This Baked Parmesan Crusted Salmon is a stunning show stopper that’s very easy to make. The parmesan crust is insanely delicious and the Lemon Cream Sauce for the salmon is the essential finishing touch. A spectacular salmon for Christmas dinner or other special occasions, and yet so fast you could make it midweek. Plus you can prepare everything ahead- even the sauce!
Food that tastes like a million dollars and yet is simple to make and made with every day ingredients. That is the absolute essence of the food I love and share here on RecipeTin Eats.
This Parmesan Crusted Salmon is pretty much me on a plate. Well, on a platter. A large platter. Because the best sort of food is food that is shared with family and friends! 🙂
Every year, I do a Thanksgiving and Christmas menu (see below recipe for list with links). It’s my mission to make you the most popular person at gatherings with finger food your friends will go mad over, and to make holiday feasting stress free with easy to make, mostly prepare ahead recipes. And insanely delicious of course. Taste first and foremost!
For this year, the centrepiece of my Christmas Menu is this Baked Parmesan Crusted Salmon, served with a heavenly Lemon Cream Sauce.
Please don’t skip the sauce! I know many people make similar recipes without a sauce. I really, really, really think that the Lemon Cream Sauce is necessary because this salmon is not marinated or glazed. Whole salmon fillets are quite thick and meaty so unless it is marinated or has lots of yummy glaze to use as the sauce, it lacks flavour inside.
Don’t get me wrong, the flavour of plain salmon is lovely. But the sauce just puts this over the top from tasty to exceptional. 🙂
Plus, look how the sauce clings onto that crunchy parmesan topping. Swoon….
I promised you this Baked Parmesan Crusted Salmon is easy to make and here are some prep photos to prove it! It starts with a very simple panko and parmesan topping. With one little trick. I like my crumb to be beautifully golden all over rather than splotches of burnt bits here and there which is what happens if you bake rather than fry crumbed things.
So my little trick that truly makes all the difference so your salmon comes out of the oven with a beautiful deep golden brown topping (without overcooking the salmon!) is to lightly toast the breadcrumbs on a baking tray. You can see a comparison of toasting vs not toasting the panko breadcrumbs in my Easy Baked Chicken Cordon Bleu. 🙂
Psst This is much easier, less effort and more even browning than toasting in a skillet. Plus less cleaning up because I use the same tray for the salmon. 🙌
My next trick – getting that beautiful parmesan topping to stick to the salmon. Easy fix – just spread Dijon mustard on the salmon like you’re buttering toast. Mustard is the perfect glue because it’s got a bit of tang (perfect match for rich salmon) plus flavour.
Bake it for 20 minutes in a fairly hot oven and this is what you get…..
So beautiful and tastes incredible, especially served with a simple Lemon Cream sauce. Yes the sauce has cream in it but I promise it doesn’t make this too rich! In fact, that’s a specific point my taste testers made. You hear the word “cream sauce” and assume it is very rich. But actually, this sauce is quite tangy from the lemon. It adds moisture to this dish as well as the zing cutting through the richness of the salmon.
And before I forget – yes I put my Christmas Menu up for critique by taste testers! As it so happens, all my friends have real life jobs and aren’t just hanging around on standby for taste testing sessions. 🤷🏻♀️Luckily, my mother has a group of willing friends who pop over to the local golf course for a round before dropping by for a taste testing session. 🙂
I love how honest they are with their feedback – trust me, they don’t hold back and I have actually held off posting a handful of recipes until I improve them further!!
This Baked Parmesan Crusted Salmon received high praise. Woo hoo! – Nagi x
More fish recipes!
PS Don’t forget to scroll down to see a) 2016 Christmas Menu Preview b) Dozer sulking through Christmas
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Baked Parmesan Crusted Salmon with Lemon Cream Sauce
Ingredients
- 1 (1 – 1.4 kg / 2 – 2.8 lb) side of salmon (Note 1)
- 3- 4 tbsp Dijon mustard
Parmesan Crumb
- 1 cup panko breadcrumbs (50g) (Note 2)
- Oil spray
- 50g / 3 tbsp butter , melted
- 1/3 cup grated parmesan , store bought (1/2 cup fresh grated) (Note 3)
- 2 tbsp finely chopped fresh parsley
- 2 tbsp finely chopped fresh dill
- Zest of 1 lemon
- 1/2 tsp salt
- Pepper
Lemon Cream Sauce
- 30g / 2tbsp butter
- 1 eschallot / finely chopped (Note 4)
- 1 1/4 cups dry white wine (Note 5)
- 1 1/2 cups heavy cream / thickened cream
- 1 tbsp Dijon mustard
- 2 1/2 tbsp lemon juice (plus more to taste)
- 1/2 tsp sugar
- Salt and pepper
Serving
- Watercress
- Lemon wedges
- Fresh dill
Instructions
- Take salmon out of the fridge to bring to room temperature.
- Preheat oven to 200°C / 390°F (180°C fan).
- Spread panko on baking tray, spray generously with oil then bake for 3 to 5 minutes until light golden brown. (Note 6) Scrape into bowl immediately.
- Add butter and stir, then add remaining Parmesan Crumb ingredients.
- Line same tray with foil. Place salmon on foil.
- Spread Dijon on salmon using a butter knife. Just a thin coating – like buttering toast.
- Sprinkle Crumb all over.
- Bake for 20 minutes for just cooked juicy perfection, or to taste. (Note 7)
- Remove from oven. Loosen salmon from foil using egg flip or butter knife – skin will hopefully be stuck to foil.
- Plate watercress on serving platter.
- Use foil to lift salmon onto watercress on serving plate, then slide out the foil from under it (see video under recipe). Serve with Lemon Cream Sauce and lemon wedges on the side.
Lemon Cream Sauce
- Melt butter in a saucepan over medium high heat. Add eschalots and cook for 2 minutes. Add wine and bring to boil. Leave to boil rapidly for 5 minutes or until reduced by 3/4 or so.
- Turn heat down to medium. Add cream, sugar, salt and pepper. Stir, then add lemon juice and mustard. Stir again. Simmer for 2 to 3 minutes or until thickened (see video). Adjust salt, pepper and lemon to taste. Be generous with the salt – remember the salmon is not marinated, the only salt is in the topping.
- Optional: strain. I don’t bother.
- Allow to cool for 10 minutes or so. It will thicken as it cools. It can be served warm or at room temperature.
Recipe Notes:
Nutrition Information:
WATCH HOW TO MAKE IT
Baked Parmesan Crusted Salmon recipe video!
LIFE OF DOZER
There’s always someone sulking during festive times…..
Christmas 2016 Menu Sneak Preview
Every year here on RecipeTin Eats, I share a Thanksgiving and Christmas menu. Always easy, always something a little bit special, lots of it make ahead. Here’s a little sneak preview of the 2016 Christmas Menu….coming soon! I’ll write up a full post with links through to all the recipes and how to prepare ahead etc. 🙂
Here are the previous Christmas / Thanksgiving Menus I have done:
2016 Thanksgiving – “Going South” A Southern Feast starring a One Roasting Pan Cajun Turkey Breast and Dressing and all the essential sides.
2015 Christmas – “Family Japanese Christmas” Starring a family recipe, my mother’s Miso Marinated Side of Salmon plus our favourite sides!
2015 Thanksgiving – “Dry Brining is Genius” A Genius Dry Brined Turkey Breast plus classic Thanksgiving sides
2014 Thanksgiving and Christmas – ” Easy Christmas” Making the festive season super easy with my Juicy Slow Cooker Turkey Breast with Gravy
And here’s a sneak peak at the 2016 Christmas Menu! Coming soon…..
This was a beautiful meal and so easy to prepare ahead. Thank you Nagi, it was terrific. Everyone loved it. Best wishes for this really silly season x
This looks delicious! I usually buy frozen salmon from Costco. Would this still turn out ok with frozen rather than fresh?
Amazing, easy, no fail salmon recipe. I’ve put into permanent rotation, and even the kids enjoy it. Its quick and easy enough for a weekday dinner, but also fancy enough for company or a special occasion. Love this site, my go to for all things cooking. Especially like the short instructive videos, makes it really easy to understand.
This recipe looks fantastic! Love this idea for Christmas Eve dinner this year!
Absolutely gorgeous looking dish with great taste. It is easy to make, using not many dishes, meaning less dishes to wash. Nagi, I have been tasting your recipes every week since I found you. Your blog is easy to read, you are friendly, your note is very detailed, with clear photos and video. And at the end of it, I enjoy watching our dear Dozer. At this point in time, a lemon yogurt cake is being baked in the oven. Well done, gal! Proud of you!
Brilliant recipe. I live in Norway where salmon is easily available. This has become my favorite salmon recipe. I have never come across a site as thorough as yours. Thank you for being so meticulous (also, thank you for the metric cooking measurements).
A big TUSEN TAKK from the frozen north!
Hi Nagi, is it possible to substitute yoghurt for the cream in your Lemon Cream Sauce?
It will change the flavour and may curdle unfortunately – you could use evaporated milk in place of cream – N x
This turned out SO good, Nagi! Perfect way to cook up our 2 lb salmon and boy were we pleased! That golden crunch on that salmon was everything and top it all, that lemon cream sauced added that extra oomph to it all. Thank you for the recipe! We tagged you on our social media @justsoyoucook cuz this was pure ❤️
Was great!
Hi Nagy, can you use salmon fillets for this if it’s for two people and how long would you cook them for?
Hi Nagi. I made this recipe for hubby and I for dinner. I have made this numerous times. I must say. Of course this is a five star score. But, first time, I needed Shallots and I am alllll out! So, I got an onion and chopped it very fine, I also know (by looks) how much to use to replace the shallots. Anyway, for me, I wasn’t liking it. So, .if I don’t have any shallots, in future for this recipe, I won’t make it. Lol. I can detect a big difference from regular onion and shallots in this recipe. I don’t know if I made a review or not in the years pass, but, hbere I am. I have had great compliments from guests when I serve this dish. Always asking me for recioe. I also have to say I never really read the last part about dozer with Santa hat on and the picture of your table. I was thinking I want to go to your house for Holiday dinner!! Haha. I always read your reviews from other people, but just never really looked at the words on Christmas Menu for 2016. Bad me. I just enjoy your photography and the comments that you add on the pictures of Dozer. Haha. Hope he is doing fine. Thanks again Nagi, Bonnie from Markleeville, CA. Give Dozer a hug from me.
When do you use the herbs
Hi Jerry, in step 4 of the instructions. I hope you love it! N x
Hi Nagi, I made last night for dinner,
It was delicious, thank you for the recipe😍
This has been one of my favorite things to make for a few years now. My wife loves it. I wanted to make it for my friends but my best friend is allergic to mustard seed is there something I can use instead of the Dijon mustard.
Hi Charles, the mustard acts as the glue here – I haven’t tried with a substitute just yet sorry! N x
Hi Nagi. I never did this recioe without Dijon but for my own, my own recipe, I have used Mayonnaise
, then covered all over with capers. It’s so good. You don’t know or taste the mayonnaise. Just a thought, I bet it would work here. Bonnie from Markleeville
Just made this for a dinner party of 7 and it was delicious! I loved that I could make the topping and sauce ahead of time. Such a time saver. I also prepped the salmon about 30 minutes before I actually put in the overn and it was perfect!!! Lots of sauce left over so I will use again tomorrow after I buy some more salmon! 🙂
I’m so glad it was a hit Marie, that’s awesome to hear!
Salmon is my son and I’s favorite fish and I’ve tried different recipes over the years. This is the best salmon I have ever had! I was worried that there wouldn’t be enough flavor because the directions didn’t include salt and pepper for the salmon but boy the Dijon mustard adds the perfect amount of flavor and is a perfect combo with the panko mixture/lemon cream sauce. Very very tasty!
That’s awesome to hear Kayla!
Nom! I made this for our New Year’s Eve meal – only two of us, so I bought salmon slices and halved the crumb and lemon sauce recipe. (The leftover crumb went over the top of some sweet pepper that I roasted and the leftover sauce is going into a risotto tomorrow).
Absolutely delicious – and so easy – thank you 🙂
Made it for Xmas Eve and it was a hit. Thank you for a great recipe.
Absolutely delicious! Made this for Christmas dinner, along with your cauliflower mash and an arugula salad. Everyone LOVED it!
Made this tonight for a family dinner.
Loved by everyone. Never cooked salmon before.
Now I’m a legend 😁