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 to bake it at 350 degrees 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:
Asian Salmon with Rice Noodles and Asparagus - the salmon is first marinated in a sauce made with sesame oil, honey, soy sauce, rice vinegar, garlic, and ginger, and then baked in the oven.
- 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
- 8 ounces rice noodles , very thin
- 1 lb asparagus
- salt and pepper
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- 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.
- 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.
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.
I saw this recipe and HAD to make it. The only issue was I didn’t have a few of the ingredients so I improvised a little. 1. I didn’t have rice wine vinegar so I mixed a little brown sugar with white wine vinegar. 2. I tend to purchase whatever has the lowest price, in this case hot sesame oil rather than plain. 3. I used cold cucumbers and sesame seeds as my side greens. Suffice it to say, my husband licked the plate clean. Thank you so much!
You’re very welcome! I am so glad you enjoyed this recipe! 🙂 Your improvisations are great!
I’ve made this several times and it always comes out great. I modified it a bit by using fresh ginger and grating about a 1/2 teaspoon into the marinade. I also add a a couple shakes of red pepper chili flakes to give it a little kick. Imarrinade it a little longer and flip it about halfway thru. It gives it a little deeper flavor too. Just a great recipe !
Thank you! So happy you’ve been enjoying this recipe! Thank you for sharing your feedback on how you made this recipe – great tips!
I’ve made this recipe three times now, and I think it just turned out so perfect tonight. My husband’s trainer brought us some fresh silver salmon from Alaska yesterday and I knew I was going to make this again, and I’m so glad I did. I followed your recipe exactly. It was delishtastic.
I just fell in love with salmon! This looks so good, but one question: what do you do with the yummy skin after you remove it? do you put it back when plating?
Thanks, can’t wait to try this weekend.
Mary
I made this for dinner tonight. It turned out real good. I had to make a few changes because I didn’t have all of the ingredients. I had to substitute guava nectar for the honey and a medley of red pepper, broccoli and mushrooms for the asparagus. Trust me it was still delicious. The marinade makes the dish. I love the Carmelization of the fish. I give it 5 stars.