Best Easy Healthy Baked Salmon

Simple, summer nights call for simple, summer dishes like this tasty, meaty, Easy Healthy Baked Salmon. Done in 30 minutes and all in one pan for easy clean up!

If you like simple, easy recipes for your main course, then you’ll also want to try my Best Healthy Grilled Chicken, this Instant Pot Balsamic Pork Tenderloin, or my Garlic Lime Shrimp Marinade.

Best Easy Healthy Baked Salmon recipe | lecremedelacrumb.com

Do you ever wonder if food loves you as much as you love it? Like, does it love you back? I mean, I’m sure it doesn’t REALLY love me back. But sometimes I wish it did. But then I’d feel bad eating it, honestly. Anyway, these are the things I think about when I’m staring at food, trying to figure out the best angle from which to photograph it. I stare at it longingly and also hungrily, as I know I’ll be eating whatever dish I’m taking a picture of really, really soon.

I can’t say I have a lot to say about this salmon, except that it is exactly what I’m calling it: Easy. Healthy. Baked. Well, and Salmon (of course). But, there seriously could not be an easier recipe for baking up the most perfect, lemony, garlicky salmon every single time.

WHAT ARE THE 5 TYPES OF SALMON?

Believe it or not, there are five main kinds of salmon. (Seven total types really, but you’ll really only come across five kinds in the states.) They can be small and weigh around five pounds, or they can grow to be enormous, weighing around 126 pounds!

Some kinds of salmon live in freshwater, some live in saltwater, and some live in both, depending on the season. The five main kinds of salmon are all of the Pacific variety.

Sockeye is a red-colored fish and also happens to be lower in fat than other varieties. It’s a popular variety and quite tasty.
King or Chinook salmon is very high in fat and super expensive. You’ll probably only find this fish in high-end fish markets or fancy restaurants. It has a delightful texture, or mouthfeel to it.
Pink salmon is a very small, pale variety of the fish. This kind of salmon is most often used in the canning process, and what you’ll find when you purchase cans of salmon.
Chum salmon is a type that’s most popular for its roe, or eggs. They are the kind of eggs that you see in sushi rolls. I think the name sounds gross, and would probably not buy it on its own but I guess you can’t judge a fish by its name, right?
Coho salmon is another popular type of fish and is milder in taste than other types of salmon. It’s that silver salmon you most often see in photos of fishermen holding up a giant salmon for photographers, an “I caught a fish THIS BIG” kind of photos.

IS SALMON HEALTHY?

Salmon is a great source of non-animal protein, an almost a perfect source of omega-3s (and what you’ll find in most fish oil capsules), and it has a lot of protein, vitamin B, calcium, potassium, and antioxidants as well. It’s lower in calories and saturated fats than a lot of red meat options, and it has zero carbs, fiber, or sugar.

Eating salmon can help lower your cholesterol and makes a great Meatless Monday option. As you may have been able to tell from my various salmon recipes, we eat it quite a bit!

WHY SALMON IS SO EXPENSIVE?

Salmon is more expensive than other types of protein because there is more work involved in procuring it. If you are eating wild caught, the fish has to be, well, caught…in the wild…by fishermen (women? people?). They are also susceptible to disease (thanks, ironically, to salmon farms, whose waste pollutes the oceans and streams where wild caught salmon live).

Another reason salmon is expensive is because there is a huge demand for it. Once a delicacy, now everyone wants to buy and eat salmon on the reg. It’s basic economics. It depends, too, on the type of salmon you want to buy. I find it is pretty reasonably priced at my grocery store and the bulk salmon they sell at Costco is wonderful too, and budget-friendly.