Sweet and Spicy Balsamic Salmon
I love salmon.
I go through periods where I’ll eat it 3 times a week! Well, that is when I’m home from college. I use to have it all the time when I lived at home, but up at college, it’s a little more tough to fix delicious, fresh salmon or dinner (busy college girl problems).
I got in a rut of fixing it the same exact way every time, some olive oil, herbs, garlic, and sea salt. Simple yet delicious. But I wanted to spice it up the other night, and try a new flavor on my salmon. See, many times when I’ve made salmon, I have also had a little side salad on my plate with balsamic vinegar and olive oil dressing. Why am I telling you this? Well I usually pour too much balsamic vinegar on my salad, and it spills out on my plate over to the salmon. At first I thought, oh no, now it’s going to have a vinegar taste. But to my delight, it was delicious with the balsamic taste!
And that’s what inspired this recipe.
Sweet and spicy balsamic salmon!
I decided to take this sweet and savory taste of balsamic vinegar, and add a bit of spice with hot sauce and ginger. It was one of my best salmon dinners yet.
Salmon is a great protein to include in your diet, as it is not only high in protein, but also a great source of Omega 3 Fatty Acids. The only warning is that farm raised salmon can contain high levels of mercury, so I always make sure to buy Wild Alaskan salmon.
Sweet and Spicy Balsamic Marinade:
-1/4 cup balsamic vinegar
-1T hot sauce (or sriracha sauce)
-1T olive oil
-1 tsp sea salt, ginger powder, and basil
*Amounts for one big piece of salmon (about 8oz). You can double or triple ingredients as needed.
Directions: Preheat oven at 350 degrees F. Mix all marinade ingredients together. Made an aluminum foil “tray” by folding a piece of aluminum foil up on all sides (so no liquid spills out). Place 8oz piece of salmon skin side down on foil, and pour marinade over. Allow to sit for 30 minutes, or you can proceed to cook right away. Place in preheated oven for about 20 minutes, or until done all the way through. Paired great with a side salad and sweet potato.
Salmon Benefits
1)Omega 3 fatty acids: protects heart health
2)High Quality Protein
3)Essential Amino Acids
4)Vitamin A
5)Vitamin D
6)Vitamin B6
7)Vitamin B
8)Vitamin E: powerful antioxidant that lowers risk of heart disease
9)Appreciable amounts of calcium, iron, zinc, magnesium, and phosphorus