Instant Pot Salmon with Garlic Butter Asparagus (Instant Pot and Oven)

Name: Instant Pot Garlic Butter Salmon and Asparagus
Prep time: 5 min
Cook time: 4 min
Total time: 9 min
Ingredients: 1 lb Salmon Filet ((cut into 3 equal pieces for Instant Pot)); 1 lb Asparagus ((small- medium stalks)); 1/4 cup Lemon Juice; 3 tbsp Butter ((divided into 3 pats for Instant Pot)); 1.5 tbsp garlic ((minced)); Salt to taste; Red Pepper Flakes ((optional)); Honey ((optional))

Darcey Olson
January 16, 2018
Last Updated: November 9, 2020

Salmon fans! Here’s a quick and easy instant pot salmon recipe you can cook in just 5 minutes. Think flakey, garlicky, buttery and tender. Much like our Garlic Butter Mushrooms, this Garlic Butter Salmon and Asparagus Recipe is loaded with garlic, butter and flavor.

This is a great salmon recipe to make in the oven in addition to the instant pot so we’ve included directions for this cooking method as well.

We decided to round everything up into a foil pouch to make clean up a breeze and concentrate the flavors on the asparagus. It’s not necessary however, if you prefer to keep foil out of your kitchen. If you’re not using a foil pouch just use the metal trivet that comes with your Instant Pot and stack the ingredients or utilize a shallow small casserole bowl with the top on for the oven baked version.

INSTANT POT SALMON

Love spice? Use the red pepper flakes like there’s no tomorrow. Shake, shake, shake.

We’re not fans of honey (we’re weird like that!) but if you are a fan, feel free to drizzle a baby bit over each piece of salmon before you cook it.

We prefer small thin pieces of asparagus therefore have not tried this with the super thick stalks. If you use thick stalks, let us know how it goes!

Dry the asparagus after washing. I mean, who wants watered down butter sauce? Hard pass.

Check the thickness of your fish. This recipe was tested on a slice from the midsection, therefore was about 1″ tall. If you have a skinner cut of fish, like 1/2″ tall, you may need to decrease the cook time to 3 minutes. You can always stick it in for an extra minute cook time if it’s not quite to your liking.

Using frozen salmon in this Instant Pot salmon recipe? While we haven’t made this using frozen filets, from the research we’ve done, it looks like you’d need to cook this for an extra minute or so (approx. 5 minutes). It will dilute the butter sauce however, so you may want to add an extra bit to the top of the fish before serving.

Weight Watchers – this recipe is just 5 points per serving!

Print Recipe

4 from 33 votes

Instant Pot Garlic Butter Salmon and Asparagus

Instant Pot Salmon and Asparagus. Loaded with garlic, butter, lemon and flavor. Only 4 minutes cook time for tender, flakey and perfect salmon.

Prep Time5 mins

Cook Time4 mins

Total Time9 mins

Servings:

Author: Darcey Olson

Ingredients

1 lb Salmon Filet (cut into 3 equal pieces for Instant Pot)
1 lb Asparagus (small- medium stalks)
1/4 cup Lemon Juice
3 tbsp Butter (divided into 3 pats for Instant Pot)
1.5 tbsp garlic (minced)
Salt to taste
Red Pepper Flakes (optional)
Honey (optional)

Instructions

INSTANT POT DIRECTIONS:

Tear off 3 large pieces of foil and lay side to side on a flat surface. Slightly curve up the edges so the lemon juice doesn't "roll off" the sides.
Divide the asparagus equally between the three foil packets.
Slater each piece of salmon with 1/2 tablespoon of garlic and place directly on top of the asparagus.
Add 1 tablespoon of lemon juice over the salmon (repeat for each salmon piece).
Sprinkle salt to taste on top of the salmon.
OPTIONAL- sprinkle each piece with red pepper flakes and/or drizzle with honey.
Place one tablespoon of butter on top of the salmon (repeat for each salmon piece).
Tightly close up each piece of foil to ensure no steam can escape.
Add 1.5 cups of water to the bottom of the Instant Pot and insert the metal trivet that came with the machine.
Place the 3 foil packets on top of the trivet (they can be stacked).
Close the Instant Pot and make sure the valve is set to sealed.
Click the "steam" button and set for 4 minutes.
Once the time goes off, hit cancel and QR.
Using tongs, remove the foil packets and carefully open to release the steam and stop cooking.
Transfer the entire contents of the packets (including the butter sauce) to a plate.
Enjoy immediately.

OVEN DIRECTIONS

Pre-heat the oven to 375 degrees.
Line a baking sheet with a large piece of foil. Slightly curve up the edges so the garlic butter mixture doesn't "roll off" the sides.
Place the asparagus and salmon side by side in the middle of the foil.
Place the butter in a small bowl and microwave to melt.
Add the lemon juice, garlic and salt to the melted butter and stir to combine.
OPTIONAL- Add the red pepper flakes and honey and stir to combine.
Pour the butter mixture oven the salmon and asparagus.
Tightly close the foil to ensure no steam can escape.
Transfer to the oven and bake for 15-20 minutes.
Carefully open the foil package to release the steam and stop cooking.
Enjoy immediately.

Hi, I'm Darcey!

I’m a fully caffeinated full time food blogger and lover of the outdoors, travel, and wine (not necessarily in that order).

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3 Comments

Beth says:

September 22, 2019 at 7:18 pm

Made this tonight. Used frozen salmon and needed 10 minutes on the Instant Pot steam setting for it to be fully cooked through. Used asparagus and our favorite salmon seasoning instead of the lemon and garlic. It was FABULOUS!!!

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outofcrayons says:

January 25, 2018 at 7:12 pm

This was heavenly. Just made it for dinner. 2nd time using my instant pot. I swapped out the asparagus and used broccoli. Thank you!

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