Fresh flavors and touch of sweet heat, Honey Sriracha Salmon Salad is an easy salad recipe perfect for a small gathering or meal for two. Zoodles, blackberries and a ginger honey salad dressing round out all the flavors in this bright main dish salad.
Don't you love a salad that is a meal? It's seriously the best of all worlds in one bowl. And one that has clean ingredients and fresh flavor makes you feel good just eating it. Honey Sriracha Salmon Salad is exactly all those things. Sheet pan salmon over some spiralized zucchini noodles with a smattering of blackberries and cashews —YUMMO! And just try to not want to drink the honey ginger dressing.
Just sayin'.
As with a lot of my recipes, this is another recipe I call a "building block" —that's because you can swap out what you don't like and pop in what you do. Other building block recipes like this are my Farro with Three Green Veggies and Italian Arugula Salad. So good!
You get the idea. Back to this super easy salmon salad recipe...
Make sticky salmon glaze
One of the best glazes for salmon is a sticky one, don't you agree? That combo of sticky sweet coupled with the heat from the sriracha is one I could literally put on everything. Mix together:
- honey
- sriracha
- soy sauce or tamari if you prefer a gluten-free option
- apple cider vinegar
Best way to roast salmon
There are lots of ways to roast salmon but the high heat method is my favorite. You can broil it if you want to babysit it a little more but I find that cooking it at 450Ëš is a good way to cook it while getting that sticky glaze on top.
- Place the salmon fillets on a sheet pan leaving some space in between.
- Brush the glaze over the top and sides of the salmon.
- Bake for 15 minutes until salmon is firm to the touch and registers 145Ëš on a meat thermometer.
Now wasn't that easy?
While the salmon is roasting, let's spiralize some zucchini.
Do I have to spiralize my zucchini?
Of course not. As my husband would say, you don't have to do anything you don't want to do. Spiralizing is just a fancy way to trick our brains into thinking we are eating pasta. And there are def days where pasta like this Lemon Garlic Bucatini would be preferred. But spiralizing is cool, right? And we feel good after eating zoodles.
If you don't have a spiralizer like this one, you can use:
- a vegetable peeler
- a mandoline
- a large cheese grater or grater attachment on your food processor
Mix up the salad dressing
Nothing easier than this. Grab a measuring cup and to it you'll add:
- olive oil (or your favorite oil)
- apple cider vinegar
- minced ginger
- minced garlic
- honey
Assemble the salad
- Layer some zoodles (or whatever you're using as your base) into a wide bowl.
- Toss with a little dressing.
- Top with a piece of spicy baked salmon.
- Sprinkle on some blackberries and cashews.
- Drizzle over some more dressing.
Common questions about salmon salad
Of course not! You can spiralize carrots instead. Or skip spiralizing all together and use baby spinach or greens or even cold rice noodles.
Zucchini is very watery but you can blot the zoodles dry immediately after spiralizing and eat them right away. If you're not quite ready to eat, sprinkle on some salt and let the zoodles sit in a colander for about 10 minutes to release water. Wrap in paper towels to and lightly press to get out all the extra moisture.
Of course! Mahi mahi would be a great substitute for salmon here. Epicurious has a great cheat sheet for swapping out different types of fish.
Refer to the "do I have to spiralize my zucchini?" You do you, my friend!
Tips
For a few: Make as is! Or roast an extra piece of salmon for lunch the next day.
For a crew: Roast as many pieces of salmon as needed per person. Spiralize approximately one zucchini for every two people.
Honey Sriracha Salmon Salad with Blackberries and Cashews
Ingredients
For the salmon
- 1½ Tablespoons honey
- 1 Tablespoon sriracha
- 1 Tablespoon soy sauce
- 1½ teaspoon apple cider vinegar
- 2 salmon fillets
For the dressing
- ¼ cup olive oil
- â…› cup apple cider vinegar
- 2 teaspoons honey
- 1 teaspoon chopped garlic
- 1 teaspoon grated ginger, I use a zester like this one
- ¼ teaspoon kosher salt
- â…› teaspoon ground black pepper
For the salad
- 1 large zucchini, or two smaller ones, ends removed.
- ½ pint blackberries, washed and blotted dry
- ½ cup roasted cashews, you can use raw or unsalted, if preferred.
Instructions
For the salmon
- Preheat the oven to 450°.
- Mix all of the glaze ingredients together in a small bowl.
- Brush evenly over sides and top of salmon. If you don't use it all, that's ok. You can brush more on while the salmon is roasting.
- Place the salmon on a middle rack and roast until a thermometer reaches 145° or about 10-15 minutes. Check after 10 minutes (and reglaze at this point).
For the dressing
- In a measuring cup, whisk together all the ingredients and taste for seasoning. Add additional salt, pepper (or even vinegar!) to taste. Set aside.
For the salad
- Using either a hand held or countertop spiralizer, spiralize your zucchini.
- If eating right away, blot dry with paper towels. If not, sprinkle a little bit of salt and let sit in a colander for about 10 minutes. Blot until dry.
- Divide the zucchini into 2 bowls. Place a piece of salmon on top. Sprinkle over the blackberries and cashews and drizzle over the dressing.
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