Wow. I’ll Never Look At Salmon The Same Way Again.
Guys, this air fryer salmon has changed my salmon game. It’s loaded with flavor, and the air fryer gives it a crusty, crisped exterior while keeping a consistently juicy, buttery interior texture. Each piece just gently slips apart when you press a fork on it, and it is utterly delightful. This one goes in my forever files!
I’ve made this SO MANY TIMES in the last few weeks. Ways we’ve loved it:
- Dunked in basil sauce
- In tacos, with a mango corn salsa, like this
- With coconut rice, and more mango cucumber salsa, like this
- In a puddle of the tzatziki from this recipe, with naan or pita bread, and the simple green salad
- On a kale salad with gochujang mayo from this post
- With brown rice, and a tomatillo avocado sauce (shortcut status – just whisk mashed avocado and the roasted tomatillo salsa from Trader Joe’s which is one of my 33 fave Trader Joe’s products)
I could have never imagined a world in which me and my two kids – under 5 years old – would stand around eating chunks of salmon, plain, no sauce, directly out of the air fryer, but this is my reality now. We are often finishing half or more before it makes it to the dinner table. It’s stupidly, ridiculously good.
Three reasons I love this so much:
- It gives you consistently great crisped and golden texture on the outside with SUCH MINIMAL EFFORT.
- It gives you consistently juicy and buttery texture on the inside – never dried out, it’s good every time.
- The flavor doesn’t taste like any one single spice – it just tastes good. For me, it hits so much harder than the standard butter + lemon + Dijon salmon flavor profile. It has a salty-sweet-savoriness that works with everything from tzatziki, to romesco, to buffalo sauce, to mango salsa and aji verde.
Air fryer salmon! A new pillar in my life! COME ONNN! What a time!
Welcome To My House! Come Make This Air Fryer Salmon With Me!
1
Cut your salmon into cubes.
Buying boneless skinless salmon will save you the work of removing the skin (which is how I like it)! Cubes are good because a) the spice coating gets everywhere, and b) the salmon cooks very evenly. No dry pieces! 100% juicy.
2
Toss it with the spices.
Every piece gets coated with flavor and texture, and a few teaspoons of olive oil will help it all hold nicely! Just how we like it!
3
Air Fry at 400 for 8 minutes.
Just pop it right in there! If your chunks are small or you like a more medium-doneness on your salmon, go for 7 minutes!
4
You’re Done! Yum!
This salmon is BOMB DOT COM. I’m not a mega salmon lover but when I make this, I can stand over the counter and just eat half a pound of salmon, no problem. And with your favorite sauce on there? Game over.
Ridiculously Good Air Fryer Salmon
Total Time: 13 minutes
Yield: 4 servings 1x
Description
This air fryer salmon is TOO GOOD. Crisped and golden on the outside, buttery and juicy on the inside, and made in 15 minutes start to finish.
Ingredients
Units
Scale
- 1 lb. salmon (see note 1)
- 1 tablespoon brown sugar
- 1 teaspoon paprika
- 1 teaspoon smoked paprika
- 1/2 teaspoon chili powder
- 1 teaspoon onion powder
- 1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
- 1 teaspoon cornstarch
- 3/4 teaspoon coarse kosher salt (or 1/2 teaspoon table salt)
- 2–3 teaspoons avocado or olive oil
Instructions
- Prep the salmon: Remove the skin from your salmon, if it has skin. Pat with paper towels so the surface is mostly dry. Cut your salmon into cubes, 1 to 2 inches each (see photo).
- Prep the spices: Mix the spices together in a small bowl.
- Toss salmon with spices: Toss your salmon cubes in the spices and oil – I usually use my hands to mix it all together.
- Air fry the salmon: Place your salmon pieces in the air fryer (I just dump them right in) and spread them out a bit so they’re not laying all over each other. Air fry at 400 degrees for 8 minutes!
- You’re Done! Yum! At this point it should be textured and golden on the outside, and juicy and delicious on the inside. When you press each piece with a fork, they should easily flake / slip apart with a buttery, juicy texture inside. (You can do 6-7 minutes if you prefer more of a medium doneness.)
Notes
Note 1 on Salmon: I prefer to buy boneless, skinless salmon in a nice thick piece so it can easily be cut into cubes. I usually find boneless, skinless salmon filets at Trader Joe’s, Target, and many other grocery stores. If you’re at a more boujee grocer with a seafood counter, you can also ask them to remove the skin and even cut it into cubes before packaging it for you. This amount of spice mix will work for anywhere from 1 to 1.5 pounds of salmon (if you’re closer to 1.5 pounds it will be less thoroughly coated and you may want to add a bit more salt when it’s done / after you taste it).
Note 2 on Brown Sugar: If the brown sugar is dry or clumpy, break it apart with your hands or with a fork so that it mixes more easily with the other spices and coats the salmon more easily.
- Prep Time: 5 minutes
- Cook Time: 8 minutes
- Category: Dinner
- Method: Air Fryer
- Cuisine: American
Keywords: air fryer salmon, salmon recipe, easy salmon recipe
Frequently Asked Questions For Air Fryer Salmon
Sauce lover here! I’m so glad you asked. My favorite sauces for this air fryer salmon are the basil sauce, romesco, tzatziki, honey mustard, aji verde, an avocado based sauce like the magic green sauce, and the gochujang sauce (listed in the notes section here). If you don’t want to make a sauce, this is also 5-star with a drizzle of hot honey over the top! The spices on this salmon make it a really amazing pair with so many recipes and sauce combinations. *happy dance*
Yes. The main differences are that a) it won’t be as sweet (which I really like for the flavor) and b) it doesn’t get nearly as caramelized. But it’ll work! Here’s a photo of the recipe made without brown sugar:
Yes. The cornstarch is present in the recipe to help dry the exterior and make it a bit crispy, but it is not necessary. Here’s a photo of the recipe made without cornstarch:
Here in the Twin Cities, I have found thick, boneless, skinless filets from Target, Trader Joe’s, Cub Foods, and Kowalski’s.
Yes, but for this recipe I would recommend completely thawing the salmon first, and then cutting it as directed. You’ll also want to pat it with paper towels to ensure it’s dry enough for the spices to stick well to the surface of the salmon.
Yes. But since I like to cube the salmon, I prefer to cut the skin off so these eat more like salmon bites and you can just pop them right in your mouth. 🙂 If you prefer a single filet of salmon with skin on the bottom, that’s fine – you can use these same spices to rub the top surfaces of your filet of salmon and cook it whole. I would just increase the cook time to about 9 minutes to ensure doneness through the middle.
Technically, cooked salmon will be good in the fridge for about 3 days. But I find that, with this salmon in particular, it has the best taste and texture within 24 hours. (And for this recipe, we almost never have leftovers anyway! ha.) If you’re eating this salmon as leftovers, I’d actually encourage you to consider eating it cold. Yes, I’m serious! Reheating the salmon will dry it out further and it’s just always a bit sad. Team Cold Salmon! Toss it on a salad, dip it in some sauce, smash it on a bagel with cream cheese. Yum!
I prefer to NOT marinate the salmon for this recipe. The longest amount of time I’ve marinated the salmon for with the spices on it was about 3 hours in the fridge, and I didn’t feel like it added to the overall flavor. The cornstarch also doesn’t do great with a longer marinating time. If you do want to prep ahead, I’d suggest cutting up your salmon, mixing your spices, and then waiting until right before to toss it together.
Not for this! Just make sure they’re spread evenly and not on top of each other in the air fryer to get things nice and crispy.
