Garlic Salmon with Lemon Butter

Do your weekdays ever feel like a countdown? Some mornings, it’s as if my alarm is chirping, “Five days until Friday night!” “Four days left!” “Only three days to go!” It’s a mentality I’m trying to shake. Why spend nearly a week of potential living wishing it were a different day? Since I can’t make every day Saturday, I’ve found that squeezing in simple but scrumptious meals, like this easy Garlic Salmon with Lemon Butter, work magic on my weekday mood.

This recipe is sponsored by Land O’Lakes.

This gorgeous, healthy salmon recipe is Saturday night special meets Monday night mayhem. It takes less than 10 minutes to prep, cooks on one sheet pan, and gives you a serving of lean protein and veggies in a single dish.

Add a glass of wine and you have a meal that’s fit for high heels, all for a yoga-pants level of effort.

For the record: I highly encourage that you eat this Garlic Salmon in said yoga pants. It is Monday night after all!

Garlic Salmon with Lemon Butter—Only 10 Ingredients!

This easy baked salmon recipe is only 10 ingredients including salt and pepper, yet it tastes as if it could have come from a restaurant. It’s perfectly moist, ultra flaky, and packed with flavor, thanks to two ingredients that could rival PB&J for their super-couple status:

GARLIC AND BUTTER.

Doing double duty to make the baked salmon fillets ultra tasty and marvelously moist is a combo of fresh garlic and the latest addition to my refrigerator,

Land O Lakes Butter with Canola Oil tubs have been a staple in our household since I was a little girl slathering it on my dad’s pancakes. Back then, I cared only that it tasted buttery and delicious.

Now, I also appreciate that it is made of ingredients that I can pronounce and is spreadable right out of the refrigerator.

Before popping the salmon into the oven, I topped it with a 10-second garlic, lemon, and parsley compound butter that I stirred together using the Land O Lakes Less Sodium Butter with Canola Oil. It’s the same yummy product I’ve used since I was a kid but with 25% less sodium than regular salted butter. Since it’s ready to go right out of the fridge, I didn’t need to wait for it to soften before using it to make this oven-baked salmon recipe. I love it for this Spicy Baked Salmon too. (Another quick-marinade winner: Whole30 Salmon!)

No waiting for butter = less waiting for dinner. YES.

I also love that this butter gives me one more tool to make my meals taste decadent, while keeping them on the healthy side. Having trouble convincing your family to eat their veggies? Try topping them with a little of this lower sodium butter. It has that fab butter flavor, with a lower calorie count and less sodium too!

To turn this Garlic Salmon into an all-in-one dinner, I baked green beans and tomatoes on the same sheet pan, right beside the salmon fillets. This one-pan plan is ideal for weeknights…or any night you’d like to wash as few dishes as possible <—ahem, every night??

With busy bee fall approaching, complete with back to school for many families (and a spree of nonstop travel for yours truly), simple but special meals like this Garlic Salmon with Lemon Butter will be on repeat in our kitchen.

Quick to prep and delicious to eat, this recipe shifts the focus away from the time we don’t have by allowing us to make the most of the time we do have.

Ingredients

•  4 6-ounce salmon fillets, — skin on
•  4 tablespoons Land O Lakes® Less Sodium Butter with Canola Oil — (1/4 cup)
•  4 large cloves garlic — chopped (about 4 teaspoons)
•  Zest and juice of 1 large lemon — divided (about 1 tablespoon zest and 1/4 cup juice)
•  1/4 cup chopped fresh parsley — divided
•  1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper — divided, plus additional to taste
•  Additional lemon slices — optional
•  1 pound fresh green beans — trimmed
•  2 pints cherry tomatoes — or grape tomatoes, left whole
•  1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil
•  1/2 teaspoon kosher salt — plus additional to taste

Instructions

1. Place a rack in the center of your oven and preheat the oven to 400 degrees F. Generously coat a large rimmed baking sheet with nonstick spray. Arrange the salmon fillets in the center of the sheet.
2. In a small bowl with a fork, combine the Land O Lakes Less Sodium Butter with Canola Oil, garlic, lemon zest, 2 tablespoons chopped fresh parsley, and 1/4 teaspoon black pepper. Mash to create a paste, then rub on the salmon fillets. If desired, arrange extra lemon slices on top.
3. Place the green beans and tomatoes in a large bowl. Drizzle with olive oil and sprinkle with 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt and the remaining 1/4 teaspoon black pepper. Toss to coat, then arrange around the salmon. Drizzle the lemon juice over the top of the salmon and vegetables.
4. Place the sheet pan in the oven and cook until the fish flakes easily with a fork and reaches an internal temperature of 145 degrees F, about 16 to 20 minutes.* Let rest 3 minutes. Sprinkle with remaining 2 tablespoons parsley, then serve, sprinkled with additional salt and/or pepper to taste.

Recipe Notes

1. The cooking time will vary based upon the thickness of your salmon. Thicker (2-inch-plus) slices will need several extra minutes, while thinner slices may cook more quickly. My salmon fillets were a little more than 1 inch thick and cooked in 19 minutes.
2. This recipe is best enjoyed the day that it is made, as salmon usually dries out when reheated. If you have leftover salmon, try serving it room temperature over a salad the next day or flaking and scrambling it with eggs. Extra veggies can be reheated and mixed into a salad or eggs, or enjoyed on their own.