Salmon with Spinach Poblano Cream Sauce

Perfectly pan-seared salmon with poblano cream sauce is a restaurant-quality seafood entree that you can make at home in just one skillet!

At a glance

What stands out: This is a standby cream sauce for salmon made with mild poblano peppers, spinach, and garlic. It’s speedy and straightforward on the stovetop!

How long it takes: 45 minutes

Equipment you’ll need: large skillet

Servings: 4

Straightforward Poblano Cream Sauce for Salmon

With evenly seared salmon fillets nestled in a bed of poblano cream sauce, this salmon entree would be right at home on a restaurant menu! And yet, it’s a seriously straightforward recipe to make. You’ll love how flavorful the sauce is with chopped poblanos, onions, fresh cilantro, and spinach. Meanwhile, the salmon cooks up tender and flaky. Together, you have a rich, satisfying meal that’s speedy to make and jam-packed with flavor!

What stands out

• Perfectly cooked salmon. Pan-searing creates a reliable crispy crust on the outside of the salmon fillets that locks in all the flavor.
• Just rich enough. The cream sauce is rich and silky but made with milk, not heavy cream. It’s not too decadent, with just enough creaminess to balance the heat of the peppers.
• A meal in one. It doesn’t take much to turn this salmon with cream sauce into a hearty dinner! Serve it with thick bread slices for sopping up the extra sauce.

Ingredients You’ll Need

Below are some notes on the ingredients needed to make this flavorful cream sauce for your latest batch of salmon fillets. Scroll to the recipe card for a printable ingredients list.

• Salmon Fillets – Both skinless or skin-on fillets are fine. A single serving of salmon is 4 oz. so you’ll need at least 16 oz. to serve 4 people.
• Oil and Butter – Combining oil and butter for sautéing gives you all the flavor of butter but the addition of oil prevents it from burning.
• Poblano Peppers, Onions, Garlic – This trio of aromatics is a flavor powerhouse. We've found that poblanos can range from mild to slightly spicy. If you’d prefer something without heat, try using sweet bell peppers.
• Spinach – Lots of it! We recommend fresh baby spinach because it has a standby flavor. If you’re in a pinch, you can use frozen spinach but make sure to drain and press all the liquid out of it.
• Fresh Cilantro – We love the fresh flavor of cilantro, but if you have family members who think it tastes like soap, you can skip it.
• Milk & Flour – This sauce is milk-based and the flour thickens it. Skim milk isn’t a standby choice in this recipe as it has a higher tendency to curdle. Opt for 2% or whole milk if you can.
• Lemon Wedges – A squeeze of lemon juice brightens up the flavor.

Is Poblano Very Spicy?

We’ve found that poblano peppers vary a lot; they can be smoky or sweet with little heat or quite spicy. Generally speaking, though, poblanos rank quite low on the Scoville Heat Scale. They have a flavor that’s similar to a green pepper, but with kick.

How it comes together

This tasty salmon with poblano cream sauce is ready in about 45 minutes from start to finish. Here’s a speedy step-by-step. Scroll down to the recipe card for printable instructions.

• Prepare the salmon fillets. Rinse the salmon fillets, pat them dry, and season them liberally with salt and pepper (or a seasoning of your choice, like this salmon seasoning).
• Sear the salmon. Get a good-sized, heavy-bottomed skillet heating on the stovetop, and add oil. Sear the salmon, skin side up, until the surface is browned and crispy, about four minutes. Flip, and brown the skin side before moving the salmon to a plate. Tent it with foil to keep it warm while you start on the sauce.
• Sauté the peppers, onions, and garlic. Wipe out the skillet, then sauté the veggies until they begin to soften. Throw in a little garlic, and add a couple of spoonfuls of flour. Stir it around for a minute so it coats the vegetables and cooks off a bit. The flour will act as a thickener for the sauce.
• Make the sauce. Add the milk, bringing it to a simmer. It won’t take long, just a minute or so. Add handfuls of spinach and chopped fresh cilantro and cook, stirring, until the spinach wilts.
• Serve. Spoon the poblano cream sauce into four shallow bowls or plates. Nestle a salmon fillet in each, and garnish with a wedge of lemon. A squeeze of lemon over the salmon enhances the flavor, with just a bit of acidity to offset the richness. So good!

Tips For Success

These are the tips that we picked up while testing this recipe, in case you find them helpful:

• Have your ingredients ready to go. This recipe comes together fast! Prep the onions, peppers, spinach, and cilantro, and have your other ingredients measured out and ready beforehand so that once you start cooking, you can quickly move along.
• The salmon should release from the pan fairly easily. If not, cook it an additional minute before flipping. Cooking time will depend on the thickness of your fillets.
• Don’t steam the salmon. Let the salmon rest, lightly covered with foil, while you make the sauce. Don’t cover it tightly because steam will form on the underside of the foil, and the salmon will lose that nice crisp exterior.

Make This Salmon and Cream Sauce Your Own

This poblano cream sauce recipe is straightforward to adapt to suit your tastes. Try these straightforward variation ideas:

• Substitute bell peppers or mushrooms. Don’t care for poblanos? This recipe is great with mild red or green bell peppers, too. Or leave the peppers out and use mushrooms instead.
• Make it paleo/low carb. Simply replace flour with an alternative thickener such as arrowroot or tapioca flour. You’ll need 3 to 4 teaspoons.
• Add a splash of dry white wine. Add ⅓ cup of white wine to the skillet after sautéing the onions, peppers, and garlic. Cook over medium-high heat for a couple of minutes, until the wine is reduced by at least half. Enjoy a glass of wine with dinner!
• Looking for more straightforward dinners? Try our other pan-seared salmon recipes, like this flavorful glazed salmon and BBQ salmon.

Ways to serve it

Serve the salmon and poblano cream sauce with hunks of warm crusty bread and dipping sauce. This dish pairs nicely with a spring orzo salad or jasmine rice in the warmer months, or mashed potatoes for a hearty wintertime dinner. The cream sauce already has plenty of vegetables, but if you’d like to load up your meal with even more veggies, try straightforward air fryer asparagus. Get ready for oohs and aahs because this is one memorable dinner!

Storing and Reheating Leftovers

• Refrigerate. This salmon recipe is best served immediately but leftover salmon isn’t bad either. Store, tightly covered, in the fridge for up to 2 days. We don’t recommend freezing leftovers because the sauce is likely to separate when thawed.
• Reheat. Individual portions can be reheated in the microwave for 30 to 60 seconds until warmed through. Don’t overheat or the salmon will become tough and dry. Alternatively, cut the salmon into chunks and mix it into the sauce for more even heat distribution.

Interested in a weekly meal plan (it’s free!) that includes this salmon recipe? Take a look at our Meal Plan #31. You’ll find a wholesome recipe for each weekday plus a categorized grocery list. Let us do the planning for you this week!

We’ll be adding a new meal plan weekly. If you’re interested, browse all of our meal plans.

• Yield: 4 servings
• Prep: 15 minutes
• Cook: 30 minutes
• Total: 45 minutes

Ingredients

Salmon

• 4 salmon fillets (4 oz. each)
• ¼ teaspoon kosher salt
• Freshly ground black pepper, to taste
• 2 tablespoons grapeseed or avocado oil (high smoke point)

Sauce

• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 1 tablespoon unsalted butter
• 2 poblano peppers, diced (about 1 ½ cups)
• ½ large onion, chopped (about 1 cup)
• ½ teaspoon salt
• 2 cloves garlic, minced or pressed
• 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
• 1 ½ cups milk (use either whole milk or 2%)
• 5 oz. spinach, roughly chopped
• ½ cup roughly chopped cilantro leaves and stems
• Lemon wedges, for serving

Method

1. Rinse and dry salmon fillets. Season with salt and pepper. Heat 2 tablespoons oil in a large skillet over medium high heat. When pan is hot, add salmon skin side up. Sear for 4 to 5 minutes, flip, and sear 2 to 4 minutes or until salmon reaches internal temperature of 135°F.
2. Turn off heat, remove salmon from pan to a clean plate, and cover lightly with foil. Using paper towels, wipe pan clean.
3. Heat same skillet over medium heat; add olive oil and butter. When butter is melted, add poblanos, onions, and ¼ teaspoon salt. Sauté 10 minutes, or until softened.
4. Add garlic, sauté, stirring constantly, for 1 minute or until garlic is fragrant.
5. Add flour, stir and cook for one minute. Vegetables will be coated with flour.
6. Slowly whisk in milk, stirring constantly. Bring to a simmer; cook and stir for 1 minute, or until thickened.
7. Add spinach and cilantro, stirring constantly until spinach is wilted.
8. To serve, divide creamy spinach mixture onto 4 plates or shallow bowls, and nestle one salmon fillet in each serving. Serve immediately, garnished with a wedge of lemon.

Notes

Substitute bell peppers or mushrooms for the poblanos, if desired.

Leftovers can be gently reheated in the microwave. Overheating may cause the salmon to become dry and the sauce may separate.