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Name: Air Fryer Jerk Salmon Recipe
Prep time: 10 min
Cook time: 15 min
Total time: 55 min
Yield: 4
Cuisine: Caribbean
Ingredients: 4 salmon filets; 4 tablespoons jerk sauce; juice of 1 lime (fresh); 4 cloves garlic (minced finely)

Air Fryer Jerk Salmon Recipe

salmon with spices cooked on a white plate with green onions on it

At Ajpal, I add lots of tips in all of my recipes – because I am a home cook without any formal training, and I find I am more confident making dishes when I understand why it works, and what each ingredient means to the flavor of a recipe. My goal is for even the most beginner home cook to feel empowered in the kitchen.

salmon with spices cooked on a white plate with green onions on it with some eaten

Delicious Air Fryer Jerk Salmon

If you love the spicy flavors of the Carribean, and love salmon, this recipe is a super easy way to whip up a delicious keto salmon dish – right in your air fryer!

We’re marinating salmon in jerk sauce and air frying, because we love the crispy crunch you get on the outside of your salmon, while the meat inside stays perfectly tender, moist, and delicious.

I’m also recommending my favorite authentic jerk sauce recipe to take the flavor over the top – while you could use a store bought jerk sauce, we found the flavors were out of this world delicious when made with a fresh sauce – especially since a big part of jerk sauce is simple flavors that honor really fresh ingredients.

We hope you love this easy salmon recipe as much as we do.

How To Air Fry Salmon

If you’ve never used an air fryer machine before, you might not get the fuss.

I will note, however, before we get into this recipe more, that the name “air fryer” is a bit misleading – since nothing actually gets fried in oil.

Instead, it’s more like a super-convection broiler – where food is bombarded with quickly moving super hot air, mimicking the way food would fry in hot oil, but on your countertop with only a bit of oil.

This allows you to cook at a steady high heat with less oil – giving you crispy crunch on the outside, and juicy, tender, and never dry meat.

Air frying salmon is a great way to cook your salmon perfectly, every time!

Tips to Perfect Air Fryer Salmon

To air fry salmon, I recommend following the tips below:

-Drizzle olive oil over your salmon evenly.

This will help give your salmon a lightly fried texture and allow the oil to crisp on the salmon. Don’t skip the oil!

-Season salmon liberally.

-Take your salmon’s temperature!

If you don’t want rare salmon, aim for 145 degrees for fully cooked salmon. Remove salmon from air fryer at 130-135 degrees, as it will carryover cook.

To buy an air fryer lid for your Instant Pot to be able to make this in your instant pot, please buy one with my affiliate code here – Instant Pot Air Fryer Lid.

How Long To Air Fry Salmon

Knowing how long to cook air fryer salmon can be tricky – especially since when cooked in the air fryer you can’t see it.

This is a recipe where you have to trust in the process – which I will admit is not my strength!

For salmon filets (no thicker than 3-4″ across), follow these times for desired doneness when air frying at 400 degrees:

-10 Minutes for salmon filets that have just a little bit of red in the very center (medium).

-12 Minutes for salmon with no red in the middle, but still soft.

-14 Minutes for well done salmon filets.

Easy Jerk Sauce

You can use storebought jerk sauce for this recipe, but I used a recipe from Jessica in the Kitchen – her easy homemade jerk sauce was a perfect spicy sauce and super easy to whip up.

To find her homemade jerk sauce recipe, click here.

Jessica’s vegan takes on the traditional Jamaican recipes she grew up with are always incredibly delicious if you’re looking for some great meat free meals – but her jerk is hands down the best!

Jerk sauce is delicious on all sorts of meats, fish, and vegetables – and it is naturally low carb and keto.