This effortlessly delicious salmon curry recipe is one of my all-time favorite salmon recipes. This incredibly easy-to-make dish delivers the perfect balance of crispy salmon skin, moist flesh, and a burst of flavors. I can never have just one bowl of coconut salmon curry, let me show you why.
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Ingredients for Curry Salmon
This salmon curry comes together with a few Indian food staples. Here’s what to gather, a lot of which you’ll probably already have on hand!
- The salmon seasoning is a simple combination of curry powder, salt, mild tasting oil (I used avocado oil), and honey. If you’re eating low carb/keto, feel free to skip the honey, or sub in a bit of granular Swerve/Lakanto
- The salmon: I always prefer wild caught salmon to farmed, as it contains fewer contaminants. Skin on or off based on preference–If you don’t like salmon skin, I do recommend baking the salmon with the skin on and removing it before serving to infuse more flavor.
- The coconut curry sauce comes together with butter, garlic ginger, curry paste, coconut milk (full fat, which you’ll find on the canned aisle), soy sauce, fish sauce, lime juice, lime zest, and basil.
- The veggies: I always add spinach to this curried salmon, it’s a great compliment to salmon (see my stuffed salmon recipe for more inspo), and is an easy way to sneak in more veggies.
Tweaks + Substitutes
As tasty as this salmon curry recipe is, you can tweak it to your liking. Here are a few ideas:
- Swap the protein – Although cook times will vary, you can use this sauce and rub to make shrimp curry or chicken curry.
- Add different veggies – Broccoli, zucchini, bell peppers, you can add your favorites here instead of spinach. Just keep in mind you’ll want to cook them first so they don’t water down the sauce.
- Adjust the sauce – This is a Thai-style, coconut curry. Feel free to taste and adjust to your liking (Psst–a lot of people like adding some heat to the sauce for spicy salmon!). You can try other curry-type sauce, such as the one used for my chicken tikka masala, or my butter chicken sauce. You could even check out this peanut butter chicken, this chicken korma, or this miso glazed salmon sauce!
How to Make Salmon Curry
The trick to perfect oven baked salmon is to not overcook it–I often pull my salmon out of the oven when the center is still a little undercooked, and allow it to come to temp while resting on the counter. You can also use this recipe with pan seared salmon or broiled salmon, it just takes a bit more hands on time.
Other than that, this recipe is as easy as they come!
1 – Make the rub, and brush it over your salmon.
2 – Place salmon on a baking sheet and bake in the oven until cooked through.
3 – Saute the garlic, ginger, and curry paste in melted butter.
4 – Add remaining sauce ingredients and simmer.
5 – Remove your pan from heat and add the lime juice, lime zest, and basil.
6 – Serve your Thai salmon and curry sauce over rice with more limes and freshly chopped cilantro.
What to Serve with Coconut Curry Salmon
Traditionally, curry salmon would be served over a bed of rice. For a low carb alternative, try cauliflower rice, cauliflower fried rice, or a platter of steamed or roasted vegetables.
Storing, Reheating, + Freezing Curried Salmon
This dish is so delicious, it’s hard to save leftovers–but if you happen to have some leftover, here’s how to make the most of them:
- Store in an airtight container in the fridge. Be sure to stash additional cilantro on the side to top before serving.
- Reheat in the microwave with a damp paper towel on top.
- Freezing? I don’t recommend freezing cooked Thai salmon, as it will dry out when reheated.
More Salmon Recipes
- Sheet Pan Asparagus and Salmon
- Salmon Frittata
- Smoked Salmon Deviled Eggs
- Salmon Salad
- Salmon Marinade
Salmon Curry
Print Recipe Pin RecipeIngredients
Salmon:
- 1 tablespoon curry powder
- 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
- 1 tablespoon avocado or vegetable oil
- 2 tablespoons honey
- 4, 4 ounce salmon filets
Curry Sauce:
- 1 tablespoon unsalted butter
- 1/4 cup Thai red curry paste
- 2 cloves garlic chopped
- 1 tablespoon fresh grated ginger
- 1 can full-fat coconut milk
- 2 tablespoons soy sauce
- 1 tablespoon fish sauce
- 3 cups fresh spinach chopped
- 2 tablespoons lime juice
- 1 tablespoon lime zest
- 1/4 cup basil
To Serve:
- Rice or cauliflower rice
- 1/4 cup cilantro
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 475 F, and line a baking sheet with foil.
- Make your rice or cauliflower rice.
- In a small bowl, combine the curry powder, salt, honey, and avocado/vegetable oil into a paste. Pat salmon completely dry, and place it skin side down on your prepared baking sheet. Brush the curry paste evenly over each filet.
- Bake salmon in the preheated oven for 6-12 minutes–this will depend on how thick your salmon is, for normal sized filets, around for 8-9 minutes. I usually pull my salmon out just before it is fully cooked through the thickest part, as it will come to temp while resting.
- Meanwhile make the sauce, by melting the butter in a large skillet. Add the curry paste, garlic, and ginger, and saute until fragrant, about 2-3 minutes. Add the coconut milk, soy sauce, fish sauce, and spinach, and bring to a simmer. Continue to cook until the spinach has softened to your liking, for us this is about 3 minutes. Remove from heat, stir in the lime juice, lime zest, and basil and set aside.
- Serve cooked salmon over rice/cauliflower rice, with sauce on top, and fresh cilantro. Enjoy!
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