5-Ingredient Baked Salmon with Dill
Five ingredients, one pan, done in 25 minutes — salmon dinner decided.
When you're staring at the fridge at 6 p.m. with zero decision-making energy left, this is the recipe to reach for. Salmon fillets go into a baking dish with a handful of pantry staples — olive oil, garlic, lemon, and dill — and the oven does the rest. No marinating, no searing, no complicated technique. You'll get tender, flaky salmon with a bright, herby flavor that feels way more impressive than the effort required. Honest expectation: the salmon will be perfectly cooked but not crispy-skinned. That's the trade-off for doing almost nothing. Worth it.
Ingredients
- 4 unit salmon fillets — about 6 oz each, skin-on or skinless
- 2 tbsp olive oil
- 3 unit garlic cloves — minced
- 1 unit lemon — half juiced, half sliced into rounds
- 2 tbsp fresh dill — roughly chopped; or 2 tsp dried dill
- 1 pinch salt
- 1 pinch black pepper
Method
- 1 Preheat your oven to 400°F. Line a baking dish or sheet pan with foil for easy cleanup.
- 2 In a small bowl, stir together the olive oil, minced garlic, and lemon juice.
- 3 Place the salmon fillets in the baking dish, skin-side down if they have skin. Season each fillet with salt and black pepper.
- 4 Spoon the olive oil and garlic mixture evenly over the tops of the salmon fillets.
- 5 Scatter the fresh dill over the fillets, then lay the lemon rounds on top.
- 6 Bake at 400°F for 12–15 minutes, until the salmon flakes easily with a fork and is opaque through the thickest part. Thinner fillets will be done closer to 12 minutes.
- 7 Rest for 2 minutes before serving. Serve directly from the pan with any pan juices spooned over the top.
Variations
- Vegetarian swap — Use the same garlic-lemon-dill mixture on thick slices of firm tofu or portobello mushroom caps. Bake at 400°F for 20 minutes. The flavor profile holds up well.
- Faster swap — Use an air fryer at 400°F for 8–10 minutes instead of the oven — no preheating required, which cuts total time to about 15 minutes.
- No fresh dill — Dried dill works fine at 2 tsp. In a pinch, fresh parsley or chives give a different but equally good herby result.
Notes
Salmon is done when it flakes easily with a fork and reaches an internal temperature of 125–130°F for medium or 145°F for fully cooked. Don't overbake — dry salmon is the main failure mode here. If your fillets are very thick (over 1.5 inches), add 3–4 extra minutes. Leftovers keep for up to 2 days in the fridge and are great cold over a salad or in a grain bowl.
Equipment that helps
- baking dish or rimmed sheet pan — A rimmed pan keeps the olive oil and lemon juices contained so they baste the salmon as it cooks rather than dripping off.
- instant-read thermometer — Takes the guesswork out of salmon doneness so you don't accidentally overcook it — the difference between 125°F and 145°F is the difference between silky and dry.
Find more dinners like this
More like this
