Pan-Seared Salmon Bites with Honey Sesame Soy Sauce

Salmon bites is an easy 5-ingredient, 10-minute recipe, featuring cubed salmon marinated in a simple honey sesame soy sauce and pan-seared to crispy perfection! Since marinating is optional, you can whip this up at a moment’s notice, and you’ll want to put the marinade on everything.

Salmon is one of my favorite proteins to cook. It’s loaded with nutrition, including good-for-you omega 3s and Vitamin D, and it’s easily accessible at any grocery store.

It’s not super expensive, but it’s not super cheap either. So I love cubing the salmon into bite-size pieces to make salmon bites. Somehow, cooking smaller pieces seems to make it go further.

Maybe it’s because each little salmon nugget is so satisfying, wrapped in tons of flavor from the sauce and seared to crispy perfection. It also means you can buy any kind that’s cheap, because you don’t need huge beautiful thick fillets for this, which are usually more expensive.

The marinade is the same that I use for searing ahi tuna – a simple mixture of soy sauce, toasted sesame oil, and honey.

These salmon bites are perfect served in a salmon bowl, with cooked rice and some sautéed veggies. I like throwing the veggies right in the same skillet in which I cooked the salmon for maximum flavor.

Ingredients and Substitutions

• Salmon – any kind (wild, farmed, sockeye, etc.)
• Soy sauce – or gluten-free (tamari), or coconut aminos, if needed.
• Toasted Sesame Oil – you can find this in the Asian section of your grocery store.
• Honey – or another sweetener like maple syrup or brown sugar (can be omitted)
• Canola oil – or other neutral tasting oil, for searing
• Optional ingredients: sriracha or other hot sauce, green onions, and sesame seeds for garnish

How to make Pan-Seared Salmon Bites

1. First, cube the salmon. Mix up the sauce – soy sauce, toasted sesame oil, and honey (and sriracha if you want), and pour the sauce over the salmon. Toss to coat.
2. Optional: at this point you can marinate for 30 minutes – 6 hours in the fridge, tossing occasionally to redistribute sauce. This will enhance the flavor but if you don’t have time to marinate, you can just proceed with the recipe.
3. Heat a large skillet and add the canola oil. Remove salmon pieces to skillet using tongs so the sauce stays in the bowl. Sear the salmon skin-side down (if it has skin on it) for 2-3 minutes, then flip and sear on the other side for 2-3 minutes, or until it’s fully cooked.
4. Pour the remaining sauce in the skillet and toss gently to coat the salmon.
5. Serve garnished with green onion and sesame seeds.

Salmon Bites FAQs

Tips and Tricks

• Be sure to sear the salmon well, on at least two sides until it’s nice and browned. This not only adds a ton of flavor, but creating that sear also helps the salmon hold together well. Salmon is a fish that flakes apart easily, and that sear helps tighten up the surface so it holds its shape well.
• Make sure the salmon bites are in a single layer in the skillet. The more crowded the skillet is, the harder it will be to get a good sear. Do two batches if necessary.
• Cook veggies in the same skillet as the salmon. If serving these salmon bites with vegetables, I recommend throwing prepped veggies right in the skillet (without washing it – you want that flavor!) after cooking the salmon. The remaining sauce leftover will help flavor the veggies and there will likely already be enough oil left in the pan.
• You’ll need the skillet to be very hot to get a good sear. But if it seems to be browning too quickly and the salmon isn’t fully cooked, turn the heat down.

Other easy salmon recipes

• Chipotle Salmon Tacos
• Garlic Butter Sheet Pan Salmon and Veggies
• Poached Salmon with Chive Butter
• Oven BBQ Salmon
• Salmon, Arugula, and Feta Frittata

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