🧡💚 Creamy Garlic Butter Tuscan Salmon is an EASY one-skillet dish that results in the most tender and juicy salmon that’s bathed in a rich and creamy garlic butter sauce! Parmesan cheese, sun-dried tomatoes, and baby spinach add extra flavor and texture to this 30-minute recipe that everyone LOVES! Learn how to make restaurant-worthy salmon that’s fast enough for a weeknight dinner but elevated enough to serve to company!
Why You’ll Love This Creamy Tuscan Salmon Recipe
I’m always looking for new ways to serve salmon that my family will love. And when they tried this creamy garlic butter Tuscan salmon, everyone was a member of The Clean Plate Club!
- The salmon is tender and juicy, and it’s bathed in a creamy cheese sauce made with garlic butter, heavy cream, and Parmesan cheese.
- Sun-dried tomatoes and baby spinach add both flavor and a bit of chewy texture to the otherwise silky, creamy Tuscan-inspired sauce.
- I served this easy salmon skillet recipe over al dente cooked fettuccine pasta noodles. However, you can omit the past and serve it with rice, mashed potatoes, roasted vegetables, or a side salad.
- For me, as the cook, the three best parts of this recipe are that it’s ready in 30 minutes, made in one skillet (no excessive amounts of dirty dishes or pots and pans to wash), and everyone adores it!
Ingredients and Notes
For this easy skillet Tuscan salmon recipe, you’ll need the following common and easy-to-find fridge and pantry ingredients:
- Salmon filets – When I am making a fish recipe where the fish is the star, I always use fresh fish that I buy from the butcher’s case of my local grocery store. If you have good luck with frozen salmon, feel free to use it. Make sure to thaw it properly and make sure it’s not water-logged. Most fillets are about 5 to 6 ounces each. That’s the center cut portion of salmon as shown in the photos. Look for salmon that’s about this weight and shape. Some salmon is a bit flatter and isn’t a true ‘center cut,’ but it’ll work fine, although center cuts are my favorite
- Spices – Garlic powder, paprika, salt or kosher salt, and black pepper
- Olive oil
- Unsalted butter
- Cloves garlic
- Reduced-sodium chicken broth
- Sun-dried tomatoes
- Heavy cream – you can get away with half-and-half, if that’s what you have. I do not recommend whole milk nor any type of low fat milks.
- Baby spinach – You want to use fresh baby spinach leaves. Frozen spinach isn’t really suited to this easy fish recipe, and if it’s frozen or nothing, I would go with nothing and just skip the spinach. Have a spinach hater? Also, simply omit it
- Parmesan cheese – use a high-quality, freshly grated Parm. No cheese from a green can!
- Salt
- Pepper
- Red pepper flakes, optional
- Fresh parsley, optional for garnishing
Note: Scroll down to the recipe card section of the post for the ingredients with amounts included and for more complete directions.
How to Make Garlic Butter Creamy Tuscan Salmon
- Pan Seared Salmon – Blot the moisture from the salmon fillets, and season them with the dry seasonings. Heat oil in a skillet over medium-high heat, and sear the salmon on both sides over medium to medium-high heat, about 6 minutes total, flipping once midway through. Take them out of the hot pan and place them on a plate, and let them rest with the flesh-side up.
- Creamy Tuscan Sauce – Add the butter to melt it, and then add the garlic and cook for 1 minute.
- Add the broth to deglaze the pan and then add the sun-dried tomatoes and cook for 1-2 minutes.
- Add the heavy cream and simmer over low heat before adding the spinach, and cook it for a couple mins to wilt it. Add the cheese, salt, pepper, red pepper flakes, and stir until the cheese melts.
- Place the salmon back in the skillet, simmer, and spoon the cream sauce over it, garnish with parsley, and serve!
Add more veggies
Good options include asparagus, thinly thinly sliced carrots, or small broccoli florets. Add them just before you add the spinach, allow them to cook for a few minutes, then carry on with the rest of the recipe. You want a quick-cooking vegetable so don’t use potatoes, chunky cauliflower florets, Brussels sprouts or overly firm veggies.
Creamy Garlic Butter Tuscan Salmon
Equipment
Ingredients
Salmon
- 4 salmon filets, (5 to 6 ounces each)*
- ½ teaspoon garlic powder
- ½ teaspoon paprika
- ½ teaspoon salt, or to taste
- ½ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper, or to taste
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
Garlic Butter Cream Sauce
- 1 tablespoon unsalted butter
- 3 to 5 cloves garlic, finely minced
- ¼ cup reduced sodium chicken broth
- ½ cup chopped sun dried tomatoes, drained from the oil
- 1 ½ cups heavy cream, half-and-half may be substituted
- 2 cups baby spinach, fresh, not frozen
- ⅓ cup freshly grated Parmesan cheese
- ½ teaspoon salt, or to taste
- ½ teaspoon ground black pepper, or to taste
- ½ teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes, optional and to taste
- 1 tablespoon chopped parsley, optional for garnishing
Instructions
Salmon
- Pat the salmon with paper towels to dry it and evenly season the flesh with the garlic powder, paprika, salt, and pepper.
- To a large skillet, add the oil, add the salmon filets skin side down, and cook over medium heat for about 3 minutes. Tip – I like to use a heavy All-Clad stainless steel skillet because you get a better sear than if using a nonstick skillet, however use what you have noting that nonstick = not great at searing.
- Flip the salmon, and cook for another 2-3 minutes, or until salmon is done and cooked through. Cooking Tips – Salmon should be opaque and flake easily when done. I err on the side of just slightly under-cooking it a bit at this stage because the salmon will rest, the internal temp will continue to rise and it will cook a bit even out of the skillet, and you're putting it back into warm cream sauce again later. But cook until it's as done as you like, everyone's preferences vary.
- After salmon is as done as you desired, remove it from the skillet, and set it on a plate to rest, cover with aluminum foil to keep warm.
Garlic Butter Cream Sauce
- Using the same skillet, add the butter, and heat over medium to medium-high heat to melt it, swirling the skillet to encourage melting.
- Add the garlic, and cook for about 1 minute, or until fragrant; stir nearly continuously with a wooden spoon to prevent burning.
- Add the broth to deglaze the pan. Note that the broth will cause a lot of steam to form and it will sizzle and hiss. This is normal.
- Add the sun dried tomatoes to the broth and allow them to simmer for 1-2 minutes; stir very frequently.
- Add the heavy cream and allow it to simmer gently (barely bubbling) for about 2-3 minutes. Tips – Make sure to pay attention to the heat output of your burner and do not let the cream come up to a fast boil because the proteins can break and you would need to start over. Heavy cream is more resistant to "breaking" than half-and-half, but it can be substituted, noting the final dish won't be quite as creamy. I don't recommend lower fat milks. If you like wine in your sauces, reduce the cream amount by 1/4 cup and add 1/4 cup dry white (chardonnay, pinot grigio) along with the cream.
- Add the spinach and cook for about 2 minutes, or until it wilts; stir continuously to encourage wilting.
- Add the Parmesan, salt, pepper, optional red pepper flakes, and stir until the cheese melts, about 1-2 minutes.
- Add the salmon back into the skillet, spoon the sauce over it, flip it over a couple times to really coat it well, and allow it to simmer in the sauce for 1-2 minutes, or just until nice and warm before serving immediately.
- You can serve the dish over pasta (I used fettuccine but any pasta is fine), rice, mashed potatoes, vegetables, or a salad. See blog post for serving suggestions and recipe links.
Notes
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
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What to Serve with Tuscan Salmon
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WOW! WOW! WOW!
THIS WAS FABULOUS. THE ONLY THING I DID DIFFERENTLY WAS THAT I SAUTEED THE SPINACH WITH THE GARLIC.
I SERVED THIS WITH YOUR ” CHEESY ASPARAGUS FRITTATA”.
GREAT COMBO AND LEFTOVERS TASTED EVEN BETTER THE NEXT DAY.
Thanks for the 5 star review, Damon, and I am glad this was fabulous and a winner for you!