Salmon With Anchovy-Garlic Butter

By Melissa Clark

Updated Nov. 25, 2024

Salmon With Anchovy-Garlic Butter
Christopher Testani for The New York Times. Food Stylist: Spencer Richards.
Total Time
25 minutes
Rating
5(7,864)
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.

Featured in: An Easy Salmon Recipe for Weeknight Meals

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Ingredients

Yield:4 servings
  • 3tablespoons unsalted butter, softened
  • 4anchovy fillets, minced
  • 1fat garlic clove, minced (or 2 small ones)
  • ½teaspoon coarse kosher salt
  • Freshly ground black pepper
  • 4(6- to 8-ounce) skin-on salmon fillets
  • 2tablespoons drained capers, patted dry
  • ½lemon
  • Fresh chopped parsley, for serving
Ingredient Substitution Guide
Nutritional analysis per serving (4 servings)

505 calories; 36 grams fat; 12 grams saturated fat; 0 grams trans fat; 10 grams monounsaturated fat; 8 grams polyunsaturated fat; 2 grams carbohydrates; 1 gram dietary fiber; 0 grams sugars; 42 grams protein; 536 milligrams sodium

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
7,864 user ratings
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Comments

Roger in Seattle

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.

Mary

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!

alanzelt

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.

Fabulous

Followed recipe exactly. Next time I would double the butter sauce and add more capers.

Claire

I want to make this for Christmas dinner for six adults. Any tips for increasing the amount of salmon without throwing off the timing or crowding the pan?

Cutie Pie

Yummy goodness! Preheated the oven to 400 degrees. I smeared the anchovy butter on the bottom of my pan and put the salmon skin side up. Then I smeared the rest of the anchovy butter on the skin side. Once the oven was to temp, I switched it to broil on high. Broiled the salmon skin side up until the skin was crisp, and then I turned the oven back to 400 to finish cooking until it was just done. I added the capers at the last minute. Took less than 10 minutes.

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