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You are sure to be impressed with yourself and your guests will certainly be impressed if you make this baked salmon and green beans recipe, so keep reading on! This baked salmon with green beans is a fast and easy dinner that is great for beginners and convenient for a weeknight dinner. Whether you are hosting your first dinner party or wondering what to have for dinner after a busy day at work, this recipe is for you. I serve this baked pesto salmon with coconut green beans and basmati rice which works great to balance the spice from the red pepper pesto.
If you were anything like me when I started cooking, you would have been intimidated by cooking fish. I used to consciously avoid buying it since after watching a number of cooking shows online, I had assumed that fish could only be cooked well by a professional-level chef. And could you blame me, I am still afraid of overcooking my fish! It’s just so delicate!
When I discovered the foil-baking or boat method as I like to call it, my eyes were wide open.
This baked salmon and green beans was one of my first salmon recipes, and I designed this to be especially beginner-friendly. It is really simple, you only need 3 ingredients!
Also, if you feel queasy about touching salmon for the first time, then please don’t be! My advice is to use a fish spatula or a silicon spatula to gently handle the delicate fish. No mess with a great final product!
What’s So Great About Baking Salmon in Foil?
Flavors locked in and loaded
- The best part about placing salmon in foil with the marinade and then sealing it into a boat is that the flavors are locked in completely. The fish cooks within its own steam and whatever marinade you use gets infused into the fish.
- The fish always comes out moist and flaky. To be honest with you, I think you really have to try and overcook the fish to spoil the flavor. It is incredibly easy to make great fish with this classic foil technique.
No mess, easy clean up
- After finishing up dinner, nobody wants to spend time cleaning up dishes for the rest of the night. The best part about this recipe is you can simply lift, wrap and throw away the foil and give the baking tray a quick rinse. Simple, delicious meal with no cleanup.
Salmon - Great Health Benefits!
- Salmon is rich in Omega-3 fatty acids and is one of the best sources to consume these healthy fats.
- It is also a great source of high-quality protein and is a great source for pescatarians or non-vegetarians alike to incorporate protein in their diet.
- In addition, salmon is packed with Vitamin Bs, potassium, selenium and antioxidants.
Learn more about all of the great benefits of salmon in this article by Healthline.
Tools Needed
How to Make Baked Salmon and Green Beans
I usually cook 6 inch filets of salmon for generous, individual portions. I find that for pieces of this size, cooking the fish at 400 F for 12-15 minutes works best. I like my fish cooked medium, as the fish is moist yet flaky.
The cooking time can be adjusted if you are cooking a large filet of salmon, and cook until the thickest part of the salmon is at an internal temperature of 125-130 F for a medium salmon. On the other hand, if you want your salmon well-done, cook until it reaches an internal temperature of 158 F at the thickest part, as advised by Health Canada.
To Prepare the Salmon
Preheat the oven to 400 F. Season the salmon with salt. Using a pastry brush, brush the pesto onto the salmon.
Take a large piece of aluminum foil and place salmon in the center. Starting from the edges, bring edge from each side together to seal, going along the length. Seal the sides of the foil as well, the final wrapping will resemble a boat.
Place the salmon on a baking sheet and transfer to oven. Bake for about 12-15 minutes. I like mine medium which should in the range of 125-130 F.
To Prepare the Green Beans
I’ll be preparing my coconut green beans recipe. We’ll quickly walk through how to make them here, but if you want more details plus storage and reheating instructions, check out the complete recipe here.
Heat a pan on medium heat and add 1 tsp of olive oil. Add the fresh or frozen green beans into the pan and cook until the oil is well coated on the beans (and they have thawed, if you're using frozen green beans).
Add minced garlic, coconut flakes and season with salt and pepper. Cook for 3-4 minutes or until they have a sheen and become greener. Serve immediately.
To Prepare the Rice
Follow my detailed guide on rice and everything nice here.
Tips & Tricks for Baked Salmon and Green Beans
- Bake the salmon until right before it is ready. Since the steam is locked into the foil, the fish will continue to cook even after it is taken out of the oven.
- To check if your salmon is ready, you can peek inside the thickest part by carefully pulling the center apart. A more scientific method would be to use an instant read thermometer and verify that the temperature at the thickest part is to your liking.
- Do not worry about removing the skin from your salmon. Once cooked, the skin peels off easily.
- If you were hoping to eat the skin, baking it will not be the best method, since the skin will become soft and rubbery. Salmon skin is edible and is best enjoyed when pan-seared to a crisp.
Can You Store Salmon in the Refrigerator?▼
- Usually, I like to prepare just enough food to ensure there are no leftovers. However, if you end up with any leftovers, you can store cooked salmon in the refrigerator for up to 3 days.
- To serve the salmon again, you can either top it on a green salad or reheat to enjoy the delicious dinner the next day.
- To reheat, make sure you heat the salmon until it is warmed all the way through. The most convenient way would be to use a microwave at low power for a few seconds. Any excess reheating may cause the salmon to dry out.
How to Prep the Salmon, Beans and Rice Before the Oven Goes On
This is a three-pan dinner that only feels like one, and the reason it comes together on a weeknight is that everything is ready before the oven reaches 400 F. Start the rice first, because it is the only component that needs time rather than attention: half a cup of basmati and two cups of water go into a pot and come to a boil, then the lid goes on and the heat drops to medium-low until the grains are tender. While that pot looks after itself, deal with the green beans. Fresh beans usually need their stems snapped off at the tough end; frozen beans arrive already trimmed, which is one of the reasons the recipe lets you use either. If you are working from frozen, thaw them and tip them into a colander so they drain properly, because beans that hit the pan still wet will steam instead of taking on the sheen you are looking for. Then the salmon: season it, brush the pesto on, and set the fillet skin-side down on the foil so the pesto stays on top where you put it.
Salt is the one thing this recipe deliberately leaves to you. There is no measured teaspoon salt in the ingredient list, and that is on purpose, because red pepper pesto is already a seasoned product and no two jars are seasoned the same. A fixed number would have you salting on top of salt. Season the fillets lightly before the pesto goes on, then taste the beans at the end and adjust there. Everything else is small and measured in teaspoons: two teaspoons of olive oil for the beans, two teaspoons of coconut flakes, and two tablespoons of pesto across two fillets.
Why the Green Beans Want a Hot Pan
The beans get three to four minutes in the pan and nothing more, so the heat has to be doing the work from the moment they land. Medium-high heat is what turns them a brighter green and gives them the sheen the recipe tells you to look for. On a gentle heat they simply soften and go dull, and that is the whole difference between a side dish worth putting on the plate and one you eat because it was there. Two teaspoons of olive oil is all the fat they need, enough to coat them rather than fry them. The garlic and the coconut flakes are the last things to go in, and they should be: minced garlic scorches in seconds at this temperature, and coconut flakes need only the pan's residual heat to toast and turn fragrant. Give the beans a minute under a lid at the end and they finish in their own steam.
Testing the Salmon with a Fork, and Why It Keeps Cooking
The foil boat hides the fish, which is the one small drawback of a method that is otherwise close to foolproof, so you want a test you can do without unwrapping the whole parcel. Open the top of the foil, slide a fork into the thickest part of the fillet and twist gently. If the flesh separates into clean flakes and has gone from translucent to opaque, it is ready. The skin-side underneath will have released from the foil on its own by then, which is why the recipe never asks you to remove the skin beforehand, it simply peels away once cooked. The part that catches people out is what happens next: sealed in foil, the fish keeps cooking in its own steam for a minute or two after it leaves the oven, so pull it a shade before it looks perfect rather than a shade after. An instant read thermometer at the thickest part takes the guesswork out of it entirely.
Let me know what you think of this recipe in the comments! If you’ve tried this recipe, be sure to post it on social media and tag it with #cookingwithanadi and mention me @cooking.with.anadi. Thank you!
Recipe by Anadi Misra
Flaky oven-baked pesto salmon with tender green beans and fluffy rice — all in one easy dinner. A wholesome, flavorful meal the whole family will love.
Oven-baked
5.0 · 1 rating
5 min
Prep
15 min
Cook
20 min
Total
2
servings
easy
Level
Ingredients
Ingredients
Tap any quantity to scale
For the green beans
For the rice
- (95 g) basmati riceShop →
Instructions
To make the salmon
- 1
Preheat the oven to 400 F. Season the salmon with salt. Using a pastry brush, brush the pesto onto the salmon.
Preheat the oven to 400°F (204°C). Season the salmon with salt. Using a pastry brush, brush the pesto onto the salmon.
- 2
Take a large piece of aluminum foil and place salmon in the center. Starting from the edges, bring edge from each side together to seal, going along the length. Seal the sides of the foil as well, the final wrapping will resemble a boat.
Take a large piece of aluminum foil and place salmon in the center. Starting from the edges, bring edge from each side together to seal, going along the length. Seal the sides of the foil as well, the final wrapping will resemble a boat.
- 3
Place the salmon on a baking sheet and transfer to oven. Bake for about 10-15 minutes. I like mine medium which should be just above 140F.
Place the salmon on a baking sheet and transfer to oven. Bake for about 10-15 minutes. I like mine medium which should be just above 140°F (60°C).
- 4
Assemble your plate by adding the beans, salmon, and rice. Serve hot and enjoy:)
Assemble your plate by adding the beans, salmon, and rice. Serve hot and enjoy:)
To make the rice
- 1
Add rice with 2 cups of water to a saucepan and bring to a boil.
Add rice with 2 cups of water to a saucepan and bring to a boil.
- 2
Once rice comes to boil, put lid on and reduce heat to medium low. Cook until rice is tender.
Once rice comes to boil, put lid on and reduce heat to medium low. Cook until rice is tender.
To make the green beans
- 1
Heat a pan on medium-high heat and add the remaining oil.
Heat a pan on medium-high heat and add the remaining oil.
- 2
Add the green beans into the pan and season with salt and pepper. Cook for 3-4 minutes or until they have a sheen and become greener.
Add the green beans into the pan and season with salt and pepper. Cook for 3-4 minutes or until they have a sheen and become greener.
- 3
Turn the heat off and add the garlic and mix in. Finally, sprinkle in the coconut flakes. Mix well and let the beans sit with a lid on for 1 minute.
Turn the heat off and add the garlic and mix in. Finally, sprinkle in the coconut flakes. Mix well and let the beans sit with a lid on for 1 minute.
Did you make this recipe? Tag @cooking.with.anadi on Instagram and hashtag it #cookingwithanadi
Tested & written in Anadi’s kitchen
Recipe history
- April 16, 2026 — Reworked and refreshed for the 2026 relaunch — new photography, restructured and standardized ingredients & instructions.
Filed under
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