Easy Potato and Salmon Foil Packets — Juicy, moist salmon that’s loaded with flavor! Ready in 30 minutes, zero cleanup, and a foolproof way to cook salmon and look like a gourmet cook!!
Baked Salmon Foil Packets
This foil pack recipe is so easy that even a totally inexperienced cook will look like a hero and it’s ready in 30 minutes!
Simply place thinly sliced potatoes in a mound on a sheet of foil, top with salmon, olive oil, the juice of an orange and a lemon, seal up the foil, and bake.
The baked salmon in foil stays so juicy, moist, and tender because it’s sealed tightly, and the combination of both orange and lemon works beautifully. The potatoes are soft, scrumptious, and packed with flavor because they benefit from being cooked below the juicy salmon and are baking in an olive oil bath.
What’s in These Salmon Foil Packets?
To make this baked salmon recipe in foil, you’ll need:
- Potato
- Olive oil
- Salt and pepper
- Salmon fillets
- Orange
- Lemon
How to Bake Salmon in Foil
If you’ve never made salmon foil packets before, you’re in for a treat! They’re a cinch to make and taste amazing every time.
To make salmon in foil in oven, simply pile the thin slices of potato onto a piece of foil and drizzle with olive oil. Season with salt and pepper, then place the salmon fillet on top.
Squeeze the juice of half a lemon and half an orange over each fillet, then seal the salmon foil packets and bake.
How Long to Bake Salmon in Foil
These salmon foil packets will need to bake in a 400ºF oven for roughly 25 to 30 minutes.
Can I Use Another Veggie Besides Potatoes?
Yes! I love the combination of salmon and potatoes, but over the years I’ve added every kind of root vegetable in addition to the potatoes including fennel, carrots, and parsnips based on what I have on hand and it all works. This is one of those guaranteed-hit meals in my house and I’m always asked when I’m making it again.
Tips for Making Baked Salmon Foil Packets
This a foolproof recipe as long as you slice the potatoes very thin so they cook through in the same amount of time it takes the salmon to cook.
Also note that you need to fan out the potato slices so air can circulate properly within the salmon packets.
Lastly, be very careful when opening the salmon foil packets to check for doneness. The foil packets will contain trapped steam, so open the packets away from your face to be safe.
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Easy Salmon and Potato Foil Packets
Ingredients
- 1 medium potato, sliced into very thin rounds about 1/16th-inch thick, divided
- 4 tablespoons olive oil, divided
- salt and pepper to taste, divided
- 2 salmon filets, about 6 ounces each
- 1 large orange, halved
- 1 lemon, halved
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 400F.
- To a 12-inch long sheet of foil (I use Reynold’s Heavy Duty Non-Stick), add half the potato slices in a pile in the center of foil. Slightly fan out the potatoes so air can circulate. Make sure potatoes are sliced very thin so they cook through in the same amount of time it takes the salmon to cook.
- Evenly drizzle the potatoes with about 1 tablespoon of olive oil, season with salt and pepper, and repeat process with another sheet of foil and the remaining potato slices.
- Top each pile of potatoes with 1 salmon filet.
- Evenly drizzle each salmon filet with about 1 tablespoon olive oil.
- Squeeze half the juice of the orange over one salmon filet and half the juice over the other filet.
- Squeeze half the juice of the lemon over one salmon filet and half the juice over the other filet.
- Season each salmon filet with salt and pepper.
- Seal foil packets, making sure to tightly crimp the seams so the olive oil and citrus juices don’t leak.
- Place packets on baking sheet and bake for about 25 to 30 minutes. Carefully open one packet to check for doneness of both salmon and potatoes and if necessary, return to the oven for an additional 5 minutes, or until done.
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
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Making this tonight! I have all the ingredients, score!
Hope you enjoyed it!
Hey just did this great dish today and we love it, thank you for sharing.
Thanks for trying the recipe and I’m glad it came out great for you!
Averie, we do a version of this recipe when we are camping and I catch some trout. It is late Steelhead season in Oregon so you can bet we will try this soon! Thanks! Bill O’C
Hope you enjoy it!
how hot should the oven be?
on what temp Celsius ?
So I have never cooked salmon and I’m going to use this recipe. My biggest question is do I put the skin side touching the potatoes or the top of the foil?
Skin side down
What is the green herb you have sprinkled over the salmon. It is not mentioned in the recipe. I am guessing it is basil, but I am not sure. It makes the dish look so delicious.
Parsley. Enjoy!
I am in love with all things salmon…especially in a foil pack! Normally I do zucchini, green beans, or another green veggie but potatoes?! Sounds like something my Irish husband would devour :)
Probably a simple answer to this, but, can you use sweet potato?
Sometimes sweet potatoes can take a bit longer to cook through than regular potatoes but as long as you slice them VERY thin you’d likely be ok.
This just got added to next week’s menu Averie – can’t wait to try it! Pinned!
Thanks for pinning and if you end up making it, LMK! :)
What kind of salmon do you use? A fatty one (like Atlantic?) or sockeye? I have a lot of sockeye in my freezer but struggle to find an oven recipe it will work with…
I believe it was Atlantic, but just whatever you would get in the grocery store when you go to the fish counter. I’m sure the recipe will work with other types of salmon (you may have to tweak the baking time based on the fish) because I’ve made this type of recipe with other fish as well, i.e. tilapia and many others. Since you have it on hand, I say go ahead and try!
Carolyn, did you try it with the sockeye? Im curious how it turned out. That’s what I have as well, since we only eat wild salmon.
I always forget about foil packets! And they work with every kind of fish. This looks perfect!
Totally works with other fish because I’ve tried many over the years! Gotta love the zero cleanup :)
This looks super delicious! Salmon is our favorite way to eat fish, so we’ll have to try this next time we have it!
Paige
https://thehappyflammily.com
Mmmm. Sounds delish–now, if only I could keep my husband away from putting salmon on the grill long enough for me to put it in a foil packet! Ha!
Food tastes awesome on a grill and I don’t blame him!
Simplicity at its finest :) Can’t go wrong with salmon and potatoes!
How did you KNOW that I just took a piece of salmon out of my freezer for dinner tonight? You must be in my mind.
Foil packets are one of my fav methods of cooking. It makes everything SO moist, and it’s BASICALLY idiot-proof.
Which I need on a Monday ;) Pinned!
Thanks for pinning and so glad you’re a fan of this method, too! Everything does stay SO moist, totally agree! And idiot-proof too :)
I’ve never cooked in a foil packet before…but I love the idea of no clean up so this needs to happen soon. That fish with the lemon slice looks so good.
It’s sooooo easy and love the zero cleanup aspect!
Yeah, I can be a little lazy when it comes to cleaning up. I remember this recipe from ages ago (https://www.recipestroupe.com/recipe-one-pan-salmon-and-potatoes-50730.html) which uses one pan, looks delicious, but never thought to use foil. Think you could put veg in with the fish and potatoes?
Yes you can definitely add veggies. Here’s a more recent recipe I just did (use foil, parchment, whatever you prefer)
https://www.averiecooks.com/lemon-dill-salmon-vegetables-parchment/
I haven’t made any kind of fish in a packet meal in a while but I like them because they’re fast and easy with so little mess to clean up after. I love the simplicity of the citrus, salt and pepper. This would be great for a quick Labor Day weekend meal for 2!
I love making this recipe for entertaining, too, because you can prep the packets in advance before guests arrive and then just bake it all together on sheets pans about 30 minutes out and you’re set!
I made these for lunch today–so easy and so good! I’ve never used orange with potatoes but it totally works. It was almost 90 degrees by noon so I put a couple of bricks on the grate of the gas grill and did them outside. Have to make this again soon!!
It was really warm here today and all weekend, too! Glad you were able to work this out on the grill (so you didn’t have to heat up your house!) and I love orange with fish. It’s smoother I think than lemon and I just love it!