Add a hint of fall flavor to your next salmon dish with this baked pumpkin spice salmon! You’ll love the unique combo of sweet and savory with a hint of spice.
Before you close the window thinking that I’m a crazy woman for putting pumpkin on my salmon, hear me out.
People use brown sugar and fruit to glaze salmon all the time. It only makes logical sense that a pumpkin spiced glaze/marinade would work well on salmon too, right?
To test the theory, I made a quick pumpkin butter glaze by heating up pumpkin, coconut sugar and spices and then I slathered it on the salmon. The result? A deliciously sweet and savory, pumpkin-spiced salmon. I’m pretty sure this is going to be a staple dish in our house each fall. It’s sooo good!
Ingredients to Make Pumpkin Spice Salmon
salmon fillets – I prefer to get wild-caught salmon! Make sure they are uniform in weight so they cook at the same rate, about 4 oz each.
pumpkin – you can make homemade pumpkin puree or use canned pumpkin, just make sure you grab the correct canned pumpkin and not pumpkin pie filling.
coconut sugar – you can also use brown sugar.
pumpkin pie spice – I love to make my own pumpkin pie spice but you can also use a store-bought blend.
apple cider vinegar – the liquid base to help mix and blend the pumpkin spice glaze.
sea salt – just enough to really meld all the flavors together.
pepitas – aka pumpkin seeds! Roasted, salted, and crushed a little, they make a wonderful topping for added crunch and texture to this baked salmon.
Instructions For Pumpkin Spice Salmon
Preheat – Preheat oven to 400°F, with a rack in the center.
Prepare Glaze – In a small saucepan on low, stir together pumpkin, coconut sugar, pumpkin pie spice, apple cider vinegar and sea salt until sugar has dissolved and the mixture has thickened just a bit.
Prepare Salmon – Arrange salmon fillets, skin side down, in a single layer in a baking dish. Spread pumpkin glaze over the fish, coating evenly. Sprinkle a quarter of the pepitas over each fillet.
Bake – Bake until fish is opaque but still bright pink inside, about 15 to 20 minutes.
Serve – Serve with an extra sprinkle of brown sugar on top.
Serving Suggestions
You can serve pumpkin spice salmon with just about any side you’d normally pair with baked salmon.
Add a hint of fall flavor to your next salmon dish with this baked pumpkin spice salmon! You'll love the unique combo of sweet and savoy with a hint of spice.
¼ -⅓cuproasted and salted pepitas, crushed a little
Instructions
Preheat oven to 400°F, with a rack in the center.
In a small sauce pan on low, stir together pumpkin, sugar, pumpkin pie spice, apple cider vinegar and sea salt until sugar has dissolved and the mixture has thickened just a bit.
Arrange salmon fillets, skin side down, in a single layer in a baking dish. Spread pumpkin glaze over the fish, coating evenly. Sprinkle a quarter of the pepitas over each fillet.
Bake until fish is opaque but still bright pink inside, 15 to 20 minutes.
Serve with a an extra sprinkle of brown sugar on top.
I was looking for a fall salmon recipe and this is it. I tend to like my salmon on the medium rare side and was unsure how that would pair with the warming pumpkin. It ended up tasting great and exceeded my expectations!
YAY! I am so happy to hear that you are loving this recipe, Siena. Thank you so much for coming back and sharing your review + star rating, I really appreciate it!
I made half of this recipe for my dinner tonight and lunch tomorrow. I put the salmon atop baked butternut squash cubes, baked sweet potato cubes, and steamed kale. Fantastic meal!
I came home, too tired to stop at the store, looked in my fridge and had a piece of salmon and half a can of pureed pumpkin that needed to be used up and that was about it. I typed in salmon and pumpkin and found this recipe. It’s in the oven. I can’t wait to try it!
Looks great, Brittany. One of my clients was talking about making salmon for a dinner she was having and I sent her this recipe.
But what the heck is a “pepita”??
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I was looking for a fall salmon recipe and this is it. I tend to like my salmon on the medium rare side and was unsure how that would pair with the warming pumpkin. It ended up tasting great and exceeded my expectations!
YAY! I am so happy to hear that you are loving this recipe, Siena. Thank you so much for coming back and sharing your review + star rating, I really appreciate it!
I made half of this recipe for my dinner tonight and lunch tomorrow. I put the salmon atop baked butternut squash cubes, baked sweet potato cubes, and steamed kale. Fantastic meal!
I came home, too tired to stop at the store, looked in my fridge and had a piece of salmon and half a can of pureed pumpkin that needed to be used up and that was about it. I typed in salmon and pumpkin and found this recipe. It’s in the oven. I can’t wait to try it!
Yay! Let me know how it turned out. 🙂
Looks great, Brittany. One of my clients was talking about making salmon for a dinner she was having and I sent her this recipe.
But what the heck is a “pepita”??
A pepita is another term for pumpkin seed. It’s the seed without the shell.
Thanks Mike. Pepitas are no shell pumpkin seeds, you can see them on top of the salmon in the photos. 🙂
what a brilliant recipe!!