Cooking salmon that’s flavourful and moist is something that I think I have mastered and this recipe is super simple.
Baking it in the oven used to be my go-to way of cooking salmon but the fish often came out dry and somewhat bland.
Ever since getting an air fryer, most of the things I used to cook in the oven I now use this appliance to do so instead and salmon is one of them.
Air fryer salmon is seriously delicious and unbelievably easy – there may be no going back after you try this recipe.
All you have to do is season it with simple flavouring and follow a few foolproof hacks below for seriously good salmon in just 10 minutes.
Ingredients (for two)
Two salmon fillets
One teaspoon paprika
One tampon of garlic granules
One tablespoon of olive oil
Sea salt
Method
I started by lining the bottom of my air fryer basket with tin foil. Doing so makes the appliance much easier to clean and prevents the unmistakable smell of fish from getting into everything afterwards.
Plus, it’s also handy for lifting the salmon out of the air fryer once it’s cooked.
Before getting onto making the paste, you should decide whether or not you want the skin on or off.
If you want to eat it with the skin, cook it skin side up and grease the foil with oil first so the fleshy bit doesn’t stick.
If you don’t want to eat the skin, you can slice it off first or simply cook it skin side down and then slide the fillets off the skin when it’s cooked.
The latter option is my preference because cooking with the skin on gives a little more moisture and flavour.
Then in a small bowl, I mixed the paprika, garlic, olive oil and sea salt into a paste before using a pastry brush to apply the paste to the salmon.
You can brush the skin if you’re going to eat it but don’t bother if you’re going to remove it, just brush the other side.
I then added the fillets to the lined air fryer basket skin side down and cooked it for 10 minutes at 180 degrees.
For those using frozen salmon, air fry it for five minutes initially, then season the fillets and cook for eight minutes as usual.
I love batch-cooking salmon like this as it’s perfect for eating hot in a pasta dish or cold in a salad. The salmon will keep in the fridge for up to three days.
