Teriyaki Salmon for a Man Named ‘Drugy’
When Drugy (‘drew-ghee’) came to me looking for a way to impress his wife, I knew I could help him out.
Who could turn this guy away in his time of need?
Here’s how to prepare a teriyaki/BBQ salmon dish to impress Drugy’s wife.
Protein:
Two 8oz salmon filets
What you’ll need:
Vegetables:
Frozen stir fry vegetables
Starch:
Jasmine rice
Seasonings:
Onion powder
Garlic powder
Salt
Umami mushroom
Garlic Old Bay
Honey sriracha
Sauce:
Sweet Baby Ray’s: Hawaiian Style
Stubb’s Smokey Brown Sugar
Bachan’s Japanese BBQ Sauce
Lemon juice
Equipment:
Ninja Indoor Grill (ideal)
Oven (alternative)
Ridged cast iron skillet (optional with oven)
Fats:
Butter
Peanut oil (vegetable okay)
We’ll cover this recipe in the order I prepared it in. Feel free to do it however you want, but this is a relatively practical, efficient way to deliver a meal with universally warm components.
Steps:
Get a medium/large sauce pan
Add one (1) cup rice
Add two (2) cups water
Add ~ 1 tbsp table salt
Cover, bring to boil
Once boiling, reduce to low and let simmer 12 minutes
After 12 minutes, turn off heat and let rest 15 minutes (leave lid on until you’re ready to plate to keep it warm)
Later: fluff rice just before plating.
Tips:
You’ll want to get the jasmine rice going first. It takes the longest to cook and it holds its heat the longest, as long as you don’t take the lid off of your pan when its done resting.
There are microwaveable bags of jasmine, but they don’t compare to making it on the stove, in my opinion. If you want the best texture and flavor, make it on the stove.
Jasmine rice
Doing great, buddy! Keep it up!
Steps:
Add solid base of onion powder
Add a few cranks of course salt
Add thin layer of Garlic Old Bay
Add thin layer of mushroom umami
Add honey sriracha seasoning to taste. The more you add, the spicier and sweeter it will be.
Add layer of garlic powder
Mix up seasonings until uniform
See below for visualization of my vague ratios.
Tips:
Ratios and exact recipes aren’t my thing. All I can tell you is that there should be more onion powder than any other individual ingredient. The rest is up to you and the flavors you prefer. But don’t skip the umami mushroom or honey sriracha.
A lot of people add their seasonings individually, and that’s fine, but combining them all ahead of time to create one ‘super seasoning’ helps to ensure you get it uniformly dispersed and adhered on the salmon. I’ve said my bit, do whatever you want.
Prep your seasonings
Add a solid base of onion powder.
Add a few cranks of salt. No need to go crazy with it.
Add a thin layer of Garlic & Herb Old Bay Seasoning.
Add a thin layer of mushroom umami seasoning. Feel free to use more.
Hit it with honey sriracha seasoning to taste. Don't leave it out!
Add a layer of garlic powder. If you're not a garlic person, this can be omitted.
Mix up your seasonings until they appear uniformly distributed.
Prep your salmon
Tips:
If your salmon has skin on the bottom, I’d recommend putting your knife (or boiling water) skills to work and removing it. This isn’t a recipe designed to include the salmon’s skin. If you want to leave it on, more power to you, but you’ll need to either slide if off before plating, or scoot it to the side once you’ve eaten your salmon. You know what, just get rid of it.
Steps:
Get your salmon out of the fridge and out of its packaging
Place it into a walled baking pan with paper towel underneath to absorb moisture on the bottom
Pat top dry
Remove paper towels, place salmon back in baking pan
Spoon seasoning onto salmon until covered on top and bottom. Pick up salmon and pat sides onto extra seasoning at bottom of pan. Avoid touching the salmon with your spoon.
Set aside
Wash your hands after handling the salmon, Drugy!
Tips:
As long as you didn’t touch your salmon with the spoon you used to season your salmon, you can use your seasoning bowl to make your sauce in. This lets you pick up any remnant seasonings in the sauce and, maybe more importantly for Drugy, creates one less dish.
If you’re cautious about new flavors, using a classic BBQ sauce you like and slightly modifying it each time you make this dish is a great way to inch your way into new flavors and ideas.
This sauce is the furthest thing from a science. Making it the way described here is replicating what we consider delicious in my house. If you want a smokier, or fruitier, or more savory sauce, do your thing.
Prep your sauce
Steps:
Add Sweet Baby Ray’s Hawaiian Style BBQ Sauce to taste
Add Stubb’s Smokey Brown Sugar BBQ Sauce to taste
Add Bachan’s Japanese BBQ Sauce to taste
Add lemon juice to taste (don’t go bananas with it though)
Add honey sriracha seasoning per your heat tolerance
Mix up until combined, add ingredients as desired to achieve whatever flavor you’re going for
Scroll down below substitute ideas to see how I did it.
Substitute ideas:
For a more savory take on this sauce, add Worcestershire sauce
If you don’t have Japanese BBQ sauce, a soy sauce, brown sugar mixture could work. Just be careful when cooking it, the sugar will burn
Adding minced ginger to this sauce gives it a nice zing
Stubb’s has a lot of other interesting flavors to use
To get a lot of smokiness with little effort, a few drops of Liquid Smoke might be the ticket.
Add to taste. For the teriyaki flavor, ensure this is a core sauce flavor.
Add to taste
Add to taste. To ensure teriyaki flavor, have this be the second most prominent flavor.
Add to taste. Enhances citrus/tang.
Get your cooking method rockin’ and rollin’
Tips:
If you’re using an oven to cook your salmon but want char marks, you’ll want to get a ridged cast iron skillet heating up alongside your oven. I won’t include a step for that, but once its heated, add olive oil, get you char marks on either side (~3 minutes), then add fillets in baking pan to oven. Reduce time in oven based on how long you had them on the cast iron.
Using the Ninja Grill: Set for 8 minutes, but as long as you don’t open it more than twice, you’ll probably only need around 7 minutes.
If baking in oven, spray baking pan with cooking oil so the salmon doesn’t stick to the bottom!
Ninja Grill Settings:
‘Grill’ setting
High
8 Minutes*
Oven Settings:
Bake
380°
12-15 minutes*
Pull out and add sauce at 10 minute mark.
*Ovens and their ability to heat & cook things vary. If you haven’t prepared fish before, I’d recommend using a kitchen thermometer to ensure you’ve hit an internal temperature of 145°. You’re responsible for your own safety.
Cook your vegetables
Tips:
You will add your salmon to the Ninja Grill or oven during this time. Once it’s ready and your vegetables are going, get the salmon cooking.
Stir fry vegetables are pretty forgiving, better to get them going than wait until your salmon is nearly done.
You don’t need to add additional ingredients, especially with a sauce going on the salmon. Salt & pepper works fine, but other ingredients make them interesting. Don’t skip on the butter though.
Steps:
Heat 2 tbs of butter and a little peanut oil over medium/high heat
Wait until it's sizzling
Add vegetables, cover
Wait a minute or two, then take lid off
Stir vegetables to cover in butter/oil mixture
Add honey sriracha seasoning
Reduce to medium/low, stir occasionally
Add Japanese BBQ sauce after a few minutes. Temp should be low enough that it doesn’t burn right away.
Toss to ensure vegetables are uniformly covered
Once done to your liking, turn off burner and put lid on
Yes Drugy, the vegetables are recommended.
Heat your butter and oil
Add your vegetables and cover
Coat vegetables in butter/oil mixture, add honey sriracha seasoning
Lower temp, add Japanese BBQ sauce
Tips:
For presentation’s sake, place your salmon top side down when first placing it on the grill.
For oven cooking, leave salmon bottom side down for duration of cooking.
When flipping in Ninja Grill, it’s easiest to use two spatulas; one to get underneath it and turn it, the other to receive it and place it where you’d like on the grill.
Cook your salmon
Ninja Grill Steps:
Once Ninja is heated up, add seasoned salmon top side down
After four (4) minutes, use spatulas to flip salmon
Cook salmon additional two (2) minutes
Open Ninja, add thin layer of prepared sauce on top
Cook for additional one (1) minute and 15 seconds*
Open Ninja Grill and leave it open with salmon on it while preparing plates
Oven Steps:
Spray baking pan with non-stick spray
Add salmon
Place in oven for 10 minutes
Remove from oven
Add prepared sauce
Place back in oven for 2-5 minutes*
Remove from oven, check temperature
Leave in baking pan while preparing plates
*Again, ovens and their ability to heat & cook things vary. If you haven’t prepared fish before, I’d recommend using a kitchen thermometer to ensure you’ve hit an internal temperature of 145°. You’re responsible for your own safety.
Place salmon on grill, top side down.
Wait four (4) minutes, flip salmon.
Wait additional two (2) minutes, open, add sauce on top of salmon.
Cook additional one (1) minute and 15 seconds, open grill and leave open.
Plating
Tips:
Large, shallow bowls are the most practical for eating this dish. They also do a bang up job framing it if you’re particularly proud of what you’ve made and want to take a picture.
Leave the salmon on the grill until plated to retain warmth (unless you suspect you’ve overcooked it); bring the plates over to the grill when it comes time to plate
Err on the side of caution when it comes to adding additional sauce for your guests’ plates. You can always add sauce later, but it’s pretty tough to take it off.
Steps:
Fluff rice
Add a few spoonfuls of rice to each bowl; spread evenly
Add vegetables to center of rice
Place salmon atop vegetables
Add sauce to salmon and around plate
See below for plating sequence.
Add desired amount of rice.
Put vegetables on top of rice.
Add salmon to center of plate.
Drool a little bit. (But not onto the food!)
Add more sauce as desired.
Once you’ve executed this dish a few times, it becomes really easy to do by memory and begin altering. Salmon is great at taking on different flavors and complementing other foods. Do interesting things with it.
Finding ingredients:
Honey Sriracha: I’ve only ever found this as Good & Gather Honey Sriracha Seasoning at Target stores.
Similarly, the easiest place to find umami mushroom seasoning is via the Good & Gather brand at Target stores. But I have found one alternative at Pete’s Market stores.
Costco’s Kirkland brand stir fry vegetables are our go-to.