This quick baked salmon recipe is bursting with fresh lime and chili flavor from just a few simple ingredients. A little foil pouch built up around the edges helps it bake to flaky tenderness in just minutes. As this delicate juicy salmon fillet bakes inside the foil, sweet hints of maple, fresh lime, and dashes of easy chili sauce make it come to life with quick and colorful flavor. Turn on the oven and make this easy baked salmon in foil recipe when you need a quick and flaky fish dinner that pops with simple vibrant flavor in minutes.

We chose to do a beautiful long fillet of wild-caught sockeye salmon. Wild sockeye salmon is also commonly called red salmon due to its vibrant red-orange colored flesh. I’ll clarify right off the bat that you can certainly use your favorite salmon whether it be king salmon, coho or silver salmon, or pink salmon. All are equally and deliciously welcome in the kitchen when preparing this simple chili lime sauce for your oven-baked fish.

Zesty Fresh Lime Salmon Baked In Foil with quick sweet maple chili marinade

The beauty of this recipe is the simplicity of it. Quite often, when you choose a lovely piece of fish, you’ll notice how inspired you are to treat it with a careful yet simple preparation in hopes that the freshness of the ingredient itself can truly really shine. A beautiful piece of wild-caught salmon like this often needs not much more than fresh citrus or pinches of simple spices and herbs to make it pop. You already know when it hits the heat, it’s gonna be ready in no time!

Bake this Salmon Recipe In the oven

To infuse this nice salmon fillet with quick flavor, grab your favorite grocery store chili sauce. I did not use a spicy or garlic-infused chili sauce or a Vietnamese style chili sauce. But you can certainly use it instead if you want a nice spicy version of the baked fish. If you use something like the popular Huy Fong chili garlic sauce, don’t add anymore fresh minced garlic since it already has plenty of that flavor mixed into the sauce. Adjust the flavor accordingly based on the style of the sauce.

Add Chili Sauce To a Small Mixing Bowl

If you’re leaning in my direction, we’ll use a pretty basic Heinz or Kroger original style chili sauce. It’s basically that bright red, tomatoey, lightly peppery, slightly sweet chili sauce that you probably already keep in the fridge. It’s a sort of like a fancier, heartier, bolder, kicked-up ketchup sauce.

add fresh garlic

Pre-heat your oven to 375 degrees and add your chili sauce to a small mixing bowl along with 1 to 2 cloves of finely minced garlic. If you’re a garlic-lover like us, go for 2 cloves. If you want a little less, just add one clove of garlic or garlic powder instead.

Mince the garlic very finely. Mince it as fine as possible because the fish will only take 20 to 25 minutes to bake inside that foil in the oven. We don’t want large chunks of garlic sitting on the fish when we brush it with the sauce. We want the garlic to flavor everything and sort of melt right into the fish and that chili lime marinade.

add maple syrup to chili Lime Sauce

You’ll finish off the marinade by adding a hit of maple syrup, some fresh lime zest, and a squeeze of fresh lime juice from the same lime you zested. Now stir the chili sauce, minced garlic, fresh lime zest, fresh lime juice, and maple syrup together in your bowl until combined.

season salmon fillet & Brush with sweet chili sauce

Line a baking sheet with foil and sprinkle your salmon fillet on both sides with flaky sea salt and cracked pepper. Now brush or rub our maple and garlic chili lime sauce all over the salmon fillet until you’ve used up most all of the marinade. Drizzle the rubbed fish with a hint of olive oil.

top The Salmon with fresh lime slices

Finish everything off with a nice bright touch of thinly sliced lime. It will help bring brightness and balance to the sweetness from the maple syrup and the richness of the chili sauce and olive oil. I like to just build a layer of beautiful green lime wheels cascading right down the center of our beautiful fresh salmon fillet.

Related: The Easiest Oven-Baked Salmon with Lemon & Dill

You can add a final touch of flare and flavor with pinches of smoky paprika and crushed dried parsley down the center of the limes. Finish your preparation of the fish by adding a second sheet of foil over the top of the fish. Dome the foil slightly so as to add a little space inside and then cinch and seal all around the edges of the fish on the sheet pan.

bake the zesty chili lime Salmon In A foil pouch

Bake our limey salmon fish in a 375 degree oven for 20 to 25 minutes or until it has released juices and becomes tender to the touch. It will flake easily with a fork. If you have a fast oven, undo the foil in a small spot and check it sooner, especially if your fillet is smaller.

serve baked salmon in foil nice and Hot & enjoy

Remove the baked salmon in foil from the oven when cook time is up and serve hot. We like to flake off big juicy chunks with a fork and serve over fresh steamed rice with maybe a light cucumber or spinach salad on the side. A delicious glass of our favorite light white wine is never too far behind… If you don’t have a starch ready to serve, make a quick short pasta and turn this into a salmon pasta bowl. You could also skip the starch and just steam your favorite veggies to spoon up on the side such as roasted brussels sprouts or roasted sweet potatoes and beets!

Remember, making your favorite easy, flaky fish dinner is as simple as combining your favorite aromatics, and seasonings. The heat does the rest whether you bake, fry, or grill—much like I did with these quick citrus and soy sauce brown sugar salmon fillets! It all starts with that beautiful piece of fish… You’ll know what to do once you see it!