How Long To Bake Salmon At 400 Degrees? Making Perfect Fish
For today's recipe, we are keeping it really simple. I will show you how to bake salmon fillets, salmon portions, and a whole salmon at 400. You can play around with seasonings and the overall flavor as much as you'd like. And don't forget to check out my temperature guide to get your meat perfectly cooked.
Ingredients
- 4 1-inch salmon fillets
- Sea salt flakes, to taste
- Freshly ground black pepper
- 4 tbsp unsalted butter
- 1-2 medium lemons
- Sliced garlic cloves, to taste
- Fresh thyme leaves, to taste
Instructions
Baking Salmon Fillets (Whole)
- Preheat your oven to 400ºF (200ºC). Line a baking dish with parchment paper or aluminum foil. Make sure the lining bends over the edges to catch all of the juices.
- While the oven is preheating, score the salmon skin. Make a couple of incisions (not very deep) across the entire skin. This will help keep the beautiful fillet shape and cook it evenly.
- Next, season the salmon fillet with sea salt flakes and freshly ground black pepper. You can season both sides.
- Finally, place the fillet on the lined baking dish, skin-side facing downwards.
- If you have a basting sauce, rub, spices, or a dressing, you can brush it on the meat now. For this recipe, we will brush the surface with butter and squeeze over some fresh lemon juice. Also add your herbs now.
- Bake the salmon for roughly 11-14 minutes for every inch of thickness. Most fillets are only about 1 inch in thickness, so this guide can be accurately used. If you have a thicker cut, bake it for longer. As I've mentioned in the article above, this gives you medium doneness (135-140ºF).
Baking Salmon Portions
- When baking salmon portions, you are only decreasing the overall baking time. This is especially important when you are cooking thinner strips of the fillet. You can prepare the equipment and meat in exactly the same way as mentioned above.
- Bake the portions for roughly 8-15 minutes, or until the meat has reached the appropriate internal temperature.
Baking Whole Salmon
- You can stuff the whole salmon or simply brush it with butter. Don't forget to season it on the inside with salt and pepper.
- When baking whole salmon, you have to score the skin on both sides of the fish.
- When your oven is preheated, add the whole fish and leave it to bake for roughly 50-70 minutes, depending on the thickness and how done you want it to be.
- Once half of the time has elapsed, turn the fish over so the other side is now facing upwards.
Nutrition
Calories: 110kcalCarbohydrates: 3gProtein: 0.4gFat: 12gSaturated Fat: 7gPolyunsaturated Fat: 0.5gMonounsaturated Fat: 3gTrans Fat: 0.5gCholesterol: 31mgSodium: 2mgPotassium: 41mgFiber: 1gSugar: 1gVitamin A: 361IUVitamin C: 14mgCalcium: 10mgIron: 0.2mg
Tried this recipe?Let me know how it was!