Recipes › Spinach › Seared Salmon with Wilted Spinach and Miso Butter
Seared Salmon with Wilted Spinach and Miso Butter
A weeknight dinner that looks like you tried much harder than you did. Crispy-skinned salmon fillets sit on a generous bed of spinach that has been quickly wilted in a glossy, deeply savoury miso butter. The whole thing is ready in under 25 minutes and needs nothing else on the plate.
Spinach is in season now. More spinach recipes, or see what to sow this month where you are.
Ingredients
- 500 g fresh spinach, washed
- 4 salmon fillets, skin on, pin-bonedor use sea trout fillets
- 60 g unsalted butter, cut into cubes
- 2 tbsp white miso paste
- 2 garlic cloves, thinly sliced
- 2 cm fresh ginger, peeled and grated
- 1 tsp sesame oil
- 1 tbsp vegetable oil
- 1 tbsp light soy sauceuse tamari for a certified gluten-free version
- 1 lemon, cut into wedges (optional)
- 3 spring onions, finely sliced (optional)
Contains: cereals gluten, fish, milk, sesame, soya.
Method
- Pat the salmon fillets completely dry with kitchen paper — this is the single most important thing you can do for a crispy skin. Season the skin side generously with salt and the flesh side lightly.About 2 min
- Mix the miso paste, soy sauce and sesame oil together in a small bowl until smooth. Set aside.About 1 min
- Heat the vegetable oil in a large non-stick frying pan over a high heat until shimmering. Place the salmon skin-side down and press gently with a spatula for the first 30 seconds to prevent curling. Cook without moving for 4–5 minutes until the skin is deeply golden and the flesh is opaque two-thirds of the way up. Flip and cook for 1 further minute. Transfer to a warm plate, skin-side up.About 6 min
- Reduce the heat to medium and add the butter to the same pan. Once melted, add the garlic and ginger and cook for 1 minute until fragrant. Stir in the miso mixture.About 2 min
- Add the spinach to the pan in large handfuls, turning it into the miso butter as each batch wilts. Once all the spinach has wilted and is well coated — about 2–3 minutes — taste and adjust seasoning.About 3 min
- Divide the spinach between four warm plates, making sure to spoon over any butter from the pan. Place a salmon fillet on each, skin-side up. Scatter with spring onions and serve with lemon wedges.About 1 min
Tips
- Use tamari instead of light soy sauce if you need this to be strictly gluten-free — most soy sauce contains wheat.
- If your salmon fillets are very thick (over 3cm), after flipping, pop the pan into a 180°C oven for 2–3 minutes rather than risking overcooking the skin on the hob.
- White miso is milder and sweeter than red — if you only have red miso, use 1 tablespoon rather than 2 or it will overwhelm everything.
Ring the changes
- This miso butter is excellent with cod loin or a thick piece of hake — adjust cook times as these are leaner fish and dry out faster.
- For a dairy-free version, use 3 tablespoons of coconut oil in place of the butter and add a squeeze of lime at the end.
Keeping it
Best eaten immediately. Leftover salmon and spinach can be refrigerated separately for up to 1 day and eaten cold over rice or noodles — do not reheat the fish as it dries out badly.
In the app this recipe finds you
Log what you've picked and GrowMore CookMore matches it to 1,918 more recipes like this one, tells you what's ready before the frost gets it, and keeps the freezer honest. Free to start.
More from the same crop
This is the soup to make when spinach is at its absolute peak — vivid green, with a clean grassy sweetness that cream and a heavy hand with freshly grated nutmeg transforms into something properly elegant. It takes about 25 minutes from start to finish and tastes like you put in far more effort than you did. Serve with thick, buttered sourdough.
30 min · easy · SpinachA classic French bistro salad that earns its place at any table. A warm shallot and mustard vinaigrette is poured over a heap of fresh spinach, just wilting the leaves slightly without cooking them, then topped with crispy smoked bacon lardons and a perfectly runny soft-boiled egg. Simple, fast, and quietly brilliant.
22 min · easy · SpinachA proper, thick-set frittata built around tender waxy potatoes, wilted garden spinach and sharp Cheddar, finished under the grill until golden and puffed at the edges. It is the kind of dish that works for a leisurely weekend breakfast, a packed lunch sliced cold, or a fast midweek dinner with a simple green salad alongside.
40 min · easy · Spinach
Allotment keeper in the North East of England, the voice behind the Tony C Smith YouTube channel, and the gardener who built GrowMore CookMore. Club numbers on this page update as members log their plots. Last updated 4 April 2026.