Healthy Fall Salad with Bacon Seared Salmon

Need a break from the heavy casseroles and rich treats of the fall? This healthy fall salad with bacon seared salmon is refreshing and super easy to make!

Do you want to know Mr. Hungry’s EXACT words when I made this?

“Um, are you searing that salmon in bacon grease? FINALLY, a salmon recipe I can get behind!”   

He has been a little off-put by Salmon since we did the leap protocol with him a few years back and he got sick (the flu or something, bad timing) during the first week.  We had made a ton of salmon for him to eat at the beginning of the protocol and he forced himself to eat it, resulting in him hating salmon for four years.

So salmon is kind of a delicate subject around here, that was until I made this recipe! He happily ate salmon again and even asked me to make it again!  Nothing like bacon to solve any kind of food aversion!

 

The truth is though, searing salmon always kind of intimidated me.  This is because I tried it back in 2014 (see this silverbrite honey mustard seared salmon recipe) but even though the photos came out pretty the experience was a disaster.  So, so, so much smoke and I was scarred for life.

The truth is, I’m kind of a lead foot in the kitchen (read I turn the heat up to high and hope for the best.) This drives my MIL nuts; she stands there shaking her head. Every time I have to replace a pan I’ve burnt to a crisp she tries to casually mention there are other settings other than high on the stove.  Thankfully, I have learned to utilize different settings on the stove since I started this blog.

So here is what I’ve learned about searing salmon the way you want it: 

• For rare salmon, cook 4 minutes before flipping.
• For thoroughly cooked salmon you may want to leave it on for 8-10 minutes.
• If you want your salmon fully cooked (I do because I live in Arizona and I know my salmon was probably previously frozen), after about 5 minutes, add the lid to the pan to help the salmon steam.
• If there is skin on your salmon, either skin it first OR place it skin side up on the first side.
• The key to seared salmon is LOW and SLOW until you’ve got it cooked the way you want, you can always increase the heat if the salmon is cooking, but you aren’t getting the nice sear you want.

Then you get this…

And it’s every bit as glorious as you thought it would be!

The only thing left to do is build your salad and dress it!  For this recipe, I used a mason jar and whisk ball to shake up the dressing.

Bon appetite!  A delicious recipe, that’s a bit of a break from the usual heavy fall casseroles, soups, and slow cooker recipes!

 

 

 

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Like this recipe?  You may also like:

Salmon, Bacon, and Goat Cheese Salad

My Twist On A Wedge Salad

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