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.
To test the theory, I made a quick pumpkin butter glaze by heating up pumpkin, coconut sugar and spices and slathering 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!
And for those of you that don’t eat turkey, but do eat seafood, this would be a great main entrée for Thanksgiving!
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If you have pumpkin butter on hand, you can simply use that in place of the pumpkin glaze. It might not taste exactly the same as my version, but it will be pretty close.
Ingredients
- 4 wild caught salmon fillets (about 4 oz each)
- 1/3 cup pumpkin
- 3 Tablespoons brown sugar + extra for sprinkling (I used coconut sugar)
- 1 teaspoon pumpkin pie spice
- 1/2 teaspoon apple cider vinegar
- 1/4 teaspoon sea salt
- 1/4 -1/3 cup roasted and salted pepitas, crushed a little
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 400 degrees. With a rack in the center.
- Make the glaze: 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.
Wow this looks so healthy and delicious! I don’t think your crazy at all for putting pumpkin on salmon 🙂 Now if only I could convince my husband to eat salmon!
girl i think this sounds fabulous 😀 i can’t wait to try xoxo love ya friend
Hey Brittany, this sounds awesome! But I’m a vegetarian. Thoughts on how well this would work on tofu instead of salmon? Thanks!
Love the twist on a traditional recipe! That’s what experimenting in the kitchen is all about so more power to ya 🙂
I admit, it sounded strange when I read the name of your post, but that actually looks and sounds delicious! I love to pair with salmon with sweet ingredients, so why not pumpkin pie-esque ingredients (which are always yummy)? great idea… I’ll definitely have to try it!
This is a fabulous idea! Forwarding to Sharon as well in case she missed it, I think she would really like it too 🙂
This doesn’t sound crazy at all- I’ve been on a weird pumpkin kick this week: Pumpkin Fettuccini Alfredo & Pumpkin Chili the last 2 nights for dinner!
I’d call this creative, not weird at all! YUM!
love this idea!!!
definitely sounds strange but i’d be willing to try it!
I made this for dinner tonight with the help of my 5 year old. He ate every bite! It was yummy! Thanks for a great twist on salmon!
★★★★★
How perfect. Fall salmon. If you make your own pumpkin it’s a great way to use it all while it’s fresh. And all of us could use a little more salmon in our lives.
I tried this glaze this morning (with a little extra brown sugar) on pumpkin waffles… so good! Thanks for posting 🙂
Such a refreshing twist! Will have to try this out.
I like pumpkin….I like salmon….how could two rights make a wrong? Looks delish!
what a brilliant recipe!!
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”??
Thanks Mike. Pepitas are no shell pumpkin seeds, you can see them on top of the salmon in the photos. 🙂
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. 🙂
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!
★★★★★