Sous Vide Frozen Salmon (with Honey Garlic Sauce)
on Nov 23, 2020, Updated Nov 19, 2023
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Sous Vide Frozen Salmon is absolutely the BEST way to cook frozen salmon fillets! It’s easy, convenient, and tastes as delicious as properly thawed and cooked salmon. Sous vide is your secret weapon! The salmon comes out perfect every time, and I never take the time to thaw frozen salmon again after I discovered this method.
Cooking Frozen Salmon Sous Vide without Defrosting
If you’re wondering whether you can cook frozen salmon directly, you’re in luck. With this easy sous vide recipe, you’ll never need to take out your salmon ahead of time, waiting for it to thaw before cooking. It’s completely a game changer!
I’m convinced that this is the ONLY way to cook frozen salmon, and it’s also healthy and versatile. Sometimes you can get great deals when buying them frozen in stores like Costco, so every sous vide lover needs to have this frozen salmon recipe in their back pocket. Got fresh ones? Try our Sous Vide Salmon Recipe.
Benefits of Sous Vide Frozen Salmon
Sous vide cooking is a French technique where the food is vacuum-sealed in a bag, and then cooked for a long time to a precise temperature in a warm water bath.
Sous vide frozen salmon is unbelievably moist, soft with a nice flaky texture, just like sous vide fresh salmon. You’ll be surprised at how well your salmon turns out!
I’m totally obsessed with this method, as it guarantees the result, producing the perfect salmon with restaurant quality. If you’re looking for more sous vide frozen food recipes, try Sous Vide Frozen Chicken Breast and Sous Vide Frozen Steak.
How to Sous Vide Frozen Salmon
1. Sous vide cook the salmon: Preheat your sous vide machine to 130°F (54°C). Then season the frozen salmon with salt and pepper. Place it into a zip-lock bag, and vacuum seal the bag using the water displacement technique (see the recipe for detailed instructions). Cook the vacuum-sealed salmon in the sous vide water bath for 70 minutes (for 1.5-inch thick salmon fillets).
2. Make honey garlic sauce: Add all the sauce ingredients in a skillet, and cook until it thickens.
3. Sear the salmon: I like to finish with a quick sear to add a beautiful color and extra flavor. When the timer goes off, take the salmon out of the bag, and dry the surface with paper towels. Place the skillet on medium-high heat and add olive oil. Once hot, add the salmon skin-side facing down and sear about 1 minute. Flip the salmon and sear the other side for 30 seconds. Remove from the heat.
4. Serve the salmon: add honey garlic sauce to the skillet and coat the salmon with the sauce evenly. Serve with your favorite vegetables and enjoy!
Pro Tips for Cooking Frozen Salmon Sous Vide
- Prepare the salmon before freezing: I recommend vacuum sealing the salmon before frozen. Season it with salt and pepper, vacuum seal, and then store it in the freezer. This allows you to drop the bag into the sous vide water bath directly without any preparation later! So you’ll freeze and cook the salmon in the same bag. (It also helps to avoid the freezer burn.)
- Make sure your fillets are arranged in one single layer in the bag. It’s very important to place them in a single layer, otherwise, they won’t cook properly. Use multiple bags if necessary.
- Seal the bag without a vacuum sealer. If you don’t have a vacuum-sealer, you can seal the bag using the water displacement technique: just seal all but one corner of the bag, and then slowly place it into the water bath. Make sure everything below the zip-line is covered by water, then seal the rest of the bag.
- To add more flavor to your salmon, you can quickly sear it to finish, and toss it with some delicious sauce like teriyaki sauce, honey mustard, or honey garlic sauce.
Do I Need to Marinade or Brine the Salmon Before Cooking?
Not really. The sous vide method produces perfectly tender and moist fish without the need to marinate beforehand. You can add the sauce after searing to jazz up the flavor.
What Temperature to Sous Vide Salmon?
I recommend cooking it at 130°F (54°C), which produces a tender and moist texture that’s close to the traditional cooking methods. If you’d like to try another doneness, below are the guidelines:
| Sous Vide Salmon Temperature | Texture |
| 105°F (41°C) | Close to sashimi |
| 110°F (43°C) | Very soft, still tastes raw |
| 115°F (46°C) | Soft and starting to flake |
| 120°F (49°C) | Very tender, moist, and slightly flaky |
| 130°F (54°C) | Moist, tender, firm and flaky |
How Long to Sous Vide Salmon from Frozen?
The cooking time depends on the thickness of your salmon. It takes about 45 minutes to cook a 1-inch frozen salmon, 70 minutes for 1.5-inch, and 90 minutes for a 2-inch thick frozen salmon.
Pro Tips: It’s ok for you to leave it in the sous vide water bath for an extra 20-30 minutes, but they can get mushy if you cook it for too long.
Sides to Pair With Sous Vide Frozen Salmon
If You Like this Recipe Try Out These Sous Vide Seafood Recipes
I hope you like this recipe. If you tried it, please comment below and let me know how your Sous Vide Frozen Salmon turns out!
Sous Vide Frozen Salmon Recipe
Ingredients
- 3-4 frozen salmon fillets
- salt and pepper to taste
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- 2 cloves garlic minced
- 2 tablespoons soy sauce
- 2 tablespoons white vinegar, (or rice vinegar)
- 1/4 cup honey
- Optional chopped green onions and sesame seeds
Instructions
Sous Vide Cook Frozen Salmon
- Fill a large container or pot with water. Attach the sous vide precision cooker and set the temperature to 130°F (54°C). If you’d like to try other temperatures, see the temperature guide in the post.
- Season the frozen salmon with salt and pepper.
- Place seasoned salmon to a zip-top bag in a single layer.
- Seal the bag using the “water displacement” technique: seal all but one corner of the bag, and slowly place it in cold water. Make sure everything below the zip-line is covered by water. Then seal the rest of the bag. (You can use a vacuum sealer if you have one).
- Keep the bag in the water bath and cook for 70 minutes for 1.5-inch fillets. (Make sure the fish is fully submerged while the seams of the bag are above water.)
Make Honey Garlic Sauce
- Add minced garlic, vinegar, soy sauce, and honey into a skillet, and cook until it thickens.
Sear the Salmon
- When the timer goes off, take the salmon out of the bag, and dry the surface with paper towels.
- Place the skillet on medium-high heat and add olive oil. Once hot, add the salmon skin-side facing down and sear about 1 minute. Flip the salmon and sear the other side for 30 seconds. Remove from the heat.
- Add honey garlic sauce to the skillet and coat the salmon with the sauce evenly. Serve with your favorite vegetables and enjoy!
Notes
- How to Store Cooked Salmon: refrigerate in an airtight container and they can last for about 3 days.
Nutrition
Nutrition information provided is an estimate only and will vary based on ingredient brands and cooking methods used.
Yummy! I love love love salmon and I’m new to sous vide cooking. Thanks for this recipe that turned out perfectly! WE’ll definitely ahve it for dinner again. It was so easy to make.
Absolutely delicious! I’ll never cook Salmon any other way, and the sauce is divine!!
1 inch thick frozen Salmon. I cooked for 45 minutes then seared off in pan as instructed. It was perfect.
Great texture on the salmon! It was flavorful and very easy
Hi Jacquelin, glad you like the recipe. Thanks for letting me know.