Lemon, Garlic & Herb Baked Whole30 Salmon Plus 9 Paleo Salmon Recipes

This baked Whole30 salmon recipe is covered with a delicious lemon, garlic and herb crust that helps seal in the juices. This fish is light and flaky and it only takes 10 minutes to bake. Seriously! Only 10 minutes! I love how it gets a light crust on the outside but stays nice and moist on the inside. I feel like I work at a fancy restaurant when I make this.

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This is great for a quick, hearty meal. This recipe could work well on any type of fish, especially halibut or trout. I don’t know about you, but fish used to scare me. I live in the middle of the country where it’s hard to find good, fresh fish – especially wild-caught fish.

I love to order fish in restaurants, but for a long time, I was scared to cook it at home. It’s so easy to overcook it and confusing picking it out. But I get so sick of chicken and beef and fish is so healthy for you – especially salmon.

So I came up with this recipe so I would have a good go-to recipe for cooking fish. This is a really good meal to make and impress your guests. Since it cooks so quickly, I just wait until my guests arrive and then throw it in my pre-heated oven.

They are always impressed and it’s so easy. I even like to do this with frozen fish, like the tilapia or halibut that Costco has. My 10-year-old son makes it often because fish is his favorite protein – so if he can do it, you can do it (hopefully. . .). It takes a lot longer to cook with frozen fish though and you can’t do the broil method.

It is so easy to make and I think the lemon gives it a truly wonderful flavor. Check out the ingredient list and look at how short it is. Eight simple ingredients. If you don’t count herbs, there is only three ingredients.

So simple. So good and so impressive. Trust me. If you show this to your family or guests, they will be impressed. They might start looking for take-out containers. But YOU’LL know how easy and fast this Whole 30 salmon recipe really is.

So, if you’re scared of fish like I used to be, this is a good recipe to start with. Nice and simple, yet full of flavor. We’ve tried the recipe on several different kinds of fish at our house and we’ve liked them all. My children love it on tilapia and my 11-year-old son even makes this recipe himself fairly regularly, mostly on tilapia though. Most children I know don’t like salmon as much because of the stronger flavor.

Tips

One tip I have for you is to not overcook your salmon. It’s so easy to do. You may not feel like your fish is done in the time indicated below, but as well as it flakes easily with a fork, it’s done. I finally figured out that’s why I used to like restaurant fish and not fish I cooked at home.

If possible, wild is always best. It not only tastes so much better, but it’s much better for you. Wild can be hard to find though and is very expensive.

Think that fresh herbs are too expensive? I’ve had really good luck with grow lights. I hang them from the bottom of a wire shelf and put all sorts of herbs and flowers on the shelf below. Now I have fresh herbs year-round. For some of the smaller plants, I just get a smaller personal lamp and a grow light bulb.

Please try this recipe and let me know if you like it and who you made it for and what you served with it. I’m sure the other readers would love to know (and I would too). I’ll often serve it with some roasted veggies on the side.

This would be delicious with some cauliflower rice and/or your choice of vegetables. What is your favorite type of fish? Why? Share with us in the comments below. If you want more fish dishes from me, check out my Quick, Easy Fish Veracruz Recipe or Grilled Mahi Mahi Recipe in a Lemon Butter Sauce (Carrabba’s Copycat).

If you want some more awesome ideas of how to cook salmon, scroll down past the recipe where you will find my top picks for the 9 best.

Paleo Salmon Recipe Video

Lemon, Garlic and Herb Baked Whole30 Salmon Recipe

★★★★★

4.8 from 23 reviews

This fish recipe is covered with a delicious lemon, garlic and herb crust that helps seal in the juices. This fish is light and flaky and it only takes 10 minutes to bake. Seriously! Only 10 minutes!

• Author: Rebecca Baron
• Prep Time: 15 minutes
• Cook Time: 10 minutes
• Total Time: 25 minutes
• Yield: 4 1x
• Category: Main Course
• Cuisine: Paleo

Scale 1x2x3x

Ingredients

• 3 oz Ghee * for Whole30 and Paleo or butter for other diets
• 1 tsp Real Salt *
• 1 Lemon, juiced and zested
• 1 Tbsp Fresh Parsley (chopped)
• 1 tsp Fresh Dill (chopped)
• 1 Clove Garlic (minced)
• Dash of White Pepper
• 4 4.5 oz Wild Salmon Fillets

Instructions

1. Place all ingredients except for salmon in a small bowl and melt in the microwave for 30-45 seconds.
2. Stir until combined.
3. Place the salmon fillets on a parchment lined baking sheet.
4. Using a pastry brush, coat the salmon with the lemon herb butter, evenly spreading it over the tops of each fillet.
5. Bake in an oven preheated to 400 degrees on the top or second to top rack for 10-12 minutes, or until salmon is cooked through and flakes easily with a fork.
6. Alternately the fish can be broiled on medium/high on the second to top rack for 8-10 minutes, or until cooked through. This method will give you a bit more crunchy, caramelized crust.

Keywords: lemon, butter

9 of the Best Paleo Salmon Recipes

They look so good, I adore it and I have to try all of these recipes. So do YOU! I eat it at least once a week. I need more ideas for different ways to prepare it and I thought that maybe you do too.

People say for the best flavor and healthiest fish, wild is always best. It can be very expensive and hard to find in a land-locked area though. I always eat it whenever I can because I think it tastes so much better than farmed.

I think grilling or baking is the healthiest way to go, but remember variety is the spice of life!

1. Lemon, Garlic & Herb Baked – See Above

2. Red Pepper and Garlic Butter – My Natural Family

Red Bell Pepper – Lemon – Honey

If you want to impress your guests and still have a really easy meal to prepare this is the recipe for you. It only takes half an hour to prepare AND it’s really healthy. The sauce with herbs and red peppers are really good on this because salmon has a bit of a stronger flavor than other fish and this sauce balances out the flavors. This is really good served over a bed of arugula with a little salt and lemon juice instead of dressing. Healthy all around.

3. Maple Walnut Crusted – The Healthy Foodie

Ghee – Walnuts – Smoked Paprika – Chipotle Powder – Maple Syrup – Apple Cider Vinegar – Coconut Aminos

Salmon is a very easy fish to cook. Its flesh is firm and it holds its shape really well. You can cook it pretty much any way you want and it will stay in one piece. You can grill it, smoke it, poach it or pan fry it. You could also cover it with a walnut crust and bake it in the oven and have dinner ready in a few minutes. It doesn’t have a real sweet taste with only subtle hints of sweetness. It also has a little kick from the pepper.

4. Lime and Garlic – Laughing Spatula

Lime – Parsley – Jalapeno – Garlic – Olive Oil – Parsley

This is pretty easy to do. There’s not much to make it. All you do is squeeze a lime, cut up a couple of ingredients, throw them in the food processor. Turn it on and you’re done. You can always let it marinate in the mixture for 30 minutes. That will increase the flavors.

But you don’t need to if you don’t have the time. You could buy a bottle of lime juice too then you wouldn’t even have to squeeze the lime. See how lazy I am. I don’t know if it would taste quite the same though.

5. Garlic Orange-Glazed – Real Food with Jessica

Ghee * – Garlic – Rosemary – Orange – Tapioca Starch

This is a really quick and easy meal. While this is baking in the oven, which doesn’t take very long. You make the orange sauce on the stove top. When it is finished baking you put the fish on the serving plate and pour the orange sauce over it.

You can have it on the table in under 20 minutes. I know everyone’s life is busy like mine and this would be a good meal for a weeknight. If you’re afraid of cooking fish, try this recipe. Baking is by far the easiest and most foolproof way to cook fish. Go ahead give it a try.

6. Roasted Salmon with Veggies – Maria Ushakova

Lemon – Red Onion – Zucchini – Grape Tomatoes – Olive Oil – Basil – Garlic Powder – Oregano

All of these recipes are easy enough you could make them on a weeknight. That’s because they cook up quickly. When I make this meal I just roast some crookneck squash, it’s my favorite, but I’ve tried zucchini and it’s good too. Actually, they are quite good mixed together.

Then I bake this in the same pan. It bakes up in 15 minutes at 350 degrees. If the oven is already heated it might only take 10 minutes. The secret to baking good fish is to not overcook it. It gets dry and tasteless. I don’t particularly like cooked tomatoes. But you should try them and decide for yourself.

7. Lemon & Dill – Evolving Table

Butter – Lemon Juice – Dill – Real Salt – Black Pepper

Of course, salmon is full of fish oil, the kind that’s really good for your heart. So if you don’t like to take omega 3 oil pills, eating fish is a really good way to get those nutrients. Lemon and dill are a different combination than other recipes on the post. It’s actually quite tasty.

I think you should try all of these and then choose your favorite. Or, maybe you don’t need to choose a favorite. Maybe you’ll like them all. But my suspicions are you’ll have a favorite. We, people, are all so different so my favorite might not be the same as yours.

8. One Pan Dill Pistachio with Veggies – Wholesomelicious

Leek – Fennel Bulb – Zucchini – Garlic – Dill – Pistachios – Lemon –  Olive Oil – Real Salt

This is another recipe with lemon and dill but this one has leeks, fennel bulbs and zucchini added. I think you probably get the idea by now. This gorgeous coral color fish is quite versatile and there many combinations of vegetables and herbs and spices to go together well with it. I could be fun to experiment and come up with your own combinations. Just don’t get too crazy. The pistachio sauce adds an interesting twist to this.

9. One Pan Asparagus & Sweet Potato Dinner – Catz in the Kitchen

Asparagus – Sweet Potatoes – Garlic – Fresh Rosemary – Lemon – Real Salt – Olive Oil – Smoked Paprika

Here is a new combination of sweet potatoes and asparagus with the fish. It sounds like an easy complete meal to me. Since sweet potatoes are more readily available in the wintertime. This would make a great meal during the cold winter months.

It will warm you right up and get you ready for spring. All the nutrients from these superfoods will keep you going for a long time. This is an easy one-pan meal. A big plus in my opinion. Fewer dishes to wash, yeah!