Salmon with Garlic Cream Sauce
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Perfectly pan-seared salmon served with the most irresistible garlicky cream sauce with sneaked in spinach!
Featured Comment
Garlicky cream sauce. Sneaked-in greens. Soft, juicy, tender salmon fillets. What’s NOT to love?
WHY MAKE SALMON AT HOME?
- Quick, easy and impressive. Salmon cooks together very quickly. It makes for a great weeknight hero, and is also impressive enough to serve to guests.
- Budget-friendly. Frozen salmon is typically much more budget-friendly than fresh salmon. And although there is some misconception that fresh is better than frozen, fresh salmon is frozen at its peak, sealing in all the nutritional quality as freshly caught fish.
- Omega-3s. Salmon is a nutritional powerhouse! Thank you omega-3 fatty acids.
- Versatility. You have so many options here – you can grill the salmon, pan sear the salmon, smoke the salmon, poach the salmon, etc.. It’s basically your own adventure here!
The salmon fillets comes out perfectly seared and golden brown (highly recommend using a nonstick skillet here), complemented by the most velvety cream sauce of your dreams.
Not a fan of spinach? Kale would be a great leafy green substitute. Don’t want to use wine? Additional chicken stock can be used instead. This recipe is very forgiving yet so so impressive.
WHAT TO SERVE WITH SALMON
Tools For This Recipe
Large cast iron skillet
Salmon with Garlic Cream Sauce: Frequently Asked Questions
Salmon can take about 12-24 hours to defrost in the refrigerator. For a quick defrost (about 1 hour), you can place the salmon in a resealable leak-proof bag, submerged in a bowl of cold water, changing out the water every 30 minutes.
Additional chicken stock can be used for white wine as a non-alcoholic substitute.
Half and half is equal parts of whole milk and cream. For 1 cup half and half, you can substitute 3/4 cup whole milk + 1/4 cup heavy cream or 2/3 cup skim or low-fat milk + 1/3 cup heavy cream.
Kale, cabbage, swiss chard and collard greens are all great subs.
Salmon with Garlic Cream Sauce
Ingredients
- 4 (6-ounce) salmon fillets
- Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste
- 1 ½ tablespoons unsalted butter
- 2 cloves garlic, minced
- 1 medium shallot, diced
- 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
- ¼ cup dry white wine*
- ¾ cup chicken stock
- ¾ cup half and half*
- 3 cups baby spinach
- 2 tablespoons chopped fresh dill
- 1 lemon, cut in wedges
Instructions
- Using paper towels, pat both sides of the salmon fillets dry; season with 1 teaspoon salt and 1/2 teaspoon pepper.
- Melt butter in a large cast iron skillet over medium heat. Add salmon fillets to the skillet, skin side up, and cook until golden brown and a crust has formed, about 4-5 minutes. Using a fish turner, flip, and cook for an additional 4-5 minutes, or until desired doneness. Remove and keep warm.
- Reduce heat to low; add garlic and shallots, and cook, stirring frequently, until fragrant, about 2 minutes.
- Whisk in flour until lightly browned, about 1 minute.
- Stir in wine, scraping any browned bits from the bottom of the skillet.
- Stir in chicken stock and half and half until slightly thickened, about 2-3 minutes; season with salt and pepper, to taste.
- Stir in spinach until wilted, about 1-2 minutes. Return salmon to the skillet; sprinkle with dill.
- Serve immediately with lemon wedges.
Notes
Did you make this recipe?
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Very nice, made it in our Motorhome whilst away, easy, simple dish that can be ‘tweaked’ in various ways (I added a, teaspoon of dijon to the sauce)
This was so very delicious. I added a little fresh linguini and shitake mushrooms from the farmer’s market. I will make this often! Your site is a favorite of mine. Thanks.
We love hearing that. Thanks so much for sharing, Jackie!
Soooo good, even my 6 year ate it!!
Oh my goodness…how delicious is this?! I used my cast iron pan for both the salmon and the sauce. The salmon was beautiful – crispy on the outside and so moist inside. I doubled the sauce recipe and served it with Greek lemon rice. Restaurant worthy!
I have not made this yet…sounds very good and I will make it, but what’s the story with what pan to use? You recommend a non-stick skillet and then in instructions you say to use a cast iron skillet? So which one? Think I’ll use the non-stick as I think the fish will stick to the cast iron, although I love cast iron or steel pans…
I made this for dinner and my husband absolutely loved it. We both enjoyed it. I will be making this again in the future. Thanks Chungah!!
My cousin and I just made this for dinner! Delicious! Thank you.
I plan to make this tonight with some wild-caught coho salmon. One thing: recipe says to use a large cast iron skillet but your introductory comments “highly recommend” a non-stick pan. I’m going to use my well-seasoned black iron skillet. This looks delicious and healthy! Thanks.
What does half & half mean? Cream I guess but how much?
This was quick and easy and so delicious!
This is such a great recipe – I’ve made it a few times for my family, and it’s a hit. I don’t change anything, except that I add more spinach and more dill. Serve with roasted fingerling potatoes to soak uptake sauce (a nice loaf of crusty bread would work, too). Easy enough for weeknights, but nice enough for guests.
Made this tonight. The echoes for seconds made it all worth it……tired working mom.
Delicious! I substitued greek yogurt for half and half (cut some calories) and added more spinach. Served over brown rice.
Oh my gosh, I made this tonight for 3 of us, and there is NONE left. Great recipe! Thanks 🙂 Served it with brown jasmine rice, green salad and melon. Perfect.
After reading all the amazing reviews and loving many other dishes from Damn Delicious, I plan to try this recipe this week. Any suggestions for side dishes??
Rice
We made this dish for dinner tonight. We followed the recipe as written, subbing stock for wine, and served it with roasted baby potatoes and asparagus. It was an easy, quick, and yummy meal.
Love this recipe. I made the sauce separately from the salmon. I baked my salmon fillets in the oven on 400 for 12 minutes. I also added some lemon zest and did not use wine. The sauce was delicious would highly recommend, and i will be making again!
I made this last night and it was so good. I subbed baby book Choy for the spinach bc my kids prefer it and it was perfect. A very easy meal to make. I served rice on the side too. I will be making this again.
Amazing!!! Simple, easy and delicious.
I omitted the shallots since I hate onions and anything related to them. It was quite tasty.
I would definitely recommend this dish.
Really? Really good! New go-to for salmon and for hosting.
I meant really, really good! Oops. Just made a second time in one week : )