Air Fryer Orange Salmon is a citrus salmon recipe with Asian flavors. It uses hoisin sauce and orange juice for the marinate and glaze for a delicious slightly sweet salmon. The salmon cooks up in the air fryer in less than 10 minutes for a quick and easy meal that feels fancy and is packed with flavor.
Have you ever cooked salmon in the air fryer? If not, this is the perfect recipe to start with! It's so easy, it's perfect for beginners or experts.
This salmon as Asian-inspired flavors. It gets its flavor from the hoisin sauce, orange juice, and garlic powder. It's so easy to make any only uses four ingredients!
You can easily make the air fryer orange salmon feel fancy served on orange slices, as shown in the photos, but you can also just serve alongside whatever else you're making. It's great in a rice bowl, in a salad, or just with some cooked veggies.
Ingredients:
- Salmon
- Zest and juice of oranges
- Hoisin sauce
- Garlic powder
What is hoisin sauce?
Hoisin sauce is a condiment that is sweet and salty. Some people describe it as a Chinese barbecue sauce, and it does have the consistency of bbq sauce! It also has that umami sweet and saltiness that a bbq sauce typically has.
In Asian cuisine (especially Cantonese), it is used a lot as a marinade, in stir frys, or as a dipping sauce. In this recipe we use it as part of our salmon marinade!
Hoisin sauce can be found at most grocery stores these days. Popular commercial brands include Kiokkoman, Ka-Me, Lee Kum Kee, and Polar.
Can you serve this with the skin off?
Yes! You can take the skin off before cooking, after cooking, or leave the skin on if you prefer.
What type of air fryer to use:
This citrusy salmon can be made in most air fryers. I have the Cosori Max XL, but you can make this in an air fryer with a small basket too. Don't have an air fryer yet, and looking to buy one? Check out my guide on 5 things to consider before buying an air fryer.
Tools needed:
For this recipe, you'll need an air fryer (obviously). It can also help to have a microplane for zesting the orange, and a citrus squeezer for getting the orange juice out. A meat thermometer works well with any air fryer recipe so you can make sure whatever you're cooking is done to just the correct temperature.
Tips and tricks:
- All air fryers cook differently. (As do different thicknesses of salmon). Having a meat thermometer can help you make sure your salmon is cooked just the way you like it!
- Reserve 2 tablespoons of the marinade before placing the salmon in it and set aside. You'll use this as a glaze after the salmon is cooked. Make sure you do this BEFORE placing the salmon in it as the raw fish will contaminate the marinade.
- To make this feel extra fancy, you can serve on orange slices. This is fun for special occasions, but is not necessary.
- If you don't have fresh oranges, you can use orange juice from a carton instead. Note that this may be slightly sweeter than fresh orange juice.
Serving suggestions:
The orange salmon would be delicious with some oven roasted asparagus, roasted red cabbage, or air fryer sesame green beans as a side dish.
How to make:
First, prep your orange. I like to zest my orange (you'll use this for topping the finished salmon), then juice it.
Then, make the citrus marinade for the salmon. Into a bowl, add your orange juice, hoisin sauce, and garlic powder. Stir to combine.
Reserve two tablespoons of the marinade for glazing the salmon after cooking.
Next, marinate your salmon. Flip so all sides are covered. If you left the skin on, marinate skin side up, so the salmon flesh is mostly in contact with the marinade and has the chance to soak it up.
Marinate for 15-30 minutes.
Place in your air fryer, skin side down, and cook at 380 F for 10 minutes. Cooking times can vary based on your air fryer and thickness of salmon! Salmon is typically cooked to 125 degrees F to 130 degrees F for medium doneness. Need a meat thermometer? This is the one I have!
After salmon is done, you can plate on orange slices for a fancy look. Once salmon is plated, top with reserved glaze and orange zest if you want!
Air Fryer Orange Salmon
Equipment
Ingredients
- 6 oz salmon
- ¼ cup orange juice freshly squeezed
- 1 tablespoon hoisin sauce
- ½ teaspoon garlic powder
- orange zest optional
- orange slices optional
Instructions
- Take your salmon and pat dry.
- Take your orange(s) and zest. Set aside the zest for topping the salmon with.
- Juice the oranges until you get ¼ cup of juice. Add to a shallow bowl.
- Add the hoisin sauce and garlic powder to the bowl. Stir/whisk to combine to create the marinade.
- Take two tablespoons of the marinade and place in a small bowl and set aside. You'll use this for topping the salmon with after cooking.
- Add the salmon to the original bowl of marinade. Coat the salmon in the marinade, and let marinade, flesh side down (if you left the skin on). Let marinade for 15-30 minutes.
- Place in the air fryer, skin side down and cook at 380 F for 10 minutes, or until salmon reaches desired temperature and doneness.
- Plate, then top with the reserved marinade and orange zest.
Notes
- All air fryers cook differently. (As do different thicknesses of salmon). Having a meat thermometer can help you make sure your salmon is cooked just the way you like it!
- Reserve 2 tablespoons of the marinade before placing the salmon in it and set aside. You'll use this as a glaze after the salmon is cooked. Make sure you do this BEFORE placing the salmon in it as the raw fish will contaminate the marinade.
- To make this feel extra fancy, you can serve on orange slices. This is fun for special occasions, but is not necessary.
- If you don't have fresh oranges, you can use orange juice from a carton instead. Note that this may be slightly sweeter than fresh orange juice.
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