Quick Air Fryer Salmon and Asparagus with Lemon Brown Butter

If you’re looking for a fast, healthy and delicious weeknight dinner – this is it! This Quick Air Fryer Salmon and Asparagus with Lemon Brown Butter is just the ticket when you’re short on time, but don’t want to compromise on quality!

With no time required to preheat an oven, the air fryer makes light work of this delicious meal. And, at less than 10 ingredients, this is a true weeknight win.

If you’re looking for another salmon idea for dinner, check out this Sheet Pan Salmon with Brussels Sprouts and Pancetta.

I have to admit that I was a bit skeptical about the whole air fryer craze, and only reluctantly got one for recipe development purposes. I just feel like I don’t need, yet another, appliance taking up more space.

And anyway, it’s just roasting food – which is the same thing that the oven does.

Well, I was wrong. I don’t love it for absolutely everything, BUT, for many things it is exceptional, and I find it incredibly efficient on weeknights when we’re so busy.

Cue this air fryer salmon and asparagus.

Using the air fryer completely eliminates any need to preheat a hot oven, which in and of itself, is a big time saver. And, it cooked the asparagus until it was crisp-tender and the salmon was beautifully flaky and moist. Two thumbs up for this one!

Recipe ingredients

You’ll need the following ingredients to make this super quick, delicious and healthy Air Fryer Salmon:

Ingredient Notes

Salmon – I used a 1 pound, center-cut filet, cut into 2 pieces for this recipe. If you happen to have 4 thinner filets, that is fine, too. You can leave it in one piece, but I find it harder to remove from the air fryer model that I have when it’s like that. Another reason to cut it into smaller pieces is to have more surface area that gets caramelized.

Avocado oil – I used avocado oil in this recipe for its neutral flavor. You can also use olive oil, if you prefer.

How to make Quick Air Fryer Salmon and Asparagus with Brown Butter Sauce: STEP BY STEP

Steps 1 & 2:

First remove the bottom woody portion of the asparagus spears. You can do this by bending the spears where they will snap at their natural breaking point. Alternatively, in the interest of time and weeknight cooking, you can bend one, let it snap, and then use it as a guide to trim the rest with a knife.

Next, roughly chop the dill and set it aside to garnish at the end.

Steps 3 & 4:

Prepare the sauce ingredients, by chopping the garlic, zesting both lemons, and juicing just one of them. Set these ingredients aside.

Coat the asparagus and brush both sides of the salmon with the avocado oil. Season everything generously with kosher salt and black pepper.

Steps 5 & 6:

In the basket of your air fryer, lay the asparagus on the bottom and place the salmon filets on top. Air fry at 375 degrees for 8 minutes.

In the meantime, melt the butter in a small saucepan over medium-low heat and let the butter cook until the milk solids start to separate and turn brown on the bottom of the pan – it will foam up on top and you may have to swirl the pan to see the brown bits on the bottom. When the butter is brown, remove it from the heat, pour it into a bowl, and toss in the chopped garlic. It will sizzle and smell delicious. Let it cool for a few minutes.

Steps 7:

Add the butter and garlic mixture to the bowl of a food processor (or use an immersion blender) along with the lemon zest and juice, salt and pepper and blend really well. Set aside when finished.

Plate it, by laying asparagus on the bottom, and topping with salmon, brown butter sauce, and fresh dill.

How to make brown butter: Video tutorial

This is a video I made to show you how to make brown butter. It is unedited so you can see every stage of the butter cooking, from start to finish.

Storage & Reheating

Storage: Store the salmon and asparagus in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to 3 days. The lemon brown butter should be refrigerated in its own airtight container and can be kept for 3 weeks.

Reheating: There are really 3 options for reheating: (1) place salmon and asparagus with a splash of water and a scoop of the lemon brown butter sauce into a saute pan, covered, and heat over medium-low heat until warmed through. (2) place salmon and asparagus in an oven-proof container with a splash of water and a scoop of lemon brown butter, covered with foil, and place in the oven at 375 degrees until heated through. (3) heat salmon and asparagus in the microwave with the lemon brown butter, 30 seconds at a time, until heated through.

Additions & Substitutions

ADDITIONS

Honey or sugar: You could add a touch of sweetness to the lemon brown butter sauce.

Chili flakes: Adding a pinch of chili flakes to the brown butter, at the same time that you add the garlic, would give a little warmth to the sauce.

SUBSTITUTIONS

Olive oil or other neutral oil: You can easily substitute the avocado oil for either of these.

Oranges: A perfectly good swap for lemons, orange zest and juice would also work nicely with both the salmon and the asparagus.

A different sauce altogether: There are so many different directions that you could go with different sauces, but in the interest of warmer weather headed our way, I would just suggest a simple herb sauce of freshly chopped herbs, olive oil, chopped garlic, and fresh lemon zest.