One Pan Creamy Garlic Salmon

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A delicious easy dish with golden pan seared salmon in a rich garlic cream sauce, perfect for a quick dinner or a special date night at home!

Prep Time5

Cook Time15

Course: Main Course

Cuisine: American

Servings: people

Calories: 1169kcal

Pat salmon dry with a paper towel. Moisture will prevent the salmon from searing. Mix the following seasonings together in a bowl: 1 teaspoon salt, ½ teaspoon black pepper, ½ teaspoon garlic powder, ½ teaspoon paprika, and ½ teaspoon cumin.
Add seasoning on the flesh of the salmon, NOT THE SKIN or your cream sauce will burn when searing.

Heat pan or pot to medium heat. Once the pan is hot and you see a little bit of smoke coming from it, add 1 tablespoon neutral oil. Next, add your salmon on the pan and cook for 4 minutes skin side down on. Flip over and cook for 1 more minute (just to get a little brown, don’t burn the seasoning). Both sides should be golden brown!
Mince garlic and finely chop fresh basil while the salmon is cooking.
When the salmon has browned, take it off of the pan in a separate plate. Turn the heat off for a few minutes.

The pan should cool down a little bit. Turn heat to low and add 1 tablespoon butter to the pan with your minced garlic. Cook for one minute. Then, add 1 cup half & half or whole milk. Stir occasionally.
Add your shredded parmesan cheese to the cream and continue to stir occasionally. Keep the heat on low to ensure that the cheese sauce doesn’t curdle while cooking.
Once the cheese has melted and the cream sauce has thickened, add your salmon(along with juices) in the pan and cook for 5 more minutes. This will gently finish cooking your salmon and thicken your sauce. Garnish with freshly chopped basil and freshly squeezed lemon.

Expert Tips

Bring the salmon to room temp. Let it sit out for a minimum of 30 minutes before cooking so the fish cooks more evenly.

Dry your salmon with a paper towel before frying so you can get a nice sear on your fish!

After browning your fish, you will have some brown bits on the pan. Don’t throw that away (it has lots of flavor!). When adding the milk or cream, you can gently scrape that off and stir it in the sauce!

When cooking the cream sauce, make sure to turn down the heat to low. If the pan is too hot, the milk or cream will curdle with the cheese. This means that the sauce will look clumpy.

Use fresh herbs like cilantro or basil for this dish. Dried seasonings will not be as fragrant. If you love cilantro sauce, you can also add this creamy cilantro sauce on top for extra flavor!

Use fresh parmesan or parmigiano-reggiano for impeccable taste in your cream sauce. Grate the cheese fresh if you can and it will taste more fresh! Higher quality ingredients make the biggest difference in the taste of your food.