Salmon With Anchovy-Garlic Butter
Updated July 27, 2026
Christopher Testani for The New York Times. Food Stylist: Spencer Richards.
- Total Time
- 25 minutes
- Rating
- Comments
- Read comments
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Ingredients
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
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; 539 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
- Step 1
Heat oven to 400 degrees. In a small bowl, mash together butter, anchovies, garlic, salt and pepper.
- 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.
- 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.
Private Notes
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.
I wish they'd also say what recommended temperature to cook the salmon -- is it supposed to be 145? I usually cook salmon to 125. But this is taking a really long time? So I just covered it in aluminum foil. Granted, I think it got messed up because I didn't have a skillet, so I cooked them in a wok and a frying pan then transferred them to pyrex. I guess that is the problem.
Wow! This is fantastic!! Thank you. Best ever preparation for salmon. Thank you!
Smells great as I'm cooking, but woefully inadequate amount of butter mixture. But thanks for the great and easy recipe!