I Made the Viral Salmon

Or, well, at least I think I made the viral honey-glazed salmon. Sometimes, when a recipe is so popular on social media, it’s impossible to know whether you’re making an original recipe or a derivative of the original. (I mention this because I like to give credit to people who invent things, but let me assure you, either way, you’ll very much enjoy the version I’ve doctored up.) The recipe entails slicing a salmon filet into cubes, tossing it with a combination of soy sauce, honey, sesame oil, and rice vinegar, then sautéing it over high heat and serving with avocado slices. The revolution here is not in the flavor combo — it’s more in the low-stress, fast-cooking technique. It’s easy to get those cubes charry outside but tender and rare inside.

You can feel free to serve over rice or a simple green salad, if that’s what time allows, but because the salmon and avocado are both on the smushy side, it was important to me to have a crunchy crispy element (cucumbers, snow peas, etc).

Honey-Soy Glazed Salmon Bowl With Avocado
Serves 2 (but recipe can be doubled)

Salad
1 small cucumber, sliced
3 scallions (white and light green parts), minced
12-15 snow peas chopped (optional)
cilantro (for garnish, optional)
olive oil & lemon juice

Salmon
8 ounces salmon fillet, cut into 1-inch cubes as shown
1 teaspoon grated ginger
1 clove garlic, pressed or grated
1 tablespoon soy sauce
1 tablespoon rice vinegar
2 teaspoons honey
1 teaspoon sesame oil
1 tablespoon (un-toasted) sesame seeds
1 tablespoon neutral oil
1 avocado, halved and sliced thin
cilantro and scallions (for serving)

Spicy mayo
3 tablespoons mayo
2 teaspoons Sriracha
mixed

Combine all the salad ingredients in two separate shallow single-serving bowls and toss.

In a mixing bowl, combine the salmon, ginger, garlic, soy sauce, rice vinegar, honey, sesame oil, and sesame seeds. Toss so the salmon cubes are well coated and let sit about 10 minutes if you have time.

Heat the oil in a large nonstick skillet over medium-high heat. Using tongs, add salmon pieces to the hot pan, making sure not to crowd the pan. (You might have to do this in batches, which didn’t cause my usual impatient annoyance, since the cooking is fast.) Fry salmon for a total of about 3 minutes, flipping a few times to get 2 or 3 of the sides browned. It should look caramelly and lacquered like my picture.

Place the salmon pieces on top of your salad greens along with the avocado slices. Heap the spicy mayo (3 tablespoons mayo, 2 teaspoons Sriracha, mixed) on the side and serve. If I had one of those nifty squeeze bottles, I’d use that to drizzle the spicy mayo all over the top, but I don’t, so I didn’t.

Thoughts? Would you make this? Any other salmon recipes you love? Follow Jenny’s newsletter Dinner: A Love Story, if you’d like.

P.S. More Jenny recipes we love:
* chicken parm meatballs
* one-dish sausage bake
* smashed pea toast
* soup and salad for dinner
* salmon for beginners
* lazy man’s ratatouille
* a crisp for all seasons
* French pound cake, with apples
* a New York breakfast spread