Seared salmon filets are coated in a lemony, buttery, caper-studded sauce to create the rich and creamy salmon piccata of your dreams. Skip dining out this week and make this Italian staple at home in 20 minutes flat.
Here’s a little secret about the creamy lemon-caper concoction we all know and love as piccata sauce: you can slather it over just about any protein you like.
Think outside the box, and submerge your favorite flaky fish in that luscious homemade piccata sauce instead.
That’s right, today we’re ditching the poultry and making salmon piccata. It’s just as fast and easy to make as traditional veal or chicken piccata, but we’re swapping in salmon filets with a gorgeous golden sear for a more unique dining experience.
Heidi’s Tips for Recipe Success
- Normally I like to sear my proteins in a stainless steel skillet so golden flecks of flavor (called fond) can collect on the bottom of the pan. Salmon is much more tender, however, and sears best in a non-stick skillet.
- For a bold lemon flavor, use both the juice and zest when making the piccata sauce.
- Remove the salmon from the skillet after searing to prevent it from overcooking in the sauce. When it’s ready, nestle the salmon in the sauce and heat just until warmed through.
What’s in This Recipe?
The full recipe, with amounts, can be found in the recipe card below.
- Salmon filets — You can have the butcher at your local grocery store skin and cut a large filet into 4-ounce portions, or you purchase pre-portioned filets and skin them yourself.
- Butter + olive oil — The butter adds richness and flavor, while the olive oil raises the smoke point to prevent it from burning.
- Shallot — Has a more delicate flavor than onion, which pairs better with the flaky salmon.
- White wine — Use a dry white wine you’d be happy to drink. If you’d rather not cook with wine, substitute with an equal amount of chicken broth.
- Heavy cream — The high fat content in heavy cream creates a silky smooth piccata sauce that won’t curdle as it simmers.
- Lemon — We love a bold, lemon-flavored piccata sauce so I add both the juice and zest.
- Capers — These pickled flower buds add an essential briny pop of flavor to the lemony salmon piccata.
- Fresh dill — Traditional chicken piccata recipes don’t call for fresh dill, but it’s the perfect pairing for salmon.
How to Make Salmon Piccata
- Season the salmon. A little kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper are all it needs.
- Cook until golden brown. Try to flip the salmon only once so it has time to develop a nice sear. You’ll know it’s ready to flip when the bottom is golden and the top is opaque.
- Cook the shallot, then deglaze the pan. If you diced the shallot finely, it should only need to cook for about 30 seconds in the now-empty skillet before streaming in the white wine. (Careful, it will sputter!)
- Add the remaining ingredients. In goes the heavy creamy, lemon juice and zest, capers, and a pinch of salt. Bring the mixture to a boil, then …
- Reduce the sauce. The lemon caper sauce needs to gently bubble away for 5 minutes. You want it to cook down by about a third.
- Bring it all together. Stir in the fresh dill before returning the salmon to the pan. Spoon the piccata sauce over the salmon before serving.
Heidi’s Tip: Did your sauce thicken too much? Stir in 1-2 tablespoons of water to loosen it up.
