If you love Buffalo sauce, you have to make this Buffalo Salmon with Mayo and Onions! It's ready in 30 minutes and is so easy!
Are you a fan of Buffalo sauce? Good, because you're going to love this Buffalo Salmon with Mayo and Onions.
Think of tender, juicy salmon topped with spicy mayo, accented with roasted red onions and drizzled with homemade Buffalo sauce and a squeeze of lemon juice.
It's a powerhouse of flavor, and you can make it somewhat mild.
It's the perfect fish recipe for Lent or any weeknight. You just need 30 minutes!
Recipe ingredients
You only need a handful of ingredients to make a delicious topping for salmon!
Salmon: You can use Atlantic salmon, which is actually farm-raised, or wild salmon, which will cook faster. This salmon buying guide from Seafood Watch makes recommendations for each type.
Mayonnaise: Mayo keeps the salmon tender and moist while baking. You just need a thin layer on each piece.
My favorite store-bought mayonnaise is Duke’s. I also love this delicious Homemade Mayo with Basil and Garlic, but I would skip the basil for this recipe.
Hot Sauce: Frank's RedHot Original (affiliate link) is my favorite and was used in the original Buffalo wing sauce. Its ingredients are simply: aged cayenne peppers, distilled vinegar, water, salt, and garlic powder.
You can use whichever hot sauce you prefer, but this Buffalo salmon needs something on the milder side that won't make steam come out of your ears. Try it in this Shredded Buffalo Chicken Nacho Salad too!
Red Onions: If you haven't tried salmon with onions, your taste buds are in for a treat! I love the slightly sweet, savory flavor of the roasted red onions in this dish. But you could substitute a yellow sweet onion or even a white onion here.
How to make Buffalo salmon with mayo
See the card at the end of this post for the full recipe, but here's an overview.
- Whisk mayo with a little hot sauce.
- Spread the mayonnaise mixture on the salmon and add chopped red onions.
- Bake the salmon for 20 minutes on a sheet pan (affiliate link).
- Melt butter into some hot sauce in a pan on the stove.
- Stir the Buffalo hot sauce until combined and drizzle it over the baked salmon.
Recipe tips
- Use a mild hot sauce like Frank’s for best results.
- You can adjust the spicy heat by adding more or less sauce on each serving.
- If you have salmon fillets with thin ends, you can fold them underneath before baking. Or, you can trim off the thin sections and bake for five minutes less than the thicker pieces.
What to serve with it
This Buffalo Salmon with Mayo and Onions tastes fantastic with Steamed Corn on the Cob and boiled redskin potatoes. The corn and potatoes taste delicious with a little buffalo sauce drizzle as well!
You also could serve this with Oven-Roasted Potatoes and Steamed Asparagus or Italian Broccoli with Gremolata.
Frequently asked questions
Yes! It’s perfectly fine to heat mayo. Feel free to spread mayo on fish, then bake it.
Either way is fine! If you want to keep the skin on, bake the salmon skin-side down. Once it's cooked, use a metal spatula to separate the skin from the flesh of the fish.
I wouldn’t freeze this salmon because of the mayo. Mayonnaise’s texture changes when frozen.
More salmon recipes to love
- Salmon Caprese with Balsamic Glaze
- Baked Pesto Salmon
- 10-Minute Maple-Glazed Salmon
- Salsa Salmon with Lime and Balsamic Vinegar
- Creamy Smoked Salmon Pasta
Enjoy!
If you try this Buffalo Salmon recipe, be sure to leave a comment and a rating!
Buffalo Salmon with Mayo and Onions
Ingredients
Fish
- 2 pounds salmon fillets (four pieces)
- 2 tablespoons mayonnaise (I use low-fat)
- 1 tablespoon hot sauce
- 4 tablespoons chopped red onion
Buffalo Sauce (See notes)
- ½ cup hot sauce (I like Frank's RedHot Original)
- 1 tablespoon salted butter
Garnish & Finishing Touch:
- half a lemon (cut into wedges for serving; squeeze some juice on the salmon)
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F. Line a rimmed baking sheet with foil to make cleanup easier. Lightly grease the foil with cooking spray.
- Rinse the salmon under cold water and feel for any bones to remove. Pat the salmon dry with paper towels and place the fish on the baking sheet, skin side down. Wash your hands after touching the raw fish.
- In a tiny bowl, whisk the mayo and one tablespoon of hot sauce until the mixture is blended and smooth. Spread a thin layer of the spicy mayo on each piece of salmon, using all of it.
- Peel and chop some red onion until you have about 4 tablespoons of it. Sprinkle a tablespoon of onions on top of each piece of salmon. Bake the fish for 20-25 minutes, until it can be flaked with a fork.
- While the salmon is roasting, cut up the lemon into wedges and set them aside.
- About 10 minutes before the salmon is done, add the butter and ½ cup of hot sauce to a small sauce pan on the stove over medium heat. Whisk a bit to melt the butter and blend it in. When the sauce is heated through, it's ready to serve. Turn off the heat.
- Remove any skin on the fish by inserting a metal spatula between the salmon and the skin. Use the spatula to gently lift the salmon away from the skin.
- Plate the salmon and spoon some Buffalo sauce onto each serving. Add a lemon wedge on the side so each person can squeeze on some lemon juice.
- Store leftover salmon in the refrigerator for up to four days. You can store any extra Buffalo sauce separately in a sealed container for up to a week.
Notes
Nutrition
(Recipe Source: Cooking with Mamma C. Originally published on March 21, 2015 and updated now with new photos and additional information. Photos by Kanyi Muraguri for Cooking with Mamma C.)
Tekesha
Frank's is my jam, too! I really resisted flipping around the bottle and looking at the ingredients because I knew that no matter what was in there, I could never give up my Frank's. So I'm just as excited as you to see real ingredients! This looks fantastic!
Mamma C
Haha, Tekesha! The best part of Frank's label is that the calories say "0." Yes! The sodium though, is 190 mg per teaspoon. That's why I didn't add salt to this recipe.
Denise | Sweet Peas & Saffron
I've never had those flavors with salmon before, but they look and sound delicious! Ben has been on a sriracha kick for the past....5 years...but I like Frank's RedHot 😉
Mamma C
Yeah, I'm not a big fan of sriracha, especially on its own. It has to be mixed with something like mayo, and then I don't mind it. But give me Frank's RedHot, and I'm a happy camper. Salmon actually works really well with these flavors, so it's a nice way to enjoy them in a meatless meal.