How to Perfect Your Salmon Steak Recipe

Salmon Steaks Versus Salmon Fillets

At Wild for Salmon, we offer wild Alaska salmon in fillets and portions but we have a lot of experience preparing salmon steaks that we thought we would share! 

The salmon steak is the cut of fish produced when the fish is cut crosswise. Salmon steaks include the bone.

Fillets are the long pieces that occur when the whole cut is separated from the main bone. The fillet cut includes some teeny-tiny bones called "pin-bones," but these are all delicately removed from Wild for Salmon fillets. Fillets can be cut into smaller portions.

Steaks are thicker than fillets, and thus are less likely to fall apart when cooking - especially on the grill. Like beef steaks, pork chops, or chicken legs, fish cooked “on the bone” is understood to be tastier than boneless options. 

Choose Your Preferred Cooking Style

The salmon steak, like all quality seafood, can be enjoyed in many versatile ways. Salmon steaks usually come from sockeye salmon or king salmon (due to their large size). These cuts of the fish hold up better on the grill or over a wood fire than fillets and they can also be enjoyed baked or pan-fried.

No matter how you cook it, wild salmon is a healthy option for dinner - high in protein and Omega-3 fatty acids. Plus, every cut of salmon has a healthy amount of calories as well as good nutrients. 

We’ve included three salmon recipes that work particularly well for steaks. Scroll down for our favorite ways to grill, bake, and pan-fry salmon steaks to perfection. 

How to Grill Salmon Steaks You Will Go Wild For

Grilling salmon steaks is simple and quick - and when we say quick, we mean it! You will want to cook your salmon steaks for 7-8 minutes (total cooking time) on the grill (turn once during cooking). When it comes to our thinner, wild Alaska Sockeye Salmon burgers, they need even less time to prepare - cook no more than three minutes on each side! Overcooking does salmon no favors; read more about cooking Wild for Salmon’s salmon burgers here.

For salmon steaks one of our favorite grilling recipes is this Italian-Style Salmon Steak Recipe from Wolfman’s Bro on Allrecipes. This Italian-Style salmon steak recipe is great for outdoor grilling, it’s packed with flavor from the herbs and topped with that smokey grill taste we all know and love. At Wild for Salmon, we prepare this recipe with our neighbor’s Spices Inc Organic Italian Seasoning and we love the lime this recipe includes!  

Salmon Steak Recipe

Ingredients

• 2 salmon steaks
• 1 tablespoon dried Italian seasoning
• 1 teaspoon crumbled dried thyme
• 1 teaspoon crushed dried rosemary
• Salt and pepper to taste
• 1 tablespoon fresh lime juice
  

Directions

• Preheat an outdoor grill for medium heat and lightly oil the grate.
• Season one side of each steak with the Italian seasoning, thyme, rosemary, salt, and pepper.
• Lay the steaks with the seasoned-side down on the prepared grill. Cook on grill until the flesh flakes, turning once, 7 to 8 minutes. Sprinkle each steak with lime juice to serve.

How to Bake Salmon Steaks That Burst with Flavor

In the winter, baking is a popular choice for the Wild for Salmon team. Try this healthy recipe that our fishermen love, because it’s simple yet flavorful - plus, you can’t go wrong with a little melted butter on salmon in the winter months (in our opinion)!

Tip: Lemon-pepper seasoning is a staple on most fishing boats in Bristol Bay because it pairs so well with any cut of salmon, and baking salmon is one of the easiest ways to cook good sockeye - and one of the easiest to clean-up after! 

Ingredients

• 2 salmon steaks (8 ounces each)
• 2 tablespoons butter, melted
• 2 tablespoons lemon juice
• 1 green onion, sliced
• 1 tablespoon minced fresh parsley
• 1/4 teaspoon garlic salt
• 1/8 teaspoon lemon-pepper seasoning
  

Directions

• Place salmon in a lightly greased 8-in. square baking dish. Top with butter and lemon juice. Combine onion, parsley, garlic salt and lemon-pepper; sprinkle over salmon.
• Bake, uncovered, at 400° for 15-20 minutes or until fish flakes easily with a fork.

Thank you to www.tastofhome.com for the recipe inspiration! There are a lot of great ways to bake salmon steaks. We recommend playing around with just about any type of allium (green onion, shallots, garlic) and a drizzle of fat (butter, coconut oil, olive oil). 

How to Pan Fry Salmon Steaks to Perfection

Whether you’re pan-frying outside over a wood fire, or inside over your stove, this pan-fried salmon steak recipe gives you a taste why we really are wild for salmon (pun intended)!

Pan-frying is a staple on the boat or on camping trips for our crew and family. At the end of a fishing day or a long day in the car or on a hike with kids, it’s important to us to have quick, but healthy, recipes we can make with only a few simple ingredients. 

This one, by Makinze Gore on delish, only takes 5 minutes to prep and 15 minutes to cook. Gore calls for the bones to be removed. You can do that if you’d like but we also encourage you to cook the fish bone-in. The bones will add a nice flavor to your finished dish. And, as the kids of our team members have grown up, we’ve found that they can pick around the bones very easily as long as they can handle a fork. Plus the bones help to maintain the integrity of the steak while it cooks (and when you flip it). That being said, our perfectly pin-boned fillets are always available for purchase! 

• 4 (12-oz.) salmon steaks (bones removed)
• Kosher salt
• Freshly ground black pepper
• 2 tbsp. extra-virgin olive oil
• 2 tbsp. butter
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• Juice of 1 lemon
• 2 tbsp. honey
• 1/4 tsp. crushed red pepper flakes
• Freshly chopped parsley, for serving

• Season salmon on both sides with salt and pepper. In a large skillet over medium-high heat (or a roaring medium sized wood fire), heat oil and butter. 
• Add salmon and cook until bottom is golden, 3-4 minutes, then flip. Add garlic, lemon juice, honey, and red pepper flakes. 
• Cook until salmon is cooked through, another 3-4 minutes, spooning sauce over salmon as it cooks.
• Garnish with parsley before serving.

Shout out to www.delish.com for providing this recipe inspiration!