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Ginger Soy Glazed Salmon

by:
June  5, 2021
4.6
27 Ratings
Photo by James Ransom
  • Serves 4
Author Notes

I think this may be my favorite salmon recipe, and I've tried a lot over the years. The ginger and sweet glaze is such a perfect complement to the salmon, and it’s surprisingly easy. Roasting it at a low temperature keeps the fat from rendering out of the fish, so the fish stays moist and succulent. Leftover glaze can be used on anything, scallops, pork, you name it. Red wine is not really Asian, but it really does work well and gives more depth of flavor than sake would. —Meatballs&Milkshakes

Test Kitchen Notes

Before I had even completed this dish, I was already thinking of making it again. The aroma of the ginger and the garlic cooking in the oven was heavenly. I found that a little extra time was needed to reduce the sauce, so make sure you cook it until you see it thicken. In the end, I somehow ate the entire fish by myself, so needless to say I'll make this again soon. —Kristen Mongrain

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Ingredients
  • 1 pound wild salmon
  • 4 inch piece of ginger, grated
  • 1 garlic clove, grated
  • 1/4 cup soy sauce (low sodium)
  • 1/2 cup red wine
  • 1/4 cup mirin
  • 2 tablespoons brown sugar
  • 1/2 lime, juiced
  • 1 tablespoon olive oil
  • 1 scallion, minced for garnish
Directions
  1. Combine the soy sauce, red wine, mirin, brown sugar, garlic and 3/4 of the ginger in a sauce pan. Cook for 10 minutes, until it reduces by half. Remove from heat and add the remaining ginger and the lime juice. Let cool.
  2. Rub the bottom of a baking dish with the olive oil and place the salmon in it, skin side down. Spoon a tablespoon of the glaze over the fish and wait 5 minutes. Spoon another tablespoon of the glaze over the fish.
  3. Bake for 10 minutes at 250 degrees. Spoon another tablespoon of glaze over the fish and return to the oven for another 10 minutes. Continue to do this until the fish is cooked to medium rare (gives a little more resistance when you push it). Garnish with the scallion and serve.
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I'm an ex-finance, nonprofit fundraiser by day and a (mostly) Italian cook and blogger by night. I love having friends over for dinner and my favorite evenings are when we spend them at home together cooking dinner and chatting. I'm an avid cooking show fan, and my favorite eating cities are New York, San Francisco, Paris, and Rome.

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78 Reviews

Write a Review
Liz K. April 25, 2024
Whole family, even picky kids, loved this. I roasted the salmon for 35 minutes.
Linda D. October 27, 2022
WOW! Thank you so much for a super simple and super delicious dish!
Amber C. May 26, 2022
This has become my GO TO salmon recipe. Seriously, it’s SO GOOD!

A few notes:
- Instead of mirin, I use 4 tablespoons rice vinegar.
- Based off other reviews, I only use 1 tablespoon brown sugar (not 2).
- 8 minutes seems to be the perfect amount of time to reduce the sauce. 10 minutes made it too reduced, and I didn’t have enough sauce to recapture it 3 times
- I don’t recommend straining out the ginger from the sauce (as others have recommended), as the ginger really helps hold the sauce on the top of the salmon. I tried straining it out once, but a lot of the sauce seemed to pool in the thinner parts of the salmon. Instead, just scrape off the excess ginger from the top of the salmon before serving.
- As other reviews have mentioned, 30 minutes is usually the perfect amount of cooking time for my salmon.

I usually serve with Spanish rice pilaf and broccolini or asparagus.
Vivienne January 2, 2021
Best ever. If you like salmon, you will love this. Used extra sauce/glaze for dipping potstickers.
mikermeals September 12, 2020
Excellent!
Andrea3 June 27, 2020
This is one of those perfect recipes that comes along every once in a while -- easy to prepare -- easily doubled -- with the results spot on each time. A truly excellent recipe!
CiAnne G. May 29, 2020
Really wonderful recipe. Subbed rice wine vinegar for mirin (pandemic pantry problems) but it was great! Would probably make half the glaze next time unless I had a better plan for the extra.
Carolyn A. August 4, 2019
This is one of my favorite ways to prepare salmon. I do make some changes. I use skinless salmon filets, sub white wine & lemon. I don’t often have mirin, so a splash of rice vinegar will do. I always at least triple this recipe, and keep the rest in the refrigerator. As a personal chef, this is almost always on my weekly menus. My clients love this dish! (So do we!)
Hibatt July 1, 2019
I made this in a sous vide machine and it came out fantastic. Didn’t have any mirin so I used rice vinegar instead.
Diane February 4, 2019
I cook salmon once a week. I wanted to try something different so I decided to create this dish as the reviews were good. I have to say the salmon was delicious! I didn't have mirin,(I didn't even know what it was), so I improvised with 4 Tablespoons of Rice Vinegar and 2 teaspoons of sugar. The most tedious part of the recipe was grating the ginger. I cooked the salmon at 250 degrees for 30 minutes then increased the temperature to 400 degrees for the last 5 minutes of cooking which made the glaze harden a bit. Just yummy! I had extra glaze left over so I froze it to use it next week when I make salmon again.
Emily June 30, 2021
If you have trader joe's where you live, buy the frozen cubes of grated ginger. the ginger is grated fresh and then put in almost little ice cube trays allowing you to pop them out individually directly into a pan. they sell garlic the same way. i never chop fresh garlic or grate fresh ginger anymore! my favorite TJs product.
Amy October 23, 2017
Omg this is delicious (and easy)! I’d add a pinch of red pepper flakes to the sauce and maybe flash broil it at the end to carameliza the sauce a little bit if I was making it for a special occasion. Serve with rice and sautéed greens. Delish!
Granny S. February 22, 2022
Amy, we do the pinch of red pepper flakes, also. Such a wonderful dish. I top the salmon with sauce, and then sliced green onions at the end. We also marinate the salmon in half the sauce for about 30 minutes prior to cooking. Serve it with wild rice and oven-roasted broccoli on the side.
Nicolinitiza May 30, 2017
Absolutely delicious! Served this at a shower I hosted and it was a hit. Great flavor, easy to make and cooked to perfection.
Cindy August 22, 2016
Do you have any recommendations on how to use the leftover glaze to cook chicken?
Meatballs&Milkshakes August 22, 2016
I like to brown chicken breasts and then brush it on a couple times over low heat. You can also use it as a grilling glaze.
Clairevogel January 16, 2016
I made this last night for my boyfriend and I, and we both really enjoyed it. If you're using fresh ginger, I highly suggest straining the sauce after you've reduced it. Otherwise you're going to have a lot of ginger fibers in your sauce. I reduced mine a little too much, so I only had 2 rounds of pouring I was able to do, but it was still good. I baked it for about 20 minutes at 350 (I was roasting broccoli at the same time), and it was great. I liked this a lot and would make it again!
djeserkare March 4, 2015
Added some chopped fresh red chiles to the simmer, to take an already-delicious sauce a bit further into flavortown... I definitely do not regret it! Props on a great recipe.
ann H. February 23, 2015
This is the best salmon I have ever made. The slow cooking method was a revelation. I don't think I'll ever be able to order salmon in a restaurant again. The glaze was perfection - and a perfect complement to the flavor of the fish. (I grew up in a village dependent on salmon fishing so salmon was actually a staple in our house). May the Gods bless you for sharing this recipe!
Meatballs&Milkshakes February 20, 2015
Another kind of wine or alcohol- cognac, Marsala, sherry would work. If not, you could try grape or pomegranate juice but I might reduce the amount slightly.
Lindsey L. February 20, 2015
Help!! No red wine! Any subs???
sara September 1, 2015
Sweet vermouth or watered down balsamic or red wine vinager.
Csmoro January 27, 2015
I have made this recipe several times. I have altered the ingredients for the sauce depending on what I have on hand. Slow roasting is such a beautiful way to retain the flavors and nutrients. I know this is a hit with the family because they always show up when I tell them this is what's for dinner.
Scott C. December 11, 2014
Delicious way to make salmon. Not sure that slow cooking at 250º is the best approach (took :30 minutes to cook one medium piece of salmon), but I can't complain with the final result. Thanks.