Thai Sweet Chili Glazed Salmon

This pan fried crispy Thai Sweet Chili Glazed Salmon with broccolini and rice is made with just a few ingredients and is on the table in under 15 minutes.  Made with a sugar free or light sweet chili sauce means this is lighter in calories but packed with sweet, tangy, savory flavours including hints of garlic, soy and lemon. 

Recipe Highlights

• Using sugar free or light sweet chili sauce makes it much lower in calories
• Its pan fried and no oil is needed
• It’s perfectly crispy on the outside and tender on the inside
• Its easy to double up the sauce for soaking up the rice
• Its ideal as a dinner or lunch and it travels well
• Its’s one of my go to meal prep recipes for busy weekdays
• Add your favorite rice and greens and you have a perfectly balanced meal
• It makes two servings, but its easy to double or triple!
• Its not too spicy, around low to medium and its easy to add additional spice

There are so many different options in supermarkets and online for sugar free sweet chili sauce, or its also super easy to make your own by following my recipe for sugar free sweet chili sauce.

Ingredients

Ingredient Notes

• Salmon:  Whilst I used skinless salmon fillets for this recipe, you could also use salmon filets with the skin on if you like them.  Also, you could use diced salmon pieces instead of a fillet.  If using frozen salmon, make sure it is properly defrosted before cooking, and you may need to pat dry with paper towel to remove excess moisture to achieve a crispy outside.
• Sweet Chili Sauce:  Most times I have some of my healthy homemade sweet chili sauce in the fridge, but I also always have a few bottles of “Ayam” Sweet Chili Sauce in the cupboard for emergencies as I use it as a flavor base for most of my quick throw together stir fries.
• Soy Sauce:  I use light soy sauce as it is a little saltier than regular soy sauce, however that would be fine to use.
• Lemon Juice:  Use fresh lemon juice if you can as it will add more “zing” to the sauce.  Otherwise use bottled lemon juice.  You can also use lime juice to achieve a similar flavor. 
• Garlic:  adding garlic gives a little extra punch to the sauce, and you can really add as much or as little as you like depending on your preferences.  I love garlic notes in Asian dishes, so I tend to like more rather than less.
• Rice:  There are many options here for what to serve sweet chili salmon with.  My personal favorite is brown rice, but white jasmine rice is also an option, as is cauliflower fried rice for a low carb option.  Buying pre-cooked rice you can zap in the microwave greatly cuts down on the prep time of this recipe too.
• Greens:  Anything goes here, but I like to keep it simple with just ne or maybe two greens:  broccolini, beans, zucchini, spinach, cabbage, snap peas, or edamame
• Sesame Seeds:  these are optional but add a nice visual touch and earthiness.  If you don’t have them you could certainly leave them out.
• Green Onions:  also called spring onions or shallots depending on where you are, these add extra savory flavor and texture to the dish as well as freshness.

I love making salmon recipes, especially as they are ideal for meal prepping. Some of my favorites are salmon and noodles, easy salmon stir fry, and crispy asian salmon with pineapple salsa, and these amazing teriyaki salmon bowls made with my quick homemade sugar free sauce.

How To Make

1. Prepare Sauce/Broccoli:  Add all sauce ingredients to a jug and whisk to combine, then set aside.  Add broccoli pieces to a bowl of water so they are just covered and microwave on high for 4 minutes.   Drain broccoli and set aside.

2. Cook Salmon:  Heat skillet on medium to high heat, and add salmon pieces flat side down, cooking for 2 – 3 minutes.  Flip salmon and cook other side for 2 minutes or until golden and crispy.  (depending on preference you may like to cook the remaining 2 sides for 1 minute each, or not)

3. Add Sauce:  Whisk sauce again and then pour into skillet, reducing heat to medium.  Turning salmon over and coating with sauce.  Sauce will thicken slightly on the heat.  Remove after 1 minute, or leave longer if you want it thicker.

4. Serve:  Add cooked rice to bowl, place salmon on top, scrape out remaining sauce and add to top of salmon, and add broccoli on the side.  Sprinkle sesame seeds and green onions and serve.

Recipe Tips

• Use a non stick skillet or pan:  Salmon is an oily fish and using a non stick pan is perfect for cooking salmon.  Even if you don’t have a non stick pan, I recommend only using the slightest bit of oil as a lot of oils will naturally come out of the fish during the cooking process.
• The Sauce:  Don’t overheat the sauce as it will thicken too much.  It only takes a very short amount of time to heat the sauce through then remove it from the heat so its still a runny consistency and easy to spready over the salmon.
• Swap out the Rice:  instead of rice, mix it up with your favorote noodles like egg noodles, soba noodles, udon noodles.
• Make it extra saucy:  To make it more saucy, simply double the sauce ingredients to make a double batch.
• Flavor boosters:  Add a little bit of fresh grated ginger (or bottled) for a little extra zing
• Meal Prepping and Storage:  Make up meal prepping containers with one third salmon, one third rice, and one third greens.  Store in air tight containers with secure lid in the fridge for upto 4 days.  I also like to make extra sauce and put it into small portable sauce containers so I can drizzle it over when it comes time to eat it.
• More spice:  Add red chili flakes or red pepper flakes on top to serve, or fresh diced red chili for additional spice and heat.

Alternatives to Pan Frying Salmon

If you prefer to bake the salmon, rather than pan frying it may take a few minutes longer, but still a quick and easy meal of around 20 minutes.  I don find though that its harder to get crispier edges on the salmon when baking and I really love those as it adds a contrast of textures to the overall dish.

If you have an Air Fryer, you could also make air fryer salmon, cooking for around 10 minutes on high and then drizzle the sauce over.

If you love sweet chili sauce, you may consider just pouring plain sweet chili sauce over salmon and baking or pan frying it and that would be completely fine. 

However, adding just a couple of other ingredients takes a great flavor base and turns it into an addictive Asian sauce that you’ll end up using on just about everything, from chicken, to steak, to fish. And everything from glazes, to using in stir fries, and drizzling on to serve.  This sweet chili salmon sauce is seriously something I eat every week.