How To Cook Salmon In Oven

Salmon is an oily fish, often used in western diets in various ways. Salmon is considered somewhat luxurious and fancy food and you will often find it on the plates for celebratory occasions or parties organized by rich people or the corporate elite. Still, salmon is not that expensive and most people can afford salmon on some occasions at least. Salmon is good for more than one reason. For starters, it is really delicious and it can be served as appetizers, canapé ingredients or main course. Cold or warm, whole or filleted, salmon tastes superb and will really turn any kind of gathering into a much fancier affair.

Preparing and cooking salmon is a fairly simple task. Salmon will not require too much preparation, does not take a long time to cook, and can be simply cooked in an oven. When it comes to nutritional profile, salmon is kind of a treasure chest. A hundred grams of salmon contains about 200 calories. The main advantage of salmon is that it is extremely rich in protein like most other fish. 

Salmon Nutrition

A 100 gram serving of salmon contains about 22-25 grams of protein, a big percentage of the overall weight. There are 12 grams of fat per 100 grams of salmon, 3 of which are the bad saturated fats, which is not very high. Salmon contains no carbohydrates.

Moving on to the lesser ingredients, vitamins, and minerals, salmon is a fantastic source of many of them. For starters, 4 ounces of salmon contain both Vitamin D and Vitamin B12 in amounts greater than the daily recommended intake. The next thing that makes salmon nutritionally valuable is the Omega 3 fatty acids. A serving of salmon can give you about 50% of the needed Omega 3 fatty acids. Salmon is also a great source of Selenium, Vitamin B3, Vitamin B6, Iodine and has a reasonable amount of Potassium. A huge benefit when you cook salmon in the oven is that it will retain many of these nutritional benefits.

How To Cook Salmon In Oven

Benefits Of Salmon

Salmon has several beneficial aspects. For starters, the Omega 3 acids present in it are a great tool to help your body fight inflammations, improve cell function and brain function. More than all that, Omega 3 acids are a fantastic tool in battling cardiovascular disease. Numerous studies of fish and salmon specifically have shown that taking in omega 3 acids will decrease the odds of any cardiovascular problems, including arrhythmia, strokes, heart attacks, and high blood pressure.

Besides being good for the brain and heart, the Omega 3 acids have been shown to help prevent eye issues such as chronic dry eye and macular degeneration as well as decreasing the risk of all sorts of cancer. Omega 3 has become one of the most sought-after ingredients in foods in the modern era and Omega 3 supplementation is also very common nowadays. Eat salmon on a regular basis and you should get enough Omega 3 to help keep you healthier.

Furthermore, the small bioactive protein molecules found in salmon can help with various diseases prevention and support your joints, insulin effectiveness, and lessen the chance of inflammations in your digestive tract. Finally, the concentration of selenium found in salmon can also decrease the chances of joint inflammations and help prevent certain types of cancer through its antioxidant properties. The vast majority of these benefits are still held within the meal when you cook salmon in the oven.

How Long To Cook Salmon In An Oven With Foil

How Long To Cook Salmon In Oven With Foil

Now that we have had a look at the various nutrients contained in salmon, and the ways it can help benefit your health, let us examine how to cook salmon in the oven. Cooking salmon in the oven is probably one of the easier culinary feats out there. The fish is truly easy to prepare and cook or rather bake.

First, you should prepare your pan. A standard 9×9 should do the trick just fine. Prepare your salmon fillets and some butter, one to two tablespoons. We will now preheat the oven to 400 degrees and rinse our fillets, drying them off afterward. Pre-line the pan with foil and place the fillets on the heated pan. Salmon fillets take no longer than 30 minutes to bake, sometimes less, and you can check every five minutes past the 15-minute mark by poking them with a fork to see how tender the fish has become.

Make sure to unfreeze your fillets if you bought the frozen ones to avoid overcooking the outside and undercooking the inside of the fish. Adding some glazing or additional spice on top of the usual salt and pepper mix can give your salmon a distinctive taste and serving with some lemon for your guests to squeeze on the fish can make it really delicious and fancy.

As I said, cooking salmon will not be difficult in principle, but there may be some tricks to make it even better. For starters, remember to glaze your fish with a little oil, salt, and pepper before popping it into the oven. A sprinkle of herbs and spice and a bit of lemon juice squeezed on it will make it as delicious as it gets and serving with other foods such as pasta can make for a really great treat.

Other Ways To Cook Salmon

Preparing salmon really does not take too much effort, especially when you cook salmon, but serving it has been developed by quite a few cooks around the world into a little science. Examining different cookbooks you will find recipes for salmon fillets to be served with pasta, ginger and mushrooms, avocado cream, and various other sauces and creams that will improve the taste and turn it into delicacies. Of course, salmon can also be smoked and smoked salmon has been used on cold plates for a long time as one of the fanciest appetizers out there. Whether you eat it in little canapés or cooked fillets, remember that salmon is really good for you and there are very few downsides to consuming this delicious fish. We hope this article has helped you understand how to cook salmon.

Image Rights

Images used via the creative commons license – https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0/

Image One by Andrea – https://www.flickr.com/photos/andreagp/1122613434/

Image Two by Jeremy Keith – https://www.flickr.com/photos/adactio/257346283/

Image Three by Mariziouspie – https://www.flickr.com/photos/burningshoes/6790388640/

Leave a Reply