This Instant Pot Healthy Asian Salmon is a speedy fast 3-minutes recipe that is free of soy and gluten. The salmon is cooked from frozen, making this meal an almost instant option for your busy nights.

It's been three years since I published this instant pot salmon recipe and to this day I still get caught by surprise at how quickly the salmon cooks.
As with most of my 3+ years old recipes, I recently went back to re-test it and update the photography. I honestly forgot how amazing this recipe is. The fact that the salmon is cooked from frozen in 3-minutes is truly mind blowing!
But perhaps what makes this Asian Salmon recipe extra special, is the fact that it is free of soy and gluten. I love Asian flavors with all my heart but with all the soy infused sauces and gluten-based marinates, the afterwords unpleasant feelings always seem to get the best of me.
For years I’ve been cooking with coconut aminos (soy alternative) that is amazing, flavorful and don’t wreck havoc on my hormonal system.
Whether that’s something you also need to watch for or not, this salmon recipe has all the feel good ingredients, lot’s of flavor and is super quick. It will probably be done cooking before you finish setting the table 🙂
Whenever I make this instant pot Asian salmon I also make some type of rice because they pair up perfectly. You can grab my favorite Instant Pot Rice recipe here or this Instant Pot Quinoa recipe.
For more Asian inspired recipes check out these readers favorites
If you make this Chicken Jambalaya recipe be sure to leave a comment and/or give this recipe a rating! I love to hear from you guys and always do my best to respond to each and every comment. And of course, if you do make this recipe, don’t forget to tag me on Instagram! Thanks a bunch!
Instant Pot Soy-Free Asian Salmon
Equipment
- Instant pot
Ingredients
- 2 8oz salmon fillets, frozen
- 1 tablespoon coconut oil
- ⅓ cup coconut aminos
- ¼ cup maple syrup
- ¼ teaspoon ginger powder or shavings
- salt and pepper, to taste
- 1 teaspoon sesame seeds
- fresh scallions
Instructions
- Season salmon with salt and pepper, set a side
- Turn isntant pot on saute mode. Melt coconut oil. Stir in coconut aminos, maple syrup and ginger. Whisk to combine (2-minutes)
- Add salmon skin side up. Turn instant pot on HP for 3-minutes. When done quickly release all preassure.
- Remove salmon from instant pot. Garnish wtih sesame seeds and fresh scallions and serve
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Marisa says
I'm impressed by the color you achieved in the IP. ANd I've been afraid to try fish in the IP. Good to know it works!
Silvia Ribas says
Thank you so much Marisa! I have to say I was very impressed as well. I was very skeptical at first but it turned out to be one of the easiest and most delicious recipes I ever made in the Instant Pot! Hope you give it a try and let me know wha you think 🙂
Richard says
Is water needed, I thought that is what the instant pot needed to seal? Do we put the fish directly in the pot or on the wire racks? We tried the sautéed setting but it seemed like it was burning the sauce.
Silvia Ribas says
Hi Richard! No water needed. The sauté mode should only be on for a brief period otherwise yes, it will start to burn. This is only under pressure for 2 mins. It came out amazing!! Follow directions, salmon should be directly place on pot to be glazed in sauce.
Lori says
How should timing be altered if we are working with thawed fish?
Silvia Ribas says
Although I haven’t done this, I would still do 1-minute under pressure.
KC says
Wish the "frozen" aspect of the salmon was present in the Ingredients list!
I do meal planning on Sunday morning and make a grocery list based on which recipes I'll be doing, so only skim the instructions. Didn't see 'frozen' until it was actually time to put the fish in the IP! Still turned out well enough that I'll have another go ... next time with frozen fillets lol
Silvia Ribas says
Good point, will add to the notes. But I am glad they still turned out fine. Thanks for letting me know!
Richard Kohout says
You say it is 3 Minutes under pressure, another reply to comment you say it's only under pressure for 2 minutes. That's 3 different times, so what is it?
Silvia Ribas says
I just updated this 3 years old recipe and modified a couple things such as the amount of liquid and timing. I have done 2-minutes with NPR and recently settled for 3 minutes with QPR. Either way will work
Jaime says
Do you think this could be doubled? Or should I just do it twice for 4 servings? Thanks!
Silvia Ribas says
As long as you can fit all the salmon on the bottom and not piled on top of each other, yes you can double the recipe. Depending on the size/ shape of your salmon, you can always cut in half to fit on the corners
Sandy says
I just attempted to make this with fresh salmon. I used Olive oil and balsamic vinegar in place of the coconut ingredients as I'm allergic to them. My IP never showed the time as the burn notification appeared. I opened it up and tried stirring it up and tried again. The IP never showed the time, but since it was fresh salmon, it cooked in the time it tried to get to pressure. Despite some burnt sauce, the salmon was very tasty.
Silvia Ribas says
oh noooo! I wonder what might have happened... but I am glad it still turned out okay. I use the coconut aminos because I am allergic to soy but if you are not you can try with soy next time.
Deana says
The recipe says to lay the daemon skin-side up, but it's pictured skin-side down. Which is correct? I don't want to mess it up! 🙂
Silvia Ribas says
The salmon was flipped for the photos. You can cook skin side down but you get better color on the salmon if cooked skin side up.
Malcolm Armstrong says
I just want to assist in two grammatical things - On this Web version (describing this wonderful dish), I believe you meant to say "Caught" not "Cough" and "Afterwards" not "Afterworlds" in your description. Spell checker is evil when it comes to similar sounding words/phrases. Just wanted to assist. I'm no English major whining or something... Love all your fantastic posts/recipes!
Silvia Ribas says
Oops, haha well thank you, I will make those changes. English is my second language and even tho I try to proof my posts many times, I still miss out and mess up a few words here and there 🙂