The Best Spices for Salmon: Dill, Mustard, Horseradish, Pepper and Lemon

Salmon is a fatty, full-flavored fish, and the seasonings that recur in recipes from named cooks are the sharp, bright and pungent ones: dill, mustard, horseradish, black pepper, lemon and salt, often several at once. This page covers the job each one does, how four named recipes combine them, and the safe cooking temperature. Quantities appear only where a named recipe gives them.

At a glance

Why salmon takes strong seasoning

The NIH Office of Dietary Supplements groups salmon with the cold-water fatty fish that contain high amounts of long-chain omega-3 fats. Its table gives 1.24 g of DHA and 0.59 g of EPA per 3 ounces of cooked farmed Atlantic salmon, and 1.22 g and 0.35 g for wild Atlantic.⁹ In our kitchen judgment, that richness is why acidic, sharp and pungent seasonings suit salmon better than they suit a lean white fish; no source tests the pairing.

The core seasonings and what each does

Salt: cure, season, finish

Salt does three different jobs with salmon. In gravlax it is half of the cure: Stewart Hodgson’s recipe covers a 1 kg fillet with ⅓ cup (75 g) of salt and ⅓ cup (75 g) of sugar.¹ For cooked salmon, America’s Test Kitchen found that sea salt tastes no different from table salt once it is mixed into food, and recommends it as a finishing salt,² so a few flakes over the fish at the table give crunch rather than a different flavor. For smoke, SaltWorks suggests rolling salmon in a smoked-salt rub before pan searing or plank roasting.⁸ See sea salt and smoked sea salt uses.

Dill: the Scandinavian pairing

Britannica lists fish among dill’s main uses and says the herb is especially popular in eastern European and Scandinavian cooking.¹⁰ Gernot Katzer notes that in Scandinavia fish and shellfish dishes are usually flavored with dill, and that the leaves rather than the seeds are preferred for them.³ Hodgson’s gravlax uses ½ cup of finely chopped dill in the cure and another ¼ cup in the mustard sauce served with it.¹

America’s Test Kitchen classes dill leaves as a delicate herb and advises adding delicate herbs at the last minute.¹¹ For cooked salmon, that means scattering chopped dill over the fish or stirring it into a sauce at the end. See cooking with dill, fresh dill vs. dried dill and, if it takes over, too much dill.

Mustard: tang and a glaze

Mustard turns up in two forms. Hodgson’s gravlax sauce is ¼ cup of Dijon mustard whisked with 2 tablespoons each of sugar and white wine vinegar, ¼ cup of chopped dill and ⅓ cup of grapeseed oil.¹ The Spice House’s baked salmon brushes two 6-ounce fillets with 2 tablespoons of Dijon and 1 tablespoon of maple syrup, then presses the glazed side into everything bagel seasoning so the seasoning sticks.⁴ McCormick lists seafood among the foods ground mustard goes with and suggests it in rubs and marinades.¹²

As a method rather than a rule: dry ground mustard suits a dry rub, and prepared mustard suits a glaze or sauce, because it is already wet and sticks. See mustard powder and mustard powder uses.

Horseradish: pungent heat

Horseradish has no bite until it is cut. Britannica explains that isothiocyanates are released when the cells are ruptured by cutting or grating, and credits allyl isothiocyanate with horseradish’s distinctive flavor.¹³ Joanne Weir’s horseradish-crusted salmon presses ½ cup of grated fresh horseradish (prepared horseradish may be substituted), bound with egg white, onto a 2-pound fillet, then cooks it crust side down over medium-low heat until a golden-brown crust forms, 2 to 3 minutes.⁵ Its heat registers more in the nose than on the tongue (our description). See cooking with horseradish and wasabi vs. horseradish.

Black pepper: gentle pungency

Britannica attributes black pepper’s characteristic flavor principally to piperine.¹⁴ Pepper is in the gravlax cure (1 teaspoon ground)¹ and in Weir’s crust,⁵ and Leela Punyaratabandhu’s roast salmon for TASTE is seasoned with nothing but salt, pepper and fennel pollen.⁶ See cracked vs. ground black pepper.

Lemon: brightness

Weir serves her salmon with lemon wedges.⁵ Lemon pepper is a shortcut, but not simply lemon peel and pepper: McCormick’s version lists salt first, then black pepper, citric acid, onion, sugar and garlic, with lemon oil near the end, and the company suggests stirring it into melted butter or olive oil and brushing it over seafood.⁷ Lemon juice adds acidity that zest and lemon pepper do not, which in our judgment is what cuts through salmon’s fat. See lemon pepper.

Fennel pollen and other extras

Punyaratabandhu rubs a 2-pound fillet with salt, pepper and fennel pollen before roasting.⁶ Everything bagel seasoning over a mustard glaze, as in The Spice House recipe, is another option.⁴ See fennel pollen uses and everything bagel seasoning uses.

Four recipes side by side

These are the named cooks’ recipes, not a house standard.

Gravlax is cured, not smoked

A common claim says gravlax is a smoked salmon. It is not: it is raw salmon cured under salt, sugar and dill. Hodgson’s recipe refrigerates the fillet for at least 48 hours, turning it every 12 hours, and his note says the name translates as “grave salmon,” from fishermen who salted salmon and buried it in the sand to ferment.¹

Because gravlax is never cooked, the FDA’s advice on raw fish is relevant: it advises people at greater risk of foodborne illness, including pregnant women, children, older adults and people with weakened immune systems, to avoid raw or undercooked fish or shellfish.¹⁵

Doneness and safety

FoodSafety.gov lists salmon among the fin fish to cook to 145°F (63°C), or until the flesh is no longer translucent and separates easily with a fork.¹⁶ The FDA likewise says most seafood should be cooked to an internal temperature of 145°F.¹⁵

Related

• Best spices for tilapia
• Best spices for tuna steak
• Dill
• Dried herbs vs. fresh
• The master list of herbs and spices