How to Prepare Salmon Skin

Chefs and savvy home cooks alike often aspire to utilize as much of a product as possible. In Japanese this is referred to as mottainai, or “don’t waste.” Preparing crispy salmon skin is perhaps my favorite way of putting this principle into action. It is almost unbelievable how much flavor is concentrated into a salmon’s silvery black skin. When cooked, the crisp skins can be used for a variety of purposes such as fillings for sushi rolls, crumbles on top of salads, chips for your favorite dip and more. (I enjoy salmon skin with a bowl of miso soup for breakfast on a chilly morning.)

I like to prepare salmon skin as I would bacon either pan-frying until crispy or baking in the oven. Most often I use the oven method because I usually prepare several sides of salmon skin at once. Placing on a parchment paper lined sheet tray makes this very convenient as well as easy to clean up. Below I detail the steps for preparing in the oven, but if you’d like to pan fry, simply place de-scaled skins in a frying pan with a little oil and fry to desired crispiness. 

Tips on Salmon Skin

If you don’t eat enough salmon to produce the desired amount of skin, inquire about salmon skin at your local fish market. Often, salmon skin is removed as a convenience for customers. Most places will be willing to sell you just the salmon skin for a reasonable price as they often just toss the skins. Sometimes, these skins are also already de-scaled.

Unprepared salmon skins freeze well up to 3 months. Try placing a salmon skin specific bag in your freezer. As you prepare salmon, place de-scaled skins in the bag. When you’ve collected a nice stash, thaw in the refrigerator overnight, bake and enjoy!

Though a bit of salt is sufficient, try sprinkling a touch of shichimi togarashi, Japanese seven flavored pepper,  or your favorite furikake on salmon skins before baking for a flavor variation.

Salmon skins are best eaten the day they are made, but are still good up to two days after preparing. Store tightly covered at room temperature.

A little bit of salmon left on the skin is okay. If there are thick bits of salmon remaining, remove with a sharp knife before preparing.

Please note that when cooking salmon skin oils are released and emit a very strong fishy odor. The salmon skins will not be affected by this and will not have a strong fishy flavor. But if you’re preparing this for guests, you may want to allow ample time to prepare skins ahead of time so that the smell can air out.

Oven Method For Preparing Salmon Skins

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F.

Using a fish scaler, remove all scales from the salmon skin. Rinse well under cool water and pat dry.

On a baking sheet covered in parchment paper, lay skins flat, shiny sides down. Drizzle a little olive oil on the skins. Rub to distribute evenly. Sprinkle with a touch of salt. Flip skins over so that the shiny sides face upwards. Drizzle with a little more olive oil and rub to distribute evenly. Place skins in oven, shiny side up. Bake for 10 minutes. At this point, check every 5 minutes until desired crispiness is reached.

Remove pan from oven and remove salmon skins from baking sheet. Skins should become more crispy as they cool. Once cooled, break (or cut) into pieces and enjoy!

*If making for sushi, cook until done but not hard. A knife will snag on hard shards of salmon skin and rip a sushi roll open rather than cutting it.