Baked Blackened Salmon
This Baked Blackened Salmon recipe is the most flavorful weeknight dinner. This salmon is baked on a bed of lemon slices and topped with dijon mustard, a homemade blackening seasoning, and a crispy panko topping.
Oven baked blackened salmon results in tender, buttery, flaky, flavorful, crispy salmon.
The whole recipe can be made in 20 minutes. And there’s no marinade required. So this is one of the easiest and most enjoyable weeknight meals to make.
If you think you don’t like salmon, try Atlantic Salmon!
For salmon recipes, I prefer Atlantic salmon. Atlantic Salmon has a more mild fish flavor compared to Alaskan salmon. But any kind of salmon will work for this recipe. Use the kind you love!
Flavor comes from the top and bottom
The salmon gets laid on a bed of lemon slices. Then topped with dijon mustard, a homemade blackened seasoning, and a parsley panko topping. That way you get flavoring on the top and bottom of the salmon.
Why bake the salmon at 425 degrees?
425 degrees the perfect temperature to make sure the homemade blackened seasoning and dijon mustard caramelize. You want the two to meld together so it forms one coating. Almost like a crust.
What to serve with this blackened salmon recipe?
Honey Roasted Carrots – you can skip the basil goat cheese sauce to make it easier.
Lemon parmesan asparagus and our house salad.
You can skip the panko topping to make it easier/gluten free:
You will do everything the same. Just skip the panko topping and bake as directed.
Summertime modification:
You can use a cedar plank instead of lemons on the bottom
You can order cedar planks on Amazon. Or get them at your local grocery store in the kitchen supplies aisle.
How to make cedar plank salmon:
Put the cedar plank on a baking sheet. Fill with water and put a mug on top of the cedar plank to make sure the cedar plank is submerged. Drain the water from the baking sheet. Top with dijion mustard and then the brown sugar mixture! Don’t do the panko topping for the cedar plank version!
To grill the cedar plank salmon, Preheat the grill to 350-400 degrees. Turn off one burner and put the cedar plank on the No burner area so it’s over indirect heat. Close the grill and cook for 15-18 minutes or until the salmon is fully cooked through (you can cut the salmon in half to make sure it’s not opaque). You want to keep the grill closed as much as possible so the heat stays in and it gets cooked! Remove from the grill and serve!
To bake, bake the salmon on the cedar planks with the same instructions in this recipe.
Watch how to make the cedar plank version:
Ingredients
For the salmon:
- 2 lemons, thinly sliced
- 4 (6 oz) pieces Atlantic salmon, skinless
- 4 Tablespoons Dijon mustard
For the brown sugar topping:
- 3 Tablespoons brown sugar
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 3/4 teaspoon smoked paprika
- 3/4 teaspoon garlic powder
For panko parsley topping:
- 2 Tablespoons unsalted butter, melted
- 1/2 cup chopped parsley
- 1/4 cup panko breadcrumbs (you can also use crushed potato chips for a gluten free version)
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 425 degrees.
- Line a rimmed baking sheet with parchment paper. Lay 3 lemon slices in a single row for each piece of salmon.
- Place each piece of salmon on top of the lemon bed. Check for fish bones. Remove the fish bones with fish tweezers if needed.
- Spread or brush the top of the filets with dijon mustard.
- In a bowl, stir together the brown sugar topping ingredients.
- Sprinkle the brown sugar topping on top of the mustard salmon. Make sure to cover the salmon all over.
- In a small bowl, combine the panko parsley ingredients.
- Sprinkle on the panko topping on the salmon. It's okay if some falls off.
- Bake for 15-18 minutes, or until the salmon is no longer opaque in the middle.