This orange mustard glazed salmon air-fryer recipe appears in the 10th anniversary edition of The Complete Cooking for Two Cookbook by America’s Test Kitchen.
A sweet, tangy glaze offers an appealing contrast to rich, meaty salmon, but most recipes stumble by calling for broiling the fish, which can result in unevenly cooked salmon and a burnt glaze. For this salmon air-fryer recipe, we were happy to find that the air fryer produced failproof results; the direct heat from above caramelized the glaze’s sugars, while the circulated air cooked the fish from all sides. We liked the idea of an orange glaze, which we made with juice and zest, orange marmalade, and mustard. We brushed the mixture on the fillets before cooking and after 10 minutes were met with crispy glazed fish boasting beautiful browned edges and a velvety pink interior. If using wild salmon, decrease cook time slightly and cook fillet to 120 degrees (for medium-rare).
Serves: 2 • Total time: 30 minutes
Ingredients
- 1 tablespoon orange marmalade
- ¼ teaspoon grated orange zest, plus 1 tablespoon juice
- 2 teaspoons whole-grain mustard
- 2 (8-ounce) skin-on salmon fillets, 1½ inches thick
- ¼ teaspoon table salt
- ⅛ teaspoon pepper
Instructions
- Make a foil sling for the air-fryer basket by folding a long sheet of aluminum foil so it is 4 inches wide. Lay sheet of foil widthwise across basket, pressing foil into and up sides of basket. Fold excess foil as needed so that edges of foil are flush with top of basket. Lightly spray foil and basket with vegetable oil spray.
- Combine marmalade, orange zest, orange juice and mustard in a bowl. Pat salmon dry with paper towels and sprinkle with salt and pepper. Brush tops and sides of fillets evenly with glaze. Arrange fillets skin side down on the sling in the basket, spaced evenly apart. Place the basket into the air fryer and set the temperature to 400 degrees. Cook salmon until the center is still translucent when checked with the tip of a paring knife and registers 125 degrees (for medium-rare), 10 to 14 minutes, using the sling to rotate fillets halfway through cooking.
- Using the sling, carefully remove salmon from the air fryer. Slide fish spatula along underside of fillets and transfer to individual serving plates, leaving skin behind. Serve.
Top image courtesy of America’s Test Kitchen
