If you love effortless, spring-inspired dishes, you need to try this recipe for Pan-Seared Citrus Salmon! Paired with cauliflower rice and seasoned with the fresh flavors of spring, this healthy dish is a must try.
With Mother’s Day around the corner, I like to make sure to whip up a spring-inspired dish that’s light, colorful, and fruit forward! As we transition into a new season, I always take the same approach and make an objective to try new foods.
For the majority of us, we gravitate towards the same recipes with the same ingredients all too often. Over time, we can get into a foodie rut and ultimately reach for unhealthy options as a result.
Simply put, make a goal to try a new fruit, vegetable, or herb in your favorite recipes to add some diversity into your cooking routine.
Pan-Seared Citrus Salmon Recipe with Cauliflower Rice
In the past year I’ve evolved to love cauliflower more and more. I find that it is one of those vegetables that can do whatever you want it to. It can become a sauce, a crust, or rice, and adds texture and character to any every-day dish.
Jicama, typically found in Cuban dishes, is another fresh ingredient that I find very interesting. It’s white with a mild, sweet taste and is just fun to work with. For the longest time I really wasn’t fond of oranges. They are sticky, have seeds, and can just be a big mess and hassle to work with. Today, one of my favorite approaches to warm-weather dishes is to toss in fresh orange slices! What’s ideal about oranges is that there are different varieties and they’re both accessible and affordable to toss into anything to add a sweet component and nutrients.
What I love about this dish is, everything! It has tons of different textures, savory notes, a hint of sweet, cauliflower rice, colorful, flavorful, and the mint and cilantro component tie it all in together, but above all it’s effortless, nutrient dense, and perfect for a Mother’s Day meal.
If you love effortless, spring-inspired dishes, you need to try this Pan-Seared Citrus Salmon recipe!
This Pan-Seared Citrus Salmon is easy, colorful, flavorful, affordable, savory and sweet, perfect for Mother’s Day, and since cauliflower rice packs a lot of fiber, this healthy dish is super filling!
Ingredients
- 1 head cauliflower florets
- 2 tablespoons fried onions
- 6 ounces jicama (cubed)
- 1 navel orange or any other orange variety
- 2 scallions
- Fresh mint
- Fresh cilantro
- 1 lime
- 2 6-ounce skin on salmon fillets
- 1 teaspoon chile powder
- 1 teaspoon cumin
Instructions
- Make the cauliflower couscous: Cut the cauliflower florets into corn-kernel-sized pieces. In a large frying pan over medium heat, warm 1 to 2 tablespoons oil until hot, but not smoking. Add the cauliflower, season with salt and pepper, and cook, stirring occasionally, until tender, 5 to 7 minutes. Remove from the heat, stir in the fried onions, if using, and keep warm. While the cauliflower cooks, make the orange-jicama salad.
- Prep the salad ingredients: Using a sharp knife or a peeler, remove the peel from the jicama; cut the white flesh into ½-inch-thick slices, then into ½-inch pieces.
- Using your hands or a sharp knife, peel the orange; cut the fruit in half lengthwise, then into ½-inch pieces. Discard any seeds.
- Trim the root ends from the scallions; thinly slice the scallions. Strip the mint leaves from the stems; coarsely chop the leaves. Coarsely chop the cilantro. Zest the lime and juice half for the salad; cut half into wedges for garnish.
- Assemble the orange-jicama salad: In a medium bowl, stir together the jicama, orange, scallions, mint, cilantro, lime zest and juice, and 1 to 2 tablespoons oil. Season to taste with salt and pepper.
- Cook the salmon: Pat the salmon dry with a paper towel; season generously with salt and pepper. In a medium frying pan over medium-high heat, warm 1 tablespoon oil until hot, but not smoking. Add the salmon, skin side down, top with cumin and chili powder, and cook until the skin is browned and crisp, 4 to 5 minutes. Turn and cook until the flesh is opaque and flaky, 2 to 4 minutes, depending on thickness.
- Transfer the salmon and the cauliflower “couscous” to individual plates. Top with the orange-jicama salad and serve with the lime wedges.
Notes
Home Chef Tip: If you don't love cauliflower, you can use long grain rice instead.

We hope you love this Pan-Seared Citrus Salmon recipe from SoFabFood Contributor, Gabrielle from Eat. Drink. Shrink., as much as we do. If you enjoyed this healthy dish, be sure to visit our Seafood Section section for more like it. Don’t forget to subscribe to our newsletter so that you never miss a single recipe. For daily recipe inspiration, like us on Facebook and follow us on Pinterest. Enjoy!
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