This recipe Low-Carb Teriyaki Salmon boasts that savory ginger-garlic goodness we all love, but with fewer carbs than most recipes. This easy recipe can be part of a low-carb, keto, Atkins, gluten-free, or grain-free diet.
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The recipe for Low-Carb Teriyaki Salmon
This easy recipe starts with a marinade made with soy sauce (or coconut aminos), ginger, garlic, rice wine vinegar and avocado oil.
These ingredients are simply whisked together, then we marinate the salmon in it for 20 minutes to an hour.
The thing that makes this recipe stand out is that after the salmon has browned on one side, we cook it in the sauce. This adds loads of flavor to the meat and thickens the sauce. The result is a gorgeous glazed piece of salmon.
Disclaimer: We are partnered with Amazon and a few other companies. Some of the links on this site are affiliate links. This means we make a small commission from any sales to help keep the recipes coming! You pay the same amount (or less) when using these links. Thank you for your support!
The inspiration for Low-Carb Teriyaki Salmon
I used to love to make teriyaki salmon, but I would always use a bottled sauce. Unfortunately, bottled teriyaki sauce has a lot of sugar in it as well as additives, so I don’t use it any more since I eat keto.
This specific recipe was inspired by this version of teriyaki salmon from Gordon Ramsay. While I had to make several changes in the sauce to make it low-carb, I really loved his preparation for this recipe. There is something about simmering the salmon in the teriyaki sauce that makes the flavor sing!
What to serve with Low-Carb Teriyaki Salmon
Teriyaki salmon is frequently served with rice, but since rice isn’t keto-friendly, we need to find alternatives.
One of my favorite alternatives to rice is riced cauliflower. This is simply cauliflower that has been chopped up into rice-like pieces. I usually buy this in the frozen section, already chopped up.
To prepare the riced cauliflower, I often just heat some butter or oil in a large skillet, then I sauté the riced cauliflower until tender. I don’t defrost it first. I like to add a bit of salt and pepper and a sprinkle of herbs, such as chives, cilantro, or green onions, to add flavor.
My recipe for Easy Low-Carb Cauliflower Fried Rice or this recipe for cilantro lime cauliflower rice from Skinny Taste would also work well with this salmon.
This salmon would also pair well with a simple green salad, steamed broccoli, my Low-Carb Asian Noodles, or Harper’s recipe for Low-carb Seaweed Salad.
What is teriyaki sauce made of?
Teriyaki sauce has a wonderful combination of flavors! Typically, it has ginger, garlic, soy sauce, and some type of oil. It also usually contains rice wine vinegar. Many recipes also use mirin, a sweet wine made from rice.
Teriyaki sauce almost always contains some type of sweetener. I’ve seen recipes with honey, maple syrup, brown sugar, and corn syrup.
In this recipe, I use allulose as the sweetener. I particularly like allulose in savory sauces as it has a clean sweet flavor with no aftertaste. It’s a little pricey, but I think it’s worth it in this type of recipe.
I also chose to leave out the mirin to avoid adding extra carbs and relied on the rice wine vinegar to give it plenty of flavor.
Is soy sauce keto-friendly?
There is a good deal of controversy out there about soy sauce. One tablespoon of soy sauce contains less than one gram of total carbohydrate. This makes it highly unlikely to kick someone out of ketosis. Therefore, it is keto-friendly despite what you might read on the internet.
However, I would like to point out that many soy sauces do contain gluten. If you need to avoid gluten, there are several brands that are gluten-free. Gluten-free tamari makes a great substitute as well.
Soy sauce is made from a legume and some people find that they are sensitive to it or that it increases their inflammation. However, the fermentation process used to create soy sauce helps break down the components that cause this problem.
Soy also contains phytoestrogens and can aggravate hormone imbalances for some people.
While I consider soy sauce keto-friendly, if you have hormonal imbalances, any type of autoimmune disease, or are sensitive to soy, you can use coconut aminos instead.
Can you marinate salmon too long?
While some meats can be marinated for long periods of time, or even overnight, I like to keep marinating time for salmon short.
Salmon is a flaky fish and the acids in the marinade will start to break down the meat and make it mushy if it marinates for too long.
Salmon and other flaky fish, do better when marinated for short periods of time. I like to keep the marinating time between 20 minutes and an hour.
Final words
This recipe for Low-Carb Teriyaki Salmon makes a wonderful main course with an Asian flair. It’s an easy recipe, but impressive to the taste buds. Enjoy!
-Annissa
This Low-Carb Teriyaki Salmon recipe has savory ginger-garlic goodness with an Asian flair. 🥢 This recipe is perfect for an elegant main course and easy enough for an everyday meal. 🐟 🍱
Low-Carb Teriyaki Salmon
This recipe Low-Carb Teriyaki Salmon boasts that savory ginger-garlic goodness we all love, but with fewer carbs than most recipes. This easy recipe can be part of a low-carb, keto, Atkins, gluten-free, or grain-free diet.
Ingredients
- 1 teaspoon fresh ginger peeled and minced
- 1 clove garlic peeled and minced
- 1 1/2 tablespoon low-sodium gluten-free soy sauce (coconut aminos may be substituted)
- 1 teaspoon allulose
- 1 teaspoon rice wine vinegar
- 4 teaspoons avocado oil (quantity divided)
- 12 ounces salmon fillets (about 2 fillets) wild caught
- 1 green onion thinly sliced
- 1/2 teaspoon sesame seeds (Optional-for garnish)
Instructions
In an 8" X 8" baking dish, whisk together the ginger, garlic, soy sauce, allulose, rice wine vinegar, and two teaspoons of the avocado oil (reserving the other two teaspoons for later).
Place salmon fillets on top of the marinade, then turn so that both sides are coated with the liquid. Cover and marinate in the refrigerator for 20 minutes to 1 hour.
Heat a large skillet over medium heat. Add the remaining 2 teaspoons of avocado oil. You may need to use more oil if you have a pan that food tends to stick to. Add salmon to the pan, skin side down (if your fillets have skin). Cook salmon 2 minutes, then pour the marinade over the fish.
Cook salmon until it is opaque about half way up the fillet, then turn and cook for 3-4 minutes.
Serve salmon with the sauce spooned over the top, then sprinkle with green onion and sesame seeds, if desired.
The recipe was a HUGE HIT! Moist, tender and very flavorful!! Thank you!
Glad you enjoyed it!
-Annissa
Soooo yummy! I don’t even miss the real thing 🙂 Have made this 3 times already and love it.
I’ll definitely be trying this soon! Could I use olive oil instead of avocado oil? Thanks!
I am partial to avocado oil because it has a higher smoke point and holds up to heat better in general. Olive oil could work for this recipe, especially one of the lighter varieties as they have a bit higher smoke point.
-Annissa
This was wayyyy more delicious than expected!!! I didn’t have the allous so I used swerve brown sugar instead! Absolutely amazing! This will be the ONLY way I’ll prepare salmon again! Thank you for sharing this fantastic recipe!
Woohoo! Glad you loved it!
-Annissa
If I were to try other proteins like fish or chicken. Would the marination time change?
I would think that the more fragile and thin the meat is, the shorter the time needed. You will probably want to marinate chicken breasts longer than a fish filet.
Hi, can I use monkfruit sweetener instead of allulose?
The allulose gives this salmon an nice shine and has no aftertaste. I’m not sure if monk fruit will be able to achieve that as well, but I think it will work for the most part. Be sure to adjust the amount as pure monk fruit is much sweeter than the Pyure blend I use. If you’re talking about the Lakanto monk fruit blend, it is less sweet than the sweetener I use, so you will need to use more.
-Annissa
Can I broil instead of frying?
You could probably do that. If you try this, you might want to simmer the marinade until slightly thickened and drizzle it over the broiled salmon for extra flavor.
-Annissa
hi.. can i use erythritol instead of allulose? Thanks
Yes. You can use an equal amount of erythritol.
Annissa
Thank you very much!! I did this today and I really loved it!!! 🙂 Thank you so much for sharing 🙂
Glad you love it!
-Annissa
Made this today. It was amazing. My husband gave it 10/10 and so did I. We will be having this again. I served it with green beans (cooked) and mushrooms fried in garlic butter and sprinkled with grated parmesan. Thank you so much for the recipe. Xx
Glad you enjoyed it!
-Annissa
Could you bake this in the oven (instead of pan frying)?
You could. I’m not sure you will get the same consistency of the teriyaki sauce.
-Annissa
Easy and really good!!
So good, this looks absolutely delicious!
Im confused about one thing, using the measurements above there was no additional sauce to add. It all cooked up with the salmon.
There is no additional sauce in this recipe. It becomes almost a glaze over the salmon.
-Annissa
Delicious!! Substituted ginger garlic paste for the ginger and garlic, then made a pan sauce with the fond left in the pan. Then I cooked zucchini noodles in the sauce. Will definitely be making again!!
Yum! Teriyaki zucchini noodles for the win!!!
-Annissa
So delicious, really easy & had all the ingredients on hand. Cooked in air fryer on aluminium foil with all the sauce for 10 mins in the air fryer – amazing! Cooked perfectly. Thanks for a lovely recipe.
Thanks for sharing your experience! I love the idea of using an air fryer!
-Annissa
Fantastic! Had it with riced cauliflower tossed in roasted seaweed flakes and sauteed butter broccoli.
Thank you for doing what you do! You are making it easier for people like me to lead a healthy lifestyle. I’m sure you don’t get enough recognition. Thank you!
Thanks so much for your kind words, Cerenna! I love the idea of adding roasted seaweed flakes.
-Annissa
Could you use powdered ginger and garlic powder? I don’t have any fresh. Thanks!
I really prefer to use the real thing, but powdered would probably work in a pinch. I would use about a third of the fresh amount.
-Annissa