Creamy Cajun Salmon

This Creamy Cajun Salmon is absolutely loaded with flavour. Quick, easy, rich and delicious, this truly is the ultimate cajun salmon recipe!

Cajun Salmon

Cajun seasoning and salmon go together so beautifully. The salmon takes on the spice so well, and when you chuck in a few other goodies the whole thing just turns in to one heck of a good time!

Marinating Salmon

First thing you’ll want to do is whip together a quick marinade of cajun seasoning, lime juice and olive oil. This will work its way into the salmon and give it an extra punch of flavour. You only need to marinate for 20mins or so, I usually do it as I prep all the other ingredients.

What kind of salmon to use?

You’ll want to use boneless fillets, which are readily available in all supermarkets. I also highly recommend using skinless fillets. Salmon skin is at its best if it’s super crispy, but because here it’s wrapped in a creamy sauce here it tends to go a little soggy.

Process shots: add cajun seasoning, lime juice, olive oil and s&p to shallow dish (photo 1), whisk to combine (photo 2), coat salmon fillets (photo 3), cover and marinate (photo 4).

How to make Cajun Salmon

When it comes to cooking the salmon, the best way is pan frying. By pan frying (as opposed to baking) you get more of a golden crust on the salmon (i.e more flavour). PLUS you get to baste the salmon in butter, which creates the base of the creamy sauce. In general here’s a few tips for pan frying salmon:

• Room Temp – Like any meat, you’ll want the salmon fairly close to room temp. In this context that means just marinating at room temp, not back in the fridge.
• Non-Stick – Salmon is notorious for flaking apart in the pan, so ensure you are using a non-stick pan to help prevent this!
• Heat – You’ll want the heat on a high-medium. This will help create a nice golden crust on the salmon.
• Slightly undercook – You’ll want to cook the salmon about 80-90%. It will continue cooking outside the pan and when you add it back in the sauce.

Once you’ve cooked the salmon, remove from the pan and leave all that buttery goodness in the pan!

Process shots: add salmon to pan (photo 1), fry, flip then add butter (photo 2), baste in butter (photo 3), fry until nearly cooked right through (photo 4).

Creamy Cajun Salmon

To be honest the salmon is delicious once it’s fried, but when have I not taken things a step further and doused something perfectly good in a creamy sauce? 😂

Creamy Cajun Sauce

This sauce itself is largely made from 4 components:

• Stock – I use chicken stock but you can use veg stock if that’s what you have.
• Cream – Double/Heavy cream of course. Make sure it’s room temp so it doesn’t curdle when it hits the pan.
• Parmesan – This gives an extra layer of flavour to the sauce and compliments the salmon nicely (think parmesan crusted salmon!).
• White Wine – This helps cuts through the richness of the sauce and also helps deglaze the pan. You can sub stock if you can’t use alcohol.

Alongside this I love throwing in onion/garlic, sun dried tomatoes, extra cajun seasoning and baby spinach! Remember you’ve got that spicy, buttery goodness from frying the salmon too 😛

Process shots: add onion to leftover butter (photo 1), fry then add garlic (photo 2), stir in sun dried tomatoes and cajun seasoning (photo 3), add wine and reduce (photo 4), pour in cream and stock (photo 5), add parmesan (photo 6), add spinach and simmer (photo 7), add salmon (photo 8).

Serving Cajun Salmon

Once you’ve added the salmon back in just give it a good old slathering of the creamy sauce. I tend to serve this with rice or potatoes, but you can really serve with anything you fancy!

Alrighty, let’s tuck into the full recipe for this creamy cajun salmon shall we?!

How to make Creamy Cajun Salmon (Full Recipe & Video)

5 from 7 votes

Creamy Cajun Salmon

By: Chris Collins

This Creamy Cajun Salmon is absolutely loaded with flavour. Quick, easy, rich and delicious, this truly is the ultimate cajun salmon recipe!

Prep: 10 minutes mins

Cook: 20 minutes mins

Total: 50 minutes mins

Servings: 4

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Equipment

• Large Non-Stick Pan & Tongs
• Shallow Dish/Zip Lock Bag (for marinating)
• Jug (for stock & Cream)
• Wooden Spoon
• Sharp Knife & Chopping Board
• Cling Film

Ingredients 

1x2x3x

Salmon

• ▢ 4 boneless skinless Salmon Fillets, (approx 7oz/200g each)
• ▢ 1 tbsp EACH: Cajun Seasoning, Olive Oil, Lime Juice
• ▢ 1/4 tsp EACH: Salt, Black Pepper, or to taste (see notes)

Creamy Cajun Sauce

• ▢ 1 cup / 240ml Heavy/Double Cream, at room temp
• ▢ 1/2 cup / 120ml Chicken Stock (can sub veg stock)
• ▢ 1/4 cup / 60ml Dry White Wine, or more stock (see notes)
• ▢ 1 cup / 125g Sun Dried Tomatoes, diced
• ▢ 1/3 cup / 30g freshly grated Parmesan
• ▢ 2 tbsp / 1oz / 30g Unsalted Butter
• ▢ 2 large handfuls of Baby Spinach
• ▢ 2 cloves of Garlic, finely diced
• ▢ 1 medium Onion, finely diced
• ▢ 1 tbsp Cajun Seasoning

Cook ModePrevent your screen from going dark

Instructions 

• In a shallow dish or zip lock bag whisk together 1 tbsp cajun seasoning, lime juice and olive oil with 1/4 tsp salt and pepper (or to taste). Add in salmon and give the fillets an even coating of the marinade. Pop over cling film and allow to rest at room temp for up to 20mins.
• In a large non-stick pan over medium high heat add in the salmon fillets up-side-down (i.e 'skin' side down) and fry for 3mins, or until golden. Carefully flip over and make space for butter.
• Drop in 2 tbsp butter and baste the salmon for 1-2mins, or until the other side starts to turn golden. By this point the salmon should be close to cooked in the centre, but not fully. Just nice and golden on the outside. You can tell it's cooked when the salmon starts to flake. Also look at the sides. Remove salmon and place to one side.
• Lower heat to medium and add onion to the leftover butter. Fry until it begins to soften/turn golden then add garlic and fry for another couple of mins. Add in sun dried tomatoes and 1 tbsp cajun seasoning and fry for 1 min, then pour in wine and use you wooden spoon to deglaze the pan. Allow the wine to reduce right down (important to burn off the alcohol) then pour in stock and cream.
• Add parmesan and stir until it melts, then add spinach and turn heat down to low-medium. Allow to simmer for 5mins or so until the spinach wilts down and the sauce begins to thicken, stirring occasionally. Add back in the salmon fillets, pour over sauce then serve up and enjoy!

Video

Notes

a) Room Temp/Marinating - Important the salmon is close to room temp before it hits the pan or it tends to seize up and break apart easier. Marinate for as long as you have time for (up to 20mins) even if it's just 5mins! I usually use this time to prep the rest of the ingredients.

b) Seasoning - Different cajun seasonings can be different in terms of salt content. I recommend just dabbing the end of your finger in the seasoning to check how salty it is. Also just be careful with the seasoning in the sauce as the sun dried tomatoes, stock and parmesan can already be quite salty. Much easier to add more salt than take it away!

c) Wine - This is to cut through the richness of the sauce and help deglaze the pan. I recommend using it if you can as it gives the sauce a more complex flavour, but if you can't use alcohol just use more stock. The sauce just might be slightly richer than if using wine!

d) Serving - I usually just serve this with rice, or potatoes. Be go wild and serve with whatever you fancy!

e) Calories - whole recipe divided by 4 with no sides:

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Nutrition

Calories: 691kcal | Carbohydrates: 15.57g | Protein: 59.29g | Fat: 43.78g | Saturated Fat: 20.342g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 4.716g | Monounsaturated Fat: 14.445g | Trans Fat: 0.138g | Cholesterol: 228mg | Sodium: 1294mg | Potassium: 1313mg | Fiber: 2.8g | Sugar: 8.36g | Vitamin A: 3054IU | Vitamin C: 12.4mg | Calcium: 227mg | Iron: 3.03mg

Looking for more?

You’ll find plenty more delicious comfort food like this in my Debut Cookbook ‘Comfy’

For another delicious cajun recipe check out my Creamy Cajun Chicken Pasta, Cajun Chicken with Avocado Corn Salsa and Creamy Cajun Chicken Thighs!

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