Today I’m excited to share one of my recent favorite dinners – sweet and spicy orange salmon. It’s a healthy dinner idea that is quick and easy.
Hi everyone! I’m Alyssa, and I’m popping over from My Sequined Life where I share food and drink recipes that are on the easier and customizable side.
There’s nothing worse than coming in the door a little bit hungry after a busy day and having no clue what to prepare for dinner, right? That’s a surefire way to become hangry…and/or reach for the take-out menu.
Sweet and Spicy Orange Salmon
That’s where this sweet and spicy salmon comes in. It’s on the table in about 45 minutes, including the time it takes for a quick marinade! It’s a healthier main dish recipe that fits in wonderfully with any healthy eating intentions you may or may not have made after ringing in the new year. Plus it’s packed full of flavor!
Spicy Marinade for Salmon
The marinade/sauce is made with ingredients that very well may already be in your cabinets and fridge, or you may need to purchase just one or two items. What I love about a few of these ingredients (like sesame oil and sriracha) is that after you buy them once, you’re then ready to go for a ton of recipes that incorporate Asian-inspired flavors. I love the uniqueness they bring to a dish!
Sriracha
The level of spiciness is customizable here, so feel free to increase or decrease the sriracha in line with your preferences. The sauce calls for three tablespoons, but since some is discarded with the marinade it isn’t a super spicy dish. As I’m mixing up the marinade ingredients I take a little taste and add more as I go if I’m feeling like something on the spicier side.
What to Serve with Salmon
As this sweet and spicy orange salmon was cooking, I made spicy stovetop asparagus as a side dish, which I’ve been pairing with everything lately, but you can serve this salmon with a side salad, on mashed potatoes or rice, etc. This Dill pea and cucumber salad would be especially light and fresh!
More Asian Recipes:
- Tasty Orange Chicken
- Korean Asian Braised Short Ribs
- Quick and Easy 15-Minute Chicken Stir Fry
- One Pan Simple Asian Shrimp Noodles
- Teriyaki Chicken Casserole
- Thai Peanut Steak Salad
- Asian Chicken Skewers with Honey Garlic Sauce
- Pork Dumplings
- Quick and Easy Cashew Chicken
- Teriyaki Chicken Noodles
- Grilled Sweet and Sour Chicken
- …All of Our Asian Recipes!
Spicy Tuna Cake Salad with Orange Balsamic Vinaigrette
Have you had tuna cakes? Wait until you try this recipe!
Sweet and Spicy Orange Salmon
Sweet and Spicy Orange Salmon
Description
Ingredients
- juice from one orange, about 1/4 cup
- zest from one orange
- 1/4 cup reduced-sodium soy sauce
- 1/4 cup honey
- 1 tsp sesame oil
- 3 tbsp sriracha, more or less to taste
- salmon fillet, between 1 1/2 - 2 lbs total
Instructions
- Whisk together orange juice, orange zest, soy sauce, honey, sesame oil, and sriracha in a bowl.
- Reserve about 1/4 cup of the sauce in a separate bowl for glazing later on.
- Add remaining sauce to a shallow dish (or a plastic bag) and place the salmon in it to marinate for about 20 minutes, flipping the salmon over halfway through.
- As the salmon is marinating, preheat oven to 400 degrees F. You'll want a rack to be situated in the middle of the oven, as well as one near the top.
- Line a baking sheet with foil and spray it with cooking spray.
- Once the salmon has finished marinating, place the salmon on the prepared sheet, skin side down, and bake on the middle rack for about 18 minutes.
- After 18 minutes, remove the sheet from the oven and brush the reserved 1/4 cup of sauce over the salmon fillets (see note).
- Increase oven temperature to 425 degrees F and place sheet on the upper oven rack.
- Broil for about 2 minutes, or until the edges of the salmon begin to crisp and brown.
- Serve!
Amy
This sounds amazing. Will definitely try it but if you could let me know what I can use less of because I have to keep my sodium down. Thanks
Sweet Basil
Hi Amy! The soy sauce is going to be the big thing for sodium in this recipe, so using the reduced sodium soy sauce will help a lot. The sriracha is also pretty high in sodium. You can reduce the sriracha as well, but you will lose a little bit of the heat. I hope this helps!
Ann Hessil
Can you clarify the last step in directions? Heat oven to 425 degrees and finish baking for 2 min then broil until crispy edges? Or broil for last 2 min? Ty
Sweet Basil
Hi Ann! Sorry for the confusion! Increase the temp to 425 and bake for 2 minutes. It will broil the salmon and give it those delicious crispy edges.
Kathy
What could I substitute for the sesame oil? Or could I leave it out and not worry about it?
Sweet Basil
You could substitute olive oil, but the sesame oil is pretty key to that Asian flavor. But I totally get it if you don’t have it on hand!
Jenn
This is absolutely delicious! MY fiancée and I love salmon and were looking for some different ways to prepare it! This came up on my pinterest and I haven’t turned back since. The flavors are DELICIOUS and I love the hidden spice that comes up should you use the sriacha. I am not a huge spicy person so I use 2 TBS instead of 3 and it comes out great! the cook time makes it flaky and delicious and not dry! I absolutely recommend and have turned my entire family onto this! what an easy quick way to enjoy a nice meal with the flavor of gourmet/take out for an affordable price that you can do at home! Thanks for sharing!
Sweet Basil
Holy moly Jenn! Thank you for the great review! I’m so glad you enjoy thus revipe!
Sandy Dempster
I don’t have a broiling pan. Is it possible to skip the broiling process? Will it affect the recipe at all?
Sweet Basil
Any baking dish or even a cookie sheet will work just fine. But if you want to skip that step, it will still taste just fine! We just like the caramelization a quick broil gives the top of the salmon.
Sandy Dempster
Thank you for the info.
Sweet Basil
You’re welcome!
Jennifer
I don’t broil it and it always comes out just fine 🙂
Ellen Street
This is SO good! I make it at least twice a month. I did decrease the sriracha to 2 tablespoons for us. Still nicely spicy. I’ve served with bacon wrapped asparagus, roasted mixed vegetables, broccoli, green beans… it’s great with your favorite veggie.
Sweet Basil
Dang! I want to come to dinner at your house! It sounds amazing! Thank you for the feedback and I’m so glad you enjoyed it!
Hjones
Oh yes delicious! I followed recipe exactly. So tasty. I made with quinoa and spinach on the side.
Sweet Basil
Those are the perfect sides!! So glad you enjoyed it!
John
I made this the other night and it is SO EASY and SO VERY TASTY! Our daughter liked the spiciness but said her lips were burning! (She enjoyed that, as well!) Great, simple, tasty recipe. We will DEFINITELY make this again! Thanks for putting it out there!
Sweet Basil
Thank you John! So glad it was enjoyed by your family!
Rebecca Kidd
Love this! I am in! Subscribing NOW! Thank you!
Sweet Basil
Yippee!! Welcome!!
Alma Morris
This sounds really delish but I can’t have soy sauce. Any suggestions for a substitute or can I just leave it out? I would really like to try this.
Sweet Basil
Tamari is the closest substitute in taste, and other people substitute with worchestershire sauce. Same measurements for either one.
John
We use Liquid COCONUT Aminos. Great taste, no soy and VERY LITTLE sodium!
Angeka
coconut aminos
Cheryl McCormack
This was so good. I used about 2 tablespoons of siracha and could have used 4. Also I placed it skin side down of foil and grilled it for about 20 minutes, glazed it and cooked about 5 more minutes Will make this again for sure.
Sweet Basil
Hurray! Thank you Cheryl!
Adriana
Hi,this recipe looks so delicious and will try it. Question I have is the serving size listed as 1 gram. Is this correct?
Thanks,
Adriana
Sweet Basil
Thank you Adriana! The serving size is 1 salmon fit. Enjoy!
Paula
Looks delicious but I never cook my salmon that long. I like it medium rare. Tweaks??
Sweet Basil
We usually stick with the 6 minutes per 1/2 inch of thickness, but feel free to adjust the baking time according to your liking.
Jan
This was delicious! Cooked perfectly. I put a dash of sriachi because my hubby doesn’t like it too spicy and it was still amazing. Love the orange flavour. I served it with cheesy scalloped potatoes and buttered broccoli.
Sweet Basil
Those sides sounds amazing and perfect for this dish! So glad you enjoyed it!
Larry Liss
Hi Carrian
The recipes look delicious and the presentations/ information–excellent!
As a chef thinking about posting recipes, I’m curious how you get all the nutrition information for your dishes.
Thanks for your time and assistance.
Larry Liss
Chef at Home
chefathomejerusalem.com
peachy
I see that no one responded to your inquiry. When I want to make a recipe that doesn’t include the nutrition info, I use this site to figure it for me: https://www.verywellfit.com/recipe-nutrition-analyzer-4157076
Larry Liss
Hi Carrian
Tor records look delicious and the presentations/ information–excellent!
As a chef thinking about posting recipes, I’m curious how you get all the nutrition information for your dishes.
Thanks for your time and assistance.
Larry Liss
Chef at Home
chefathomejerusalem.com
Al Frasl
Rather than baking this could it be smoked in a electric smoker?
Sweet Basil
Oh definitely! We would love to hear if you do!
TERRI
Delicious! 5 stars! I made this tonight for dinner. I’m a sriracha lover….my husband not so much, so I only put in 1/2 the amount and it was still delightfully spicy/sweet. The marinade/sauce was wonderful~I think it would also be great on pork chops or chicken! 🙂
Sweet Basil
That’s just like us, though Carrian is the one that holds back haha
Jill Nelson
Your nutrition content for the delicious sounding Sweet & Spicy Orange Salmon does not list sodium content. There are a vast number of people on low sodium diets due to heart disease, etc. Many recipes listed as “healthy” are far from that when prepared for someone whose intake of sodium is critical.
Richa Gupta
Salmon is my favorite any time and this looks yummy!
Sweet Basil
THank you!
Carolyn
Orange and salmon sounds perfect together!
Barbara
Could you include calorie and sodium counts in your recipes?Some of us need to be very careful about ingredients for our health.
Sweet Basil
Hi Barbara, all of our most recent recipes include that and we are going back through all of our older recipes, but since there are 2000 it’s just taking a really long time to get it done. 🙁
stanp
Don’t know if I mentioned it here…I enjoy salmon but my wife is a “salmon addict”.
Like the combo of sweet and the sriracha. Monday night is always salmon night so will have to put this in the ‘que’ to try !
Sweet Basil
Yay! Hope you enjoy it and we can’t wait to hear your results!
stanp
Going to try this recipe tonight but to be honest, a little concerned about your baking time…18 minutes.
When I bake my salmon at 400*, 8 maybe 10 minutes tops is more than enough ?
stanp
Tried recipe last night and was a hit.
Some comments..as I mentioned in prior post, was concerned about baking time. Used Sockeye salmon which was about 3/4 ” thick. Roasted for 8 minutes, then broil 2 minutes. Was on a little over cooked side. You may want to suggest varying cooking time depending on thickness of particular salmon used. Made marinade per recipe. From our (my wife and I) taste, orange juice was the dominate flavor. Next time will add (per your recipe suggestion) more sriracha.
Will still give 5 stars and have again with some adjustments.
Thanks.
Sweet Basil
Thank you and great point on the thickness baking time. We will get right on that!
karen
made it tonight and it was incredible. i’m not even a salmon lover and i loved it. the marinade balance is perfection. thank you!
Sweet Basil
So glad to hear that, Karen. Thank you for taking the time to leave a sweet comment too!
karen
made it tonight and it was amazing. i’m not a huge salmon lover and loved it. the marinade balance is perfection. five stars!
Angie Langwell
I love salmon and like seeing new recipes
Mimi
What is the website
Patty
We tried this today and if I didn’t decrease the amount of Sriracha to 1 Tbsp we would not have been able to eat it. Just 1 Tbsp was enough, and it was still spicy. If I make it again I would only use 1 tsp.
Lindsay | With Salt and Pepper
This sounds delish!!! Salmon is a favorite around here…such an easy weeknight meal 🙂
Cheryl
Could you integrate blood orange oil in this recipe? What would be your recommendation on how to?
Sweet Basil
Hi Cheryl,
I’ve never used blood orange oil, so unfortunately I don’t have a recommendation. I’m sorry.
Brook
What Sriracha do use sauce or powder or ect ??
Sweet Basil
Hi Brook, The sauce 🙂
Maria
Oops forgot my rating.
Sweet Basil
Maria, Thank you so much! We are thrilled that you liked it!
Maria
I made this dish and it was excellent! It’s so easy and fast great for a weeknight dinner! Thank you for sharing it!
Danielle
I made this for dinner last night and it was delicious! I didn’t have a sriracha but sprinkled chili powder and black pepper on top before putting it in the oven and it was still amazing!
I will definitely be making it again!
Sweet Basil
Yay!!! So glad!!
Alison
This looks delish – BUT- can it really be 117 carbs per serving? That’s more than a whole pizza!!