Salmon With Anchovy-Garlic Butter

Updated November 24, 2024

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Total Time
25 minutes
Rating
5(8,224)
Comments
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Minced anchovies and garlic add a complex salinity to seared salmon, enriching and deepening its flavor. To get the most out of them, the anchovies and garlic are mashed into softened butter, which is used in two ways: as a cooking medium and as a sauce. Used to cook the salmon, the butter browns and the anchovies and garlic caramelize, turning sweet. When stirred into the pan sauce, the raw garlic and anchovies give an intense bite that’s mitigated by the creaminess of the butter. It’s a quickly made, weeknight-friendly dish that’s far more nuanced than the usual seared salmon — but no harder to prepare.

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Ingredients

Yield:4 servings
  • 3 tablespoons unsalted butter, softened

  • 4 anchovy fillets, minced

  • 1 fat garlic clove, minced (or 2 small ones)

  • ½ teaspoon coarse kosher salt

  • Freshly ground black pepper

  • 4 (6- to 8-ounce) skin-on salmon fillets

  • 2 tablespoons drained capers, patted dry

  • ½ lemon

  • Fresh chopped parsley, for serving

Ingredient Substitution Guide
Nutritional analysis per serving (4 servings)

2 grams carbs; 135 milligrams cholesterol; 505 calories; 10 grams monosaturated fat; 8 grams polyunsaturated fat; 12 grams saturated fat; 36 grams fat; 1 gram fiber; 536 milligrams sodium; 42 grams protein

Note: The information shown is Edamam’s estimate based on available ingredients and preparation. It should not be considered a substitute for a professional nutritionist’s advice.

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Preparation

  1. Step 1

    Heat oven to 400 degrees. In a small bowl, mash together butter, anchovies, garlic, salt and pepper.

  2. Step 2

    In a large ovenproof skillet, melt about half the anchovy butter. Add fish, skin side down. Cook for 3 minutes over high heat to brown the skin, spooning some pan drippings over the top of the fish as it cooks. Add capers to bottom of pan and transfer to oven. Roast until fish is just cooked through, 8 to 10 minutes.

  3. Step 3

    Remove pan from oven and add remaining anchovy butter to pan to melt. Place salmon on plates and spoon buttery pan sauce over the top. Squeeze the lemon half over the salmon and garnish with chopped parsley. Serve.

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Ratings

5 out of 5
8,224 user ratings
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Comments

The sauce is definitely a keeper. But I hope East Coasters will try to break themselves of such overcooking. Sear the skin for crispness by all means; but 10 minutes at 400 degrees produces a firm chewy slab. Please, try 15 minutes at 225 or at most 250; then pour the melted sauce over the fish for delectable moist flakiness.

So easy, and addictive. After I removed the fish and most of the sauce from the pan, I quickly sauteed a mixture of greens in the residual anchovy butter. Perfection!

Wow, never thought of anchois for salmon. But, I can see with frozen wild it does make sense. But, come May, I will ditch the anchovies because it will be fresh wild salmon season again in Seattle.

As an aside, I would point out to NYT food readers that Costco is an absolutely amazing location for their own Kirkland brand frozen wild salmon. Absolutely top notch.

If saving salmon skin for your dogs, remove the skin before adding garlic—they shouldn’t eat anything in the onion family, which includes of leeks, onions and garlic.

My salmons came out perfectly with 400F ~8-10’ the thickest parts were perfectly cooked. I wouldnt use the butter the crisp the skin though. It started burning and emulsified pretty quickly. Id crips the skin with olive oil and use the butter to coat the salmon once the skin is crisped

Made as directed. Checked at minute 6 and it needed a few more. I served with avocado slices in nori sheet hand rolls. The crispy capers are a nice touch. Turned out great!

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