This recipe for grilled salmon with avocado salsa is so easy to make and is a guaranteed crowd (and family) pleaser. The salmon is seasoned with a mix of coriander, cumin, paprika, onion powder and pepper. It’s grilled (or baked/pan seared) and topped with avocado salsa.
Summer seems to finally be here, which means spending a lot of time outside: in the water, playing in the backyard with the kids, grilling outside and having lunch or dinner on the patio. Of course there is also a sort of nice laziness associated with summer, you want meals to be easy and quick to prepare, but also refreshing and filling.
This grilled salmon is seasoned with a homemade seasoning mix of ground coriander, cumin, paprika and onion powder to give it a nice spicy flavor. It’s grilled perfectly and then topped with a salsa made with avocado, onion, mild hot peppers, cilantro, lime juice, and olive oil.
Salmon and avocado are one of those perfect matches; whoever was the first person to put these two together was a genius. The salmon and the avocado both have that creaminess melt in your mouth feeling, while the lime, onion, hot pepper and cilantro add a great contrast of tangy flavor.
I’ve probably said this before but if I had to go to a deserted island and could only choose a few food items to take with me, avocados would be one of them (I’m hoping I could learn how to catch some fish on my island). They’re also one of those items – along with cilantro and limes – that whenever I run out of them it means that I need to go grocery shopping. I’ve prepared this dish before with grilled ahi tuna and it was also a great match – pretty much any fish (halibut, snapper, cod, mahi mahi, corvina, etc) will work great with the avocado salsa.
For an easy summer dinner, you can season the fish in the morning and let it marinate all day or season it while the grills warms up. The avocado salsa can be made in about 5 minutes, and can also be made ahead of time. I usually serve this grilled salmon with rice, either plain Latin/Ecuadorian style cooked rice or lime cilantro rice, and some patacones/tostones or thick green plantain chips.
Grilled salmon with avocado salsa
Ingredients
- 2 lbs salmon cut into 4 to 6 fillets
- 1 tbs olive oil
- 1 tsp salt
- 1 tsp ground coriander
- 1 tsp ground cumin
- 1 tsp paprika powder
- 1 tsp onion powder
- 1 tsp black pepper
Avocado salsa
- 1 avocado peeled, seeded and sliced
- 1 small red onion sliced
- 3 mild hot peppers seeded and deveined, diced or sliced
- Juice from 2 limes
- 3 tbs olive oil
- 2 tbs finely chopped cilantro
- Salt to taste
Suggested sides:
Instructions
- Mix the salt, coriander, cumin, paprika, onion and black pepper together, rub the salmon fillets with olive oil and this seasoning mix, and refrigerate for at least 30 minutes.
- Pre-heat the grill.
- Combine the avocado, onion, hot peppers, cilantro, lime juice, olive oil and salt in a bowl and mix well, chill until ready to use.
- Grill the salmon to desired doneness.
- Serve the salmon topped with the avocado salsa, and with rice and patacones or thick green plantain chips on the side.
Nutrition
Step by step photos for grilled salmon with avocado salsa recipe:
I went to Costco and bought steelhead trout. I looked up recipes and they all looked good, but nothing I was in the mood for. So, I ran into this recipe for salmon and used it on the steelhead. It is really delicious and so, so simple. I greatly appreciate your sharing!
This is probably one of the best recipes I’ve ever tried! The freshness of the salsa mixed with the richness of the fish, and the tanginess of the lime? Divine. Thanks so much for posting this!
Here I am looking for a whole 30 recipe for dinner tonight and I found yours Layla. I hope all is well, it’s been a long time :)
Hi Thibaud – Nice to hear from you, it has been a long time! Hope you enjoyed the recipe.
Hello, saw this recipe and tried it. The whole family loves it. I plan to make this again soon. Thank you for sharing this recipe. It’s so delicious yet so easy to prepare. May I ask though how do you prepare the rice that comes with it in the picture? The one with the green leafy stuff. What do you call that kind of rice recipe? ?
Hi Grace – It’s a cilantro lime rice, super easy to make, instructions are here: https://www.laylita.com/recipes/2015/09/18/cilantro-lime-rice/
I figured after all these years of making this salmon I should probably comment! This is 100% one of our favorite go-to recipes. EVERYBODY loves this salmon! We always cook it for guests and it never fails to wow everyone. It is DELICIOUS! The only changes I make is I triple the rub (1 Tbsp of each) because it is that delicious, and leave out the cilantro. I have to double the salsa also because I could literally eat an entire bowl of it with a spoon. You will not disappointed with this salmon!
Hi Heidi – Thank you for your comment! So glad that you enjoy this dish!
Hi! I stumbled onto this recipe awhile ago while searching for something. I loved it so tried it out :) last night I was thinking I should stop by and thank you because for the last year since I found your recipe I make this probably once a week! My whole family loves it including my kids. My 9 year daughter has the recipe memorized and she helps me make it every time. I make a homemade Peruvian Aji pepper sauce with it.
So thank you!,,,
Fondly
Tinker
So glad to hear that the whole family loves it! Thank you for the kind words!
Hi Laylita… came accross this recipe and there’s a couple pictures with the final presentation that the appears to be some sort of jou sauce on the bottom of the fish… reading the salsa recipe, it doesn’t appear that the salsa will be saucy… can you please let me know what you used or did to make it saucy? Was it a seperate component? Thanks!
Hi Jose – It’s just the liquid from the avocado salsa (lime/olive oil). I usually pour any extra liquid over the grilled fish.
My boyfriend does not like fish, and it has been my mission to change that. I made this dish last night and it definitely did the trick! The avocado salsa was perfect with the salmon and we enjoyed every bite of it. I can’t wait until your recipe book comes out! I’m tackling empanadas next week! Thank you Laylita!
Really good recipe. Loved it!
Thank you so much for sharing this! I made it last night except I used a fresh cilantro salsa I bought from Sams – this dish was tender and juicy and I was thrilled with the taste of the avocado on the salmon. If I could share a picture with you on here, I would. I was so proud of it – I took a picture! LOL! I posted about this on Pinterest with a link to your Pinterest board
http://www.pinterest.com/IndianaKathy/pinterest-recipescreations-i-have-made/