Sockeye Salmon With Lemon Butter Sauce

If you are looking for a healthy but delicious meal to cook, then this Sockeye Salmon Recipe should be right up your street. Sockeye Salmon brings with it a lovely rich flavor that is only enhanced when cooked with the lemon butter sauce. A quick and easy recipe to cook up with no shortage of enjoyment.

Why Sockeye salmon

We use sockeye salmon specifically in this recipe as it has a beautifully strong salmon flavor and it is very high in omega-3 fatty acids which are great for your health. This is one of the main benefits of cooking with salmon, especially Sockeye. It is also a very easy and robust salmon to cook with and you can’t really go wrong with it.

What is Sockeye Salmon

Sockeye Salmon is a type of wild salmon found and caught in the Pacific ocean. It eats a large amount of zooplankton and shrimp which gives it its very deep red color. The meat from Sockeye salmon is very dense and firm high in omega 3 fatty acids.

How to cook Sockeye salmon

Sockeye salmon is a very easy salmon to cook and it’s very versatile too. Baking the salmon is a very simple way to cook it, however, you can also fry and grill the salmon. It’s really about preference. To check your salmon is cooked through, press down on it with a form to see if it flakes. If it starts to flake it should be cooked through.

In this recipe, we are going to fry the sockeye salmon in butter – and cooked this way it really is truly delicious.

Make Sockeye Salmon Recipe

Firstly, using a paper towel, pat down the salmon fillets to remove any excess moisture on the fish. Season with garlic powder, salt and pepper on both sides of the salmon including the salmon skin side. 

Place your frying pan on the stovetop on medium heat and add a large spoon of butter. Let the butter melt and then sear the Sockeye salmon until cooked.

Remove the salmon from the pan and place it to one side on another plate or board before moving on to cooking the sauce.

To get started with the sauce add butter and flour. Stir these together and then add the lemon juice and stir again.

Next add your fresh thyme, lemon zest, waster/stock, and stir together. Now add more butter and seasoning string together for the last time and you have your sauce.

Now place your sockeye salmon back into the pan with the sauce and add fresh lemon slices to warm.

This recipe shouldn’t take much longer than 15 minutes for you to cook from start to finish. 

Serve your salmon on a plate, pour the sauce over the top of your salmon and enjoy.

Lemon Butter Sauce

This lemon butter sauce is so luscious and tangy. It pairs beautifully with the salmon. It’s made in the same pan as the salmon which adds extra flavor to the sauce.

You can have full control over how thick you want this sauce to be – just add more or less flour (or cook a little longer at the end to thicken).

There are some lovely variations of this sauce you can do, depending on your preference. You could easily make a lemon garlic butter sauce or add in shallots, other spices, or other fresh herbs such as rosemary.

You can really make this sauce to your preference and with works with lots of different ingredients and flavors. Olive oil can work really well paired with butter for added flavor.

Another fantastic lemon sauce to try is piccata which I showcase with video in this Veal Scallopini recipe. And if you’re a lemon dessert lover, you can’t miss this Easy Mini Lemon Pudding Cake. Oh and try using this Garlic Butter Sauce (video too) instead of butter.

Tips On Cooking Sockeye Salmon

1. Make sure to use enough butter to sear the salmon in. This will help to keep the salmon nice and moist and stop it from sticking to the pan.
2. Keep your heat medium. Butter can easily burn if too much heat is applied – and lots of butter is used in this recipe.
3. You can use an instant read thermometer to check the internal temperature of the salmon to make sure it is fully cooked throughout. If you don’t have one, you can check if the salmon flakes with pressure to tell you if it’s fully cooked before removing your salmon from the heat.

Sockeye Salmon Recipe FAQ

Sockeye vs Atlantic salmon?

This is the most asked question I get. Sockeye salmon is almost always wild-caught, whereas Atlantic salmon is generally farmed salmon.

With sockeye salmon, you will get a very deep red color given from its diet and sockeye salmon has very high levels of omega 3 fatty acids which are very good for your health. 

Generally, sockeye salmon is of better quality and tastes better with a firmer texture than farmed Atlantic salmon. If you want to make sure you eat only wild caught salmon King salmon is another option. 

Why is sockeye salmon more expensive?

Sockeye salmon is more expensive because it has to be wild caught rather than farmed. They also tend to be smaller. This increases its price on the market.

Can you grill sockeye salmon?

Yes absolutely. This salmon is very easily grilled and can taste very nice cooked this way. to keep your salmon moist you may want to cover your salmon with foil. If you prefer to grill your salmon with this recipe you can do that and make the sauce separately to pour-over.

Can you bake sockeye salmon?

Yes, baking the salmon fillet is another way to can easily cook salmon. If you prefer this method to you can adapt this recipe to it also. You could even bake your salmon in the lemon butter sauce to keep it lovely and moist and let the salmon really absorb the lemon butter sauce flavors.

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