What if I told you there was a healthy dinner you could make any night of the week in about 12 minutes with no prep or planning and very little mess to clean up? It’s real, and it’s my new go-to meal for busy nights when I don’t want to blow up my budget or healthy eating habits. All it takes is a trust little device we call the air fryer.
If you’re tired of people telling you to eat more fish, this is your ticket to a year filled with omega-3 fatty acids and free of wretched pots and pans to wash after. Salmon cooked in an air fryer gets a nice crust akin to a pan-sear but stays moist and tender on the inside as long as you don’t overcook it.
The air fryer gets a lot of credit for its work with chicken wings and french fries, but it often seems like it was made in a lab to cook filets of fatty salmon. The mighty air fryer only takes 1 or 2 minutes to preheat, so if you’re making a quick weeknight meal for one or two, making salmon in the air fryer is an ace up your sleeve.
Here’s how to make a perfect filet every time. And for more, see our favorite places to order salmon online and the best air fryers we tested for 2024. If you’re wondering how these trendy and efficient countertop cookers work and which model is best, read my complete guide to air fryers.
Ingredients for the 10-minute air fryer salmon
- 1 tbsp olive oil
- 1 tsp soy sauce or tamari
- 1 tsp brown sugar
- 1 green onion, diced
- Salmon filet
- Salt and pepper to taste
- Parchment paper (optional)
5 easy steps: The perfect 10-minute air fryer
- Step 1: Preheat the air fryer to 380 degrees F on either “air fry” or “roast.”
- Step 2: Whisk together olive oil, brown sugar, soy sauce and green onion.
- Step 3: Pat the salmon filet dry and place it in the air fryer on top of parchment paper (paper optional).
- Step 4: Pour soy sauce mixture over salmon and brush to coat completely.
- Step 5: Close the basket and cook for about 8 minutes, checking with a fork or internal probe for doneness (cook a minute or two more if you prefer your salmon medium well or well done).
The air fryer is my go-to for roasted chicken, replacing my slow and dirty dish-heavy oven recipe. I recently learned to make juicy air fryer cheeseburgers and sizzle bacon in less than 10 minutes and without dirtying a skillet or sheet pan.
Air fryers are incredibly convenient and can do many of the same jobs that an oven can. They only take a couple of minutes to preheat, contain many of the cooking messes you’d otherwise have to spend time cleaning up and are overall more energy-efficient cooking appliances.
When you’re planning to cook meals with an air fryer, you need to make sure you have enough space inside of your appliance for the food you want to cook. Many air fryers can accommodate for a single person’s serving size, but you’ll likely have to run the air fryer multiple times to make enough food for your whole family.
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