Air-Fried Alaska Salmon With Israeli Salad Couscous

Salmon is one of our favorite things to keep in the freezer for quick, easy, delicious meals. You can add it to a salad, make chowder, mix it into a creamy pasta dish, and so much more. But it can be frustrating when you realize you forgot to defrost it in time and you want dinner, like, five minutes ago. Except that we’re here to tell you that you can completely skip that pesky defrosting step. That’s right—you can cook salmon from frozen.

All you have to do is add a few extra minutes to your cooking time, and voila, you’ve got perfect, moist, fresh-tasting salmon. You can use any of your favorite cooking methods—poaching, roasting, and grilling are all great—but one of our faves for salmon is air-frying. It’s super easy and gets the outside firm while keeping the inside tender.

Of course, the key to eating delicious fish is to start with the best ingredients possible. Wild Alaska salmon is always a good bet because we know it is the highest possible quality and that it has been sustainably sourced. It is flash-frozen right on the boat, so we are positive it is as fresh as the moment it was caught.

Wild Alaska salmon has such wonderful flavor that it needs little more than a sprinkle of salt, but here we’ve created a rub with some olive oil, lemon, cumin, and salt that you brush on the fish partway through cooking.

To complete the Middle Eastern flavor profile of the air-fried cumin salmon, you could serve it with separate sides of couscous and Israeli/Arab salad, but we decided to combine the two. So fluffy couscous is mixed with cucumber, tomatoes, parsley, and a quick lemon-tahini dressing for a filling and flavorful meal.

Air-Fried Alaska Salmon With Israeli Salad Couscous

Serves: 4
Prep time: 15 minutes
Total Time: 35 minutes

Ingredients

For the Salmon:
4 (4-6 ounce) frozen Alaska salmon fillets
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 teaspoon lemon juice
1/2 teaspoon cumin
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt

For the Israeli Salad Couscous With Lemon-Tahini Dressing:
3/4 cups couscous (2 1/4 cups cooked)
2 tablespoons tahini
3 teaspoons lemon juice
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon cumin
1 cup diced tomatoes
1 1/2 cups diced cucumber
1/2 cup finely chopped parsley

Directions

1. Preheat air fryer at 400F for 5 minutes (if your air fryer needs to be preheated). Whisk together the olive oil, lemon juice, cumin, and salt. Run frozen Alaska salmon fillets under cold water to remove any ice glaze and pat dry with a paper towel. Put the salmon in air fryer and cook for 4 min. Remove, brush the tops with the oil mixture, lower heat to 350F, and cook for another 8 to 10 minutes, depending on thickness and doneness. Salmon should be opaque and flake easily with a fork.

2. Meanwhile, steam couscous according to package directions. While it’s cooling slightly, whisk together the tahini, lemon juice, salt, and cumin for the lemon-tahini dressing. Whisk in water a bit at a time until the dressing thins enough to drizzle (about 6 teaspoons of water, depending on the thickness of your tahini).

3. Mix the couscous with the lemon-tahini dressing, cucumber, tomato, and parsley. Spoon couscous salad on a plate and top with a salmon fillet.

Looking for more ways to cook your Alaska seafood from frozen? Try our pan-searing, poaching, and roasting methods.