skin on. If you do most of the pan frying skin side down, it protects the delicate fish flesh.
A lot of the flavor in fish also comes from the skin, as well as the healthy oils. If you prefer not to eat the skin just remove it after cooking. It should come away easily.
An Easy Guide to Pan Searing Salmon
- Make sure that the salmon is seasoned well with salt and pepper.
- Heat your skillet until hot and then add some vegetable oil or butter.
- Place the fish skin side down in the pan and leave it to sear on a medium high heat without moving it.
- Try to cook the salmon through mostly on the skin side. Since the skin is a barrier to the direct heat, this makes sure your fish stays juicy. Depending on the thickness it should take between 4-6 minutes.
- Watch the fish closely and flip it over when you can see that the flesh has turned mostly opaque from translucent all the way up the sides.
- Now turn the heat to low and finish cooking the other side for a minute or two. To avoid overcooking, the salmon should still be a little translucent inside when you take it off the heat.
- If you like to use an instant read thermometer the thickest part of the fish should reach 145ºF.
Should I let Salmon rest?
As with any meat, take salmon off the heat or out of the oven just before it's done. Then cover it and let it rest for about 10 minutes. This makes sure that the juices have time to redistribute and will keep your fish moist and juicy.
Should I use a non stick pan for searing salmon fillets?
The best pan for searing salmon is a cast iron or stainless steel skillet or frying pan. Protein cooks better at higher heat and a non stick won’t always give the nice sear you are looking for here.
Tips for making the best Salmon With Spinach Cream Sauce
- Make sure you leave all the juices in the pan after searing the salmon. This will add flavor to the sauce.
- Don't over cook the spinach. You literally only need to stir the spinach through the hot sauce until it wilts and then serve.
Variations
- This sauce is pretty versatile and forgiving. If you want to leave out the peas or spinach that is fine. Similarly if you want to add different greens, stemmed and shredded kale works nicely.
- You can also swap the peas and dill for cherry tomatoes and basil to give it more of a Mediterranean Tuscan Salmon vibe.
- To make this Seared Salmon with creamy sauce dairy free - just substitute 1 cup of cream with 1 cup of coconut cream as a straight swap.
- If you would like to make this with a different fish, cod fillets also work really well.
How To Serve Salmon With Spinach Cream Sauce
This dish is quite filling and if you're cutting back on carbs it's a meal in itself.
If you do want to add something more filling the sauce goes perfectly with mashed potato, rice, quinoa and riced cauliflower.
For a lower carb side, veggie noodles are also a great paring.
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What Do You Think?!
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More Easy Dinner Ideas
Printable Recipe
Salmon with Spinach Cream Sauce
Ingredients
- 4 Salmon Fillets - with skin on
- 2 tbsp Butter
- 1 clove Garlic - crushed
- ½ Lemon - juice only
- 1 cup Vegetable Stock
- 1 cup Heavy Cream (Double Cream)
- ½ cup Grated Parmesan
- 1 cup Peas
- 4 cups Baby Spinach
- 1 tbsp Dill - chopped
- Lemon Wedges - optional for serving
Instructions
- In a large frying pan or skillet, sear the salmon skin side down over a medium high heat in the butter. Let it cook for around 4-6 minutes on this side, carefully flip over and finish cooking for around 1-2 minutes on the other side (depending on thickness).
- Remove salmon and reserve on a plate, covering with foil to keep warm.
- In the same pan, stir in the garlic, then the lemon juice. Let it bubble for a minute or two.
- Add the stock, bring to a boil and turn down to a simmer for a further 5 minutes to allow the flavors to come together.
- Stir in the cream and the parmesan cheese. Mix gently until it has melted.
- Add the frozen peas.
- Stir in the spinach until just wilted.
- Add the salmon back to the pan and re-heat for a moment or two.
- Garnish with chopped dill.
- Serve with lemon wedges.
Video
Nutrition
This recipe has been shared with the #CookBlogShare community hosted this week by Beth at Effortless Foodie.
Lynne Padbury says
Easy to make ...tastes wonderful 10/10
Lesley says
What a lovely recipe, my family all enjoy eating salmon and this is a delicious way to serve it.
Chloe Edges says
This is the next thing I am going to do with salmon, it sounds delish!
Carol says
Really easy and tastes divine
Ryanne says
This is our new favorite salmon recipe! I used coconut cream and coconut oil (in place of butter). Also doubled the peas and added two more cups of spinach because we like a lot of veggies. Absolutely amazing!
Chel says
Loved it! It really was quick and easy. I adjusted amounts for a single serve quite easily and also added a few microwaved baby potatoes. I'm thinking about trying it with chicken next. Thank you
Jo Keohane says
Hi Chel, thanks so much for your feedback - so glad you enjoyed it.