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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Oh my goodness this is sooooo good! The sauce is perfect, and pan searing the salmon was delicious! The only change I made was adding a tiny bit of cayenne pepper to the salmon before I cooked it. My husband is in heaven! Thank you for all of your AMAZING recipes!!