Name: Salmon with Creamy White Wine Sauce
Prep time: 5 min
Cook time: 10 min
Total time: 15 min
Ingredients: 1 tbsp vegetable oil; 2 salmon fillets (boneless, skin-on); 1 clove garlic (peeled and minced); 1/4 cup (60 ml) white wine; 1/4 cup (60ml) strong chicken stock ( (I use 1 stock cube crumbled into 1/4 cup/60ml hot water)); 3/4 cup (180ml) double (heavy) cream; 1/4 tsp salt; 1/4 tsp pepper; 3 tbsp grated parmesan; zest of 1 lemon

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Tender, fall-apart pan-fried salmon in rich, creamy, white wine and garlic sauce. All cooked in one pan, this dish has a few little extras to make the sauce over-the-top tasty.
On the table in 15 minutes, it's a great meal when you need dinner fast, but you want something special.

Grey plate with salmon drizzled in a creamy sauce served with broccoli and potatoes

I like to serve fish for dinner at least once a week and this is a recipe I often use to ensure we have clean plates all-round.
Tender, juicy salmon fillets, all served up with veggies and sauce in 15 minutes!

The salmon does most of the cooking in the sauce, which means it will be lovely and tender, and it's actually quite difficult to overcook, so you haven't got to worry about dry salmon!

The sauce, although very simple, is quite rich and decadent, so it works really well with potatoes and green veg to soak it all up.

What do we need?

Boneless salmon fillets, with the skin on (this helps to keep the salmon tender) - you can use the thinner fillets as I have in the image above, or you can use the more square-shaped tail fillets.
Base sauce ingredients - white wine, a splash of stock cream, parmesan
Aromatics/seasonings - garlic, salt, pepper, lemon zest

Ingredients for salmon with creamy white wine sauce on a wooden table

How to make this pan fried salmon

Full recipe with detailed steps in the recipe card at the end of this post.

Cook the salmon fillets for 2 minutes, skin-side-down over a high heat with a little oil.
Flip, cook for 2 further minutes until lightly browned, then flip again.
Add garlic, white wine, stock, cream, salt, pepper and parmesan.
Simmer until slightly thickened, the sprinkle on lemon zest and a little freshly chopped parsley before serving.

8 image collage showing how to make salmon with creamy white wine sauce

The stock and parmesan in the sauce really helps to add extra flavour to the cream and white wine sauce. It works so well with the salmon, but you could also use if for chicken, steak and juicy king prawns too!

What to serve it with

You can serve this pan fried salmon with:

Baby new potatoes (steamed/boiled for 20 minutes)
Creamy Mashed Potatoes or crispy Roasted Potatoes
Tender Green Beans with Parmesan
Simple steamed broccoli
The best Potato Dauphinoise

Close up of a piece of salmon in creamy sauce being flaked with a fork

Skin-on or skinless fillets

I would always suggest going for skin-on salmon fillets as the skin helps to protect the salmon from overcooking and drying out.
Once the salmon is cooked, you can easily remove the skin if you prefer. It will peel right off.

Replace with other fish

This recipe works great with most types of fish fillets.

Cook as per this recipe with skin-on trout, sea bass or sea bream
For firm-fleshed, skinless, white fish fillets - such as cod, haddock and pollack, it's a good idea to season them with a pinch of salt and pepper first for extra flavour. These types of white fish are usually thicker, but since they're skinless, they should cook in about the same amount of time as the salmon.

Tips to pan-fry salmon with a sauce:

It's a good idea to take the salmon out of the fridge 15-20 minutes before frying them. This takes the chill off the middle so they'll cook more evenly.
Make sure the pan and the oil is very hot, and add the salmon to the pan skin-side down first.
If you're finishing off the cooking process in a sauce (like this recipe), you only need to cook the salmon for a couple of minutes on each side before adding the sauce. Just enough to brown the salmon slightly. The salmon will continue to cook in the sauce.
Once you've added the sauce ingredients, the salmon should only need a few minutes more - enough time for the sauce to simmer and reduce. This will ensure the salmon is lovely and juicy.
The sauce helps to keep the salmon moist, so if you do cook it for a few minutes longer than the recipe suggests, it'll still be perfect.

Salmon in cream sauce, broccoli and potatoes on a grey plate

Don't want to use wine?

You can replace the white wine with the same amount of chicken stock plus 1 tsp of Worcestershire sauce or 1 tsp fresh lemon juice.

More fantastic salmon recipes

Honey Garlic Butter Baked Salmon
Garlic Bread Crusted Salmon
Salmon Sushi Bowl
Pan Fried Salmon and Spaghetti with Lemon Cream Sauce

Watch how to make it

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Hi I’m Nicky

I love to cook and I want to share with you my favourite, delicious family friendly recipes. I want to inspire you to create fantastic food for your family every day.