Meal prep during lockdown? You wouldn’t think so, but we are actually MUCH busier working from home. Weird how that is right? Sometimes we just want something quick but don’t want to compromise on quality or nutritional value so salmon is one of our favorite meals. And of course, we also like to buy in bulk and we all know that fresh fish doesn’t last long so we would often make it ahead for an easy weeknight dinner. Here are 3 super simple sous vide salmon recipes prepared using our new SealVax vacuum sealer and reusable bags. Using the sous vide guarantees us a perfectly cooked, tender, and moist salmon every single time. We’ll show you how to make a teriyaki salmon, a crispy skin salmon, and a creamy Thai curry salmon. The ideas from this basic salmon recipe are endless.
SealVax Vacuum Sealer and Reusable Bags
SealVax was kind enough to send us a sneak peak of their vacuum sealer and reusable bags and sponsor this video. First impressions: the vacuum sealer is TINY, you can literally take it anywhere like a keychain. All the other vacuum sealers that we’ve had have been MUCH larger so we were surprised by its size. We were actually impressed by the suction power given its size.
You can tell that they’ve put a lot of thought into the design and materials of the bag. The bags are durable, feature an antibacterial layer, and can be heated to about 175F – perfect for most sous vide applications. To reduce their carbon footprint they actually source excess products from factories, and reuse the material. The bags are not only reusable, but naturally degradable – meaning that they will start to degrade after they have not been used for a number of years. And Carmen’s favorite part: it’s dishwasher safe.
For those of you wondering, what about liquids? Well, the geniuses at SealVax came up with the Liquid Isolator. It’s a small cup that connects between the bag and vacuum sealer so that if there’s any liquid, it collects into there without getting sucked into the vacuum.
This is such an innovative and sustainable product. You can get your own from their Kickstarter campaign.
The Preparation
The great thing about these salmon recipes is that they are SUPER easy to prepare. I would recommend using it for meal prep at the top of the week and finishing it when you want to eat. Although simple, salmon is super versatile, tasty, and healthy.
The first step is to dry brine the salmon – that’s just a fancy way of saying, salt it and leave it aside for at least 30 mins. As you wait for the salt to do its thing, prepare some aromatics. You can use just about anything here, but we like to keep it pretty simple. In our basic crispy skin salmon recipe we use thyme, for teriyaki we use scallions and ginger, and for the thai inspired curry we throw in some lemongrass and chillies for a nice little kick. We bag it in our reusable Sealvax bags, vacuum seal it, then toss it into the water bath for an hour.
The Sous Vide
We like our salmon firmer and flakier, so we go for a temperature at the higher end of the spectrum. Play around with the temperatures between 120F and 130F (49-55C) depending on your preference for texture, but don’t worry – They’ll all be juicy!
If you’re new to sous vide cooking, check out our beginner’s guide.
The Basic Sous Vide Salmon
This recipe changed it all for us – it is the base for all the other recipes. After the sous vide, you can have it poached, flaked or crispy skinned. For the poached or flaked, you can eat it directly out of the bag as is, or chill it while it’s still in the bag and eat it when you’re ready. To flake the salmon just take a fork and separate it. Our personal preference is skin on, crispy skin salmon. If you prefer no skin, you can easily remove it by peeling it off after cooking. The crispy skin only takes a minute. We like to start by adding some salt on the skin side. Get your pan screaming hot, add in some high smoke point oil, and place it skin side down. Leave it there for about a minute to a minute and a half (it should release on its own), flip and get a nice colour on all the other sides. This will take about 15-30 seconds.
We serve this with some thinly sliced lemons, chives, and a squeeze of lemon on top. The skin is perfectly crispy, the salmon flakes, but it is so juicy and tender. This is one of our favorite ways of making salmon.
Basic Sous Vide Salmon Recipe – Poached, Flaked, or Crispy Skin
Ingredients
- 500 g Salmon 2 portions
- Salt
- Thyme or any fresh herbs
- 1 tbsp Olive Oil
- Chives optional garnish
- Lemon
Instructions
- Generously season the salmon with salt.
- Set aside and allow to dry brine for 30-60 mins.
- Depending on your preference, set your sous vide between 120-130F.
- Place the salmon into the bag, along with the herbs and olive oil.
- Sous vide the salmon for 45 min to 1 hour.
- Once done, remove from the water. Here you can chill and place it in the fridge to make another day or continue onto the finishing step.
Finishing Step
- Remove the fish from the bag, dry it thoroughly, and wipe off any white protein created from the cooking process. Remove the skin if desired.
- Poached: You’re done. You can plate and serve right out of the bag.
- Flaked: you can do this warm or cold, take a fork and flake.
- Crispy Skin: Heat a pan over medium-high heat. Add in enough oil to cover the bottom, we use canola oil.
- Salt the skin side of the salmon.
- Once the oil is smoking hot, add in the salmon skin side down. Allow the skin to crisp. If doing this straight from the sous vide, it should take no more than 90 seconds. Flip it once it’s done – the skin should release itself once it’s ready. Brown the rest of the sides for about 15 seconds or until you get a nice orange crust.
- Plate with lemon slices, garnish with chives, and a squeeze of lemon on top.
Sous Vide Teriyaki Salmon
Working off the basic sous vide salmon recipe, we do our teriyaki salmon. Going into the bag during the sous vide is some ginger and scallion to impart just a bit of flavor. The sauce only has a few ingredients: soy sauce, mirin, sake, and sugar but the flavors it creates are amazing. It’s the perfect combination of sweet, salty, and umami. To finish, you can do it in the oven or the pan.
You can make the glaze first by boiling it down in a saucepan, then brushing it on the salmon and placing it under the broiler. Allow the glaze to bubble up and set, then repeat with another layer of glaze. I usually do about 3-4 layers or until it has a nice color and is shiny.
Alternatively, you can just finish this all in the pan. Prepare your teriyaki sauce ingredients in a bowl and set it aside. We usually remove the skin for this recipe, so sear the salmon briefly on all sides. Turn down the heat, remove the extra oil from the pan then add in the sauce. Allow it to bubble up and thicken while basting the salmon all over. Continue until it’s beautifully glazed and has a nice shine. Careful though, there’s high sugar content so it burns pretty easily.
We serve it with any remaining sauce with a side of rice. We also make an equally delicious and easy to make teriyaki chicken.
Sous Vide Teriyaki Salmon
Ingredients
- 500 g Salmon Fillet 2 portions ~250g each
- Salt
- 3 1" Ginger Slices
- 1/2 cup Japanese Soy Sauce
- 2 tbsp Dark Soy Sauce
- 1/4 cup Sugar
- 2 tbsp Sake
- 2 tbsp Mirin
- Sesame Seeds Optional for garnish
- Scallion Greens Thinly sliced for garnish (optional)
Instructions
- Generously season the salmon with salt.
- Set aside and allow to dry brine for 30-60 mins.
- Depending on your preference, set your sous vide between 120-130F.
- Place the salmon into the bag, along with the ginger, scallion whites, and a pinch of white pepper.
- Sous vide the salmon for 45mins to 1 hour.
- Once done, remove from the water. Here you can chill and place it in the fridge to make another day or continue onto the finishing step.
Finishing
- Remove the fish from the bag, dry it thoroughly, and wipe off any white protein created from the cooking process. Remove the skin if desired.
Under the Broiler
- Start with the glaze, in a saucepan add soy sauce, dark soy sauce, sugar, sake, and mirin. Bring it to a boil and cook down until it’s thick in consistency.
- Turn the oven to broil. Brush on the glaze all over the salmon. Place into the oven and allow the glaze to bubble and set.
- Repeat this 2-3 times until there’s a thick shiny glaze. Keep close watch so it doesn’t burn.
- Serve with any additional sauce and garnish with sesame seeds and scallion greens.
In a Pan
- In a bowl, mix together the soy sauce, dark soy sauce, sugar, sake, and mirin. Set aside.
- Heat a pan over medium-high heat. Add in enough oil to cover the bottom, we use canola oil here.
- Once the oil is smoking hot, add in the salmon skin side down. If you keep the skin, allow it to crisp. If doing this from the bag this should take no more than 90 seconds. Flip it once it’s done – the skin should release itself once it’s ready. Brown the rest of the sides for about 15 seconds or until you get a nice orange crust.
- Turn down the heat to medium and add in your teriyaki sauce mixture prepared earlier. Allow the sauce to thicken, make sure to spoon over top of the salmon.
- Plate, and optionally garnish with sesame seeds and scallion. Serve immediately.
Sous Vide Thai Curry Salmon
This time the sous vide salmon is served in an aromatic, creamy, thai inspired curry. The lemongrass and coconut flavors from this recipe really bring us back to Thailand. It really makes for an impressive dinner and is done in a matter of minutes. We like to have the salmon ready in the fridge and make the curry as needed. While making this curry, your senses are going to be tingled! Not just from cooking the chilli peppers, we couldn’t stop drooling while preparing this – the aroma, the colours, and taste are all amazing. You’ll need to adjust this to your own taste, but we went with red chillies (which can be subbed out for a curry paste or chilli paste), curry powder and turmeric. The flavor also comes from the iconic thai lemon grass.
With how easy these recipes are you will want to work these into your regular arsenal of meal prep. If you want more make ahead recipe ideas, check out our Hainanese Chicken rice, it’s a great for meal prep too!
Thai Inspired Curry Sous Vide Salmon
Ingredients
- 500 g Salmon Fillet 2 portions
- 2 stalks Lemongrass 1 cut into 2 in. pieces & smashes, the other chopped finely
- 3 cloves Garlic minced
- 2" slice Ginger minced
- 1 Red Chilli minced
- 1½ tsp Curry Powder
- 1 tsp Tumeric
- 1 tbsp Brown Sugar
- 1 tbsp Fish Sauce
- 400 ml Coconut Milk
- 1 Lime juice to taste and additional for serving
- Crushed peanuts
- Fried shallots
Instructions
- Generously season the salmon with salt.
- Set aside and allow to dry brine for 30-60 mins.
- Depending on your preference, set your sous vide between 120-130F.
- Place the salmon into the bag, along with the 2” pieces of smashed lemongrass and chillies to taste.
- Sous vide the salmon for 45mins to 1 hour.
- Once done, remove from the water. Here you can chill and place it in the fridge to make another day or continue onto the finishing step.
Finishing Step
- In a pan, add a little bit of oil, add in the garlic, ginger, lemon grass, and chillies to taste. Stir fry until fragrant.
- Add in the curry powder and turmeric powder, and stir in with the aromatics. Once it’s well mixed and fragrant, add in the coconut milk, brown sugar, and fish sauce. Allow it to come to a boil.
- Salt to taste, and finish with the juice of a lime. Adjust the favorings to your liking. Plate this in a shallow bowl and set aside.
- Remove the fish from the bag, dry it thoroughly, and wipe off any white protein created from the cooking process. Remove the skin if desired.
- Heat a pan over medium-high heat. Add in enough oil to cover the bottom, we use canola oil here.
- Once the oil is smoking hot, add in the salmon skin side down. Allow the skin to crisp. If doing this from warm this should take no more than 90 seconds. Flip it once it’s done – the skin should release itself once it’s ready. Brown the rest of the sides for about 15 seconds or until you get a nice orange crust.
- Plate the salmon into the curry, top with fried shallots and/or crushed peanuts, additional chillies if desired, and finish with an additional squeeze of lime juice.
