Dry-Brined Salmon
Updated Oct. 11, 2023
- Total Time
- 15 minutes, plus at least 8 hours’ marinating
- Prep Time
- 5 minutes
- Cook Time
- 15 minutes, plus at least 8 hours’ marinating
- Rating
- Notes
- Read community notes
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Ingredients
Yield:4 servings
- 4(5- to 7-ounce) skin-on salmon fillets (see Tip)
- Salt
- Whatever oil you cook with
- Extra-virgin olive oil and lemon wedges, for serving
Ingredient Substitution Guide
Nutritional analysis per serving (4 servings)
396 calories; 27 grams fat; 6 grams saturated fat; 0 grams trans fat; 10 grams monounsaturated fat; 8 grams polyunsaturated fat; 0 grams carbohydrates; 0 grams dietary fiber; 0 grams sugars; 35 grams protein; 410 milligrams sodium
Note: The information shown is Edamam’s estimate based on available ingredients and preparation. It should not be considered a substitute for a professional nutritionist’s advice.
Powered byPreparation
- Step 1
Line a plate or tray large enough to hold the fillets with a double layer of paper towels or a clean kitchen towel. Season each fillet all over with ½ to 1 teaspoon Diamond Crystal kosher salt (about ¼ to ½ teaspoon table salt, or ⅓ to ⅔ teaspoon Morton kosher salt), aiming higher or lower, depending on your taste. Place the salmon fillets on the plate skin side up.
- Step 2
Transfer the plate to the refrigerator (uncovered or covered loosely with foil) and let the salmon rest at least 8 hours and up to 2 days (see Tip). The salmon will feel dry after this step. Pat the fillets dry before cooking if any moisture remains.
- Step 3
To cook under the broiler, skip to Step 5. To cook on the stovetop, use your hands to coat each salmon filllet with a thin film of oil on all sides. Heat a skillet large enough to hold the salmon fillets over medium-low for 2 minutes. Add fillets, skin side down, and cook, regularly pressing down on them for the first few minutes to make sure the skin stays flat and has good contact with the pan.
- Step 4
Continue to cook, moving the fillets around the pan with a spatula and peeking at the skin occasionally, until the skin is brown and crisp, about 4 to 5 minutes total. (If the fillet doesn’t release, give it another 15 to 30 seconds and check again.) Flip the salmon and cook until as done as you like. (For medium-rare, an instant-read thermometer inserted into the thickest part of the fish should register 100 to 105 degrees when you take it out of the pan. For well done, aim for 130 to 135 degrees in the pan.) Remove fish from the pan and let rest for 5 minutes, skin side up. Serve with a drizzle of olive oil and a lemon wedge.
- Step 5
To cook under the broiler, adjust a rack in your oven or toaster oven to about 6 inches below the broiler element. Heat the broiler to high. Rub a small amount of oil all over each salmon fillet and arrange skin side up on a rimmed baking sheet.
- Step 6
For medium-rare salmon, broil until the skin is brown, crisp and charred in spots, about 4 to 5 minutes. (If you like your salmon more well done, increase the distance to the broiler element to 8 inches and cooking time to 7 to 8 minutes total.) Let salmon rest for 5 minutes, skin side up. Serve with a drizzle of olive oil and a lemon wedge.
Tips
- This technique will work with any type of salmon, but it can be most dramatic with leaner coho or sockeye salmon as opposed to fattier king. Although you’ll need a minimum of about 8 hours of salting to produce ideal results, salting the salmon even 30 to 45 minutes before cooking and carefully patting it dry with paper towels will improve it.
- Many people have asked me if the method leaves the fridge smelling like fish. In my experience, it does not.
Private Notes
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Cooking Notes
Ricard Granum
Good to see Kenji point out the difference between the different brands of Kosher Salt and Table Salt again. It's something that more people should know about because it greatly affects recipes and I find is a source of a lot of problems for people who follow recipes and think salt is salt. Table salt is shaped as little cubes, Morton's Kosher is big flat chunks, Diamond Crystal Kosher is big pyramids. For a given volume (ie a tablespoon), the shape affects how much fits. More = up to 2x saltier
greenink
Do you salt the skin side of the filets? Or do you salt the flesh side, and then turn them skin-side up? Directions aren’t clear.
Lex
I saw this procedure on Kenji's Instagram and tried it with frozen wild Sockeye fillets. I defrosted the fillets in the fridge the evening before, the next morning I patted them dry, salted both sides (ie, all over), and placed them on a paper towel-lined plate in the fridge uncovered until dinner. The result was perfectly crisp skin, no spatter, and deliciously moist salmon. I will not make pan-seared salmon any other way now. Thank you, Kenji!
Ben Goren
Especially for salmon from the grocery store (including pre-portioned frozen packages), I would suggest first splashing the fish with sake and letting it rest for five or ten minutes before patting dry; then apply the salt. As Nami Chen of “Just One Cookbook” fame notes, this will remove any hint of fishy odors. When I make it, I’ll wrap the salted fillets in paper towels and seal them in a Ziploc bag with the air removed, and cure them for up to a week in the ’fridge. b&
MJC
Fleur de Sel or Maldon are finishing salts; they're expensive and more about the texture their crystals offer to the dish. An application like this where the salt is going to completely dissolve into the salmon would be a huge waste of nice salt and money.
Philippe Garmy
I'm curious why sea salt, in all its many splendid forms and variants (from 'fleur de sel' to Maldon flakes), is very rarely seen, if at all used, in every NYT Cooking recipe? What's with this seeming Kosher salt monopoly? Is it a taken for granted New York thing? Especially with seafood...and in this case, here with salmon...why would I prefer kosher to proper sea salt?
Pb
He says to salt all over - in other words, both sides.
Diana
We have been doing this for years. Salt the skin only. You want to use enough salt such that you can't see the skin peering through from below. Wait 30 minutes. Rinse salt off with cold water then pat the fillet completely dry with paper towels. Pan fry skin side down. Overnight salting is not necessary - who has time?. Table salt is just fine - it's going to be washed away. We use this method on a hot stainless steel frypan with good quality oil and the skin does not stick.
Pamela Kaegi
It seems that using the stated amount of salt would yield a very salty entrée. What am I missing?
jennifer
Prepared a giant Costco filet of salmon as Kenji directed. The results were amazing: much more appealing texture, better flavor and far less mess to clean up. I didn’t separate it into servings until after I cooked it: much easier all around.
Ya-Man
Should you rinse the remaining salt off before cooking or just start frying away?
sck
Are you salting only the skin side, or both sides of the salmon?
R.F. Plevy
Can anyone suggest why pan frying is preferable to roasting in the oven skin side up? This is my preferred method and I get great results every time.
Ned
For a middle of the road approach to save brining over night, press and pat the fillets as dry as possible, sprinkle them with kosher salt and black pepper, and let them sit in the fridge uncovered for at least half an hour - or as long as you can. Pat them dry gently again and put them into a very hot cast iron skillet, skin side down, with a screen spatter guard cover for 1 or 2 minutes. Then flip for 10 secs for color. Prolly not as good as the recipe, but similar results.
LeahK
I live in Alaska and we never scale salmon. Might be different for farmed.
Bill London
I was not at all impressed with this process. The change in fresh salmon was disagreeable. I cannot recommend the process
Ivan Otherview
I found this produced a salt focused piece of fish not unlike cooking smoked salmon which is sold here in the UK and frankly it was disagreable. I will not have much respect for his advice going forward.
Ed Brown
Arrrgh. Way tooooo salty. All the subtle salmon flavour is obliterated
Betty
Has anyone tried this with any other type of fish besides salmon?
Simetrias
Wow, followed directions, even wiped some salt off, and it was still waaaaay too salty. I only salted the fleshy side. Or was I just supposed to salt the skin side? I’m going to rinse the remaining fillet and use it in salad.
Deborah VC
I’ve made both gravlax and hot smoked salmon starting with dry brines but it never occurred to me to use that same method as a way to make delicious, tender, nonstick salmon for dinner. It’s an easy method for foolproof salmon.
Evelyn
Excellent recipe! I used in on pan-fried steelhead trout. I often struggle with cooking fish (I'm not very gifted in the kitchen) but this came out really well and I loved the lack of splatter.
Elena
Been dry brining salmon for years with a 5 to 1 ratio of salt to sugar by weight a little black pepper, for just 15 to 20 min before (briefly and not thoroughly) rinsing, drying, re-seasoning, pan searing on high heat skin side down (initially pressing on the fish to maximize contact with the pan and reduce warping as the flesh tightens) for a few minutes, then flip for 1 min. Broil some veggies and prep some farro or rice while all this is going on. Dinner in <30 minutes from start to finish.
mimi
I used frozen fillets every time and made this more than twice. This last time I figured, let’s try and brine them directly from frozen. I expected a watery mess when I took it out of the fridge after a day of dry-brining but to my delighted surprise it was very much in the same state as how I would’ve thawed first and dry-brined - maybe even firmer flesh, which was better! Obviously from now on I will dry-brine directly from frozen!
Shannon C
Divided a big piece of sockeye in so I could try both broiling & pan frying methods. Strongly preferred broiled for 3 reasons: 1) skin stayed in tact & was crispy whereas pan skin was torn & not crispy 2) broiled fish cooked evenly & was very moist whereas pan fish cooked unevenly & was dry 3) broiling was far easier on process & cleanup. For ref., my oven rack was 8 in. from broiler & I cooked 8 min for well done. Perfection! Will try w/ king salmon next time as sockeye was too lean for me.
momo
I am obsessed with this method. We recently were gifted a good amount of Alaskan salmon, and I made it this way every time. So good, unmatched. The only way I'll cook salmon with/without any sauce. I use the broiler method and love it!! I tell everyone I know!
Emma Rose
This strategy works really well, especially for crispy skin! I love that the fish is more seasoned throughout and the way that it becomes “nonstick” is pretty remarkable. I didn’t believe that 105 would be med rare because the sides still looked so pink and waited till 115 to remove from the pan, but kenji was right. Eating it at medium was still great.
Andri
simply spectacular. I used sockeye salmon (around 1 lb, thin fillet), & dry-brined for a day & a half (great that you can do the dry-brine over 2 days, and not worry about it going bad, used Maldon sea salt flakes, why not?). The consistency of the salmon was more solid than I had ever had, yet moist (~ 6 minutes under the broiler at high). the crunchy skin was a fantastic complement to the firm yet moist flesh. This will be my go to recipe for a quick, delish & classy dinner plate.
Rachael
I’ve made this recipe several times and it always turns out really well. I never overcook my salmon with this method. Rinsing the fish would probably undo the work of making the fish drier so that might not be wise. If it’s too salty, be sure to use the lower amount of salt and consider adjusting based on the size of the filet. It’s definitely a little saltier but it shouldn’t taste so salty it’s inedible.
sami
I just made this and I am finding it hard to understand many of the comments. This is some of the best salmon I've had. It wasn't too salty at all and I'm wondering if some others used table salt instead of eg Kosher salt.
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