Easy and healthy parchment salmon baked with spinach and ginger-garlic sauce: a 20-min recipe of a delicious, quick and nutritious go-to weeknight dinner. Gluten free, low carb, paleo.
Moreover, this recipe gives you a great degree of flexibility. You can use any other fish of your choice instead of salmon, as long as the piece is not too big, otherwise the baking time would increase to 20-30 minutes. You can infuse any flavor in your fish: ginger, lemon, dill, white wine or whatever is your favorite. This time I've made parchment salmon with ginger-garlic sauce and it came out just perfect. You can pair it with whatever side you prefer. I've chosen brown rice, but baked or boiled potatoes, roasted vegetables or a simple green salad would fit great as well.
If you like fish, salmon is a really good choice because it's a real storehouse of nutrients, being a superfood and one of the best tasting food I know. Health benefits of salmon include its high content of omega-3 fatty acids, high-quality protein, amino acids, vitamins and minerals (including potassium, selenium, phosphorus and vitamin B12, B3, D, etc). These amazing nutrients improve control of the body's inflammatory processes, cell and brain functions. Moreover, salmon protects your eyes and skin, helps in the treatment of inflammatory joint conditions (osteoarthritis) and cardiovascular conditions, improves your sleep and metabolism and just generally makes you smarter and happier.
When choosing salmon, go for wild-caught Alaskan salmon, as it's more sustainable and less contaminated than most of the other forms of salmon. I recommend purchasing salmon from a store you trust that has fresh supply of fish.
Baking salmon in parchment paper is a right choice if you want to ensure the maximum intake of all the nutrients it provides. Parchment-paper packets keep salmon nice and moist as it is baked in its own juices. Moreover, absolutely NO cleaning is needed afterwards, as no backing dish is used! Check the recipe below and enjoy your salmon! Here is a little gif and on how to fold the parchment over the salmon. Alternatively, here is a video.
Parchment Baked Salmon with Spinach
Ingredients
- brown rice to serve (optional)
For the ginger-garlic sauce:
- 2 teaspoons grated fresh ginger
- 2 teaspoon grated fresh garlic
- 1 tablespoon soy sauce or gluten-free tamari soy sauce
- 2 teaspoons toasted sesame oil
- 2 teaspoons lime juice
- 2 tablespoons rice vinegar
- 80 ml or ⅓ cup vegetable broth
- 200 grams or 1 cup roughly chopped spinach
For the salmon:
- 2 grams salmon fillets about 125(4.5 oz) each
- salt
- black pepper
- 2 teaspoons black sesame seeds to garnish
- mojo verde or roasted garlic sauce to serve (optional)
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 200 °C or 390 °F. Start to cook brown rice as per instructions on the package (optional). Whisk together all the ingredients for the ginger-garlic sauce until combined.
- Fold 2 square pieces of parchment paper (at least 35 cm or 14 inches wide) in halves an then unfold. Divide the spinach evenly among the sheets of paper, placing it on one side of the crease. Put salmon fillets on top and drizzle with the ginger-garlic sauce. Season with salt and black pepper.
- Fold the parchment paper as shown on the gif above, making an air-tight pocket. Bake for 12 minutes for medium. Unwrap and sprinkle with black sesame seeds. Serve with rice or other sides. Enjoy!
Notes
Nutrition
What is your favorite way to prepare salmon? Share your ideas in the comments!
Greetings,
Elena
Laura Lane Bender says
Made this last night and LOVED the sauce! I would’ve given 5 stars but I thought the spinach a bit stingy. After baking it was minuscule. Next time I’ll add much more and give it 5 stars.
Elena Szeliga says
I'm glad you enjoyed the sauce! You can also cook the spinach separately if you prefer. Sometimes it's hard to add more to the parchment pocket as it might open in the oven.
Janice Still says
Your recipe was AMAZING! I made it for 4 dear friends (one who doesn't really like salmon...) and it was a TOTAL HIT! You would not believe the compliments I kept getting all through dinner. I had made a parchment salmon before but not with the wonderful ginger-garlic-soy-etc. sauce. This was perfection. Also the suggestion to serve with Mojo Verde sauce was the icing on the salmon! (I used Bon Appetit mojo recipe.)
I am so glad I was able to find your recipe and website.
Delicious hugs. juanisa
Elena Szeliga says
Hi Juanisa! Thank you so much for your feedback! I'm happy you and your guests enjoyed the recipe! If you could give it a 5 star rating, that would mean a lot to me!
Marla says
Loving all these healthy flavors!
Elena Szeliga says
Thank you, Marla!