Name: Lemon Pepper Salmon
Prep time: 3 min
Cook time: 15 min
Total time: 18 min
Ingredients: 8 ounces salmon; 1 lemon; 1 teaspoon pepper (freshly cracked); 1/4 teaspoon garlic (granulated); salt (optional)

Lemon Pepper Salmon is a well-known salmon seasoning recipe. You can use lemon zest and cracked pepper instead of lemon pepper seasoning for a fresh and delicious baked salmon!

I grew up with my mom making baked lemon pepper salmon pretty often. Her salmon with lemon pepper seasoning was more of a crust, it was an easy recipe, but I prefer to use fresher ingredients. My mom’s salmon was absolutely delicious, I can’t quite make it like she did. She would put it under the boiler, and while she burnt it sometimes, it was always flavorful, ha!

While my mom broiled her salmon, I make baked lemon pepper salmon. I use freshly grated lemon, lemon juice, and fresh cracked pepper. I also do a little sprinkle of granulated garlic, that’s it! Just a few simple ingredients. You can also add a sprinkle of salt, but it really doesn’t even need it and you can make this a low sodium salmon without using it. Keep in mind salmon naturally contains sodium, so this will not be a sodium free salmon recipe.

You can bake or broil this salmon, if I’m in a time crunch I’ll even pan fry or make grilled salmon using this lemon pepper salmon recipe! It’s so flavorful and delicious.

I never discard the lemons after zesting and juicing onto the raw salmon, instead, I bake them up with the salmon in the oven and then squeeze the lemon onto the salmon again after it’s fully cooked. When you check the temperature for the salmon you’ll want to check the salmon internal temperature in the thickest spot, it should be at least 145 degrees F.

If you’re stuck on what to season salmon with here are a few more salmon recipes!

Forgot to defrost your salmon? Check out our post on how to cook frozen salmon.