CRISPY Miso Butter Salmon Recipe 味噌バターサーモン

⭐ Why This Recipe is a Star

1. Easy and delicious: This Miso Butter Salmon (味噌バターサーモン) is tender, flaky and scrumptious! With a prep time of 20 minutes and a cooking time of 10 minutes, it'll be ready for dinner in under 30 min! Like this Korean Spicy Salmon, the skin is super crisp and crunchy!
2. Nutritious: Salmon is high in protein, omega-3 fatty acids and low in carbohydrates.
3. Better for your wallet: Japanese cuisine doesn't have to be expensive! Cooking at home is so much cheaper than going out for a fancy Japanese meal, but can taste just as good.

What is Miso?

Miso paste is 1 of the fundamental ingredients of Japanese cuisine. It's a thick paste made from fermented soybeans and a grain, such as barley or rice, that is full of umami. (It's similar to Chinese taucheo and Korean doenjjang.)

There are many different types of miso, which are usually divided into white and red miso. The lighter misos have been fermented for a shorter period of time and have a milder, sweeter flavor.

It's very versatile: you can mix it into butter to make a miso spread for bread, turn it into soup etc.

🥘 Ingredients

You will only need a few simple ingredients for this delicious dish:

• salmon fillets: I recommend skin-on salmon filets. This ensures the salmon stays nice and juicy. (Remove the skin before serving if you're not a fan.) If you can, choose center-cut fillets as these are more likely to be of the same size (about 4-6, so they cook evenly. If you can afford it, wild caught salmon is much better for you, but do note that it has less fat, so it will taste less tender.) Pat the skin with kitchen towels to get it as dry as possible, for crunchy salmon skin. If you REALLY want that crunch, leave the (dried) salmon, skin-side up, in the fridge for an hour. (You can leave the fillets in the marinade, but just make sure the sauce doesn't get on the skin.)
• miso: I use dark miso paste in my process shots, but you can also use white or yellow miso. Darker miso has a stronger flavor and white miso paste a milder, sweeter taste. If it's your first time making this, I suggest using a lighter miso as a dark miso can make it hard to tell if your fish is burning, or it's just the color of the sauce! If on a celiac diet, make sure the miso you're using is GF. (Some contain wheat or barley.) You can get this from the international aisle of most mainstream supermarkets, or the Asian grocery store. If you can't get it, Korean doenjjang will work in a pinch.
• unsalted butter: don't use salted as there's lots of seasoning from the miso and soy already
• oil: to sear the salmon skin, you'll need something with a high smoke point, like clarified butter or some neutral vegetable oils. (I do not recommend olive oil.) Butter on its own will burn easily.
• white sugar: granulated sugar works. I don't use brown sugar as it will create a caramel note.
• sake: the sake and mirin can be used in place of each other, as long as. you adjust the sweetness. If you use all sake (instead of sake + mirin), you'll need to add more sugar.
• mirin: If you use all mirin (and no sake), omit the white sugar. This is widely available now, usually in the international aisle of the local grocery store.
• light soy sauce: This is not the same as dark soy or sweet soy sauce. As miso is pretty salty, I recommend starting with a low-sodium soy sauce and seasoning with salt if you find it needs it. If you're on a Gluten-free diet, use Japanese tamari instead.
• white rice vinegar: substitute with lime juice or apple cider vinegar if necessary
• optional garnishes, black pepper, green onions and sesame seeds: slice the onions and lightly toast the sesame seeds

📖 Variations & Substitutes

• Garlic Butter Miso Salmon: add minced fresh garlic. (Omit if you're baking the salmon, as it will burn.)
• No Butter Miso Salmon: If you want a lighter sauce, sans butter, use the savory sauce from this Nobu-inspired Miso Sea Bass Recipe.
• With veggies: there is quite a lot of sauce left in the pan, so fry up some shimeji mushrooms in it!
• Or just grill or bake the salmon, and serve with some homemade miso butter spread.

🔪 Step-by-Step Instructions

Marinating

1a. Mix the miso, soy sauce, mirin, sake, vinegar and sugar till you no longer see sugar grains.

1b. Dry the salmon skin with a paper towel. Get it as dry as possible. Remove any pin bones.

2a. Place the salmon skin side up, flesh-down into the sauce, being careful not to get any sauce on the skin.

Note: We want the salmon to come to room temperature, so let it marinate at room temperature for 20 minutes before cooking.

If you want the skin super crispy, leave it like this, uncovered, for an hour in the fridge. (Remove it 15-20 minutes before you want to cook so that it can come to room temperature before cooking.)

Cooking

Baking

Bake the salmon on parchment paper for about 15 minutes at 400F or till the salmon is fully cooked. (See Expert Tip #1 below.)

Whilst the salmon is cooking, bring the marinade to a full boil for a few minutes (to kill bacteria), before stirring in the butter. Drizzle the cooked sauce over the baked salmon.

🥡 How to Store

You can keep it in an airtight container in the fridge for 2-3 days.