Roasted Kimchi Gochujang Salmon

Korean-inspired Roasted Kimchi Gochujang Salmon is weeknight quick, healthy and delicious. Recipe below.

SALMON IS OUR GO-TO FISH, especially if Terry’s cooking. It’s easy to prepare and delicious. It’s also very healthy (more on that later). Looking for a new way to prepare it, we thought about combining it with another delicious, healthy food: kimchi. We now have another go-to weeknight-quick dish.

Fish in general is a healthy protein choice. Salmon dials that up, being both high in omega-3 fatty acids and low in mercury (one issue with many other fish). According to Cleveland Clinic, it boosts heart health, enhances brain function, improves mental health, increases muscle mass, lowers cancer risk and supports strong bones.

Kimchi, a staple of Korean cuisine, is no slouch either when it comes to health. Cleveland Clinic says it reduces colon cancer risk, improves heart health, boosts gut health (and these days, gut health is seen as key to health throughout your body, including your brain), keeps you regular and helps manage hunger.

And again, kimchi is delicious. The kind most common in the United States, made with Napa cabbage, is wonderfully tangy, verging on sour, often spicy and loaded with umami. In this recipe, it is the star of the 30-minute marinade. Gochujang, Korean chili paste, adds a little heat along with flavor. We plan to add this dish to our regular rotation. Give it a try—we think you will too.

Print Pin

Roasted Kimchi Gochujang Salmon

Korean-inspired Roasted Kimchi Gochujang Salmon is weeknight quick, healthy and delicious.

Course Main Course

Cuisine Korean-inspired

Servings 2 (or 4—see Kitchen Notes)

Ingredients

• 2 salmon fillets, preferably skin-on, 6 ounces each (see Kitchen Notes for substitutions)
• salt and freshly ground pepper
• 1/4 cup finely chopped kimchi
• 1 tablespoon gochujang (Korean chili paste)
• 2 tablespoons soy sauce
• 1 teaspoon sesame oil
• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• chopped cilantro, for garnish
• thinly sliced green onions, for garnish

Instructions

• Place salmon pieces skin side down in a baking dish. Season with salt and pepper.
• Combine kimchi, gochujang, soy sauce, sesame oil and olive oil, and spoon over salmon, coating it evenly. Marinate for 30 minutes.
• Preheat oven to 400ºF while salmon is marinating. Bake for about 10 minutes, depending on thickness of salmon, or until still slightly pink in center.
• Plate salmon, spooning kimchi mixture over the fish. Garnish each with cilantro and green onions. Serve.

Kitchen Notes

How many servings? We made two salmon fillets, but you can make four without doubling the marinade.

Use salmon or... As we said, we love salmon. You could also substitute a firm white fish such as cod or halibut. You can also use tuna steaks.

Liz's Crockery Corner. We like nice, contemporary, plain white plates for everyday dining. This salad plate is from the Crate & Barrel Verge dinnerware collection. Looking for something similar, but different? Emma Wartzman tried "all the white dinner plates from Crate & Barrel" and helpfully wrote about them in New York magazine's The Strategist. Check out her article, I Tried All the White Dinner Plates at Crate & Barrel.