Sheet Pan Lemon Garlic Salmon and Asparagus is a light, delicious, and easy dish bursting with lemon and garlic flavor!

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If you’re looking for a delicious, easy, and incredibly flavorful meal your family won’t complain about, this simple, delicious dinner is for you.

We’re cooking a light, delicious salmon and fresh, flavorful asparagus on one baking sheet – reducing cleanup time, so you can get straight to dinner and out of the kitchen away from chores.

This dinner is simple, easy, and delicious – it works in a keto or low carb diet, and doesn’t use any complicated or fussy ingredients.

How To Tell When Baked Salmon Is Done

If the salmon meat is beginning to flake, but still has a little translucency in the middle of the deepest part of the filet, your salmon is done. It shouldn’t look very red and raw though, and it should be hot to the touch, not cold.

Once you cook salmon more and more, you’ll know how done it is by the look of the salmon and won’t need to check the middle.

The easiest way to avoid overcooking salmon is to watch for when your salmon turns pinkish-white – but remove before the white dots begin to appear.

What Types of Salmon Are There

Salmon can be tricky for home cooks just starting to get used to the fatty fish, because it can vary wildly in color, thickness, and appearance.

There are also considerable differences in wild vs farmed, coho vs sockeye salmon – making it even more confusing!

The handy guide below will help you pick a type of salmon that will fit your budget and flavor preferences:

King/Chinook Salmon

• Opens the Alaskan fishing season
• Shortest season of all wild-caught salmon, making demand high
• Largest at 11-18 pounds
• Most Omega 3 fatty acids
• Buttery flavor and texture

Sockeye Salmon

• More abundant
• More available in grocery stores across the United States
• Deep bright red orange color
• High fat and omega 3 content

Coho Salmon

• Smaller, less colorful salmon
• Later salmon season than King and Sockeye salmon
• Milder flavor

Chum Salmon

• Less oily
• Can vary wildly in quality and flavor
• Often used for canned salmon

Pink Salmon

• Most widely available
• Small – only 2-3 pounds
• Lighter color
• Less fat
• Often smoked or canned

Which Salmon To Use For This Recipe

While any type of salmon would work for this recipe, I recommend Sockeye salmon or Coho salmon filets – sockeye and coho have a good flavor and are a little less expensive than a Chinook salmon.

Since this salmon does use a sauce with a strong flavor, you can get away with a less expensive filet – sockeye or coho salmon will be fabulous.

If choosing a coho salmon filet, you might want to reduce cook-time slightly as they tend to be smaller and thinner filets that cook a bit faster than Chinook or Sockeye salmon filets.

Watch to see how your salmon cooks and pull from the oven when it turns opaque and pinkish-white, rather than going off a cook time.

Recipe FAQs

Other Easy Salmon Recipes You’ll Love

If you love easy, simple salmon recipes, please check out some of our favorites below:

You can find our entire salmon recipe archives here.

What to Serve With Salmon and Asparagus

We love serving this dinner with soft butter dinner rolls, whole roasted onions, cauliflower rice, air fried broccoli, garlic roasted potatoes, and no knead bread – but have tons of delicious, easy, and family pleasing side dishes.

Of course if you’re looking for a heartier dinner option to add to round out a meal, try some of our favorite main dishes like our knockout pork tenderloin, air fryer chicken drumsticks, thai chili scallops, baked lemon garlic chicken breasts, or even a juicy prime rib!

This dinner is one of our favorite easy meals in part because the side dish cooks right along side our main – but if you’re looking to feed a hungry family, we’re rounding out some of our other favorite easy side dishes to serve with salmon and asparagus below:

You can find our complete side dish recipe archives here.

Sheet Pan Lemon Garlic Salmon and Asparagus

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Sweet C’s Favorites

If you love this easy recipe, be sure to find more of our favorites – like our famous garlic pork tenderloin!

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