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Miso Glazed Salmon is a healthy, flavorful salmon dish with a savory miso glaze that can be enjoyed with rice or steamed veggies.
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This Miso Glazed Salmon is so tasty and super easy to make. Looks fancy enough for a romantic supper, but simple enough to make on a busy weeknight for the whole family. Miso salmon has become an increasingly popular dish in the U.S. It can be found at most Japanese restaurants and even not-so-authenticly Japanese restaurants such as Cheesecake Factory. With the right ingredients, it is such an easy dish to make at home and can be prepared in a matter of minutes. Serve it over brown rice, with steamed vegetables and a simple side salad for a healthy and flavorful meal.
Ingredients in Miso Glazed Salmon
This miso-glazed salmon recipe comes together fast with just a few ingredients. If you’ve never heard of them, don’t worry! They’re actually easy to find and use. Here’s what you need:
- Salmon – choose a salmon filets with an even thickness or buy a large cut of salmon and cut into smaller filets. You can use skin-on or skinless salmon, depending on your preference.
- White Miso Paste – Can be found at most Asian markets or specialty grocery stores. It usually comes wrapped in plastic packaging or in a clear plastic container with a lid.
- Soy Sauce – If you are concerned about this dish being too salty or too sodium-rich, you can use reduced sodium soy sauce instead.
- Mirin (Japanese rice wine) – Similar to sake but higher sugar content. You can use sake with ½ teaspoon of sugar as a substitute.
- Sake or Chinese cooking wine – Sake is the most authentic ingredient but Chinese cooking wine is a suitable substitute with a lower alcohol content and slightly higher sodium content.
- Furikake or roasted sesame seeds – Furikake is toasted sesame seeds combined with other ingredients such as seaweed flakes. Most furikake contains MSG but you can find varieties (with different names) at Trader Joe’s or other specialty stores that taste JUST as good. My favorite blend is the Simple Truth Organic™ Japanese Inspired Sesame Seaweed Blend found at Kroger and Fred Meyer stores (it has a little kick and I put it on everything).
What is Miso?
Miso is a Japanese fermented soybean paste and is commonly used in Japanese cooking. It has a texture similar to tahini or a fine hummus. The most common types of miso are red and white miso. We use white miso in this recipe which is less pungent and salty than the red variety.
What does Miso Glaze Taste Like?
Miso, on its own, is very salty, tangy, and slightly pungent. It can be described as having a deep “umami” flavor. When miso is combined with other ingredients, such as sugar or honey, and heated to make a glaze, it can bring on a sweeter flavor that can be more suitable as a finishing sauce.
Optional ingredients
For varied flavor profiles you can add any of these ingredients to your miso marinade or glaze:
- Ginger
- Sesame oil
- Teriyaki sauce
- Maple syrup
- Honey and/or brown sugar
- Coconut aminos
- Cilantro
- Tamari
- Garlic
- Sriracha
Sweet & Savory Option
This dish is quite savory. As you can see from the recipe, no extra salt is needed because all of the ingredients contribute to the “umami” flavor. Many people prefer a more sweet and savory “teriyaki” flavor as a glaze and that’s ok too. While we like this recipe as-is, there are several things you can do to cut down on the saltiness or boost the sweetness.
- Use low-sodium soy sauce
- Reduce the marinade time
- Add a couple tablespoons of honey, brown sugar, or maple syrup.
Miso Salmon Glaze
This miso salmon has plenty of flavor on its own. The marinade on the salmon forms a delicious glaze as the salmon cooks. However, you may want more of the rich glaze to brush over the top as it cooks or to spoon over the salmon after it has finished cooking. Here’s how to make the glaze:
- Double the miso mixture ingredients and place half of it in a small sauce pan.
- Add ⅓ cup water (or enough to thin the sauce to your liking) and 1 tablespoon of brown sugar. Whisk until combined.
- Heat mixture over medium heat, whisking often.
- When sauce starts to simmer, remove from heat.
- To use as a glaze, brush the sauce onto the salmon after baking but before broiling. To use as a sauce, serve on the side and allow guests to spoon over their individual salmon filets.
What To Serve with Miso Salmon
Typically we serve Miso glazed salmon over white rice. We like to use a medium-grain rice such as Calrose rice but it would also taste delicious with cauliflower rice. You can also serve this with steamed broccoli, edamame, green beans or other sautéed vegetables. For a tasty variation, we also love serving this salmon in salmon rice bowls with rice, avocado, chopped cucumber, julienned carrots, and toasted sesame seeds (or furikake). Add a little sriracha mayo or oyster sauce over the top and it’s like sushi roll in a bowl (SO good)!
Cooking under the Broiler
There are different ways of preparing this Miso Glazed Salmon, but I love sticking it under the broiler in the oven. You’ll get a beautiful caramalized color and slightly charred crust on the outside, while keeping the salmon tender and juicy inside. Make sure to cover a sheet pan with foil before you put the salmon in the oven, for easy clean up.
Questions
Make sure to have good quality salmon fillets, then add the yummy miso glaze. The flavor comes from miso paste, soy sauce, sake, and Japanese rice vinegar.
If you’ve ever heard of “unami flavors” this recipe is the perfect reference point for that flavor sensation. The thick paste is savory, with toasty textures and salty-sweet richness.
Miso itself isn’t too spicy, but rather has a deep and rich savory, slightly salty flavor. Some miso pastes have added spices that can make the flavor more hot or spicy.
READ MORE: 25+ Traditional Sunday Dinner Ideas
More Delicious Salmon Recipes
Salmon is incredibly good for you. It is high in omega-3 fatty acids, protein, and essential vitamins and minerals. If you are looking to incorporate more of this delicious fish into your diet, give some of these other salmon recipes a try:
Need even MORE recipes with fish? Click the link for ALL of our tasty fish recipes including our popular Baked Cod in Cream Sauce.
How To Make Miso Glazed Salmon
Miso Glazed Salmon
Ingredients
- 4 salmon fillets (appx 1 ½ pounds, skin-on or skinless)
- 1/3 cup white miso paste
- 3 tablespoons mirin
- 2 tablespoons Chinese cooking wine (or sake)
- 1 tablespoon soy sauce
- 2 teaspoons furikake (or roasted sesame seeds, to taste)
- green onion for garnish
Instructions
- In a small mixing bowl or large liquid measuring cup combine miso paste, mirin, Chinese cooking wine (or sake), and soy sauce. Mix until well combined.
- Place salmon in a medium sized mixing bowl or small, shallow baking dish and spread miso mixture all over the salmon until completely covered on all sides. Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate 2-3 hours (allowing the salmon to marinate longer may increase the saltiness).
- Preheat oven to 400-degrees F. When salmon is done marinating, gently shake off excess miso mixture and place salmon onto a baking sheet lined with parchment paper.
- Bake for 15-20 minutes depending on the thickness of your salmon. Check the salmon for doneness after 15 minutes using a meat thermometer. Once salmon reaches around 130-degrees F, set the oven to broil and broil for 1-2 minutes or until the edges of the salmon begin to blacken. Remove from oven and allow to rest for 1-2 minutes before serving. This will allow the salmon to reach the recommended cooking temperature to 145-degrees F. The salmon should easily flake apart with a fork.
- Sprinkle with furikake (or sesame seeds) to taste and garnish with sliced green onion.
Notes
- Double the miso mixture ingredients and place half of it in a small sauce pan.
- Add ⅓ cup water (or enough to thin the sauce to your liking) and 1 tablespoon of brown sugar. Whisk until combined.
- Heat mixture over medium heat, whisking often.
- When sauce starts to simmer, remove from heat.
- To use as a glaze, brush the sauce onto the salmon after baking but before broiling. To use as a sauce, serve on the side and allow guests to spoon over their individual salmon filets.
Thank you so much for sharing this amazing miso salmon recipe! Will surely have this again! It’s really easy to make and it tasted so delicious! Highly recommended!
The best salmon!! So tasty! 😋