The Reason You Should Be Cubing Your Oven-Baked Salmon

While relatively fast and simple to cook, it's still easy to make mistakes when preparing salmon. You can follow a recipe to a tee and yet wind up with salmon that's burnt on the outside but undercooked on the inside or salmon that's overcooked and dry. Luckily, there's an easy way to ensure that your salmon comes out perfect every time without having to watch it vigilantly. With this simple hack, you can put your salmon in the oven and walk away until it's done, knowing that it will come out crispy yet tender.

Cubing your salmon before you bake it eliminates the common problem of the outer layer burning while the inside is barely warm. The bite-sized pieces will be evenly exposed to the oven's heat, giving them a nice charred exterior while the inside cooks through without drying out. Salmon cubes also cook faster than a whole filet. A typical piece of salmon needs about 15 minutes in the oven, while cubes take 8-10 minutes.

If you need another reason to try cubing your salmon, the small pieces are perfect for any glaze or marinade. You can easily toss them with any sauce, completely covering them in flavor and moisture. While cubed salmon tastes great on its own, it's also the perfect addition to a salad or poke bowl.

If you've ever struggled to cut an uncooked piece of salmon in half, the idea of slicing your filet into little cubes may be raising your stress levels as you read this. An easy way to reduce your anxiety is to use a process called dry curing, which involves rubbing the piece of fish with equal parts salt and granulated sugar. As the salmon sits in the sugar and salt for 10-15 minutes, the salt will pull moisture out of the salmon, firming it up and making your salmon a dawdle to slice into cubes. Plus, the sugar helps balance the flavor. Just be sure to pat dry the salmon with a paper towel before curing it and rinse it with cold water before cutting.

Once you have your cubes, you're ready to toss them in your favorite salmon sauce — like garlic and honey – or marinade. Then, it's time to pop them in the oven and be amazed at how quickly they crisp up. While you might associate oven-baked salmon with whole filets garnished with lemon wedges, it's hard to beat the convenience and mouthwatering texture that cubing delivers.