The Orange Thyme Sheet Pan Pork Chops were such a huge hit that I decided a bevy of super-easy, super-fast, super-tasty sheet pan dinners were in order. Enter Lemon Dill Sheet Pan Salmon. Because salmon is a super-good choice for keto and low carb plates – packed with omega-3s it is one of the fattier fish and a delicious lighter alternative when you just don’t feel like cramming a bunch of meat in your mouth.
If you are not familiar with sheet pan dinners, they are essentially just all the things cooked in the oven on the same pan at the same time. A lot of sheet pan recipes you’ll find on the interwebs, though, call for adding a bunch of things at various different times throughout the cooking process, which in my mind kinda negates the whole point of a sheet pan dinner.
This Lemon Dill Sheet Pan Salmon is a proper sheet pan dinner: everything goes on the pan at the same time, gets shoved in the oven, and 20 minutes later the pan comes out again with everything perfectly cooked. No fiddling, no opening and closing of the oven door multiple times, no adding things part way through. No having to remember when to add things either. Nope, this is a really easy way to make a pan full of delicious dinner.
The salmon fillets are given a crispy lemon-almond crust, with the lemon continued through the veggies. This Lemon Dill Sheet Pan Salmon mostly tastes like summer, but it’s surprisingly filling for something that tastes so light.
When cooking multiple pieces of salmon it is always best to choose pieces that are around the same thickness so that they all cook in the same time. Otherwise, some poor soul(s) is going to get dry salmon, and no one wants that. A beautiful piece of cooked salmon is a joy. Overcooked, dry salmon? Not so much. In this recipe I would suggest that you use thicker pieces rather than the tail pieces which are thinner.
The veggies in this Lemon Dill Sheet Pan Salmon are not the slightest bit dry, either, although you would be forgiven for thinking that they might be. The mayonnaise does a bang up job of coating them in flavor while also keeping them moist and delicious.
I usually have a bag of Kirkland Salmon fillets stashed in the freezer for when I get the urge, even though I live on the coast and have more than ample options when it comes to fresh fish. The great thing about frozen salmon is that even all you land-locked folks can enjoy this year-round and without the fluctuation in prices that often accompanies fresh fish.
Now, if you have always been leery of sheet pan dinners because washing a full-sized sheet pan is no bueno in some dishwashers, and it’s too big to manhandle in the sink easily, just use two half sheet pans instead! Or, if it’s just 1 or 2 of you, simply half the recipe and just use one half sheet. Boom!
If you’ve always been a bit nervous of cooking salmon, this is a great introduction. There’s no anxiety over wondering if it is done, just set the timer and be ready to chow down when the timer goes, “Ping!”
Lemon Dill Sheet Pan Salmon
Author: Carrie Brown | Prep time: 10 mins | Cook time: 20 mins | Total time: 30 mins | Serves: 2 – 4
What You Need
- 1 large lemon – zest and juice
- 8 oz / 225g leeks, sliced cross-ways into discs
- 26 oz. / 730g asparagus, trimmed and cut into 1″ lengths (see Top Recipe Tips)
- 3/4 cup mayonnaise
- 4 tsp dried dill
- Sea salt and ground black pepper (Get the best sea salt here and use code: carriebrown for 15% discount!)
- 3 oz / 85g flaked or sliced almonds
- 1 egg, beaten
- 1.5 lbs / 670g salmon fillets (see Top Recipe Tips)
What You Do
- Pre-heat oven to 425F.
- Zest the lemon and place zest in a shallow dish and put to the side.
- Juice the lemon and put the juice in a large bowl.
- Add the sliced leeks and asparagus in the bowl with the lemon juice, add the mayonnaise, dried dill, sea salt, and ground black pepper, and toss until all the veggies are thoroughly coated. Go on! Use your fingers to do the tossing!
- Spread the coated veggies evenly over the sheet pan in a single layer.
- Add the flaked almonds, sea salt, and ground black pepper to the lemon zest in the shallow dish and mix very well. Spread the almond mixture evenly over the bottom of the dish.
- Brush one side of a salmon fillet (if one side has skin, do NOT coat that side) with the beaten egg and then press firmly into the almond mixture.
- Lay the salmon almond side up on top of the veggies on the sheet pan.
- Continue egging and pressing the almond mixture onto the salmon fillets and placing them on the veggies crust side up one-by-one until you have used them all.
- Place the sheet pan on the middle shelf or your pre-heated oven and bake for 15 – 20 minutes until the nuts are golden brown. The time will vary depending on the thickness of the salmon fillets.
Top Recipe Tips
- Use ‘skinny’ asparagus. Thick asparagus is likely to be under-cooked. If thick asparagus is your only choice then you could put the veggies in the oven for 5 minutes, then carefully remove the sheet pan, add the salmon and return to the oven for the full time.
- You can make the crust ahead of time and store in an airtight container in the ‘fridge to make prep super-fast.
- Try to get your salmon fillets all the same thickness and size so that they all cook in the same time. Look for thicker pieces for this recipe. Frozen or fresh salmon are both fine.
- Instead of brushing the salmon with egg you can put the beaten egg in a shallow dish and dip one side of the salmon in before pressing in the almond mixture.
- If you coat both sides of the salmon in the almond mixture the side that is laying on the veggies will be soggy. Not recommended. Plus, you’ll need more almond mixture.
- Check out the Ingredients Guide for information on ingredients.
- Where Are The Macros and Nutritional Info?
Helpful Cooking and Recipe Links
- More fish recipes
- Come laugh and learn with us over at The Kitchen Podcast
- Come hang out in The Keto Kitchen Facebook Group
- For lots more great recipes check out our scrumptious cookbooks!
- Check out the categories and tags at the bottom of the post to help you find more recipes using certain ingredients or from certain categories.
Podcast Episodes and You Tube Videos
Substitutions
- Don’t. Just buy the correct ingredients and you, too, shall have a fabulous outcome!
- Steelhead Trout can be used instead of salmon if that fits your location or budget better.
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RoxanneOh my gosh! This is amazing snd my family inhaled it! Thank you so much!