Pan-Fried Honey and Sesame Glazed Salmon

Last Updated on April 21, 2025

The honey and sesame glaze on the salmon brings out incredible tasty Asian flavors. It gets pan-fried in a heavy skillet until it is just cooked through. The result is moist and tender salmon. 

Salmon gets eaten here pretty frequently. Especially when it is on sale and we buy enough to freeze some. It freezes really well and is easy to defrost for a quick meal.  Salmon is a great, healthy meal, low in calories, high in Omega 3’s.  

Normally, I just season the fish with salt and pepper and pan-fry it in a skillet.  Today, I mixed up a marinade to add a little different flavor profile.  This pan-fried honey sesame glazed salmon is a nice change of pace, and it fried up beautifully. 

Salmon Marinade Ingredients

All the tasty goodness comes from:

• toasted sesame oil
• soy sauce
• honey
• ground ginger root
• sriracha
• lime juice
• salt

All these ingredients are mixed in a small bowl and make up the marinade. Place the salmon fillets in the marinade and refrigerate for 1 or 2 hours. It is easy to use a gallon zip-lock bag to do this.

Reserve 2 or 3 tablespoons of the marinade to glaze the salmon while it is frying.

I had Atlantic salmon fillets that were about 6 ounces each and were skinned. Either skin-on or skinned fillets are fine to use.

Frying the Salmon

I pan-fried the sesame-glazed salmon in a heavy skillet which had about 2 teaspoons of canola oil added to it.  I let the pan get up to temperature before frying the fish.  The oil should be shimmering but not smoking, on medium-high heat.  

Carefully place the fillets into the hot skillet and cook for 2 minutes. If you are using skin-on salmon, place the fish in with the flesh side down. This will give it a nice char due to the sugary honey.

Turn the fillet over and fry for another 2 minutes. Spoon a bit of the reserved marinade over the fillets while finishing cooking. Then remove the skillet from the heat and place the salmon on a serving plate, and serve right away. Cover with foil to keep warm if necessary. Don’t overcook the salmon. 

Use a paring knife to cut into the thickest part of the fish to check for doneness. The fish should be pink with a tinge of redness. The salmon will be kind of medium-rare…moist and tender.

If you cook the salmon too long, it will become dry, super firm, and perhaps kind of chalky. I think that’s why some people don’t like salmon. It gets overcooked all the time and is not pleasant to eat. Don’t be that guy.

If you are cooking a salmon fillet that has thicker and thinner pieces, put the thicker pieces into the skillet first since they require a little more cook time than the tail sections.  

You should end up with tender and moist salmon. Serve the salmon warm with a final drizzle of the reserved marinade. Garnish with toasted sesame seeds and chopped green onion.

Give this a try next time you cook up some healthy, tasty salmon.

FAQ’s

And here are some more tasty recipes to try:

• Perfect salmon loaf
• Sesame oil with tamari grilled shrimp
• Fish piccata made with mahi-mahi

Pan-Fried Honey Sesame Glazed Salmon

Pan-fried honey and sesame oil glazed salmon cooked to a perfect medium-rare.

5 from 3 votes

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Course: Seafood

Cuisine: American, Asian inspired

Keyword: Honey sesame glazed salmon

Prep Time: 2 hours hours

Cook Time: 5 minutes minutes

Total Time: 2 hours hours 5 minutes minutes

Servings: 4 fillets

Calories: 256kcal

Author: Joe Boyle

Ingredients

• 2 tbsp sesame oil
• 2 tbsp soy sauce , I used Tamari
• 3 tbsp honey
• 1 tbsp ground ginger root
• 1 tbsp sriracha sauce
• 4 tsp lime juice
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 3 or 4 6 oz. salmon fillets
• 2 tsp canola oil for frying
• toasted sesame seeds
• chopped green onion

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Instructions

• Mix the sesame oil, soy sauce, honey, ginger, lime juice, and salt in a glass or stainless steel bowl or dish.
• Cover the flesh of the salmon fillets with the marinade either in a suitable sized bowl or in a gallon plastic zip-lock bag and refrigerate for 1 or 2 hours.
• Add 2 teaspoons of canola oil to a heavy skillet on medium-high heat. Once the oil starts to shimmer, remove the fillets of salmon from the marinade and carefully place them into the skillet. (Flesh side down if you are using skin-on fillets). Cook for 2 minutes. (Assuming the salmon is about 1 inch at it's thickest point. Or, cook for 30 seconds per 1/4 inch of thickness).
• Flip the fillets to the second side and cook another 2 minutes. Spoon on some of the reserved marinade while cooking. Then, remove the salmon from the skillet and serve right away. The internal temperature should be between 110° and 125°. Drizzle with more reserved marinade and garnish with toasted sesame seeds and chopped green onion.

Notes

1. Salmon is best served slightly under-cooked rather than over-cooked. If you think it is not done, you can always cook it a bit more.
2. Nutrition is estimated for one 6 ounce salmon fillet.

Nutrition

Calories: 256kcal