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This lemon dill salmon takes just 10 minutes to bake! Mix up the zesty dill sauce while the salmon cooks. It’s the ultimate healthy, easy weeknight meal.

Lemon dill salmon
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Need an easy weeknight meal? Have we got an idea for you: this lemon dill salmon. It’s fast, it’s easy, and it’s even fancy enough for a dinner party. Alex and I eat the Mediterranean diet: plant based most of the time and seafood every once in a while. When we do, this is one of our favorite salmon recipes of all time!

The baked salmon is tender and savory, and doused in a zingy, creamy lemon dill sauce. Every time we serve it to friends and family, it gets rave reviews!

How to make lemon dill salmon

This lemon dill salmon is so easy and versatile: it works for easy weeknight dinners and is still special enough for dinner parties. When we first made the recipe, Alex and I brought it to friends who just had a baby and they absolutely loved it. Here are the basic steps for how to make this lemon dill salmon:

  • Season with salt and pepper. Place the fillet on a parchment lined baking sheet.
  • Bake for about 10 minutes at 450°F. Bake until it’s flaky and just cooked, about 10 minutes. You can also make pan seared salmon for an even quicker dinner.
  • Mix up the dill sauce for salmon. The sauce takes just 5 minutes to mix up while the fish bakes.
Dill sauce for salmon

5 minute dill sauce for salmon

The best part of this recipe is the lemon dill sauce, which takes only 5 minutes! Some dill sauces for salmon are cooked, but this one is just a matter of stirring together these ingredients:

  • Fresh dill: It’s important to get the fresh herb for this recipe. If you’re in a pinch, substitute dried.
  • Mayonnaise and Greek yogurt: Dill sauce is traditionally very rich, so we’ve cut it a bit with Greek yogurt.
  • Lemon: Fresh lemon is key for the zingy flavor.
  • Garlic and onion powder: These spices add big flavor.

Take a taste, and you may want to use this dill sauce on lots of other things too! It would be great on shrimp, baked trout, baked cod, grilled halibut, French fries, baked potato wedges, steamed broccoli or steamed cauliflower.

Lemon salmon with dill sauce

Tips for buying sustainable salmon

Are you looking at buying sustainable fish for this lemon dill salmon? (If so, kudos!) Here are a few pointers for buying sustainable seafood:

  • Look for wild-caught fish if possible. If you live in the US, look for US caught. 90% of the seafood we eat in the US is imported. Imported seafood runs the risk of being overfished, caught under unfair labor practices, or farmed in environmentally harmful ways.
  • How your fish is caught matters. Look for hook and line as one example of a sustainable gear type. Bottom trawling is considered the most destructive and least sustainable method.

Sides to go with lemon dill salmon

There are lots of ways to serve this lemon dill salmon to make it a healthy meal! Here are some favorite sides to go with salmon, for weeknights or entertaining:

Tip: This recipe is included in our Mediterranean Diet Meal Plan! It has recipes for 1 month and a meal planning spreadsheet download.

Dietary Notes

This lemon dill salmon recipe is pescatarian and gluten-free.

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Lemon Dill Salmon (Easy Dinner!)

Lemon dill salmon
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4.5 from 2 reviews

This fast lemon dill salmon takes just 10 minutes to bake! Mix up the zesty dill sauce as it cooks. It’s the ultimate healthy, easy weeknight meal!

  • Author: Sonja Overhiser
  • Prep Time: 10 minutes
  • Cook Time: 10 minutes
  • Total Time: 20 minutes
  • Yield: 4 1x
  • Category: Main Dish
  • Method: Baked
  • Cuisine: Mediterranean

Ingredients

Scale

For the salmon

  • 4 salmon fillets (skin on or off)
  • Kosher salt
  • Black pepper

For the lemon dill sauce (makes about ¾ cup)

  • 2 tablespoons finely chopped dill (see Notes)
  • ¼ cup Greek yogurt
  • 6 tablespoons mayonnaise
  • 1 tablespoon lemon juice
  • ¼ teaspoon garlic powder
  • ¼ teaspoon onion powder
  • ⅛ teaspoon kosher salt
  • 2 teaspoons water

Instructions

  1. Preheat the oven to 450°F.*
  2. Generously sprinkle the salmon with kosher salt and fresh ground black pepper. Place it on a parchment-lined baking sheet.
  3. Bake the salmon for about 10 minutes until flaky and just cooked; test it with a fork to assess doneness. Watch the salmon to make sure not to overcook; the timing can vary based on the thickness of the salmon and variations between ovens.
  4. While the salmon bakes, mix together the sauce ingredients, adding the water last. Use the water to bring it to a loose, drizzle-able consistency. (You may need a touch more depending on your yogurt brand.)
  5. Serve the salmon and garnish each fillet with 2 tablespoons of the lemon dill sauce. Save leftover sauce refrigerated.

Notes

*You can also pan sear or broiled the salmon to make a quicker recipe. Go to Pan Seared Salmon or Broiled Salmon.

Fresh dill is absolutely essential to this recipe, but if you’re in a pinch, you can use 1 teaspoon dried dill.

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About the authors

Alex & Sonja

Hi! We’re Alex & Sonja Overhiser, authors of the acclaimed cookbooks A Couple Cooks and Pretty Simple Cooking—and a real life couple who cooks together. We founded the A Couple Cooks website in 2010 to share seasonal recipes and the joy of home cooking. Now, we’ve got over 3,000 well-tested recipes, including Mediterranean diet, vegan, vegetarian, pescatarian, smoothies, cocktails, and more!

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4 Comments

  1. JoAnna says:

    Great recipe! I got a huge bunch of fresh dill at the farmers market and this was a perfect way to use some up! The sauce was delish! I used less mayo and more yogurt because of what I had on hand, but it was still great! I made the salmon on a sheet pan with asparagus and cubed white sweet potatoes. The potatoes went in first for about 15 minutes, the I added the rest to the pan for just 10 more minutes. Easy, healthy, and so tasty!






  2. Gabe says:

    ok






  3. Anonymous says:

    Cant wait to make this recipe for my girlfriends next week,
    Sounds wonderful

  4. Christina says:

    Hi! My family loved this recipe. That sauce! Wow! It makes about 1 cup so I’m glad I didn’t double it and even with 5 pieces of salmon, we still had about 1/2 cup extra. I’m thinking it would make a good chip dip too. :) Thank you for this — it was fast, easy, and oh so delicious.