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This might be the best thing I have ever cooked at home. DELICIOUS. Definitely going in the recipe rotation.
Anna
Creamy Lemon Sauce On Salmon = SO GOOD
Crispy golden brown roasted potatoes: HELLO yes.
Tender baby broccoli with a little crunchy char: check check.
Baked salmon, simply salted, peppered, brushed with olive oil, and baked to flaky perfection: absolutely.
And enter -> the herby, creamy, lemony lemon sauce. Yes, yes, and y-e-s. Everything else is delicious, but if we’re being honest, it really just serves in the supporting role for this sauce.
This lemon sauce is a showstopper. It’s creamy and rich and light all at the same time. It starts with shallots and gets infused with a few sprigs of fresh thyme and finished with a little sizzle of lemon juice, and it feels like there should be more to explain but really, that is the beauty of it. It’s simple and it’s got really beautiful, gentle, universally delicious flavor and just MWAH.
This is me raising my glass to you as we eat salmon smothered in lemon sauce with bites of crispy potato and broccoli in our home kitchens / pretend fancy restaurants together. It’s just such a treat and I hope you love it. Enjoy!
Why This Is The Best Beginner Salmon Recipe
Even if you’ve never made salmon before, YOU CAN MAKE this baked salmon for dinner. I know you can.
Baking salmon, to me, feels like the best intro into cooking salmon. It’s simple and hands-off, and all you need to do is check the temperature at the end of the cook time to make sure it’s good to go, and you’ve got salmon for dinner.
If you’re looking to take it a step further and try cooking it in different ways, check out our how-to guide for how to cook salmon.
How To Make This Creamy Lemon Sauce For Salmon
1
Bake Everything on a Sheet Pan.
Bake your potatoes, broccoli, and salmon on a sheet pan. They each have separate cooking times so we’ll just add them at various intervals.
2
Make the Lemon Sauce.
Ideally when things are roasting since you’ll have a little time on your hands, get out a pan and make a quick but AMAZING lemon sauce. The herbs, the shallots, the creaminess with the zip of lemon. UGH I could cry. Try not to eat spoonfuls of it while waiting for your salmon. Or just give in. It’s so good.
3
Plate The Salmon with The Sauce
Pile your roasted goodness onto a plate or shallow bowl and liberally cover with sauce. Notice I did not say drizzle. I said cover. Words matter. The lemon sauce is intended for the salmon, mostly, but let me tell you: potatoes and broccoli straight up dunked in leftover sauce is next-level.
How To Make This Lemon Sauce Salmon (Video)
Editing and testing note as of 5/19/26! I made this for dinner tonight and made some slight changes to the sauce ratios. Most notably, I reduced the butter down to just 1 tablespoon. This makes it easier for the sauce to come together into a cohesive, creamy, luscious texture. The updated version is SO good and way easier. I drenched that sauce all over some salmon and roasted potatoes, and it was DELICIOUS.
If you notice that the sauce in the videos looks slightly different than the written recipe amounts, that’s why! 🙂
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Baked Salmon with Amazing Lemon Sauce
- Total Time: 50 minutes
- Yield: 3–4 servings (depends on how much salmon you use) 1x
Description
Delicious baked salmon with crispy potatoes, broccoli, and the most amazing life-changing lemon sauce smothered on top of it all. This is restaurant bistro-style eating!
Ingredients
- 1 lb. small gold potatoes, cut into bite-sized pieces
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- 1/2 teaspoon each garlic powder and salt
- 2–3 cups of broccoli florets (I’m using baby broccoli in the photos)
- 1.5–2 lbs. salmon (cut into 2-4 filets)
- 1 tablespoon salted butter
- 2 cloves garlic, minced
- 1 shallot, minced
- 1/2 cup chicken broth
- 3/4 cup heavy cream
- 4–5 sprigs of fresh thyme
- 2 teaspoons lemon zest and 1 tablespoon lemon juice
- extra thyme leaves for garnish
Instructions
- Roast the Potatoes: Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. Line a baking sheet with parchment. Add the potatoes to the pan and toss with olive oil, garlic powder, and salt. Roast for 25 minutes until lightly browned and delicious.
- Make the Lemon Cream Sauce: While the potatoes are roasting, make your sauce. Melt the butter over medium low heat. Add the garlic and shallot; sauté for 3-5 minutes until soft and fragrant. Add broth, cream, and thyme; bring to a low simmer. Let the sauce hang out over low heat until it starts to thicken. It will reduce by about half. Remove the thyme sprigs. Whisk in the lemon juice and zest. Give it a taste. Yes, you’re in heaven now.
- Bake the Salmon and Broccoli: Add the broccoli and the salmon to the potato pan (keeping the potatoes on there). Toss or brush with a little more olive oil, garlic powder, and salt. Bake for another 10-15 minutes, until the salmon is done to your liking – I like it to be *just* past the point of translucent where it flakes apart very easily but isn’t dried out (about 10 minutes).
- You’re Done: Serve salmon, potatoes, and broccoli with a big spoonful of sauce and some lemon wedges. This is living. ♡
Notes
* For those looking for the old sauce recipe, the ingredients were as follows.
6–8 tablespoons butter
1–2 cloves garlic, minced
1 shallot, minced
2–3 sprigs of fresh thyme
1/2 cup heavy cream
1/2 cup chicken broth
juice of 1 lemon
2 tablespoons chopped fresh parsley or basil
salt and pepper to taste
Lindsay updated this recipe because the previous sauce was more butter-based, so you had to cook it down for quite a while in order for the sauce to thicken and come together. It works much more naturally to use less butter and more cream, so less simmering is needed for a cohesive sauce.
- Prep Time: 10 minutes
- Cook Time: 40 minutes
- Category: Dinner
- Method: Roast
- Cuisine: American
Keywords: baked salmon, lemon sauce, salmon recipe
Baked Salmon with Amazing Lemon Sauce: FAQs
Salmon skin is technically edible, but I personally don’t eat it. I like to just slide the skins off the filets before plating it, since they come off very easily after baking.
Overcooking your salmon will cause it to dry out! And, sad news: it doesn’t taste good. You can use a meat thermometer if you want to get very precise with your temperature – but I usually don’t use one and I just go off of how it looks and feels. I’ll often flake apart one piece to check for a moist, opaque center before deciding if it’s done or if it needs another minute or two in the oven, even though it messes up the presentation slightly. I find that regardless of size of filets or oven variations, somewhere between 10-15 minutes is usually the right amount of time for the doneness that I like.
The sauce might thicken and/or separate as you let it rest, so I think it is best served fresh; however, it is still delicious the next day if you just reheat and whisk it back together, maybe adding a little water as needed. Works great on leftover potatoes with an egg for breakfast!
To get the right thickness and texture, I highly recommend using heavy whipping cream for this recipe. If you only have half-and-half, you could also add a small amount of cornstarch slurry at the end to thicken things up.
More Salmon Sauce Recipes I Love
- Coconut Curry Salmon (salmon has never been this good!)
- BBQ Salmon Bowls with Mango Avocado Salsa (bring your self-control with this salsa because it’s gooooood)
- Spicy Salmon Burgers (a delicious, SOS-friendly dinner on your table in a jif)
- Perfect Baked Salmon with Lentils and Lemon Herb Sauce (just toss it all on a pan and bake it – super easy!)
- 5-Minute Magic Green Sauce (a super quick sauce to add YUM to everything!)
One More Thing!
This recipe is part of our completely delicious broccoli recipes page. Check it out!
I remember this recipe having basil in the sauce as well as thyme. In the video the basil is there as well, can you please either let me know how much basil to use or put it back into the recipe card? I loved the recipe before using both!
hello! here is the old recipe ingredients:
6–8 tablespoons butter
1–2 cloves garlic, minced
1 shallot, minced
2–3 sprigs of fresh thyme
1/2 cup heavy cream
1/2 cup chicken broth
juice of 1 lemon
2 tablespoons chopped fresh parsley or basil
salt and pepper to taste
For context, Lindsay updated this recipe because the previous sauce was more butter-based so you had to cook it down for quite a while in order for the sauce to thicken and come together. It works much more naturally to use less butter, and more cream, so it takes less simmering to get a cohesive sauce.
This is on repeat at our house. All three kids ask for this without prompting. I love that I can make this quickly but then everyone can assemble their own plate. The best!!
Another amazing recipe from POY!!! 🙂 This recipe rejuvenated our enjoyment of salmon!! I haven’t made it at home in forever so after seeing this recipe on IG I thought I’d give it a try. I’ve had it as an open tab on my laptop for a while now but finally made it last night! YUM!!! The sauce ties it all together SO, SO well!! Thank you, Lindsay!! You keep me feeling fresh in the kitchen!!
Did you take some of the other herbs out of the recipe? I remember there being basil in this as an option but now the recipe looks different.
Is there any possible way you could send me the original ratios before the change? I love this lemon sauce with white fish and even on chicken. Is the butter the only change? I also remember parsley? Thank you! I love your website
This was my dinner tonight (sans broccoli, as I didn’t have it at hand), and it was DELICIOUS!
Best salmon I ever had, thank you!
Love this recipe and have made it many times but looks like you’ve now updated the lemon sauce. Can you please share the original recipe with me?
Same here please!
Like many others have said – the sauce did not thicken.
Sorry to say the sauce was a disaster. I followed all directions and all I was left with as a runny solution. Nothing thickened up after I spent half an hour waiting for it to boil down to something I could serve.
Made this tonight with my boyfriend & it was DELICIOUS! Definitely saving this recipe
Hello, loved the flavor of the sauce, but I couldn’t get mine as thick as yours looks. Mine is pretty thin, what am I doing wrong??
Thanks!
Lemon sauce was a bust. One lemon was too much. It took over the sauce and gave it a bitter taste the cancelled everything else. I suggest a recipe that says a teaspoon to begin with and add lemon to control it.
Delicious. The sauce was outstanding – we put it on everything. I used a couple of tablespoons of whipping cream and the rest 1/2 and 1/2 to make up the total amount needed. Will definitely make this one again – and again.
The flavor was great but I couldn’t get the sauce to thicken. Love how the herbs, lemon, cream, butter flavors meld together!
This looks and sounds delicious! Can the sauce be made ahead of time (like 3 hours ahead?) Or left to simmer for an hour or so as guests arrive?
Yes, sauce can be made ahead! And then just rewarm on low when you are ready to serve.
Absolutely delicious!! I used it on ( left over) baked salmon fillets (which I nuked). I’ll have to make it for my family next time I cook salmon. Thanks so much!
The lemon sauce looks like the perfect complement to the salmon. I usually sous vide fish, but this baked version looks too good not to try!
Gosh, I finally gave up trying to find the lemon sauce recipe. No one else doesn’t really care what your baby thinks about it? Page after page after page of bla bla, and navigating around popup ads. I’m exhausted.
This was seriously so good and so easy. Salmon is a family favorite, and I love having another preparation in my arsenal that is totally doable any day of the week. Thanks for another great recipe!
I see several others asking about dairy-free options for this, so I wanted to add my experience since I have made this sauce 3 times now, about to make it for a 4th for my meal-prep to finish out this New Year’s week!
I make this sauce with Earth Balance vegan butter sticks and full fat canned coconut milk in place of the cream. The sauce does not come out quite as thick as it would with dairy cream, but it is still extremely flavorful and does still thicken up a bit. I tried using cornstarch once to add to the thickness, but this ended up separating later on, I assume by contribution of the acidity from the lemon, so definitely won’t be trying that trick again. Just sticking with the cocomilk.
I like to make my salmon with crispy potatoes and green beans and I just smother all of it in the sauce because it pairs so well with everything on the plate. Shallots are SO underrated and I’m keen to have a recipe I’ll make so often which uses one. In full disclosure: I only use this recipe for the sauce since I’ve got my own tried-and-true method for crispy potats, but this sauce will absolutely remain part of my meal-prep rotation for the foreseeable future.
Many thanks for this one, Krista!
I so so wanted to like this as I love savory lemon dishes! like others noted, it didn’t thicken – I added a cornstarch slurry to help with that. But, one whole lemon juiced was sooo much lemon, it overpowered all of the other flavors. It tastes like I just squeezed lemon over the salmon – all the garlic, thyme, etc was lost. I’d recommend starting with half a lemon and adding more if needed.
Your recipes look great!
I tried this tonight with lactose free ingredients and it was so good!! I had to do little tweaks. I used 3dl of cream as I wanted it to have more sauce. I also used dried instead of fresh parsley. And just used 1tsp of lemon juice as I didn’t want it to be sour. Maybe I’ll add little bit more next time. Used asparagus than broccolini. Thank you very much!
Sorry I’ve tried several of your recipes and they were all good this one not so much. Salmon was bland,sauce never got close to thickening and all I could taste was garlic.
Sooo good!! We do not cook salmon very much for our kids but decided to give it a try! They both rated it 1000. (We rate our dinners 1-10!!) So this one was a HIT!!
Love that! Thanks for sharing, Sarah!