Oven Baked Salmon With Apples and Potatoes

Dressed in spiced apple sauce and cooked to perfection, this baked salmon rests on a bed of naturally sweet, caramelized apples and potatoes.

This easy fall dinner recipe will teach you how to bake salmon that is never dry!

[feast_advanced_jump_to]

My mother’s foolproof baked salmon recipe

When I came home it would be sitting there in the oven, wrapped in tinfoil.

There was no smell, no identifiable bulges to hint at what lay beneath. But I knew anyway: some traditions never changed.

It was only once we all sat there at the table, chatting away, that my mother would uncover the foil and triumphantly serve her roasted salmon to the table.

Years later and thousands of miles across the globe, I continue her tradition by serving roasted salmon on special occasions.

Except in this fall-inspired baked salmon recipe, my roasted salmon in spiced apple sauce rests on a bed of apples and potatoes, an ode to fall and to shaking things up, even if just a bit.

Serve baked salmon as a Thanksgiving dinner recipe

I’m a big believer in traditions. There is something so comforting in the familiar, in knowing exactly what you’re going to get before you’ve even seen it.

So it was with my mother’s baked salmon method, which I started making for Thanksgiving when I first moved to Canada – and the tradition took hold.

We could all imagine the taste, feel its juices running down our chins, remember the smell that would waft through the house once that tinfoil was uncovered.

The tradition of serving that baked salmon was a ritual in its own right, regardless of what holiday we all gathered to celebrate.

Serving baked salmon with apples and potatoes

For me, it was all about the side vegetables that came with the dish. Wedges of potatoes and sweet potatoes, swimming in oil and spices, beautiful caramelization around their edges.

They were delicious, and I always had to stop myself from going for thirds.

But there’s this thing with traditions. If you let things go and stop thinking about them, it’s easy to get caught in traditions and to lose sight of their real purpose.

So in my baked salmon in apple sauce, the piece de resistance rests on a bed on thinly sliced potatoes and apples. This makes it into a gratin dauphinois of sorts that gives the dish that extra special touch and celebrates the season.

Why I love this baked salmon recipe with apples

Though I love my mother’s recipe, I have to say that I love this salmon with apples recipe even better:

• the apples get a beautiful, deep caramelized flavour that accentuates their natural sweetness
• the potatoes get a boost from the unfamiliar sweetness of apples sharing their table. It’s unique, but still strangely familiar – and therefore, comforting.
• my mother’s baked salmon technique ensures it’s never dry!

Directions for this Salmon Tray Bake

If using frozen salmon, defrost fish overnight in the fridge. When ready to cook, preheat oven to 450F.

Make applesauce topping for salmon

In a saucepan, combine apple sauce, 1 TB of olive oil and fennel seeds. Heat through on medium-high heat for about 5 minutes (no need to bring to a boil). Remove from heat.

Make side dish of apples and potatoes

Wash potatoes and apples well. Slice apples and potatoes into thin rounds (when you get to the seedy part of the apple, stop slicing circles, change sides, and when you get to the heart again, cut out the core and slice the remaining parts of the apple into crescents; or just core and slice the whole thing into crescents – it really doesn’t matter).

How to season salmon with applesauce

Pat salmon dry, and season with salt and pepper. Rest in the middle of an oven-safe baking dish. Arrange potatoes and apples around it interchangeably, nestling them snuggly.

Cover salmon with apple sauce mixture, taking care to get it under the fish as well (you want to make sure the fish is well-coated). Drizzle 3 TBs of olive oil on all the apples and potatoes, and season them with salt and pepper.

How to Bake Salmon that is Never Dry

This is my fullproof method for how to bake salmon: cover the baking sheet with aluminum foil, and bake at 450F oven for 30 minutes. Uncover, and bake on the grill/broil setting for another 5 minutes.

TIP: If not using applesauce, cover your salmon with cream or nondairy cream!

Remove baked salmon tray bake from the oven, and serve immediately.

When to serve this baked salmon with apples and potatoes?

This roasted salmon in apple sauce on a bed of apples and potatoes is a dish for special occasions, preferably in the fall: Thanksgiving, Rosh Hashana and Sukkot.

And like my mother, I, too, wait until the very last moment to uncover the foil and reveal it. Because some traditions just have to stay the same.

For a full, memorable meal, serve this roasted salmon with my fennel, apple and pear salad.

Recipe