Cajun Baked Salmon Bites

Cajun Baked Salmon Bites is just a really tasty, no-fuss way to cook salmon, fast (12 minutes!). Cut into cubes so the Cajun flavour hits every bite, then bake in a hot oven so it browns without overcooking the inside. No stove splatter, yay!

“What’s so good about this salmon?”

I just finished “selling” this to my brother (yes, the one that famously once told me “there’s nothing about this recipe I like” 😆) when he came in just as I was shooting the photos. He asked (bluntly) – “What’s so good about this salmon?”. Here’s what I told him!

• Cutting salmon into cubes means a higher ratio of tasty seasoned surface area to flesh. You won’t even need a sauce to enjoy these bites!

• It’s baked not pan fried. Who wants to turn a gazillion cubes of salmon 6 times??

• It takes 12 minutes to bake. It gets colour on it thanks to a hot oven and a smidge of sugar in the seasoning, but the inside doesn’t get overcooked. Nobody wants dry overcooked salmon around here!

• I’m using mum’s infamous crumpled foil fish baking technique. So instead of using a rack (such a pain to clean), you just line a tray with crinkled foil and it acts like a gazillion teeny tiny prongs that keep the salmon from sitting flat on the tray. This way, the underside even gets a bit of colour on it rather than getting all sweaty and wet, so there’s no need to turn the salmon.

• Also, the crumpled foil stops the fish from sticking!

• It’s Cajun, dude. Anything you Cajun is tasty. You know it’s true. 😂

That’s a pretty accurate representation of how our conversation went down. I convinced him. Have I convinced you?? 😀

Ingredients in Cajun Baked Salmon Bites

Here’s what you need to make this – salmon fillets and a handful of pantry spices!

• Salmon – Skinless fillets is best here. Skin on will work too but then you need to fiddle with each piece to arrange them skin-side down.

• Spices – Just regular pantry spices!
  – garlic and onion powder: substitute with more of either. Don’t substitute the garlic powder with fresh garlic, it will burn!
  – paprika: regular/sweet – though smoked is great too
  – dried thyme: substitute with oregano or parsley
  – cayenne pepper: optional, for a extra hit of warm heat, if you like!

• Brown sugar – Just a little bit not only adds essential flavour (it really is so good with the cajun spice mix!), it also helps the salmon bites get a bit of caramelisation on the surface even with a very short bake time so the inside doesn’t overcook. If you substitute with honey or maple syrup, it doesn’t colour as well (I tried).

• Salt and pepper – I use cooking salt / kosher salt. If you only have table salt (very fine), then reduce the amount by 50%, and if you have salt flakes, increase by 50%.

• Olive oil – Or any neutral flavoured oil suitable for cooking.

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How to make Cajun Baked Salmon Bites

Here’s how to make them. Preheat your oven well – we need a hot oven to get colour on the salmon in 12 minutes flat!

1. Cut the salmon into bite size pieces – 2.5cm / 1″ is a good size that will cook through just perfectly inside by the time it’s been in the oven long enough to caramelise the surface slightly.

2. Mix the Cajun Marinade ingredients in a bowl then add the salmon and toss to coat. There should be just enough to coat every piece nicely without excess pooling in the bottom of the bowl.

3. Wrinkle foil up by lightly scrunching it with your hands then unfold it without flattening the wrinkles and cover the tray. We want lots of little crinkly wrinkly little ridges, bumps and lumps all over the foil that will act as microscopic little “prongs” that keep the salmon elevated off the tray – this is what stops the underside from getting soggy which makes the Cajun spice sweat off. It also prevents the salmon from sticking to the tray. Nifty little Japanese fish cooking technique I picked up from my mother!

   Fold the foil over the edge of the tray to hold it in place and repeat with another sheet of foil (if needed) to cover the whole tray with the wrinkly crinkly foil.

4. Spread the salmon across the tray. The more space between each piece, the better they will colour!

5. Bake for 12 minutes in a hot preheated oven – 240°C/460°F (220°C fan-forced). Hard and fast, to get colour on the salmon without overcooking the inside!

6. Ready to eat! Look at the lovely caramelisation on the surface – thanks to the smidge of brown sugar and the hot oven!

Sauce and serving options

I use enough seasoning for these salmon bites so that you can serve them without a sauce, plus remember we are keeping them nice and succulent inside – no dry overcooked salmon for dinner tonight!!!

However, sauce is always encouraged and it so happened that I had a couple of leftovers in my fridge from recent recipes – the Gyros Sauce from last weeks’ Kalimera Chicken Gyros, and the pantry-spices version of Peri-naise from the recent (very popular!) One Pot Nando’s Chicken and Rice. Both are pink and both tasted fabulous with the Cajun flavours on this salmon, though for a really quick option you could just mix mayonnaise with sriracha and/or ketchup (aim for a pink colour).

As for how to serve them – make rice bowls, like pictured in this post and in the video, or stuff into tortillas to make salmon tacos (YES!). Add to salads to make them meal-worthy, make dinner plates with a Garden Salad and Lemon Potato Salad on the side, or eat them straight off the tray. However you serve these, you can’t go wrong! – Nagi x

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Watch how to make it

Life of Dozer

When I had the genius idea to do a lovely little selfie with Mr Dozer for today’s post, here’s how it went down:

Look at the camera and smile Dozer…..!

No no no don’t lie down…..!! Oof, come on, get up – jeez you’re heavy!

I give up!

OK fine you win, I’ll come down onto the floor with you…

Smile Dozer! Show us your pearly whites!

Love this big oaf so much. So grateful for everyday I have him in his creaky old years. ❤️ (He’s 13 1/2 years young!!)