Oven Roasted Bourbon Brown Sugar Glazed Salmon

Why You’ll Love this Recipe

• Simple to make.
• Delicious way to make salmon.
• This doesn’t take much time so it can be an easy weeknight preparation.
• Has a fantastic flavor.
• Looks stunning and certainly can be presented as an elevated date night dish.

Best Ways to Cook Salmon

There is definitely no “best” way for cooking salmon, but there are many options. Obviously, roasted/baked salmon is a great option like in this recipe, but it can also be cooked well on a grill, sous vide, poached, steamed, or pan seared. Smoked salmon is popular around the world as well.

Each cooking technique lends itself to a different flavor, texture, and way to introduce additional flavors. 

Ingredients

Here is what you need to make this easy salmon recipe:

• Salmon: Use your favorite salmon fillets - skin on is highly recommended for this recipe. We also recommend wild salmon over farmed salmon if available at your grocery store.
• Bourbon: A good bourbon is the base of the brown sugar glaze, imparting many complex flavors. Use your favorite.
• Brown Sugar: The brown sugar balances the glaze with sweetness but also helps with caramelization and the thickening of the liquid for the glaze.
• Dijon Mustard: This mustard gives a tiny bit of flavor that isn’t mustardy at all.
• Low-Sodium Soy Sauce: We always prefer low-sodium soy sauce as it is easier to adjust salt content. 
• Worcestershire Sauce: Worcestershire sauce deepens the flavor of the glaze and gives it some umami characteristics.
• Kosher Salt and Black Pepper
• Shallot: Shallots are a nice addition of flavor to the glaze.
• Lemon Juice: The acidity works perfectly in the glaze, although you really can’t taste the lemon when the salmon is done.
• Water: Just a little is put in the glaze to dilute the bourbon a bit
• Lemon Wedges: For garnish.

See recipe card below for ingredient amounts/quantities.

Substitutions

Here are a couple of common substitutions for the ingredients in this brown sugar-glazed salmon recipe:

• Salmon: Although the fattiness of salmon helps take in the glaze, you could use other fish, such as trout, swordfish or mackerel.
• Bourbon: You could actually use any spirit you choose here! The bourbon complements the brown sugar but experimenting with other spirits like brandy or rum is fair game here.
• Brown sugar: ​Replace the brown sugar with maple syrup for a maple flavored glaze.
• Soy sauce: ​You could use tamari for a gluten free option.
• Shallot: Onion is a good substitute for shallot in this recipe.

How to Make Bourbon Brown Sugar Glazed Salmon

The salmon is prepared very simply with salt and pepper, then basted with the glaze a few times during cooking. The most time consuming element of this recipe is making the glaze, but that comes together quite quickly as well for a fairly easy dinner. 

Equipment

Here is what you need to make this dish

• Roasting pan or rimmed baking sheet tray with a wire rack.
• Small Saucepan to make the glaze.
• Whisk
• Silicone brush or natural brush to brush the glaze onto the salmon.
• Metal spatula to remove the fish from the rack for serving.
• Instant read thermometer

Step-by-Step Instructions

Prepare the Salmon

• Preheat the oven to 400°F. Clean and pat dry your salmon fillets with paper towels. Place salmon fillets on a rack over an aluminum foil lined rimmed baking sheet, skin side down, in the refrigerator for 20 minutes or so as you make the glaze and let the oven preheat. 

Make the Glaze

• For the glaze, whisk the bourbon, brown sugar, dijon mustard, soy sauce, Worcestershire sauce, a pinch of kosher salt and black pepper, finely diced shallots, lemon juice, and the water in a saucepan. Turn the heat to medium low and carefully heat the glaze. Bourbon is flammable, so keep the heat down and let it simmer gently for several minutes, stirring often. The sugar will dissolve and the mixture will just start to thicken.
• At this point, remove the pan from the heat. The alcohol from the bourbon should have cooked off - you’ll be able to tell by the smell. Be careful not to cook your glaze too much - you do not want it to caramelize in the pan.   

Roast the Salmon

• Remove the salmon from the fridge. Sprinkle the top of the salmon fillets with a pinch of kosher salt and black pepper. Baste on the top and sides with some of the glaze using a silicone brush or natural brush. Place the salmon in the preheated oven on the lower or center rack for 10 minutes.
• While the salmon cooks, pull the salmon out briefly to brush with more of the glaze. Return to the oven for 5 minutes more, then remove the salmon and turn the heat to broil. Brush the salmon fillets again with the glaze and place on the top rack to broil for 3 minutes. The salmon should be just flaky but not overdone but the cooking times will depend on the thickness of your salmon fillets. If you like the salmon cooked more, return it to the oven on the lower rack (do not continue to broil the salmon) for a minute or two. The internal temperature of cooked salmon should be between 125-145°F based on preference - we prefer our salmon cooked around 125°F for flaky salmon that is still very tender at medium rare doneness.

Finish the Dish

• Remove the salmon from the oven. If you have remaining glaze, pour it over the salmon fillets. Let it rest for a few minutes, then remove it from the rack by sliding a metal spatula between the skin and the flesh of the fish. The skin should remove easily and will be left behind, as it should stick to the rack. Serve the salmon, garnished with lemon wedges and green onions.

Variations

Here are a couple ways to change up this recipe:

• Serve cold as a salmon salad for a delicious take or great way to use leftover salmon.
• You can do this exact recipe on a cedar plank on the grill or on the grill directly for a totally different experience.

Storage

How to store leftover glazed salmon:

• Store leftover glazed salmon in a covered airtight container in the refrigerator for 2-3 days. Bring the salmon to room temperature before storing.

How to reheat leftover glazed salmon:

• You can eat it cold, but if you want to reheat it, place in the oven at 300°F until warmed through.

Can you freeze leftover salmon?

You should not freeze leftover cooked salmon. The flavor, color, and texture will all suffer to the point of being unpleasant.

Troubleshooting

Care should be taken when making the glaze. Two things that can go wrong is that the bourbon catches on fire (not what you want), or the glaze is reduced on the stovetop to a syrup consistency, which will cause it to overcook in the oven and become crunchy caramel. A tiny bit of that crunch is nice, but not the whole thing. So pay attention to the cooking process and consistency of your glaze so that you don't cook it down too far. It should be reduced but quite runny when it is ready to be used on the fish.

What to serve with Bourbon Brown Sugar Glazed Salmon

Our favorite side dishes to serve with this dish is a fragrant white rice or brown rice and some green vegetables, such as green beans or broccolini! But just about anything will be fantastic so use your favorite veggies!

What Wines To Drink with Bourbon Brown Sugar Glazed Salmon

Pinot Noir has always been a go-to pairing for salmon. And for good reason, salmon pairs wonderfully with this light to medium bodied red wine! But chardonnay and Pinot Grigio are good pairings if you prefer a white wine with salmon. If you want to look outside of the box, try serving this with a manhattan or old fashioned to play off of the bourbon glaze!