Blackened Baked Salmon

With just minutes in the oven, you'll have boldly flavored blackened salmon on your table. No smoked up kitchen or ultra high heat is needed.

Jump to:

• Why change the method of blackening?
• Ingredients for Blackened Baked Salmon
• How to make it
• A cast iron skillet is recommended
• Storing your blackened fish
• What's the difference between grilled and blackened salmon?
• Side dishes to go with blackened salmon
• 📖 Recipe
• Seafood Main Dishes

Salmon is an ideal fish to cook with this modified technique of blackening. It's firm texture and hearty flavor make the perfect marriage with the distinct flavors of the homemade blackened seasoning.

Why change the method of blackening?

This way of cooking was popularized back in the early 1980's by Chef Paul Prudhomme at his restaurant in New Orleans. It involves a cast iron skillet heated to very high heat, a dip into a bowl of melted butter, coating with the seasoning, and then cooking fast and hot until almost charred.

We have cooked fish this way and it is delicious! However, the high heat creates smoke, so we have reserved it for cooking outdoors. That involves setting up a propane cooker or heating your grill to higher than usual temperatures. When the fish goes in the skillet it makes a lot of hot splatters, too. Ouch!

Wanting all of that great flavor without the smoke and splatters, we've modified the technique slightly. We can stay indoors and use the oven with great results. The dip in butter has been eliminated, though you can add a little butter at the end if desired.

You are going to love this salmon!

Ingredients for Blackened Baked Salmon

• Salmon filets- This recipe is written for two servings but you can easily double it if you like. Any fish with firm flesh and thicker fillets will work too.
• Smoked paprika - Use regular paprika if that's all you have, but we highly recommend keeping the smoked version in your spice cabinet
• Onion powder
• Garlic powder
• Dry Oregano
• Cayenne Pepper- optional, but recommended
• Black Pepper- coarsely ground is best
• Salt- coarsely ground
• Vegetable Oil - any type you have is fine

Specific measurements are in the recipe card below.

How to make it

First you'll mix all of the dry ingredients and set them aside. This is your homemade blackened seasoning. It's also the exact same blend that we use for our blackened chicken, Blackened Pork Chops, spicy chicken pasta, Blackened Ribeye Steak, Blackened Grouper and even our Thanksgiving favorite, Fried Turkey Breast.

Pat the salmon fillets dry with paper towels and then brush with oil. Sprinkle the dry seasoning onto each side, pressing with your fingers to make it stick to the fish. Cooking by the blackening method uses a pretty heavy layer of seasoning and this recipe should give you plenty.

Oil a cast iron (or other heavy pan) skillet and put it in your preheated oven (400 degrees fahrenheit) for 5-10 minutes. This step is essential to replicating the technique as closely as possible while still using the oven.

Cook for about 8 minutes before flipping with a spatula and finishing for 4-5 minutes. The timing here is going to vary with the thickness of your salmon filets and the level of doneness you like your salmon. These times will give you a good starting point.

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A cast iron skillet is recommended

We use ours all the time and even have 3 categories of recipes that we make in them. There's Cast Iron Appetizers and Desserts, Cast Iron Main Dishes and Cast Iron Side Dishes.

This salmon recipe is written for just two servings, and it's perfect in a smaller 8 inch iron skillet like the one linked here. The standard size is a 10 inch skillet, and it should be enough for 3-4 servings, depending on the size of your salmon filets.

Storing your blackened fish

This recipe works really well to make ahead and reheat. If you plan to do that, take the fish out of the oven 1-2 minutes before it's as done as you like.

Let it cool, and then wrap thoroughly in aluminum foil. It will keep refrigerated for 3-4 days without losing any quality.

To reheat, you can put it in a preheated oven for 8-10 minutes or cover with a paper towel and heat in the microwave in 30 second increments until hot.

What's the difference between grilled and blackened salmon?

You can cook salmon on the grill with any type of seasoning and there's really no connection between that and blackening it.

However, you could use the blackened seasoning and grill it. While not technically cooked using the blackening method, this would be delicious and have a lot of the same flavor.

Using this technique with an iron skillet in the oven comes closer but, as we explained above, it still doesn't check all of the boxes for authentic blackened salmon. It is delicious, though, and we think it's not worth the smoke and splatters to do it the other way.

You can finish this salmon with our Maple Bacon Glaze for some more in-depth flavor.

Side dishes to go with blackened salmon

Being a New Orleans style recipe, we recommend sides with a Cajun or Creole twist to them.

• Roasted Cajun Potatoes
• Red Beans and Rice (Popeyes Style)
• Easy Dirty Rice
• corn soufflé casserole

Along with those, any cool salad would be ideal!

📖 Recipe