Cooking Oven Baked Salmon is already easy enough, but with this foil method, you’ll completely eliminate the need for cleanup all. Best of all, it only takes about 20 minutes!
We love quick and easy meals like this where everything is done in one simple foil packet, leaving you with a lot of extra time on your hands and a dinner that everyone will rave over. This is not only the easiest salmon recipe but also one of the most satisfying ones as well.
🐟 Why This Recipe Works
Quick – We are all putting together lists of recipes that can be our “go-to” ones when we need to eat fast and stay healthy at the same time. This one is so fast that you will find it will jump right into your monthly rotation.
Hands Off – We all love hands off recipes when we need quick and healthy recipes for our families. It can be a hard combination to pull together, but this one knocks it out of the park every time. Pop it in the oven, set the table, change laundry and get ready for the evening activities and your dinner will be ready. It’s not quite as hands off as a crockpot recipe, but it is right up there for us.
Meal Prep Friendly – Prep these up in the morning or a couple of hours before dinner time. Grab them out of the refrigerator and pop them in the oven for a meal that is ready to go in under 30 minutes. You may have 10 minutes to prep these in the morning or even at 3pm before the kiddos get off the bus. Sneak in time to prepare this ahead of time so you can give your full attention to the family instead of cooking the meal. Normally, we look at meal prep as a Sunday ahead of the week option. This one is a one to prep early in the morning. Take a look at Meal Prep 101 to kick start your meal prep IQ.
🍴 Ingredients
Salmon– I always stock up on salmon when they go on sale. They freeze extremely well and are a staple in my diet as I try to shift to eating less red meat. Cook this with the skin on or off. I kept the skin on in the photos. The skin will peel right away from the meat after it is cooked so you don’t need to worry too much about keeping it on while cooking.
Asparagus – Not only does the asparagus taste delicious, they serve as a prop to keep the salmon off of the foil which minimizes any chances of burning.
🍽️ Instructions
Preparing this is so simple and your family will be shocked with how delicious it is!
Step One: Lay out four pieces of foil large enough to cover the asparagus and salmon and make a pouch. Mine are usually 14 x 16 inches or so.
Step Two: Prepare the asparagus by cutting off the hard, woody ends and throw them away. Place the asparagus on the foil. Set the salmon fillet on top. I used wild caught coho salmon for this because it was on sale at Costco.
Step Three: Place a pad of butter and a slice or two of lemon on top along with a pinch salt and pepper on each fillet.
Step Four: Gather up two sides of the foil and fold over. Then fold over the ends. Don’t make these too tight.
Step Five: Place the foil packs on a sheet pan and cook at 400 degrees for 20-25 minutes. Fully cooked salmon should be at 145 degrees and should always be tested.
📌 Items to Note
This is a low calorie dinner for anyone looking to cut a few calories out of their daily diet. Oh, did I mention there are only about 300 calories per serving? I had an idea that it was sort of light on calories when I was whipping this up, but didn’t realize how low it was until I popped it into a calculator.
I recommend serving this with a side of brown rice.
🥦 Substitutions
When choosing other vegetable options, think of ones that will cook at the same rate as the salmon. I like to use:
- Mushrooms
- Onions
- Red or Green Peppers
- Thinly Sliced Carrots
- Broccoli
You can certainly use squash, but it will easily become over-cooked and mushy. If you don’t mind a softer squash, then that would be great!
🧑🍳 Meal Preparation
This is a super quick meal all on its own but there is still meal prep options you can do to make it even easier for those busy weeknight meals.
- Completely prep 100% of the recipe in the morning and place the foil pack in the fridge so when you walk in the door at night, you simply turn on the oven and pop it in.
- Prepare the asparagus, slice up the butter and make sure the salmon is ready to go if you bought it in a large fillet.
- Additionally, prep the sheet pan and the foil so it is ready to just have the salmon and asparagus placed on them leaving this to a five minute prep meal.
Recipe FAQ
No, it doesn’t. Between the salmon resting on asparagus, the juices from the salmon and the little bit of butter, there is just no way it sticks.
You can make this just the same out on the grill. Make the foil pack just as you would for the oven and then place on the hot grill that is set to about 400 degrees for about 20 minutes. I would check it early to see how it is doing as grills can be finicky at times.
Related Recipes
Tried this recipe? Please leave a star ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ rating in the recipe card below and/or a review in the comments section further down the page. You can also stay in touch with me through social media by following me on Instagram, Pinterest, and Facebook!
Foil Baked Salmon with Asparagus
Ingredients
- 4 Salmon Fillets
- 1 Lemon
- 2 tbsp Butter cut into 8 pats of butter
- 1.5 lbs Asparagus use the tops
- Salt and Pepper to taste
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 400 degrees
- Wash asparagus and cut the spears in half. Place asparagus tops in a large bowl. Save and store the bottom of the spears for other uses like stir fries or soups.
- Cut a piece of aluminum foil and place the asparagus to form the bed
- Add the salmon fillet. I used wild caught coho salmon that was on sale at Costco, but any variety will work great!
- Cut a small amount of stick butter and place on top of the salmon
- Slice a lemon and place on the top
- Sprinkle with sea salt, pepper and juice from one half of a lemon over the top. Fold the foil packets and close them (seam side up) and place on a sheet pan in the oven for 20-25 minutes or until asparagus is fork tender and salmon reaches desired temperature.
Notes
Nutrition
This recipe was delicious a little over bearing on the lemon flavor. But all in all I would do it again just the way it is. Super easy to prepare and tasted awesome.
I love asparagus and how great it is when i can combine this vegetable with salmon. Can i use spicy tuna instead of using the regular tuna for this recipe?
Definitely!
This was easy and delicious! Thank you so much for sharing this recipe! 25 minutes and the fish turned out perfectly. Even my hard-to-please 8 y/o ate every bite! I’m looking forward to making this often. Have you had any luck with other fish/veggie combinations in foil?
I’m so glad! I haven’t tried with other fish yet but I’ll definitely do some experimenting and post anything else that works well 🙂
Hi there! Probably a silly question, do you cook it in the oven with the foil open, like in the picture? Or completely enclosed?
I cook it with the foil closed.
Just tried this with Weber Brand Zesty Lemon seasoning and a tiny bit of Cilantro-Lime flavored vodka instead of butter. OMG! I cook with foil packets all the time and am always trying new things/looking for new ways to use them. I typically use fish but have done it with pork and chicken. Great recipe!
Hi! I want to make this badly, but my husband refuses to eat any seafood. I’d make mine as you instructed…but do you think it would work for a chicken breast for his?
I think it would totally work for chicken breast, but the cook time would likely be different. If you’re using chicken, I think it’d be a bit bland with just these seasonings (since salmon has more natural flavor) so maybe add in a dash or two of his favorite spice to go along with it!
I’ve been looking for another way to cook salmon besides my tried and true agave/mustard version… And then I stumbled across this post. So yummy!!! An my 12mo even loves it 😉 thanks for the awesome idea!
Excellent!! Thank you for this amazing recipe! I improvised a little, but followed your recipe otherwise and can’t wait to make it again!!!!
Glad you enjoyed it, Paula! 😀