Orange Maple Salmon

Orange maple salmon comes together in no time and tastes amazing. Orange maple sauce goes perfectly with salmon and is so quick to whip up. Serve this flavorful fish with parmesan cauliflower rice or coconut rice for a quick and easy meal.

Ingredients and substitutions

Here’s what you need to make this flavorful dish:

• Salmon – this marinade/sauce goes exceptionally well with salmon but can be also used with white-fleshed fish like halibut or cod. Make sure to adjust the baking time to the thickness of the fish (halibut or cod fillets are usually thinner than salmon fillets so they need to be baked for a shorter period of time). You can use skin-on or skinless salmon. If you have skin-on salmon fillets you can remove the skin or leave it – the skin is easier to remove after baking.

• Orange juice and zest – you could also use mandarin juice.

• If you don’t have maple syrup, use honey. If using maple syrup, make sure to use real maple syrup for the best flavor.

• Garlic – use fresh, not dried garlic.

• Dijon mustard – you can also use other mustard types. Honey mustard would also be great.

• Olive oil.

Maple orange salmon step by step

STEP 1: Start with preheating the oven to 400°F / 200°C / Gas Mark 6, no fan (if you have a convection/fan oven, reduce the temperature by about 20° or follow the manufacturer’s instructions).

STEP 2: In a medium bowl, whisk all the ingredients for the marinade (orange juice, zest, maple syrup, oil, mustard, garlic). Season lightly with salt and pepper.

STEP 3: Season the salmon with salt and pepper on both sides. Place it in the smallest baking dish that it can fit into.

STEP 4: Pour the marinade over salmon. You can leave the fish to marinate for 30 minutes or bake it straight away.
Bake for about 14-20 minutes depending on the thickness of the fillets (the fillets shown on the photos needed 20 minutes).

STEP 5: Leave the fish to rest for 5 minutes – pour it with the sauce while it’s resting.

Serve and enjoy!

Top tips

• How long to bake the fish: salmon fillets need about 14-20 minutes to be cooked through. The baking time depends on the thickness of the fish and can vary depending on the oven.
• To check if the fish is cooked through, measure its internal temperature in the thickest part of the fillet, it should be 145°F (63°C). You can take the fish out of the oven when the thermometer registers 140°F (60°C) – the fish should come to the safe temperature while resting.
• Don’t overbake the fish – it will be tough and rubbery.
• Use a small baking dish – you’ll have more delicious sauce to spoon over your fish + the fish submerged in the sauce while being baked will come out even more moist and delicious. If you’ll use a bigger dish – the sauce will be more thickened. If the sauce is too thin for your liking you can cook it for a couple of minutes on the stovetop or until thickened.
• This recipe is great to make for a crown, it can be easily doubled or tripled.

Other cooking methods

• On the grill: you can cook the salmon on the grill, and make the sauce on the stovetop.
• On the stovetop: pan-fry fish fillets over high heat on both sides in a pan until browned, add the sauce and simmer until the fish is cooked through. Transfer fish fillets to a plate and reduce the sauce to your desired thickness. I don’t recommend marinating fish in the marinade before frying it – the oil will splatter all over your stove (this is also why baking is the preferred method for this recipe).

Storage / make-ahead instructions

• How long to marinate fish: I don’t recommend leaving the fish in the marinade for longer than 30-60 minutes or it will be mushy.
• If you want to make this dish ahead I would recommend preparing the sauce and store it separately with fish before baking it (for up to 3 days in the fridge).
• How to store cooked fish: store it in the fridge for up to 3 days.
• How to reheat: in a microwave or in the oven – put the fish into a cold oven and set it to 320°F/160°C, bake until the fish is warm (about 10 minutes).

What to serve it with

• I served it with parmesan cauliflower rice
• Coconut rice would also be great
• Cauliflower steaks
• Ricotta gnocchi
• Steamed broccoli
• garlic butter rice
• plain Jasmine rice
• lemon parmesan orzo

Did you make this recipe? RATE THE RECIPE or tell me in the COMMENTS how you liked it! You can also add a photo of your dish. It would make me very happy and will help other readers. Thank you!!