12 Minute Baked Salmon Fajita Spread

Here is a big Salmon Fajita spread that looks like you worked way harder than you actually did. 😎 Fajita seasoned salmon, vegetables and warmed tortillas all happen in the oven at the same time in 12 minutes flat. Dinner! Done!

12 Minute Baked Salmon Fajita Spread

This is a quick Mexican dinner inspired by the Baked Cajun Salmon Bites I shared last year that I’ve seen quite a few of you become quite fond of. 🙂 And what’s not to love? Quick to cook (12 minutes!). Excellent seasoning-to-flesh ratio (cutting into cubes is key). No stove splatter. And no need to turn a gazillion cubes of salmon midway through cooking thanks to my mum’s nifty wrinkled foil fish-baking trick that keeps the underside from going soggy while helping the salmon caramelise beautifully!

Today, I’m taking that same salmon baking method, switching the seasoning to a Fajita mix, adding a pile of colourful fajita vegetables, then popping them both in the oven at the same time. I throw foil packets with tortillas in at the same time to warm through too.

The oven is full which means a big spread comes out! How great is it that??!

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Ingredients in Salmon Fajita Spread

Here’s what you need to make this Salmon Fajita spread.

1. For the fajita seasoned salmon

I make this with salmon (the natural oiliness makes it so great for baking) but you can use any pretty much any firm white fish fillets at least 2cm/0.8″ thick. Flathead, barramundi, snapper, cod, mahi mahi, tilapia, and halibut come to mind. Or trout!

• Salmon – I prefer using skinless salmon fillets here, but if you like salmon skin even when it’s not cooked crispy or charred, go ahead and use skin on!

• Fajita seasoning – Pantry spices! Smoked paprika, garlic, onion, cumin and dried oregano. I like using smoked paprika for the lovely smokey flavour, but feel free to substitute with regular paprika.

• 1 teaspoon brown sugar – As mentioned above, just a smidge of sugar helps to get some lovely tasty caramelisation on the surface of the salmon. It doesn’t make this salmon sweet though! Not at all. 🙂

• Cayenne pepper for a hint of spiciness. Entirely optional.

2. fajita vegetables and tortillas

The tortillas get wrapped in foil and warmed in the oven while the vegetables and salmon are cooking. I just pop them on the floor of the oven because there’s no space on the shelves!

• Capsicum (bell peppers) – Go for red, green and yellow for a kaleidoscope of fajita colours! Otherwise, stick with red and/or yellow, I think all-green would be a little too bitter (green capsicums are simply unripe capsicums, after all).

• Red onion – A fajita staple that softens and sweetens as it cooks, and adds another pop of colour into the fajita vegetables.

• Tortillas – Corn or flour tortillas will work here. Use 3 or 4 per serving, depending on size.

• Avocado – Creamy avocado is a classic fajita add-in that adds a lovely cooling contrast to the boldly flavoured salmon.

3. Sauce options

Just use sour cream for a no-effort option that is popular with fajitas – it’s what I use for my chicken and steak fajitas). Though if you can, I highly recommend sparkling new Jalapeno Taco Sauce (zingy! tangy! fast!) or my most used sauce for tacos! This is what’s pictured throughout this post and in the video.

Then there is always this 2 ingredient Pink Taco Sauce. I use this pink sauce a lot, including in my marinated Fish Tacos, because it’s everything I want in a taco sauce – creamy, cooling, with a bit of zippiness – and it takes 90 seconds to make. 😊

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How to make 12 Minute Salmon Fajitas

As mentioned earlier, a neat trick in today’s recipe is to line the salmon roasting tray with wrinkled foil. Not the first time I’ve shared it and won’t be the last!

1. Wrinkled foil – Lightly scrunch the foil in your hands, then unfold it without smoothing out the wrinkles and use it to cover the tray. You want lots of little crinkles, ridges and bumps all over the surface, these act like tiny “prongs” that keep the salmon slightly elevated off the tray. This stops the underside from going soggy (which makes the seasoning sweat off) and also helps prevents the salmon from sticking. A nifty little Japanese fish cooking trick I picked up from my mother!

   Fold the foil over the edge of a second tray to hold it in place, then repeat with another sheet if needed until the whole tray is covered in wrinkly crinkly foil.

2. Vegetables first – Toss the capsicum and onion with garlic, olive oil, salt and pepper on a large tray. Spread them out and set aside.

3. Cut the salmon into bite size pieces – 2.5cm / 1″ is a good size that will cook through just perfectly inside by the time it’s been in the oven long enough to caramelise the surface slightly. Cutting salmon into cubes also means a higher ratio of tasty seasoned surface area to flesh.

4. Fajita seasoning – Mix the Fajita seasoning ingredients in a bowl. It should be like a wet paste.

5. Coat salmon – Add the salmon into the bowl and toss to coat in the seasoning.

6. Spread the salmon across the tray. The more space between each piece, the better they will colour!

7. Bake 12 minutes – Place the salmon (top shelf), vegetables (2nd shelf) and foil wrapped tortillas (floor of oven) in a hot 240°C/465°F (220°C fan-forced) oven and bake for 12 minutes, or until the salmon pieces are lightly caramelised on the outside and easily flake.

8. Fajita spread – Lay out the salmon, vegetables and warmed tortillas out with slices of avocado on the side, some roughly chopped coriander/cilantro leaves and a quick fish taco sauce you made while the salmon was in the oven (Jalapeño Taco Sauce – pictured, my most-used 2 ingredient Pink Taco Sauce or plain sour cream). Then let everybody dive in and make their own fajitas!

I think you’ll be pleasantly surprised with the bold flavour you get on the salmon with such a short bake time. Baked fish can sometimes cop a bad rap for tasting a bit bland because you miss out on golden crust and caramelisation from pan frying. And I get it. If I bake, it’s either crumbed or sauced or smothered or heavily seasoned. Today’s salmon is heavy handed with the Fajita spice mix and uses fierce oven heat to get lovey colour and flavour. It really works, and even though I have talked up the handiness of baking an entire dinner in the oven, the salmon really is the star of today’s recipe. 🙂

Love to know what you think if you get a chance to try this! – Nagi x

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Watch how to make it

Remembering Dozer

** A very special thank you message for the first Dozer art **

This is a special thank you to Cindy from Pawtrait Pups for a watercolour she did of Dozer. I previously did a special thank you to readers who made beautiful portraits to honour the memory of Dozer (see here ❤️) but Cindy was inadvertently omitted.

She was actually the very first artist who reached out just days after I said goodby to Dozer. She emailed saying she had done a picture and asked if I’d like it. I wasn’t thinking straight in those early days and her email was missed, so I’m thankful that she reached out again recently.

As with the other Dozer art, I’m going to frame this and put it up at home. Thank you Cindy. I love it so much, there’s something about this that captures Dozer’s spirit so perfectly! ❤️

Dearest Dozer,

I am enjoying keeping memories of you alive in this Remembering Dozer section, having an excuse to scour through 14 years of photos and sharing some of my favourite moments, some funny, some I just love because it was every day life with you. The photo below is one such example, remember how we’d walk along that small sandy stretch along the river nearby? Nothing remarkable, just everyday life with you. But I would give anything to step back in time for just a minute.

I still miss you every single day. I feel like it’s taking me longer than it probably should to get back to my normal happy self, but I’m not going to put a timer on it and I’m not going to apologise for still being sad over losing you. Work, life, RTM, everything is just less joyful without you here, you were such a huge part of it all.

I hope you’re up in the Big Sky Kitchen being generously paid in salmon for your quality control services. You really were so fast at your job, it was truly amazing how a piece of fish could hit the floor and vanish before I’d even registered what had happened. 😆❤️

I love you so very much. Love, your mum xx