One of my wonderful readers recently asked for more fish recipes. I fully intended on doing cod or some other type of fish that I had never cooked before, but when I got to the store and saw this pretty, fatty salmon, my mouth started to water. …but I’ll be doing more fish in the future, so stay tuned.
This recipe is, of course, pretty pricey, but its worth every penny. This is the best salmon I’ve ever made and it was incredibly easy. The best part about this dish is that you can cook it any way you want. I opted for a skillet but you could also use a George Foreman grill, an outdoor grill, or bake it in the oven (like I did last time). Whatever you do, make sure to oil your surface well so that your fish comes off in one piece. It’s deliciously delicate and the teriyaki sauce is sticky!
I decided to whip up a quick sriracha mayo because I thought the spicy, creamy mixture would pair perfectly with the sticky sweetness of the teriyaki. Right I was. Plus, sriracha mayo is good on just about everything under the sun so it’s no biggy if there is extra.
Pair this salmon with some savory coconut rice, garlic noodles, or (not)fried rice and you’ll have a gourmet meal for at least half the price that you’d pay in a restaurant.
Teriyaki salmon with Sriracha Mayo
Teriyaki Salmon with Sriracha Mayo
Servings 4Ingredients
- 1 lb. salmon filet ($11.49)
- 1/4 cup soy sauce ($0.24)
- 2 Tbsp. water ($0.00)
- 1/2 Tbsp. toasted sesame oil ($0.28)
- 1 inch fresh ginger ($0.13)
- 1/2 tsp minced garlic ($0.04)
- 2 Tbsp. brown sugar ($0.06)
- 2 Tbsp. rice wine ($0.27)
- 1 tsp cornstarch ($0.02)
- 1/4 cup mayonnaise ($0.42)
- 2 Tbsp. sriracha hot sauce ($0.24)
Instructions
- Make the teriyaki marinade by whisking together the soy sauce, water, sesame oil, minced garlic, grated ginger, brown sugar, rice wine, and corn starch (use a vegetable peeler to remove the ginger skin and then grate with a fine toothed cheese grater).
- Cut the salmon filet into four equal sized portions and place in a large zip top bag. Pour the marinade over top, remove as much air as possible and close up the bag. Refrigerate for at least 30 minutes, mixing the bag occasionally to redistribute the marinade.
- Heat a large, well oiled skillet over medium/high heat. It’s a good idea to use a non-stick surface here too just to be safe (teflon or well seasoned cast iron). The teriyaki sauce gets thick and sticky when cooked. Once the skillet is hot, add the fish, face down. Cook on all four sides for 2-3 minutes each side or until the fish has reached your desired doneness.
- In a small bowl, mix together the sriracha hot sauce and mayonnaise. Serve the fish with a dollop of sriracha mayo on top!
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Nutrition
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Step By Step Photos
Whisk together the soy sauce, water, sesame oil, grated ginger, minced garlic, brown sugar, rice wine, and corn starch. This is your teriyaki marinade.
This is the big, one pound piece of salmon I bought.
Cut the salmon into four pieces of about the same weight. The two on the left are thinner so I cut them a little larger than the two on the right.
Place the salmon pieces in a zip top bag and add the marinade. Refrigerate for at least 30 minutes. I placed the bag face down so that the flesh side would be in contact with the marinade the whole time.
To cook the salmon in a skillet, heat the skillet over medium/high heat and make sure to add plenty of oil or non-stick spray. When it’s nice and hot, add the salmon flesh side down. Cook the salmon for 2-3 minutes on each side or until it is cooked to the point that you like it (I like mine medium/rare).
Turn the salmon and cook on each side. The marinade will get nice and thick and sticky as it cooks, which is why you need to make sure its all oiled well. I cooked the salmon with skin side down last.
And then it’s done… it’s that easy. You can also just pop it into a countertop grill or a hot oven. Lots of choices here.
Mix up some sriracha sauce and mayonnaise. You can use any ratio you’d like depending on how spicy you want it. I used 2 parts mayo to one part sriracha. I had plenty for all four pieces with just 1/4 cup of mayo and 2 Tbsp of sriracha.
This stuff is so good. Eat it on sandwiches, as a chip dip, or whatever. It’s so YUM.
If you don’t like sriracha or mayo, this fish is pretty phenomenal by its self too! I had a hard time not just gobbling it up before the photos were taken.
I liked cooking it in a skillet because the salmon stayed super moist… although a countertop grill may have been a little easier (no flipping required!).
OMG, so delicious.
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I had a random desire to make this one day, which is interesting because I never liked teriyaki that much. But after making this, I realized I don’t like store-bought teriyaki sauce. This, however, is easy to make and amazing! It’s now in my top three ways to prepare salmon. If you’re in a rush, you really don’t need to marinate the salmon for 30 minutes before cooking. Of course, it is better marinated but don’t let the time commitment prevent you from making this!
Also, I forgot to mention that you can replace rice wine with a little bit of rice vinegar instead. I had to do this because I didn’t have rice wine and my roommate is allergic to alcohol.
What are instructions for baking? Temperature? Time?
This one is cooked in a skillet, not baked.
Amazing…. it looks so nice
This was definitely good and we ate it up. I think it would be better if cooked in cast iron or on the grill because ours didn’t crisp up at all on the outside, and I used a piping hot nonstick skillet. At least the fish was very tender and flaky. I would also be sure to marinade it all day or overnight. I left mine for a few hours in the fridge and the flavor seemed like it hadn’t really saturated as much as I had hoped. I poured about half of the marinade into the skillet after I had cooked one side, not sure if that helped or hurt the outcome but the fish looked so plain without it.
I served this with the sesame kale recipe from this blog and I was amazed by how quickly it all came together. Highly recommend!
Also, don’t forget to serve with the sriracha mayo like I did! Whoops! Went good with the leftovers at least.
I halved the recipe and used frozen skinless salmon filets from Aldi instead of fresh, which worked fine.
I was confused on what to do with the excess marinade, so I initially dumped it all in the skillet with the salmon (face palm). I quickly realized that and it was WAY too much liquid and awkwardly dumped most of it into the sink, which seemed to save it.
Love the sriracha mayo complement! I served over brown jasmine rice sprinkled with green onions and sesame seeds.
Really liked the marinade! I’m pretty new to cooking salmon but I think it went well overall! I did not get the spicy mayo but it probably would have went well with the fish.
I accidentally added the sriracha and mayo into the marinade, and it turned out AMAZING! I put the salmon on a hot cast iron for a couple minutes then put it in the oven with a tinfoil hat for 10 min, removed the hat for the last 5-10 minutes, and added rebased it in its sauce a couple times during baking. It turned out so juicy and was the best salmon we have ever made. Thank you!
Made this tonight and it was SO FREAKIN GOOD. 🤤 So simple and so delicious. I love recipes that are minimal work and yield high returns. I made it with Budget Byte’s soy glazed eggplant and wow those were amazing too. Can’t wait to eat the leftovers tomorrow!
Happy to hear it Jordan!
This was the best salmon recipe I’ve ever tried! My husband and I thought it was restaurant quality, and all of my kids (even my toddler) gobbled it up. The sriracha mayo was a really nice addition, but it was tasty without as well (left it off my kids’ portions since they don’t like spicy food). I paired it with your mango cucumber salad recipe and jasmine rice. Definitely going into our dinner rotation!
This is the best salmon recipe I have ever tried! I baked it in the oven instead of cooking it in a pan and it was amazing!
This might be my favorite Budget Bytes recipe. It’s delicious.
I was afraid the teriyaki marinade would be too salty, but the fish came out perfect! I let the salmon sit in the marinade overnight & cooked it the next day. I also made a side of stir-fried vegetables and cucumber salad (all budget bytes recipes!). It was an amazing meal! I will be making it again and again.
Really good! I substituted Honey for the brown sugar (because I didn’t have any on hand). Came out really good – it’s a keeper! Thank you!
This turned out delicious! I actually didn’t have time to marinate the salmon but coated it in sauce and browned it and baked it in the oven. In the mean time, I stir fried vegetables in the sauce then when the salmon was ready, added cooked egg noodles to the vegetables and topped it with the salmon with coriander and cashew nuts. I also added a bit of japanese mirin sauce to the marinade.
Made this for my parents tonight and my dad keeps raving about it. Swears it’s a restaurant worthy dish. It was a little spicy for me, so I might do less sirracha on my serving. next time. There will definitely be a next time! This was quick and easy. I didn’t have the toasted seasame oil (used a little canola) and i didn’t have rice wine so i just added a little splash of rice wine vinegar. I also used jarred ginger and low-sodium soy sauce. It was super delicious! Thanks!
What the heck this was so freakin good! The marinade came together quickly and honestly the sriracha mayo takes it over the top. I can totally see this being amazing in a wrap with some crunchy veggies. This is probably one of my favorite ways to cook salmon that I’ve tried. Thank you!
I marinated the salmon all day and it was ABSOLUTELY delicious! I’m never sure how to cook fish so this is a milestone for me. Definitely going in the regular rotation!
Oh my GOODNESS! This fish melted in my mouth! It was so delicious. Best fish I have ever made. I can’t wait till my husband comes home from deployment. He’ll love it, too.
I know this is an old post, but I just made this tonight and it came out really good (as does pretty much everything I’ve tried from your site!). I was wondering if you’ve tried it with chicken? It seems like it would work pretty well, especially the marinade.
Oh my gosh, this was so yummy!! I subbed in tilapia for salmon and made my siracha “mayo” with 1/2 an avocado instead of mayonaise. So delicious, affordable, and easy to make. Thank you, thank you, thank you!
This recipe was delicious. I prepared it three days ago in the frying pan but am going to try baking it tonight. Fantastic.
Made this last night and the salmon (or rather, I think the brown sugar in the marinade) burned really badly even after only two minutes in the pan on medium-high heat. I think it would be fine in the oven, but on the stove top it just didn’t work for me. Don’t know what I did wrong.
It could be the cookware. If your pans are relatively thin, they will be hotter and tend to scorch. My Calphalon pans are pretty good at heating evenly and that non-stick surface kind of acts like a buffer. Also, heat settings on ranges differ, unfortunately… so that’s one think you just have to experiment with and get used to with your own stove. :(
The sriracha mayo looks a lot like Japanese Yum-Yum sauce. I don’t believe that it’s the same thing, but would you happen to know how to make Japanese yum-yum sauce? I have not been able to find the specific recipe.
Also, a suggestion for you to try! You obviously like hot/spicy but with flavor too, so you should try Buffalo wild wings spicy garlic sauce! You can buy it in the bottle at Buffalo wild wings restaurants. It’s amazing and I just about literally put that sh*t on everything!
Oooh, that sauce sounds tempting (BWW sauce)! I haven’t ever made yum-yum sauce, but I have seen recipes for it around the web. I just popped “yum yum sauce” into google and it retrieved quite a few recipes. Hopefully one of those will be similar to what you’ve had! :)
Wow is all I have to say. Simple and delicious. I’m not good at cooking salmon and I am always super picky eating it. I often find it too dry. This was perfect.
The recipe is so simple. The spicy mayonnaise, which I usually use with sushi, really adds something special. Bravo!
Please have more fish and seafood recipes. Thank you!
Oh and for the record, here are the modifications I made:
– No ginger (I hate it, but maybe lemon juice could have been good);
– Garlic powder instead of garlic (too tired to cut, don’t judge me);
– White wine instead of rice wine, canola oil instead toasted sesame oil (didn’t have any);
– A bit more water;
– No corn starch.
Subbed almond butter for the mayo for a higher-protein, higher-fiber alternative.
And my face was properly rocked off. I think I just ruined my tastebuds with a flavor-tsunami. Either that or I accidentally synthesized sea-crack.
I’m in recovery after having just eaten it. Recovering in fish heaven.
I LOVE this recipe! I do cook the marinade to make a glaze to drizzle on the salmon before I top it with a bit of the sriracha mayo so the cornstarch works for me. My boyfriend and I eat this a couple times a month now. I have also used your recipe with seared tuna. Yum. Thank you!
Why are you adding cornstarch to the marinade? It thickens things up at a much lower temp than flour, yes… but not at room or refrigerator temps. If you were going to make a glaze out of the leftover marinade for the finished salmon, i’d understand adding cornstarch to tighten it up… but added to a marinade is a complete waste. *See “Alton Brown” if you’re bold enough to disagree.
Also, I just checked my sources… I was right. Cornstarch will not thicken anything until cooked. Nor does it add any flavor. Don’t misunderstand me, please. I love your blog. But if the point of said blog is to make a dish as cheaply as possible, why add an ingredient that is pointless? I’m really just trying to help. Thanks for your time. (assuming you, Beth, reads this)
No problem David! I love hearing feedback. I just wanted the little bit of marinade that is left on the salmon to get a little thick and gooey. Maybe it was worth it, maybe not. :)
My boyfriend and I LOVED this!
At first I forgot to make the mayo/siracha topping, and my boyfriend thought it was delicious enough on its own. But I went ahead and made the topping and we agreed it was even better.
I don’t think we’ll be making my other salmon recipe again.
Just found this recipe on pinterest. We get plenty of salmon since we live in Alaska, so we are always looking for many recipes to cook salmon. This so wonderful. We were sad that we didn’t have left overs :)
We LOVE this recipe. We make it now at least twice a month. The Mayo- sriracha recipe was such a great discovery.
Thank you!
Amazing. Seriously, try it. Sriracha and mayo sounds gross but it tastes fantastic.
We made this for dinner recently and it was *amazing.* I can’t recommend it highly enough!
Anon – Hmm, that’s a tricky one since fish varies a lot in thickness. Regardless, fish cooks very quickly, so I would start with just a few minutes and see how it goes from there. Make sure you spray the foreman well with non-stick spray as the marinade can get very sticky! :)
Hi Beth!
If I cook this on the foreman grill, for how long should i leave it on the grill?
We’ve even done it on the grill and it comes out just as good.
Adding a touch of soy sauce (just a small splash) to the mayo/sriracha mix makes for a more melded spicy mayo. It eliminates the mayo overtones and instead gives you a spicy, creamy, goodness.
I came across this trick after repeated attempts to make spicy mayo always came out as mayo flavored with some spice as opposed to the spicy mayo you find at sushi restaurants.
Anon – You just can’t get the same texture in the oven as you can in a skillet with oil because it’s a different method of heat transfer :P It’s just like baking french fries in the oven compared to deep frying them – no matter what they’ll *never* be the same texture.
Maybe buy one of those splatter screens? They look like a wire mesh tennis racket that you lay over top of the skillet to catch the splatter… I’ve never used one, but it might help! :)
how would you make this in the oven but still get the crispy? every time i attempt to pan fry, the oil gets EVERYWHERE! :)
This was very good, the sauce added the right amount of spice. I served with a spinach and strawberry salad. Yum! Great for a quick meal after work.
We had this for dinner tonight and my husband wolfed it down. We made sriracha mayo – my first time dabbling with this sauce – and even though we don’t eat a ton of spicy things, we both licked our plates clean. I served it with pineapple chunks and scallion mashed potatoes, because I wanted “cooling” things if the spice proved too much for our weak tongues. Delicious dinner, and we mixed the leftover spicy mayo into the leftover mashed potatoes, and that was incredible, too! We’re both now converts to sriracha, and are looking for more ways to use it. Thank you for this one!
Laparisienne – I’ve made versions of this sauce with rice vinegar before, but you’ll probably want to use less than the amount of rice wine called for. Rice vinegar is much stronger than rice wine. I would suggest mixing all of the other ingredients together first, then adding a little rice vinegar at a time until it tastes balanced to you.
I am really excited to make this, but do you think I could use rice wine vinegar instead of rice wine? Or maybe another substitute?Otherwise I have all the ingredients!
Amazing! I grilled over medium-high heat until firm. This, with your turmeric jasmine rice, is now officially my favorite meal. I’ve been a lurker for a while, but this recipe made me comment. Thanks so much!
Anon – Yes, I just discarded the marinade :)
possibly a silly question but do you just discard the marinade after using? i ask especially because i used my george foreman grill and didn’t want to pour all the marinade on there but wasn’t sure if when using a skillet you would cook the marinade?
thanks! the dish is delicious regardless i was just curious :)
Hey, if you have the store ALDI in your area, their wild caught salmon is about half as expensive!
Made this tonight, super yummy! I am surprised that I loved the sriracha mayo because I’m pretty wimpy with hot stuff.I just made it a little bit weaker and it was so tasty.
This looks amazing. I just grilled some salmon with a tangy avacado sauce, http://hometownslop.blogspot.com/2012/07/salmon-with-tangy-avacado-sauce.html. Since I just got a smoker, I am looking for new recipes.
Thanks for sharing.
I made this last week, without the siracha mayo, and served it over your garlic noodle recipe. It was wonderful! My husband said it was the best salmon he’d ever had. And now I have a new condiment to use: oyster sauce. I’d never had it before. Thanks!
Mmmmm, i made this tonight along with the savoury coconut rice and some steamed broccoli and it was super delicious and satisfying.
I know that for the most part, frozen fish sucks, but I’ve found that Trader Joe’s frozen fish actually comes out nice. That’s what we buy when we want a treat like ahi but don’t want to pay the premium price.
Instead of fresh ginger, for something even more shelf-stable, you can get a jar of ginger preserves (basically a chunky ginger jam). Cut the sugar, because the preserves have some sugar already – I sometimes just use the ginger preserves and soy sauce, I think about 1:2 ratio.
~Kali
Made this tonight! It was AMAZING! It really kept the flavor of the fish, as the marinade wasn’t too over powering. DELICIOUS! I love trying your recipes!
I’ve made teriyaki salmon before but am curious to try your recipe and see how it differs.
Omg, I don’t usually post comments but this made me HAVE to. This is probably the best salmon I have had in my life and I eat a lot of salmon. Wasn’t able to try it with the mayo, but great without it. Definitely a keeper. Thank you!!!
One of the best salmon recipes I’ve tried in recent years.
I made this tonight with your 2nd take coconut rice recipe and it was easy! Better still, I’ve never cooked salmon before, or fresh fish at all, and it came out so tasty. I just forwarded both recipes to my parents and to my roommate, so she can forward them to hers.
If you don’t have all the ingredients for the marinade, soy sauce and brown sugar make a great one as well! Just add equal parts to the brown sugar and soy sauce. Taste is still amazing with the siracha mayo!
This was absolutely incredible. Or, rather it IS, since I am mid-meal and had to comment. SO delicious. And one of the few meals my husband has every made an unsolicited comment on. He really enjoyed it as well. It’ll become an item on rotation in our house for certain.
So, I’m not a fan of mayo… at all. And I’ve never cooked fish before. But I made this tonight, and my life has been changed! So easy to make and it tastes divine!
This was great. I forgot to make the siracha and mayo topping but I served it with your garlic noodles and an arugula salad (with balsamic and oil dressing). It was super easy and delicious. Thanks for both recipes. I’ve been cooking meals from your blog for two weeks now, and I have yet to have one that wasn’t amazing.
This was a favorite for us….do this recipe at least once or twice a month! Thank you!
Off course I added a little bit of pepper because I like everything spicy.
I have always been afraid of making fish, and this turned out to be one of the most amazing things I have ever tasted!
The teriyaki salmon tasted great. I love the way that some of the salmons fat cooks out of the salmon and mixes with the tariyaki sauce.
All I can say is delicious! I have been craving salmon for awhile and it was on sale for $7.99 a pound at HT last week so this recipe was a perfect fit.
This has become a staple for my husband and me. We both love salmon and this recipe is amazing. I like it both ways – with the spicy mayo and without.
THANK YOU FOR THIS. i have always been afraid of making fish, and this turned out to be one of the most amazing things i have ever tasted!
I just tried this recipe and it was yum, delicious and healthy. Off course I added a little bit of pepper because I like everything spicy. Thanks Beth.
Gosh I love salmon. It’s pretty much the only animal based protein I’ve purchased in a while. yummy!
Just fabulous! The spicy mayo makes this dish so special! Thanks for sharing
Amanda – I would *definitely* make this with chicken… it would be amazing. Let it marinate for as long as you can for optimum flavor!
Okay I’m sort of an amateur home cook here – but I’m trying to branch out! We’ve tried a few of your recipes this week and have loved ALL of them. Now this looks FABULOUS… problem is I’m not a seafood eater, eek! I have had spicy mayo with vegetarian sushi before and loved it.
Do you think this same recipe would work with a different meat (chicken or beef?) We’re planning on making something to go with the Ginger Scallion Soba Salad from your other recent post!
Thanks!
That looks so delicious!
AAAAHHH spicy mayo is SO delicious. When I go to sushi places sometimes I ask them if I can have a little side dish of just the mayo for dipping. It’s like the bacon of sauces– makes everything better (uh, more or less).
I truly think I could eat salmon every day of my life and be an extremely happy girl.
This was absolutely delicious.
You read my mind! I had salmon in the fridge for tonight and I was a bit bored with my usual lemon/garlic/herb-y fish recipe. The marinade is delicious – it reminded me of an asian salad dressing that I loved in one of the first Japanese retaurants that opened in my hometown as a kid. Can’t wait for more yummy fish recipes!
I’m going to try this as a sandwich tonight!
This looks wonderful! I love adding different flavorings to mayonnaise for sauces and spreads. Thanks for the siriacha idea. This would even be good in deviled eggs!! I love adding pesto to deviled eggs. Next is siriacha!
Sounds yummy. Thanks for sharing the recipe. I will surely try this out.
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