I always feel a little bit fancy when I eat salmon, so this dish is great for a date night or special occasion. It’s perfect for when you want a bit of “wow” factor at the dinner table, but you don’t want spend the whole day and evening in the kitchen. The seasoning in this salmon recipe has a creole influence, and the salmon is pan fried on a high heat. This allows the seasoning to go a nice deep brown colour producing that “blackened” crust. The garlic lemon butter adds a complimentary tangy-ness to the fish.
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Blackened Salmon with Garlic Lemon Butter Recipe
Serves: 4
Preparation Time: 5 minutes
Cooking Time: 17 minutes
INGREDIENTS
For the salmon:
- 520 g salmon slices with the skin on (around 4 slices)
- 0.5 tsp cumin
- 0.5 tsp smoked paprika
- 0.5 tsp mild chilli powder
- 1 tsp garlic powder
- 1 tsp onion powder
- 0.5 tsp dried oregano
- 0.5 tsp salt
- 0.5 tsp pepper
- 1 tbsp light olive oil
For the garlic lemon butter:
- 2 tbsp butter
- 4 cloves garlic
- 1 lemon sliced (discard the ends)
METHOD
- Mix the dried spices (cumin, paprika, chilli powder, garlic powder, onion powder, oregano, salt, pepper) together.
- Sprinkle the seasoning over the flesh side of the salmon.
- Heat the olive oil in heavy-based frying pan over a medium high heat.
- Place the salmon slices flesh side down in the pan cook for 5 minutes. Be careful not to over crowd the salmon slices, fry them in two batches if there is not enough space in the pan. I find that my 28 cm Anolon Sauté Pan is ideal for this as it has a big enough area to cook all four slices of salmon at the same time. It’s a really versatile high quality pan – honestly the most used pan I have in my kitchen. Click here for more details.
- Carefully flip the salmon onto the skin side. Cook for and additional 7 minutes.
- Remove the salmon from the pan and place the fillets on a plate and set aside.
- Add the butter to the pan, once it is melted add the garlic cloves and stir for 2 minutes.
- Slowly add in the lemon slices, be careful as they will sizzle in the pan. Cook the lemon in the butter for a further 1 minute on each side.
- Pour the butter sauce over the salmon fillets and top each one with a slice of lemon and serve with the garlic cloves.

NOTES
- Serve with wild rice or sweet potato mash, and steamed asparagus spears.