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This recipe for salmon with rice is a healthy dinner that comes together with minimal supervision and tastes epic.

Get ready for the most delicious family meal recipe with minimal prep: pesto salmon and rice. It's as close to a hands-free meal as one gets.

baked pesto salmon with cherry tomatoes and rice

Salmon Pesto Rice

I love using rice as the base for this baked pesto salmon recipe to absorb all the juicy, delicious flavors of the roasted cherry tomatoes and onions, taking the otherwise bland ingredient to the next level.

Ingredients

You can make this recipe with fresh or frozen salmon (thawed it first) and regular rice (or cauliflower rice). The veggies we’ll caramelize are cherry tomatoes and red onion. Extra flavor comes from pesto sauce (your favorite prepared option or whip up this homemade pesto), salt, and pepper.

How to Make Salmon with Rice

This is what you'll be doing to serve this baked salmon recipe with rice and veggies:

Cook the rice.
While the oven preheats, cook the rice on the stove.
Roast the veggies.
While the rice cooks, toss the cherry tomatoes and onions with pesto and bake for 15 minutes.
Prepare the salmon.
After seasoning the salmon, remove the baking sheet from the oven, move the veggies to the sides, and place the fish in the center.
Bake and serve.
Cook the salmon until it separates easily with a fork. Remove from the oven and serve over rice with roasted tomatoes and onions.

What Else to Serve it With

While this salmon and rice recipe may be a complete meal, you can also stretch the 4 servings to 6 or feed hungry teens by adding a simple side salad or these easy popovers.

Salmon with Rice

Servings: 4

Prep Time: 10

Cook Time: 30

Total Time: 40

This recipe for salmon with rice is a healthy dinner that comes together with minimal supervision and tastes epic.

5 from 23 votes

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Ingredients

2 cups rice
4 salmon fillets
Salt & pepper, to season
½ cup prepared pesto, or homemade
2 pints cherry tomatoes
1 small red onion, thinly sliced

Instructions

Prep the oven:

Position your oven rack in the middle of the oven and preheat it to 400F. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper or grease a baking sheet with olive oil.

Cook the rice:

In a medium saucepan, cook 2 cups of dry rice according to package directions. Add salt to the water if desired.

Bake:

Place cherry tomatoes and sliced onions in a bowl. Toss with 1 tablespoon of pesto sauce and transfer them onto the sheet pan. Bake for 15 minutes, making sure to give them a good toss around minute 10.
Meanwhile, pat dry salmon fillets with a paper towel and season with salt and pepper. Spoon the remaining pesto sauce over the salmon fillets.
Remove the baking sheet from the oven, move roasted tomatoes and onions to the sides and place the salmon fillets in the middle. Bake salmon and tomatoes for 16 to 20 minutes, until salmon flakes separate easily with a fork.