Salmon with Dry Rub (Recipe Included)

I am so excited to be finding some fantastic new recipes and truly expanding what I thought a crock pot could do. We have been wanting to have salmon for dinner (I keep some in the freezer from Costco) so I set out to find a recipe that would allow me to cook it in the crock pot. I logged back into one of my new favorite crock pot blogs (Year of Slow Cooking) over the weekend, and wouldn't you know it, the flash back to her 2008 daily posts had Salmon as the recipe for March 20. So...we gave it a try tonight and I have to say the results were amazing!

Here is a link to the complete recipe, which is also copied below: Sweet and Spicy Salmon

--2 largish pieces of salmon
--2 T brown sugar
--1 t paprika
--1 t cumin
--1/2 t crushed garlic
--1/2 t oregano
--1/2 t kosher salt
--1/2 t red pepper
--aluminum foil


The Directions.

--in a medium-sized dish or small pan ( I used a glass pie plate), combine all of your spices with the brown sugar
--spread out a length of foil on the counter for each piece of fish
--put each piece of fish in the center of it's own foil
--rub the top of the salmon with your spice and sugar mixture (it's okay to mound up the spice a bit, and it is fine to only rub the top)

--fold the foil over and crimp up the sides to make a contained packet
--put the foil packets into a dry crockpot
--cover and cook on high for 2-3 hours, or on low for 3-5.

Here's how my actual cooking experience went:

I wanted to cook an extra piece of salmon for leftovers for tomorrow, so I increased the amount of all the spices by 1.5 times (note: we have salmon from Costco in the freezer, but I did thaw it out in the fridge over night last night, so it wasn't frozen). Also, instead of using jarred crushed garlic, I chopped one glove of fresh garlic. I didn't have all the spices (I'm usually such a boring cook) so did have to get a few of these, but now they are stocked in the cabinet for future recipes. 

I mixed all the spices in a small cereal bowl.

After putting each salmon fillet in its own piece of tin foil, I generously spread all the spices out across the three pieces. It sort of seemed like it's a lot, but I used it all and it turned out great. 

I have to admit, I was very leery that this was going to be moist enough. I've never cooked salmon with a dry rub before so I was afraid it would be too dry. (FYI...I was so wrong!)

I cooked it for the first hour on high, then dropped it back to low for 2.5 more hours. I guess I couldn't commit to the high or low times, but really it was because I got this going a little later than I originally planned, so I was worried that it wouldn't be done at the right time (either too early or too late). This timing worked out perfectly though!

I wish I could post smells on my blog. This smelled so good all day! And when you bust the tin foil open, you get a wonderful whiff. It's so fragrant without being overpowering.


We served it over rice (crock pot + rice cooker = dreamy combo!) and cheated for the veggies by just warming up some corn.

Seriously, my husband had finished half his salmon before I could even spoon corn on his plate! While the spices are so fragrant, it is in no way overpowering of the salmon. It's sweet, with a little hint of spice - we are not spicy food eaters, and it was nice and mild. Just enough to really be flavorful. This is definitely going on the make-again list!


I'm finding myself wanting to cook more and more now! I wrapped up work for the day and we were done eating 10 minutes later. Okay, we probably ate too fast, but so much better, tastier, healthier and faster than any "fast food" we could have gotten. And clean up wasn't all that bad. The crock pot had to be washed because some of the liquid leaked out of the foil, but it was super quick. And then the one pot for the corn - rice cooker gets to wait for another day so that we can save the leftover rice. 

In case you're wondering, my rice cooker is the Zojirushi RNC-18 Electronic Rice Cooker / Warmer (10 cups). But you don't need to spend that much to get a good rice cooker. In fact, I was just at an Asian market over the weekend, and they had some pretty good looking ones for just over $20. 


I am having dinner out with a friend tomorrow, and am slightly disappointed that I won't get to try another recipe. :-) I have a whole bunch of new ones from a different site, so I'll pick one for Wednesday and let you know how it goes.