If you enjoy this foil baked salmon recipe, check out these easy dinner ideas!
Cooking salmon in the oven is already easy enough, but with this method, you’ll completely eliminate the need for cleanup and the time to cook a side for your salmon.
This foil baked salmon recipe takes care of everything in one shot. Oh, did I mention there are only 349 calories per serving? So it’s diet-friendly as well! 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 do recommend serving this with a side of brown rice since 349 calories is a bit light for dinner. We opted for the brown rice and this was perfectly filling.
Foil Baked Salmon with Asparagus
Easy dinner recipe that requires very little to prep. Pop it into the oven and do other tasks as this needs none of your attention! Perfect 30 minute meal!
Ingredients
- 4 salmon filets
- 3 lemons
- 2 tbsp butter cut into 8 pats of butter
- 1.5 lbs asparagus you only use the tops
- salt and pepper to taste
Instructions
Preheat oven to 400 degrees.
Wash asparagus and cut the spears in half. Place asparagus tops in a large bowl. Save and store bottom spears for other uses like stir fries or soups.
Sprinkle with sea salt, pepper and juice from one half of lemon juice over the top. Place 2 pats of butter over salmon. Top with 2 slices of lemon. Repeat until all foil pouches are created. Then fold foil pouches and close them (seam side up) and place in oven for 20-25 minutes or until asparagus is fork tender and salmon reaches desired doneness.
Recipe Notes
Calorie content will vary based on size of salmon fillet.
Would this work with green beans or another veggie? Asparagus is one thing my husband won’t eat, but he’ll eat others.
I would only place harder vegetables that can support the weight of the salmon (and that wouldn’t become mushy) on the bottom. But I’m confident that you can place the salmon at the bottom of the packet and place any vegetable on top. I think green beans would work well.
Yes you can replace it with fresh green means or any other similar density vegetable.
This was great… However I’ll be cooking my salmon in a separate pouch in the future bc it came out a bit over cooked… Did not need as long as the recipe suggests. The asparagus was perfect, except for the fact that it was covered in salmon fat from sitting beneath the fillets. Taste wise however, the dish was phenomenal, a big hit with my boyfriend. Thanks!
can you prepare this and freeze for later?
I’ve never tried this myself, Destiny, but I think the salmon would do well frozen. I would personally freeze it without the asparagus since I’m not too sure how well asparagus does when frozen.
think you could swap out the asparagus for green beans? I just already have green beans in my fridge right now
Sure can! You can even place the green beans on top of the salmon if you want to make sure they don’t get soggy.
sounds good but your calorie count is off unless you are using the smallest salmon fillets in the history of man. a 4oz serving of salmon is 236 calories alone, and thats a pretty small portion.
Hi Katy, I used the calorie count for the salmon fillets from the package, so it is indeed accurate. I will agree with you that they are quite small… I believe they are around 4oz.
You said you used salmon fillets from a package, were they frozen when you put them in the foil pack?
I believe they were thawed prior to cooking, Sarah.
I’m excited to try this!!! But one question my salmon is fresh an still has skin, do you remove the skin. The picture looks like it’s skinless but I wanted to be sure.
Hey Autumn! Personally, I’d remove the skin first since I don’t think this will cooking method will produce a crispy skin on the salmon since it’s quite buttery and saucy.
I don’t usually comment on things like this, but this was too good not to! I found this recipe on pinterest a couple of weeks ago and finally tried it last night! It was AMAZING! My husband does not typically like fish, but he ate this up and kept telling me how much he loved it. He even asked me to fix it again!!! We paired it with a sweet potato and it was perfect! Thank you so much!!!
Tried this with rainbow trout instead of salmon and margarine instead of butter. Still very very good. If I were to make it again I would forego squeezing the lemon juice onto the fish as it was a strong lemon flavor than I like. I would just do the lemon slices and I think that would be a sufficiently mild taste for me.
Great idea though, made me four meals for the week! 🙂
This turned out perfect! I would not change a thing about this recipe. So simple, quick and healthy! A must try!
I made this! It was SO tasty! And, im no cook, but this recipe really easy to make. My BF loved it. We both did!! Thanks for posting this recipe. I look forward to more!! 🙂
Whoa this recipe has been shared so many times! As much as I loved to cook, I admit this quick recipe is just what I need sometimes. You’ve inspired me to look up other foil baking recipes. Thanks!
Thanks, Chris! Welcome to the world of foil baking. Great for avoiding clean up (which is the worst part of cooking lol)!
Absolutely fantastic recipe. I’ve never been much of a Salmon fan, but this dish has changed everything. I made it exactly as instructed. Only required 25 minutes and came out delicious. Thank you for sharing and I look forward to many more recipes!
Hey do you think I could use chicken breast instead of the salmon?
I used this recipe last night and it turned out great. I used two, larger pieces of salmon and added dill along with the other ingredients. It only needed 25 minutes and everything was perfectly cooked. Yum!
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! 😀
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!
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!
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 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.
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 🙂
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 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.