Salmon with Capers

This salmon with capers is oven baked in foil until it’s perfectly tender, then topped with a delicious garlic butter sauce. An easy healthy dinner recipe!

Looking for an easy healthy dinner recipe? Here at A Couple Cooks, we eat mostly plant based foods. But every now and then, we’ll spring for some seafood: and this salmon with capers is where it’s at. The salmon is baked with lemon and herbs until it’s perfectly moist. Then it’s topped with a silky butter sauce made with garlic and capers. Just a small drizzle packs a huge punch — and the modest quantity keeps it healthy. Here’s how to make this tasty salmon recipe, which comes together in 30 minutes.

What’s in this salmon with capers recipe?

This salmon with capers is easy to make and results in one perfectly moist piece of fish. This recipe uses a few tricks that will stick with you, like how to bake salmon to perfection, and the beautiful briny tang that capers bring to a recipe. Here’s what you’ll need for this recipe:

Salmon fillets: you can use any type of salmon here; we like using pre-cut fillets that are about 6 ounces each
Lemon to bring a pop of flavor
Olive oil, salt and pepper for seasoning
Fresh thyme or oregano are optional, but add nice flavor to baked salmon
Butter, garlic & capers to make the butter sauce

Capers bring big flavor!

Capers are the magic behind this salmon with capers recipe. What are they exactly? Capers are a berry of the caper bush that’s native to the Mediterranean. They’re round and dark green gray, about the size of a peppercorn. You’ll find them in Italian and Mediterranean recipes. Here, we added them to a garlic butter to add a big pop of briny, salty flavor to the fish.

Capers taste tangy, briny and salty, and add big flavor to any dish. They’re served pickled, so you’ll find them in jars near the olives at the grocery story. If you buy a jar for this recipe, also try them in our Roasted Eggplant Pasta.

How to bake salmon perfectly? Brine it first.

What’s a great tip for baking salmon? Brine it first. Alex and I had seen this trick for a while, but we weren’t sure it was necessary. However: we found placing the salmon in water and salt for 15 minutes before baking it does make it perfectly moist when baked. Guess what? This doesn’t even add any extra time to the recipe! You can do it while your oven preheats.

Even better, placing the salmon in a brine solution helps to cut down on the white stuff. Wait, what? Keep reading.

What’s that white stuff on salmon when cooked?

Have you ever noticed that when you cook salmon, gooey white stuff appears on the top of the fish? Well don’t worry: it happens to everyone! And it’s perfectly normal. The white stuff is simply coagulated protein that seeps to the surface while baking. It even has a name: albumin. The amount of albumin varies greatly depending on the fish, so it’s not something you can particularly control. (Read more here.)

The “white stuff” is absolutely safe to eat: but it does look a little wacky sitting there atop your beautiful fillet. Here are a few ways to reduce the albumin when you cook salmon, which we implemented into this salmon with capers recipe:

Cook it at a lower temperature to cook it more gently
Brine the salmon in a salt and water solution before baking

Baking salmon in foil: some tips

Here are a couple more tips about baking salmon! In this salmon with capers recipe, we decided to bake the salmon in foil to seal in that moisture. Here are a few notes on getting the perfect salmon:

Brine the salmon while the oven preheats (see above).
Add lemon wheels. Keep the lemon to the side of the salmon, otherwise the top of the fish gets a gooey texture.
Herbs are optional but tasty. If you have access to fresh thyme or oregano, adding a few sprigs looks beautiful and adds a nice flavor.

Buying sustainable seafood

Are you looking at buying sustainable salmon? (If so, kudos!) Here are a few pointers when you’re at the grocery store:

Look for wild-caught fish if possible. If you live in the US, look for US caught. 90% of the seafood we eat in the US is imported. Imported seafood runs the risk of being overfished, caught under unfair labor practices, or farmed in environmentally harmful ways.
How your fish is caught matters. Look for hook and line as one example of a sustainable gear type. Bottom trawling is considered the most destructive and least sustainable method.

Ways to serve salmon with capers

How to make this salmon with capers recipe into a meal? We’re glad you asked. There are so many sides to go with salmon. And this recipe is great because it can make a 30-minute weeknight meal or a fancier meal for Valentine’s Day or date night. Here are a few we recommend:

Best Steamed Broccoli or Simple Sauteed Broccoli An easy, healthy side dish that turns out bright green and crisp tender every time!
Fennel Orange Salad A refreshing and easy side dish, it pairs juicy orange and the subtle licorice essence of fennel with a citrus vinaigrette.
Easy Baked Asparagus A classic pairing with salmon, this beautiful asparagus is spritzed with lemon and baked with Parmesan cheese.
Perfect Wild Rice If you have the time, this wild rice makes for a showy dinner party side dish.

This salmon with capers recipe is…

Gluten-free and pescatarian.