Broiled Salmon with a spicy brown sugar glaze is a quick 15 minute salmon recipe that yields high returns for very little effort! Beautiful caramelised surface, juicy salmon inside, this is a terrific way to cook salmon that’s far less messy than pan searing.
Like the Chilli Lime Baked Salmon, this can be made into a one tray dinner by adding vegetables that will cook at the same time!
An amazing Broiled Salmon
Dinner really doesn’t get any more simple than this, but it lacks nothing in the flavour department! Especially that glaze – it’s fantastic! And I really mean it when I say this is a 15 minute meal. It goes like this:
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Glaze: mix mustard, mayonnaise, brown sugar and cayenne pepper (1 minute)
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Slather onto salmon (1 minute)
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If you want, throw on asparagus, broccolini and cherry tomatoes, and drizzle with olive oil (2 minutes)
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Grill/broil for 8 minutes
Oh wait. I can’t do primary school maths. That’s 12 minutes. 😉
Brown sugar glaze for salmon
This recipe is inspired by this Roasted Salmon Glazed with Brown Sugar and Mustard that I found in New York Times last year. The first time I tried it, I found that roasting the salmon didn’t achieve the promised glaze, so I’ve fiddled with the recipe a wee bit. Firstly, I grill/broil the salmon instead of baking it so you’re guaranteed beautiful caramelisation.
And secondly, the NYT recipe only uses mustard and brown sugar which sometimes formed a skin rather than caramelising. I think it depends on how oily the salmon is. So to remove that problem, I add a bit of mayonnaise which adds oil so it ensures you always end up with a beautiful glaze on your salmon. 🙂
Oh wait. I made one other – ahem – little change. I added greens. Asparagus, broccolini and cherry tomatoes are perfect because they cook in the same time as the salmon.
To get a good caramelisation, it’s better to broil rather than roast salmon
Add a crusty bread roll, and dinner is complete.
With just one pan to clean up.
In fact, you could line the tray with foil to eliminate cleaning all together. The reason I don’t is because I like to scrape the juices off the tray and pour it over the Brown Sugar Salmon. Can’t do this with foil, I always end up scraping up bits of foil!!
Brown Sugar Broiled Salmon is one of those recipes that is a great base for adding your own touch. I added cayenne pepper to make the glaze spicy. Off the top of my head, here are some other ideas: lemon or lime zest (not juice), garlic and/or ginger powder, Chinese five spice, sriracha or other chilli paste, swap out the sugar with honey or maple syrup, sichuan pepper, add herbs of choice – fresh or dried.
Love to hear any other ideas you have to glam this up even more! I mean, remember, this only takes 12 minutes to make. So I’m sure you can spare an extra minute or two for some other touches!! 🙂 – Nagi x
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Brown Sugar Broiled Salmon
Ingredients
- 4 x 5-8 oz/ 150-180g salmon fillets , skin on or off (I use on)
- 2 bunches asparagus (Note 1)
- 1 bunch broccolini (Note 1)
- 1 cup cherry tomatoes
- 1 tbsp olive oil
- Salt and pepper
Glaze (Note 2)
- 1 tbsp Dijon mustard
- 1 tbsp mayonnaise (I use whole egg mayonnaise)
- 2 tbsp brown sugar
- 1/4 tsp cayenne pepper
Instructions
- Preheat broiler/griller on high. Place the oven shelf 6"/15cm from the heat source.
- Spray a baking tray with oil (I use olive oil, any is fine).
- Pile asparagus, broccolini and cherry tomatoes on the baking tray. Drizzle with olive oil and sprinkle with salt and pepper. Toss with hands then spread out on the tray, mostly on one layer.
- Wedge salmon pieces on the tray between the vegetables. Sprinkle with salt and pepper.
- Mix Glaze ingredients together. Slather on the salmon - tops and sides.
- Grill/broil for 8 minutes - don't flip. The salmon should be caramelised and the inside should be blushing pink.
- Rest for 2 minutes then serve with crusty bread rolls.
Recipe Notes:
Nutrition Information:
So good! Easy, delicious, hardly any washing up. What could be better! I’ve been making a family favourite salmon recipe for about 2 decades… this has now overtaken that! I served it with quick cook baby potatoes and corn on the cob. So delicious!
I have made dijon/brown sugar salmon for a long time but the addition of the mayo really was fantastic. I found the glaze as written made enough for 2 filets, may need to scale up to cover 4.
The best minimum effort, maximum effect dinner I have ever made and I have made a few
Did this in our tiny caravan oven and it turned out a treat!
Wow! We had this last night- possibly the best salmon recipie ever. This was so delicious!!
Made this tonight and I will admit I was skeptical how the ingredients would work but omg!! Family favourite.. my 2 year old and 8 month old loved it!! I made it with 5 spice to make it kid friendly. Definitely going in the rotation. Love your recipes!!
I love to hear the kids are eating fish!! N x
I was using a benchtop oven and it took just over 20 minutes to get any sort of caramelisation. But it was a quick and easy glaze idea that was very tasty (when it finally decided to caramelise!) for the effort involved. At the moment we’re trying to cook with keto principles in mind, five days a week, so this type of recipe is perfect. Thanks Nagi!
Hiya! I know you said not to roast the salmon, but my oven cant grill. Will it be still ok to bake in oven? if so, what temp?
What Happened to my phone why I can’t open the recipe 😭 please help me
So quick, so simple, so tasty! Thanks Nagi!
I only have frozen salmon. Will that work too?
Hi Karla, yes just thaw first. N x
Where has this recipe been all my life. I had this last night and it is the tastiest salmon dish I have ever eaten. You are a truly amazing cook and I love cooking your recipes as I know they are always going to be delicious. Thank you so much for your sharing your recipes I always look forward to your new posts each week.
Thanks so much Tracy ❤️
Hi Nagi, would this also work with a pasta instead of bread? And if so, what kind and which sauce?
I tried the salmon yesterday but the broccolini was a bit hard so I’ll have to cut them next time I guess.
Hi Yves! Do you mean pasta on the side??
Hi Nagi,
That’s correct: a pasta on the side.
Hi Nagi, I’ve made this several times and it’s always delish! In fact we just finished it for tonight’s dinner and as I type this my husband is saying ‘that salmon was amazing!’ I don’t serve with breadrolls, though. I make garlic butter rice. Just regular long grain rice in the rice cooker (rinsed well of course! I lived in Japan after uni and learned the importance of washing the rice), then I microwave some butter and garlic in the microwave til melted and stir into the rice water with some salt before cooking. So easy and it elevates your already fantastic dish.
We have made this salmon 3 times in 2 weeks and I swear it gets better each time. And my husband is NOT a salmon fan….until now that is. We have been grilling the salmon and apply the glaze at the end, and it’s OMG amazing. I took leftovers to my boss at the pharmacy and this cold salmon over a simple salad was the best meal he had in 2 weeks. Nagi you are a GENIOUS!!! PS: I would give this 50 stars if I could!
LOVE HEARING THAT!!! Thanks so much for letting me know you enjoyed this!!! N xx
Made this last week and my husband love it so much. He ask me to do it again this week. Thank you so much for this recipe. It’s easy to make and the good part of it, is it doesn’t require a lot of ingredients and time when your a busy mom.
LOVE hearing that Jenn!!! So glad you enjoyed it! N x
oh wow, this is a seriously wonderful & easy dish. When hubby says “this is restaurant quality”, he doesn’t mean Macca’s, he means top end restaurant.
The glaze is AMAZING! Since following your recipes, I’ve never used so much dijon but the flavour it brings, I should have been using it way before now.
Thanks again Nagi for making life more simple and delish.
High praise!!! Thanks so much for the feedback Barb, so pleased hubby enjoyed it! N xx
So my new Smeg cooktop went pop yesterday and will be waiting about a month for a replacement so I’m looking for BBQ and/or oven recipes.
Made this baby again last night and once again MOTH praised it so highly. The glaze is totally different to anything else I’ve made and with such strong flavors you’d think it might overpower the salmon but no it doesn’t, it totally compliments it. A sneaky pinot grigio also adds to the palate.
No way I could keep it for lunch today, I’ve guzzled it down for breakfast.
It’s really, really good and of course desperately easy to make. One pan, that’s it = Perfect!
Thanks for another great recipe, Nagi! I didn’t have cherry toms so used a scummy zucchini from the bottom of the fridge instead … worked perfectly! Paired it with a quick spud salad – so fast, and so good!
That’s fantastic to hear Anna Thank you for letting me know – N xx
Just made this for dinner tonight and was so quick and delicious!!! I’ve been making many of your recipies and the boyfriend has been commenting on how much of a good cook I’m becoming all thanks to you! (Before your salmon recipies he claimed to hate samon) I told him I stalk your page daily for inspiration and he now wants to marry you ? hehe xx
You shouldn’t have told him you were using my recipes!!! TAKE ALL THE CREDIT!!! ?
Ok I have been on a recipetineats kick this week. I have to confess, I LOOOOVE every recipe I’ve tried on here!! I made this salmon dish the other night and it was SUPER EASY and DELICIOUS! The sweet to savory ratio on this dish is perfect. Thanks Nagi!
I’m super flattered Stephanie!!! I’m so happy to hear you enjoyed it, thanks for letting me know! N xx