This Salmon with Mango Salsa pairs perfectly cooked salmon with a spicy tropical salsa packed with fruit. Easy enough for a weeknight, but pretty enough to impress your dinner guests.
Salmon is one of my favorite things to make for dinner, because once you have this easy cooking technique down, you can pair it with so many different toppings and flavorings. This Old Bay Salmon is another favorite, when peaches are in season.
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Why Make This Recipe
- Make the salsa in advance, then dinner is only 15 minutes away
- This homemade mango salsa is packed with not just mango, but pineapple, cucumber, and corn too
- Citrusy and spicy flavors pair beautifully with salmon
- Perfect for fresh mango season!
🥗 Ingredients
- Mango: Use any type of mango you like, including an Ataulfo. Make this dish any time of year by using defrosted frozen mango chunks.
- Scallions (Green Onions): You can replace these with ¼ of a red onion or sweet white onion, chopped.
- English Cucumber: Those thin-skinned baby cucumbers are also great in this recipe. If you only have a regular cucumber, peel it and remove the seeds, as they will make your salsa too watery.
- Habanero Pepper: These are super SPICY. If you want to take down the spice a notch or two, replace with a jalapeño pepper instead. A serrano pepper would also be a good substitute.
- Corn: Canned corn or defrosted frozen corn will work for this recipe. See below in Expert Tips for how to use fresh corn instead.
- Lime Juice: Fresh lime juice always tastes better than bottled lime juice, but use what you have! You’ll probably need 2 limes for this recipe. Lemon juice is a good alternative.
- Olive Oil: Use a light olive oil for this salsa—a fancy extra-virgin olive oil might be a little overpowering. You can also replace with your preferred oil, from grapeseed oil to avocado oil.
- Salmon: Choose center-cut fillets that are about 1 inch thick.
🥣 Step-by-Step Instructions
First, prepare the salsa.
Slice off the two lobes of a ripe mango, avoiding the long, flat pit on the inside. Placing the peel of the mango against the side of a glass, so that the glass goes between the mango flesh and mango peel, press down to peel mango lobe. Repeat with the other mango lobe.
Slice the flesh into small cubes. Use a paring knife to cut around the remaining mango pit to remove any other flesh that can be added to the salsa. You should have about ¾ cup of diced mango.
Thinly slice 3 scallions. Cut ½ of an English cucumber into small dice—you should have about 1 cup total. Using plastic gloves, carefully cut out stem and seeds from a habanero pepper, then chop very finely.
Combine chopped mango, scallions, cucumber, ½ of the chopped habanero pepper, ½ cup diced pineapple, and ½ cup cooked corn kernels in a medium bowl, and stir. Add 2 tablespoons lime juice and 2 tablespoons olive oil. Stir in ½ teaspoon kosher salt, and season to taste with freshly ground black pepper.
If you want a spicier salsa, add more of the remaining chopped habanero pepper. Next, start on your salmon.
Preheat oven to 350° Fahrenheit. Drizzle 1 ½ tablespoons of olive oil over 4 salmon fillets and use your fingers to spread over the top of the salmon. Then sprinkle salt and pepper evenly over the tops of the fillets, and rub in gently.
Add another tablespoon of oil to a large ovenproof nonstick skillet and heat over medium-high heat. When pan is hot, add salmon flesh-side down. Sear for 2-3 minutes, until the top is nicely browned, then turn fillets right-side up. Place skillet in the oven and bake for 7-8 minutes, until just done.
Test that the salmon is ready by seeing whether the salmon breaks apart into large flakes when poked with a fork, or whether it is still too raw on the inside. Serve salmon fillets topped with a big spoonful of mango habanero salsa, and lime wedges on the side (optional).
Storage Tips
Any extra salsa can be stored in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to 2 days.
🧐 Recipe FAQs for Salmon with Mango Salsa
You can make the mango pineapple salsa at least several hours ahead of time. If you leave it overnight, however, the mango and pineapple will start to break down, and your salsa will become a bit saucier. Still delicious though! I don’t recommend cooking the salmon in advance—it is best right out of the oven.
Definitely! You can pan-sear it, and keep it on the stovetop rather than moving to the oven. Just take it down to medium heat after searing the salmon, then cover the skillet to let it cook more completely. You can also just bake the salmon—put it in an oven-safe greased baking dish and bake for about 10-12 minutes.
Or, you can grill it—just be careful not to flip it too many times or move it around too much, because when it is almost done, the flaky salmon will break apart easily. Sear it on the flesh side until you see nice grill marks, then flip it and cook with the salmon skin side on the grill. Cover the grill to help it cook through.
👩🍳 Expert Tips
Note that cooking salmon well takes practice—different types of salmon will take longer or shorter to cook. Wild-caught, less fatty salmon fillets will cook more quickly, especially if they are thinner. In general, you want to bake salmon for 8-10 min for every inch of thickness of the fillet. You can also use a meat thermometer to measure the internal temperature of the salmon—I prefer mine medium-rare, at around 125-130° Fahrenheit.
A well-seasoned cast-iron skillet would also work very well for this recipe. But if you don’t have a skillet that is oven-safe, sear the salmon on your skillet, then transfer to a baking dish coated with cooking spray or foil-lined baking sheet to put in the oven.
If you want to use fresh corn instead of canned or frozen corn in your fresh mango salsa, trim an ear of corn by cutting off the top leaves and pulling off a couple of the outermost layers. Cook corn in microwave on high for 4 minutes. Let corn cool for a few minutes, then peel and cut the kernels off and into a large bowl. Add to salsa.
Want to make your salmon even more flavorful? After rubbing with olive oil, sprinkle on a little garlic powder or onion powder. Or make a spicy/sweet mix of brown sugar and chili powder or cayenne pepper and rub that on top.
Wondering what to serve with this recipe? Salmon with pineapple mango salsa is lovely paired with coconut rice, brown rice, or jasmine rice. You could also add tortillas and turn this into salmon tacos with mango salsa—a really lovely adaptation. You can also add steamed broccoli or green beans on the side.
Want to make a big version of that salsa and serve it with chips? (Or eat it with a spoon?) Yup, me too. For a larger version of the recipe, see my Spicy Mango Salsa post.
Other Salmon Recipes
If you love salmon as much as I do, you’re always looking for new ways to cook it. Try this Salmon Stir Fry that is packed with vegetables next? Or one of these:
If you try this recipe, I would love to hear from you! Please rate this recipe and leave a comment below—your feedback is invaluable to me.
And please follow along on Instagram, Pinterest, and Facebook or subscribe to my newsletter. I’d love to inspire you with more delicious, healthy, and seasonal recipes!
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Salmon with Mango Salsa
Ingredients
For the Salsa
- 1 mango (¾ cup diced mango)
- 3 scallions
- ½ English cucumber
- 1 habanero pepper
- ½ cup diced pineapple
- ½ cup corn kernels
- 2 tablespoons lime juice (from about 2 limes)
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- ½ teaspoon kosher salt
- Freshly ground black pepper
For the Salmon
- 2 ½ tablespoons olive oil divided
- 4 6-ounce center-cut salmon fillets about 1-inch thick
- Kosher salt
- Freshly ground pepper
- Lime wedges to serve
Instructions
- Slice off the two lobes of the mango, avoiding the long, flat pit on the inside. Placing the peel of the mango against the side of a glass, so that the glass goes between the mango flesh and mango peel, press down to peel mango lobe. Repeat with the other mango lobe, then slice the flesh into small cubes.
- Use a paring knife to cut around the remaining mango pit to remove any other flesh that can be added to the salsa. You should have about ¾ cup of diced mango.
- Cut scallions into thin slices.
- Cut cucumber into small dice—you should have about 1 cup total.
- Using plastic gloves, carefully cut out stem and seeds from habanero pepper, then chop very finely.
- Combine chopped mango, scallions, cucumber, ½ of the chopped habanero pepper, pineapple, and corn in a medium bowl, and stir.
- Add lime juice and olive oil.
- Stir in salt, and season to taste with pepper.
- If you want a spicier salsa, add more of the remaining chopped habanero pepper.
- Preheat oven to 350° Fahrenheit.
- Drizzle 1 ½ tablespoons of olive oil over salmon fillets and use your fingers to spread over the tops of the fillets. Then sprinkle salt and pepper evenly over the tops of the fillets, and rub in gently.
- Heat a large ovenproof nonstick skillet on a medium-high setting with the remaining tablespoon of oil.
- When pan is hot, add salmon flesh-side down. Sear for 2-3 minutes, until the top is nicely browned, then turn fillets right-side up.
- Place skillet in the oven and bake for 7-8 minutes, until just done. Test that the salmon is ready by seeing whether the salmon breaks apart into large flakes when poked with a fork, or whether it is still too raw on the inside.
- Serve salmon fillets topped with a big spoonful of mango habanero salsa, and lime wedges on the side (optional).
Notes
Nutrition
Instagram Users: Now that you've made this recipe, tag me @vanillabeancuisine or #vanillabeancuisine because I’d love to see your results!
More About Molly
Cooking healthy(ish) meals with seasonal ingredients is my passion. Trained as a French pastry chef, I spent over 10 years as a personal chef. Here you'll find well-tested recipes that you and your family will love!
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