Honey Orange Glazed Salmon

Like it or not, the holiday season is in full swing! With it, comes the busy days and nights filled with holiday shopping and traditions. So how do you provide a healthy and quality dining experience after spending all day looking for this year's new trending gift? Don’t worry, we’ve got you covered!

Our new Honey Orange Salmon recipe is the perfect dish that combines elegance and ease for a satisfying and simple holiday dinner. Much faster than your old Christmas ham recipe!

Best of all, this quick and easy dish is intentionally versatile! It celebrates two traditional flavors that are heavily present in many holiday celebrations today.  So whether you celebrate Christmas or Hanukkah, this sweet and savory salmon will fit right into your cookbook or go-to recipes list.

Holiday Orange Traditions

Orange glazed salmon may not be something new for you. But the popularity of oranges during the holiday season (with Christmas in particular) may be a surprise to some! So why are oranges associated with Christmas?

A tradition that some say started during the Great Depression, parents would place an orange in their child’s stocking as a special treat. A luxury fruit in that era, the brightly colored orange was particularly rare in colder climate areas. Surprisingly (by today’s standards), the children were likely just as excited for their oranges as those opening a new virtual reality headset this year! 

The relevance of an orange at Christmas doesn’t stop there. Its symbolism stems back to one of the most popular origin legends of Christmas stockings. One where St. Nicholas (Santa Claus), was said to secretly leave a poor and proud villager gold coins inside the socks of his 3 daughters. The socks were hanging on the fireplace to dry, and the gold was to be used for them to afford wedding attire. 

Through the years, the story evolved into the orange in stocking tradition. Sorry parents, a Christmas orange might not suffice in place of the IPhone 14 this year!

How to Make Orange and Honey Glazed Salmon

Let’s be honest, combining honey and orange flavors is nothing new to your pallet. Aside from General Tso’s, the Honey Orange Chicken may be your go-to take out. 

Combining the sweetness of the honey and the bright freshness of the orange with an even more flavor-rich protein like wild sockeye salmon is a great way to up your honey orange game. You may even need to make second helpings just to send to-go boxes home with your guests!

This recipe works well with any type of wild-caught salmon, as the honey and orange add enough flavor that even the mildest of salmon options still results in a delicious holiday salmon dinner.

So, how do you make honey orange glazed salmon? Simple!

Start with five minutes of prep work, which really just includes portioning up your wild Alaskan salmon fillet into the right amount of servings (something you can skip if you’re working with portions from the start). 

Next, you’ll sear up the salmon evenly on both sides, taking roughly 6 minutes total. Remove the salmon, set aside, and combine your glaze ingredients into the same pan, stirring constantly for two to three minutes.

Once your glaze is ready, simply add your salmon back into the pan and simmer for a minute to marry the two. Then, it's time to dish up!

[[ recipeID=recipe-9la8da2er, title=Honey Orange Salmon ]] 

AUTHOR PROFILE

Nancy Ingersoll is a recipe developer and food photographer in San Diego, California. Always up for adventure, she learned the art of sauces and soufflés from one of James Beard Award winner Roy’s Yamaguchi’s executive chefs, and her curious spirit has been fed with cooking classes domestically and abroad. Nancy is also known as The Creative Resource and you can find her work on nancyingersoll.com and on instagram as @thecreativeresource.