A fresh, vibrant salad topped with a gorgeous caramelised salmon dripping with an Asian glaze and drizzled with sesame dressing. This Asian Salmon Salad will knock your socks off. No more boring salads!
Too. Hot. It’s just TOO HOT to cook! Apparently Sydney is “suffering” through a record breaking heat wave. Climate change. Tut, tut.
So tonight (Sunday), as I’m writing up this post and America is gearing up for the single biggest football game of the year (Super Bowl Sunday!), there are two things going through my head:
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Hoping my BBQ won’t self destruct in this extreme heat when I’m grilling burgers for dinner; and
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Wondering how in the heck I am going to go from this 40C/100F heat to the freezing cold snow fields in Japan? ⛷⛷⛷
Yup! I’m off to Japan this week! It’s been too long since I’ve been to visit my relatives, get my Japanese food fix /ski fix, shopping galore / visit my relatives (oops, better fix my priorities 😉). Stay tuned for live updates of my travels on Instagram!
(Yes, the thought of who might win the game is notably absent from the thoughts in my head. Bring on the food. I’ll cater. You watch!)
Oh. And yes, thoughts about this Asian Salmon Salad are noticeably absent too. Hmm. Well! There’s a glimpse into my mind and how it wanders!!
Actually, I made this salad on Saturday. It wasn’t as much of a stinker (Aussie slang interpretation:stinking hot day!) but it was still hot enough for me to avoid stove time.
Thus this Asian Salmon Salad was born. I deliberately cut the salmon into cubes so they cook faster – and also more surface area = high ratio of caramelisation and glaze to flesh. If you’ve got the stove on for more than 3 minutes, I’m putting you in the naughty corner because your salmon will be overcooked. 😞
As you can see in the photo above, the salmon is cooked in a sticky Asian sauce. It cooks down into a syrupy consistency really quickly – literally less than 30 seconds – and the idea behind this recipe is that the glaze forms part of the dressing for the salad. The salmon is gorgeous hot, warm or at room temperature. Personally I even love it cold. In fact, I had it cold straight from the fridge today (see Dozer gagging for the last piece of salmon at the bottom of the post!).
This salmon would be absolutely divine served on rice to soak up all that gorgeous sauce. But I really did enjoy it as a salad. The glaze combined with my super simple but everyone-loves-it Asian Sesame Dressing drizzled over whatever greens you have, then topped with that glazed salmon makes an epic salad that should take you just on 15 minutes to make. Or less if you have the Asian Sesame Dressing already in your fridge ready to go. And why wouldn’t you when it keeps for weeks and weeks and it’s so good you can use it for marinating and dressing almost any salad / steamed vegetables!
I’m happy to be adding another giant salad to my recipe collection! Especially one that’s made with a protein other than chicken or prawns / shrimp. Something a little different, ridiculously delicious, loaded with all the good stuff. 😉 – Nagi x
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Asian Salmon Salad
Ingredients
Sauce
- 1 tbsp soy sauce , low sodium / ordinary (Note 1)
- 2 tbsp EACH hoisin sauce, rice vinegar, honey (Note 2)
- 1 tbsp sriracha , or other hot sauce (can omit)
- 2 tbsp water
- 1 garlic clove , minced
Salmon & Salad
- 250 - 300 g / 8 - 10 oz salmon , skin off
- 2 tsp oil (vegetable, canola, peanut oil)
- 5 cups lettuce , bite size pieces (I used cos lettuce)
- 15 cherry tomatoes , halved
- 1/2 avocado , sliced
- 1 cucumber , halved, deseeded and sliced (Note 3)
Asian Sesame Dressing
- 1 tbsp soy sauce (Note 1)
- 1 tsp sesame oil
- 1½ tbsp white vinegar
- 1 tbsp olive oil (Note 4)
- 1 tsp sugar (any type) or 1½ tsp honey
Optional Garnishes
- 1/2 tsp sesame seeds
- 1/2 scallion / shallot , finely sliced
Instructions
- Cut salmon into 2.5cm / 1" cubes.
- Mix Sauce in a medium bowl. Add salmon, set aside for 3 minutes.
- Mix Dressing ingredients in a jar. Shake very well (jar is best).
- Divide Salad ingredients between 2 bowls.
- Heat oil in a non stick medium skillet over medium high heat. Remove salmon from Sauce, shaking off excess. Reserve Sauce.
- Place salmon in skillet. Cook for 2 minutes, turning to caramelise as many of the sides as you can (all sides is not practical, too much turning). (Note 5)
- Pour Sauce into skillet. Cook for 30 seconds or until the Sauce reduces to a syrup (see video for how it bubbles).
- Remove from stove. Immediately transfer salmon onto Salad. Leave to rest / cool for a few minutes. Then spoon the glaze over the salmon. Sprinkle with sesame seeds and shallots/scallions, if using.
- Drizzle salad with Dressing. Serve immediately.
Recipe Notes:
Nutrition Information:
WATCH HOW TO MAKE IT
Asian Salmon Salad recipe video! Lovely eye candy moment watching the salmon simmering in that glaze….
LIFE OF DOZER
If you eat on the couch instead of the table, this is what you have to deal with. 🙄
Should I give him the last piece of salmon? Should I….???
I made the dressing to have with a leftover cooked salmon fillet tossed with brown rice and salad for lunch, it was super simple and really lifted everything. I think I’ll be keeping a jar of it at work for canned tuna and rice emergencies!
Another hit. Had to substitute the hoisin for oyster sauce, but otherwise stayed with the recipe. I served it with rice and salad with some kewpie mayo on top. With the remaining sauce in the pan I didn’t feel it needed the extra dressing so I’ve saved that for another day. A delicious meal. I love how you give options for substitutions. Thanks Nagi.
Absolutely delicious!! Every single recipe I’ve had from this website has been such a hit. Only changes I made were 1/2 the amount of honey and used oyster sauce instead of hoisin since that’s what I had on hand. Definitely better than those pricey salad takeaway places!
Absolutely delicious!!!!
Nagi, this salad is on par with elegant meals you are served in upscale restaurants. It’s ridiculously easy to make (I didn’t measure the ingredients exactly) but so flavorful and so healthy. Perfect meal all around! Thank you.
Thanks Anka!! Woo hoo!!! N x
Delicious!! I ran out of soy sauce so used Worcestershire sauce and didn’t add the salad dressing -it was amazeballs – not too saucy but enough sauce for the salad – you are amazeballs xx
Like so many of your recipes this one is an absolute winner! I made for my partner today and went down a treat. Great summer recipe. 🙂
Thank you Nagi for yet another delicious recipe. We made this last week while camping (pre-made the sauce and dressing at home, so it was a simple yet perfect camping dinner.) It was so good we are serving it today when a friend comes for lunch. I really don’t know what we used to cook before discovering your blog and website!!
Thank you Lynda! N x
Oh dear -! Remembered how visually delicious this was when I took my first morsel of salmon. So so good in this oppressive humidity-thank you 🥰
Very very very very good. Nagi, thank you for laying down excellent base recipes but also empowering us with all your information so that if we want/need to change something, we can do so confidently and (usually!) successfully. Big thumbs up for this recipe from everyone in the family!
Hi Nagi. I love all your recipes. Do you think I could use pasta or noodles with this salad to make it as a main meal?
Sure Renata…make extra dressing and add rice noodles – that would be delicious! N x
This was so tasty! All of it was delicious as written. I made one addition of about a cup of shredded carrot (bagged, pre-shredded) to the salad for a little extra veg. and crunch. When I make it again, I will make the salmon portion a little bigger. There was plenty of sauce leftover, which I dipped some chicken fingers in for lunch the next day! Yum!
Thanks! N x
The dressing makes this salad! So delicious, easy and fantastic as is or very versatile, using whatever veg you have on hand. We grilled our salmon with some zucchini and peppers in the same marinade – made the same salad base with the addition of snow peas and kohlrabi (garden overflowing right now) – delicious. Thank you Nagi for another wonderful quick recipe.
amazing recipe and so simple and fast too! makes a perfect work day meal.
I would go easy on soy sauce though as the flavor is quite intense.
New favourite salad. Absolutely delcious!!
This is such a flavoursome and fresh meal! You have this enormous bowl of delicious salad + every mouthful of the salmon is heaven. Definitely adding to regular rotation for deliciousness and easy prep. Thank you once again Nagi! ❤️
Cheering, found some smoked trout on clearance, cheap as. Used the dressing and salad ingredients and it was amazing. Cold, wet night here in Newy, heater on but this went down a treat. Thank you
Oh my word!!! This is my new favourite salad. Absolutely gorgeous and easy to prepare & cook! Thank you 😊 x
Wow! That was good. I like salmon and this was scrumptious.
Did you end up giving Dozer the salmon? I have a hard time when my dog gives me the ‘big, brown, poor me’ eyes. I end up letting him take the road he wants to go on walks. I’m sure he has figured out that I am wrapped around his paw pretty bad.
This recipe of yours must my all-time favourite, and me and my partner have tried A-LOT of your recipes. It’s absolutely divine.
It works great with tofu too. This dish is the bomb!
Wahoo, that’s awesome Isak!! N x