Remember this post where I told you about my amazingly awesome sister Becca? The one where she made her famous Orange Teriyaki Steelhead for our BBQ after our Seattle book signing? Just say yes. I know you remember. I followed her around the kitchen taking note of everything she did, and totally annoyed her by making her actually measure things so I could share this amazingness with you all. You may recall that I’m not the biggest fan of eating anything that comes out of the ocean, but I can tell you that people who like fish LOVE this fish! It uses a foil pouch method to steam in the oven with a sweet orange teriyaki marinade and sauce. It’s delicious served with hot steamed white rice and a side salad or steamed broccoli.
Ingredients and Supplies Needed
This is just a preview of ingredients and method, keep scrolling for full printable recipe.
Ingredients
- Salmon or steelhead – While these are two distinct varieties of fish, they behave almost identically in the kitchen and have very similar flavor profiles. I’ve written up the recipe for salmon simply because people are more often looking for salmon recipes, but my sister actually uses steelhead almost exclusively. Steelhead is usually cheaper than salmon, and has a more tender texture and milder flavor than salmon. Costco often has great deals on both salmon and steelhead.
The filets used here are skin-on but not descaled. After cooking, the fish separates easily from the skin and can be scooped right off. It will also work with skinless filets. - Orange marmalade and orange juice – Using both of these orange ingredients provides sweetness and orange flavor.
- Butter and olive oil – It may seem weird to have both fats in here. The reasoning is simply that this recipe was built off of a method of steaming fish where it was drizzled with olive oil, sprinkled with spices, and then dotted with butter, onion, and lemon slices before being wrapped in a foil pouch. In this recipe the butter provides richness and flavor and the olive oil helps the marinade distribute well across the fish. That said, you could likely get away with one or the other!
- Teriyaki sauce and soy sauce – These both provide that complex umami flavor Asian food is known for.
- Worcestershire sauce – Adds another depth of flavor.
- White vinegar – The acidity of vinegar helps balance the sweetness in the marinade.
- Fresh garlic cloves – Fresh provides the best flavor, but you can sub powdered if needed.
- Brown sugar – Optional, if you like a little more sweetness.
- Liquid smoke – We’re just adding a little bit here. It adds a complexity to the marinade without being overly smoky.
- Ground red pepper or pepper flakes – This does not make the dish spicy, just adds a little kick of flavor.
- Black pepper
- Dried minced onion – You could also use fresh minced onion or shallots.
- Parsley – Dried or fresh. This adds a beautiful touch of green and fresh flavor to the sauce.
Supplies
- Heavy duty foil – You’re going to make a large foil pouch to steam the filets. The extra wide heavy duty rolls work best for this!
How to Make Orange Teriyaki Salmon
- First you’ll whisk up your orange teriyaki marinade/cooking sauce. See the Note from the Recipe Creator box below about simplifying or tweaking the recipe.
- Next, you’ll cross a couple of pieces of wide, heavy duty foil over a baking sheet.
- Rinse your fish and pat dry, then place it on the foil, cover in marinade, and roll it all up into a pouch. When you do this, the sauce will mostly cover the fish and the open space above will trap steam.
- Bake it in the oven until the fish is opaque and easily flakes with a fork. Serve with hot steamed rice and spoon the pan sauce over everything! It pairs really well with steamed broccoli or sautéed asparagus.
Note from the Recipe Creator
“I love that this recipe has been enjoyed by so many people over the years! You may notice that the ingredient list is quite long and, in some cases, some of the ingredients seem redundant. When this recipe was written down in 2011, I was young and just threw things together as they felt right, with inspiration from techniques and other recipes I had made in the past. I did not have experience writing and tweaking recipes, so this recipe is simply a result of Sara asking me to actually measure out this “measure with your heart” recipe of mine.
All of that to say, I know from experience that this recipe is extremely flexible and forgiving. Could you choose to use just orange marmalade or just orange juice? Yep. Just butter or just olive oil? Sure! Leave out the teriyaki sauce since you’re basically building a teriyaki sauce from the other ingredients? Most likely. If you’re a recipe follower, following it as written is guaranteed to be delicious. If you like to experiment in the kitchen or you don’t have all of the ingredients on hand, use the ingredients and amounts here as a guide and go from there. I have never had it turn out badly, even when I’ve been completely out of certain ingredients!”
-Becca, 2026
Storing and Other Tips
- Store leftover fish and sauce in an airtight container and enjoy within 2-3 days for best results.
- This recipe makes quite a bit of marinade/sauce. You could cut it in half if you just want to flavor the fish. Make the full amount if you like plenty of drippings to serve over rice.
Frequently Asked Questions
As far as fish goes, this actually reheats pretty well if done gently. If serving for guests I would cook it fresh, but if you’d like to use it to meal plan, make it one day and enjoy for several days!
The marinade could definitely be made up to 24 hours ahead of time. I’d wait to prep the fish until you’re ready to cook.
Definitely! See the recipe card below for more details.
It’s done when it’s opaque and flakes easily at the thickest point. When in doubt you can double check with a thermometer. Fish should reach and internal temperature of 145°F.
The sauce would be delicious with chicken! It has not been tested with chicken though. If I was going to try, I think I would reserve part of the marinade for later and marinate chicken thighs in the rest, then cook them on the grill. You could also try pouring the marinade over chicken thighs and then bake it in the oven or crock pot. If you try any of these, come back and leave a comment so we know how it goes!
Orange Teriyaki Salmon
Ingredients
- 2 pounds salmon; one large filet or 2 smaller ones steelhead also works
- ¾ cup orange marmalade
- 4 tablespoons butter
- ½ cup orange juice
- 3 tablespoons bottled teriyaki sauce
- 6 tablespoons soy sauce
- 1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
- 2 tablespoons white vinegar
- ¼ cup olive oil
- 2 cloves garlic minced or pressed
- 1 tablespoon brown sugar
- ½ teaspoon liquid smoke
- ⅛ teaspoon ground red pepper or ¼ teaspoon red pepper flakes
- several cracks black pepper
- 2 tablespoons chopped dry onion or ¼ cup minced fresh onion
- 3 tablespoons dry parsley or about ½ cup fresh
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 325℉. Layer a piece of heavy duty foil over a large baking sheet Lay on one more sheet in the opposite direction, making a t-shape, leaving about 8″ of overhang on all sides.
- Place marmalade and butter in a small microwave safe bowl and heat for about 30 seconds, or until butter is melted. Whisk until smooth. Combine this mixture with all ingredients (except fish) in a bowl and stir until smooth. Rinse salmon in cold water and pat dry. Place skin side down on baking sheet. Pour marinade over fish.
- Starting from one end, gather the foil overhang together and roll them together to seal a tent-like pouch. Bake in oven for about 25 minutes. Fish should be opaque and flake easily with a fork. Test fish and return pan to oven for an additional 5-10 minutes if necessary. A thermometer inserted into the thickest part of the fish should be at least 145℉. Serve salmon with sauce spooned over top.
Grill Instructions
- There is some flexibility here on grill instructions. It's always a sage bet to preheat your gas grill to 325℉. Place foil pouch on upper rack if you have one, or on indirect heat on the main rack. Follow the same baking instructions as if it were in the oven.
- If you are cooking other things at higher heat, your fish will just cook faster! Be careful not to put your pouch directly over a super hot flame or you may burn the skin. Just keep an eye on things!
Notes
- This makes quite a bit of marinade. You could definitely get away with a little more fish in there, or even half the recipe for smaller portions.
- Steelhead works just as well as salmon here and is often more tender and affordable.
- Nutrition information reflects 1/6th of the entire recipe, marinade included.
- You can use this same foil-pouch method to cook salmon or steelhead without the sauce. Drizzle with olive oil and seasonings, top with pats of butter, and bake or grill as directed.
Questions & Reviews
Made this for dinner tonight and talk about delicious! Served it with some sweet potato fries…talk about a tasty meal! Thanks for the great recipe.
This recipe looks yummy. I wasn’t a fish lover until I purchased this baking/grilling board to cook fish on. Salmon was never on my list of fish until I got this board. I couldn’t belive the first time I used it how good the salmon was. It didn’t taste fishy at all. Could I do this recipe and still use the board to steam the salmon on??
Michelle, I’ve never done it but I can’t imagine it would be a problem!
I love your site…you ladies do an amazing job! So living up here in the big AK (Alaska) we have lots of salmon but my family has always cooked it this one certain way, which is delish, but my hubby and I are pretty tired of it, me especially since he grew up in Utah he hardly had it. But since he brought me back up here we again have lots of salmon and knew we needed new recipes. We tried this out Sunday night and it was a hit, we are making it again soon, lots of salmon to use up and this was seriously amazing! I loved how it almost tasted smoked because of the liquid smoke, without being too strong, awesome, awesome recipe we will be having over and over again!
Uhhh, the Great Wall of China doesn’t sound that great at only 1500 feet long:)
I made this for Sunday dinner and my husband loved it. I didn’t really like adding olive oil AND butter though. Is there a reason for both? How do you suppose it would taste with only one of those ingredients?
I”m sure you could leave either one of those out and it wouldn’t make one bit of difference. I actually had the same thought!
This looks delish and so easy, can’t wait to make it.
Lisa~~
Cook Lisa Cook
I love the foil tent idea!
It’s amazing how you girls always seem to KNoW what type of meat/fish I have sitting in my freezer that I can’t figure out what to do with … Can’t wait to try this one, I’m sure it will be fabulous … As always!!
I hate how my salmon gets dried out on the grill so I am totally going to try this for our next BBQ!
My family isn’t big on seafood in general, but this looks so good and fish is really healthy… is salmon a good starter fish to try on them? If not, is there a lighter “fishy” fish I could substitute? I LOVE seafood and really want to do this marinade with some shrimp! Yum!
Hmmm…this is tricky. My kids love, love, love salmon and it was one of the few fishes I liked growing up, but I find that if it’s not fresh or not cooked correctly, it can taste very fishy whereas other fishes like cod or tilapia are a little more forgiving (I believe it’s because those are very lean fishes whereas salmon is fattier, so, while more flavorful, it has more of a chance of having an off flavor.)