Crispy Salmon Recipe

Crispy Salmon recipe with potato chip breading. Crispy outside, perfectly baked salmon. Easy any night meal. Uses any leftover chips!

Inspiration for new recipes is everywhere. I look for it in magazines, restaurants, on TV ~ though we said  goodbye to cable over a year ago so it’s limited and of course, from my family and friends. Last weekend my daughter was over and commented how “wasteful” all the crumbs at the bottom of the potato chip bags are. I had to laugh because when she was a teenager she didn’t consider a 45 minute shower wasteful and when “not me” left the TV on and went upstairs to take said shower, no one thought it was wasteful except me. So as I pressed my fingers together to snag the last teensy bit of potato chips from the bottom my favorite bag of barbecue chips ~ please don’t judge me – they were SO good — it occurred to me that maybe there is something productive I could with them other than just allowing them to stain my fingertips. My sister-in-law has been adding crushed potato chips on the top of her Cheesy Potatoes for as long as I’ve known her. Gloria’s Cheesy Potatoes are nothing short of amazing. Maybe even life-altering. Seriously, not a person on this entire planet would argue with that. So if she can do it with such rousing success, why couldn’t I do it with this salmon?

My husband is an avid fisherman but not a huge salmon fan. He makes a deep-fried lake perch dinner, complete with French fries and cole slaw that just may knock your socks off and he loves fresh Grouper whenever we’re in Florida ~ also deep-fried ~ are you seeing the pattern? ~ but to him, salmon is that bad penny that just keeps turning up at our dinner table. I love it so I’m always up to the challenge finding a salmon recipe he will like. Spicy usually does the trick, like Damn Good Spicy Brown Sugar Topped Salmon which is what he said it was “damn good”, thus the name. He’s also a fan of this Crispy Salmon Recipe. Anyway, I’m assuming since you’re still reading you have a certain fondness for salmon and don’t need convincing, so I’ll just get right into the recipe.

The barbecue chips I used aren’t especially spicy, so I made this Spicy Remoulade to top it with. It’s optional. A simple wedge of lemon is really good too. If you’re going with the sauce, make it first so it can chill.

• 1/4 cup plain greek yogurt
• 1 – tablespoon of mayonnaise (light or regular)
• Light sprinkle of garlic powder
• 1 – tablespoon of fresh cilantro, minced
• 1/2 – tablespoon of lime juice
• 1 – teaspoon of Sriracha or more to your taste
• Fresh cracked black pepper to taste

FOR THE FISH (2 – pieces each about checkbook size):

• Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
• 1/2 – tablespoon of melted butter
• 1/2 cup BBQ chips/chip crumbs
• 1/4 teaspoon of chili powder
• 1/4 teaspoon of cumin
• 1/4 teaspoon of paprika
• 1/4 teaspoon of dill
• 1 – tablespoon of mayonnaise

Okay, let’s get the fish started. If you’ve been following along here, you know I like love my oven-safe pans. I know a whole set of nice pans can be expensive, but if you don’t have any check out T.J. Maxx or Marshall’s Home Goods and buy just one. . .or more. . .they’ll be your new best friends. For the record, I am not affiliated in any way with T.J.’s or Marshall’s. I’m just sort of addicted to shopping there. Anyway, I used my large oven-safe skillet. From stove-top to oven, no extra dishes to wash.

Empty your chips/chip crumbs into a zip lock bag. Use a mallet or rolling pin (if you have neither, a wine bottle on its side works just fine too) and smash the chips into even smaller pieces. If you have a food processor, a couple of quick pulses does the trick.

Oh ~ these are the bottom-of-the-bag chips I used. Any barbecue will work. Kettle-cooked are my personal faves.

Next I added the butter and spices: chili powder, cumin, paprika and dill. If this seems like an odd combination of spices, it probably is. . .but it works. You’ll have to trust me on this one.

I sliced the salmon into thinner pieces – about 1″ wide ~ almost like a thicker fish stick. They cook even faster in smaller pieces, but leaving them about checkbook size (single serving) works fine. It’s just my husband and I, so this is what I’m going with.

In my oven-safe skillet, I drizzled some olive oil, warmed it up and added the salmon, getting it a little brown on one side.

Then just a very light swipe of mayo ~ light or regular, whatever you have. Think of it like buttering toast. Just a small amount. Divide the chip topping and add it to the top of the salmon, pressing it with your fingers into the mayo so it sticks.

Then into a 400° oven it goes. Small strips like this baked in just 6 minutes. If you keep the filets checkbook size, you’ll need about 8 minutes.

The spice and the crunch on this Crispy Salmon Recipe is really good. I paired it with an easy cole slaw ~ cool, fresh and light ~ and a bit more crunch. Easy, quick-cooking salmon you can make any night of the week giving you more “me” time!

What does “me time” mean to you?  

 

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