Honey Sesame Salmon with Rice Noodles and Asparagus - you'll love this Asian-style dinner. The salmon is first marinated in a sauce made with sesame oil, honey, soy sauce, rice vinegar, garlic, and ginger. Then, the salmon is baked in the oven.
If you don't like salmon because it's fishy or dry, you will change your mind after you try this Asian salmon recipe! The salmon in this recipe is very moist, flaky, juicy, and flavorful. The Asian sauce is smooth and silky, with just the right amount of garlic. The whole dish is very easy to make - I make this for dinner right after a long day at work! Rice noodles and asparagus in addition to honey sesame salmon make this a complete meal - you don't need to worry about side dishes!
The key to the moist and juicy salmon is is to bake it at 350 F for only 15 minutes, and then broil it for 5 minutes ((or longer if you like it more charred). This way you get the very best out of salmon: it will be moist and juicy (not dry), and it will also have a nice charred look, which is much more appetizing and pretty than if you just baked it.
I like to serve this honey sesame salmon over a small bed of very thin rice noodles, which will absorb some of the sauce from the fish, and also the sauce that you will pour on top of Asian-flavored salmon after condensing it a bit. You can serve any type of your favorite greens: cooked spinach, green beans, or Asian greens (baby bok choy, Chinese spinach, etc.). I only had asparagus, so that's what I served it with. Enjoy!
If you enjoyed this honey sesame salmon, you might like these Asian seafood recipes as well:
Honey Sesame Salmon with Rice Noodles and Asparagus
Ingredients
Honey Sesame Salmon:
- 2 tablespoons sesame oil
- 3 tablespoons honey
- 4 tablespoons soy sauce (for gluten free, use gluten-free soy sauce)
- 4 tablespoons rice vinegar
- 4 cloves garlic , minced
- a pinch of ginger , powdered
- 1.2 lb salmon
Rice Noodles and Asparagus:
- 8 ounces rice noodles , very thin
- 1 lb asparagus
- salt and pepper
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
Instructions
How to cook honey sesame salmon:
- To prepare the marinade, in a medium bowl, combine the sesame oil, honey, soy sauce, rice vinegar, garlic, a pinch of ginger and whisk to blend.
- Place salmon in a baking dish, skin-side down. Pour the marinade over the salmon, cover and refrigerate for 1 hour.
- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit.
- Bake the salmon uncovered for 15 minutes at 350 degrees Fahrenheit in the same baking dish in which you marinated it. Remove the salmon from the oven, pour the marinade from the baking dish into a small saucepan.
- Preheat the broiler.
- Slide the spatula under the salmon the remove the skin. Broil salmon (without the marinade or the skin) for about 5 minutes (or more, depending on your broiler), until it caramelizes nicely. Remove from pan.
- While the salmon is broiling, reduce the sauce (the marinade) in the sauce pan on the stove top by boiling it down a little bit. Be careful – don’t over do it – reduce it just a bit to have enough to pour over each of 4 serving of fish.
How to cook rice noodles and asparagus:
- While your salmon is baked and broiled in the oven, prepare rice noodles and asparagus.
- Cook very thin rice noodles according to package instructions, drain.
- Place asparagus in a glass baking dish, season with salt and pepper and drizzle with olive oil.
- Bake in the preheated oven at 350 degrees Fahrenheit (at the same time with salmon, but in a separate dish), until soft but still crispy.
How to serve Asian salmon with rice noodles and asparagus:
- Place a scoop of rice noodles in the center of each serving plate.
- Add several sprigs of asparagus on the side.
- Place a serving of salmon on top of noodles. Pour the condensed sauce on top.
Nutrition
Nutrition Disclaimer:
The nutritional information on this website is only an estimate and is provided for convenience and as a courtesy only. The accuracy of the nutritional information for any recipe on this site is not guaranteed. It should not be used as a substitute for a professional nutritionist’s advice.
My 7 yo grand daughter said this is Bon Appetit - she loved it. Really good flavor and easy to make.
Love to hear this - thank you, Meri! Your granddaughter has a great vocabulary!
Can you use this with chicken? I’m allergic to fish, so obviously can’t do salmon. The marinade looks good though!
Oh yes, this will be great with chicken!
I made this for dinner tonight, really enjoyed it. I did use 1 tablespoon of grated fresh ginger instead of ginger powder. Will make it again.
Becky, I am so glad you tried this recipe and enjoyed it! Thank you for your 5-star review! ❤️
How badly do you think changing chicken to vegetable stock will hurt this recipe?
Deven, it would work very similar, so go ahead and use vegetable stock!
I don't see where you're calling for stock in this recipe...am I missing something?
hmm, you're right, there is no chicken stock in this recipe and it's not needed. Not sure why the discussion was about the stock in the previous comment, lol.
I made this for my dad. You can never tell if he actually likes anything, but he requested it again, so you can bet your a** this was awesome . I don’t eat fish and hate cooking it because it stinks, but the marinade buried most of the smell (I marinated overnight) and my dad said the texture of the fish was really good. It lifted right out of the skin. I’m making it for mister picky again tonight!
Laura, I am so glad your dad enjoyed this recipe. Thank you for the comment! 🙂
Thank you very much!! My son LOVED the recipe.
Awesome recipe! Definitely a keeper!!!
Here I am again. Making my favorite Salmon recipe. Can't even count how many times I have make this easy elegant recipe. Just thought I'd let you know.
This is a great marinade, the salmon was delicious with only an hour of marinating. I didn’t have asparagus but did have shiitake mushrooms, savory cabbage and scallions so I sautéed them and served over pad Thai noodles topped with the salmon and reduced marinade. So delicious!
Delicious! My family enjoyed this dish. Followed the recipe exactly. Will definitely make this again!
So glad you liked this recipe. Thank you for the comment!