This pan seared salmon and roasted sweet potato dinner recipe is so delicious AND easy! It’s the perfect weeknight dinner recipe! <3
I spent the past few days by myself at the house, and to be honest my meals got pretty boring. I’m not sure if anyone else is like this but when I’m home alone my meals are very out of the ordinary. For example, one day I had blueberries for breakfast, homemade croutons for lunch, some homemade granola for an afternoon snack, and a smoothie for dinner.
So, after a couple of those weird types of days, I figured it’s time for me to eat a real meal. I want to think of something that was easy but at the same time really delicious and satisfying. And I came up with this: Pan-seared salmon with roasted sweet potato.
It checks all the boxes:
- easy
- delicious
- satisfying
- pretty healthy
What more could you ask for? 😉
Perfect Pan Seared Salmon
Making panseared salmon seems really difficult. Honestly, it can very easily turn out to be a failure. But, that shouldn’t scare you from trying to make it because I’m about to Once you get it down, it’s really pretty easy and quick. So, here all the secrets:
- Dry off the salmon! After you rinse it off to get the extra scales off, dry off the piece of salmon with a few paper towels. This will make the frying process much easier and safer for you.
- The next key secret is to cook it on really high heat. This is what will get you to get that ‘pan seared’ flavor and texture in the salmon.
- The next step requires a special piece of equipment.
- If you don’t have a meat thermometer yet, go get one! This is the only way to cook good pan seared salmon. When we cook our salmon we’re going to cook it to a certain temperature so unless you have a thermometer you don’t exactly know when that’s going to be it’ll be really easy to over cook the salmon.
- Salmon is ready at 145°F. A lot of times if you cook your salmon to that specific temperature and then turn off your heat the salmon will be overcooked. This is because even after you turn off the heat the same and cooks for a little while longer. It’s so hot on the inside of the salmon and on the pan that turning the heat off doesn’t immediately stop the cooking. To keep the same from over cooking, I like to turn the heat off at 135°F to 140°F. This way I’ll give it a few minutes to rest and finish cooking and it’ll end up perfectly cooked.
Already that’s it! That’s all I need to know for the perfect pan seared salmon. Now let’s get in the kitchen and get cooking! Good luck!
Pan Seared Salmon and Roasted Sweet Potato
AuthorbasilanddillDifficultyBeginnerWash your sweet potato, peel it, and cut it into medium-sized cubes. Put the super tater cubes onto a baking sheet, drizzle some olive oil on top, and sprinkle some salt and garlic powder. Then put them into the oven and bake at 375° until soft. This should take roughly 20 minutes. (Flip your sweet potatoes halfway through cooking them so they can cook evenly on both sides.)
While the sweet potatoes are cooking rinse off your slice of salmon, dry it off with paper towels, then season it with a pinch of salt. Then pour about 3 tablespoons of oil into a frying pan and heat it up. When the oil is really hot, put in your piece of salmon skin side down.
Fry the salmon on that side for a few minutes. When the salmon is a light pink color about halfway up the fillet, then you can flip it to the opposite side. Cook the salmon on the top side for a few minutes. If the salmon is still pink on the sides, cook on both sides for a few minutes each. Then check the temperature in the thickest part of the fillet. If the temperature is between 135 to 140°F, then turn the heat off and let the salmon fillet rest for 3 to 5 minutes. (If not, cook it with the skin side down for a few more minutes.)
Put the salmon and sweet potatoes on a plate with a little side salad and enjoy!💛
Ingredients
Directions
Wash your sweet potato, peel it, and cut it into medium-sized cubes. Put the super tater cubes onto a baking sheet, drizzle some olive oil on top, and sprinkle some salt and garlic powder. Then put them into the oven and bake at 375° until soft. This should take roughly 20 minutes. (Flip your sweet potatoes halfway through cooking them so they can cook evenly on both sides.)
While the sweet potatoes are cooking rinse off your slice of salmon, dry it off with paper towels, then season it with a pinch of salt. Then pour about 3 tablespoons of oil into a frying pan and heat it up. When the oil is really hot, put in your piece of salmon skin side down.
Fry the salmon on that side for a few minutes. When the salmon is a light pink color about halfway up the fillet, then you can flip it to the opposite side. Cook the salmon on the top side for a few minutes. If the salmon is still pink on the sides, cook on both sides for a few minutes each. Then check the temperature in the thickest part of the fillet. If the temperature is between 135 to 140°F, then turn the heat off and let the salmon fillet rest for 3 to 5 minutes. (If not, cook it with the skin side down for a few more minutes.)
Put the salmon and sweet potatoes on a plate with a little side salad and enjoy!💛