Red Curry Salmon
Published Oct 30, 2012•Updated Apr 15, 2024
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Red curry salmon is glazed with a sweet and spicy sauce, and then broiled until the top is caramelized and the fish is flaky and tender. Delicious Thai flavors in a simple, healthy package!
Adding naturally sweet honey and umami-rich soy sauce to the curry paste glaze creates the most mouthwatering salmon you’ve ever served. The warm and aromatic spiced curry flavors are perfect with fluffy Jasmine rice or fragrant coconut rice.
The secret to this recipe is broiling the salmon so that the sauce turns into a beautiful caramelized glaze on the outside, while staying fork-tender on the inside. Using store-bought red curry paste keeps the steps for making Thai salmon pretty simple, and the fish cooks quickly, so you can have a flavor-packed dinner ready in no time.
And if you have leftover red curry paste, just put it to use in Chicken Curry, Instant Pot Chickpea Curry, or Thai Chicken Meatballs.
How to Make Red Curry Salmon
- Turn on the broiler. Adjust a rack so that it’s about 8 inches below the heat source.
- Prep the baking sheet. Line a baking sheet with foil and spray it with nonstick spray. Place the salmon on the sheet, skin-side down.
- Broil the salmon. Cook for about 4 minutes. Take care to not cook the salmon all the way through.
- Prepare the red curry glaze. Whisk together the red curry paste, soy sauce, cooking oil, and honey.
- Glaze the salmon. Brush the salmon with the sauce, and cook for an additional 2 to 3 minutes.
- Garnish and serve. Serve over rice with green onions and lime wedges.
What is Red Curry Paste?
Red curry paste is a blend of spices, aromatics, and umami-flavored shrimp paste that comes from Central Thailand. The ingredients in red curry paste can vary a bit, but you will generally see dried red chili peppers, lemongrass, garlic, shallots, cilantro root, shrimp paste, and galangal. You can grab my recipe for Thai Red Curry Paste here.
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Ingredients for Red Curry Salmon
- Salmon – Use one large piece of fresh salmon, or 4 5-ounce pieces. If you use frozen salmon filets, make sure the fish is completely thawed before you begin working with it.
- Kosher Salt – Basic seasoning ingredient.
- Thai Red Curry – Thai red curry paste is a common cooking ingredient, and should be available at your local grocery store. Everyone has their own spice preference for curries, so adjust to make it as mild, sweet, or hot as you like.
- Soy Sauce – Soy sauce adds addicting umami flavors to the red curry glaze.
- Cooking Oil – A neutral oil like grapeseed, avocado, canola, or vegetable will allow the sweet, and mildly spicy flavors to sing.
- Honey – A little honey adds just the right amount of sweetness to the warming spice-filled curry flavors.
- Cooked Jasmine or Coconut Rice – Jasmine rice is a light and pillowy fragrant rice, while coconut rice is subtly creamy. Both rices complement this Thai salmon.
- Green Onions – For a fun crunchy topping, and extra aromatics.
- Lime – The bright acidity in fresh lime juice brings all of the flavors together.
Recipe Tips
- Don’t skip the step to line your pan with foil before broiling. The glaze can stick to the pan and be hard to clean up.
- Turn on your oven’s fan and / or open windows for ventilation when broiling salmon. It is so close to the heat source that it can occasionally smoke as it cooks.
- Not all red curry pastes are gluten-free. If you’re gluten-sensitive, always check that the label says ‘gluten-free’. Use Tamari for a gluten-free substitute for the soy sauce.
Variations
- Make salmon bowls – Use red curry salmon to make salmon bowls with your favorite rice and pickled or stir-fried veggies.
- Turn up the umami – Add a tablespoon of fish sauce to the red curry paste for more umami flavor.
- Try a different protein – Red curry sauces can also be used on chicken, pork, tofu, and shrimp.
What to serve with this dish
Red curry salmon is a super versatile dish. The ever-so-slight hint of coconut milk in creamy Coconut Rice is pretty much perfect with the robust curry flavors. You also can’t go wrong with aromatic Jasmine Rice. Craving something lighter? Cauliflower rice is reliably good with salmon. A plate of your favorite stir-fried veggies packs more nutrients into this easy weeknight meal.
FAQs
Absolutely! Keeping the skin on the salmon filets while they broil creates a barrier between the baking sheet and the delicate fish. Some recipes will also call for placing the salmon skin-side down because it’s easier to use a spatula to flip the fish from under the fatty skin.
If spicy foods aren’t really your thing, you will be happy to know that red curry paste doesn’t have the same robust spice levels as green curry paste or yellow curry paste. In fact, even diners who are a little spice sensitive find that they can enjoy dishes made with this mild paste. Mixing the red curry salmon glaze with some honey and soy sauce creates the perfect balance of flavors.
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Red Curry Salmon Recipe
Equipment
- Half Sheet Pan
- Mixing Bowl
Ingredients
For the Salmon:
- 4 filets salmon (use 4 5-ounce filets or one large piece of salmon)
- 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
- 2 tablespoons Thai red curry (see note)
- 1 tablespoon soy sauce (subtitute Tamari for gluten free)
- 1 tablespoon cooking oil
- 1 tablespoon honey
- cooked Jasmine or coconut rice, for serving
- 2 stalks chopped green onions, for topping
- 1 lime, quartered
Instructions
- Turn on the oven's broiler. Move a rack so that it's about 8 inches below the heat source. Turn on the oven fan or open some windows for ventilation (this is just in case; if the glaze falls drips off the salmon it can burn and cause some smoke).
- Line a baking sheet with foil and spray it with nonstick spray. Place the salmon on the baking sheet, skin-side down.
- Season the salmon with salt.
- Broil the salmon until opaque on the top and sides (but not cooked all the way through), about 4 minutes.
- Meanwhile, whisk together the red curry paste, soy sauce, cooking oil, and honey.
- Brush the salmon generously with the sauce. Return it to under the broiler and continue cooking until the salmon is flaky and cooked through, 2 to 3 minutes more.
- Serve over rice with green onions and lime wedges to squeeze on top.
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
This was delicious. The cooking time in this recipe was too short for my salmon. After broiling it until it was crispy on top and it still not getting cooked through the middle, I put it in the oven at 400 and baked it an additional 5-7 minutes. It turned out perfectly.
Glad you enjoyed it! Thanks for the note on the added cooking time – it can vary a bit depending on the thickness and how chilled the salmon is when you cook it. Good tip!
Thank you so much for this recipe! I threw it together tonight after my husband told me he had thawed some salmon. He and my three boys ALL loved it, even the one who doesn’t like fish. So sweet! And I’m pretty sure that was the perfect amount of coconut for the rice. Just a lovely balance.
Mary – I’m so very glad to hear it! This really is one of my favorite quick dinners these days. Three boys? You must be a busy woman!
I had a curry glazed salmon at a restaurant once that I dream of! this looks amazing and I love the addition of coconut rice.
This one has my name on it Jess! Love, love this salmon recipe. My kind of meal. Beautiful pictures, makes me want to grab a plate and start eating. 🙂
Karista, this does remind me of something that would come out of your kitchen! Of course, you’d have an utterly irresistable sauce to go over the top. 😉
I’m going to try this on chicken it sounds delicious! An Asian grocer just opened up not to far from me and I’m so excited. Might even be able to get a couple of the goodies you can get.
Claire – that’s so exciting! In Washington DC there was a great Asian market near my apartment, and I found so much great stuff there. You’ll surely find all sorts of fun things for cooking!