Baked Thai Pineapple Salmon in Foil

Baked Thai pineapple salmon in foil is an easy and healthy 30 minute salmon dish with a sweet and spicy sauce and juicy pineapple all made on one pan with minimal cleanup and maximum flavor. 

For more delicious baked salmon recipes, check out my popular posts for Baked Honey Cilantro Lime Salmon in Foil, Baked Honey Lemon Garlic Salmon in Foil, or Baked Honey Sriracha Lime Salmon. 

Last year we had an abnormally light winter with only a handful of snowstorms and the temperatures were pretty tolerable compared to past years. This winter has not been so kind and the spring has been super Jeckyll and Hyde. I’m done with the cold, and the confused weather all together and I’m ready for warm weather, tan lines, and everything summer.

I can’t be anywhere sunny and 75 right now, but thankfully Dole Packaged Foods products, (including pineapple!!) are available year-round so I’m getting my summer fix in anyway via food! This Thai Pineapple Salmon is my favorite sunny-feeling-dish at the moment and it’s definitely the next best thing to actual summertime! 

Having your favorite fruits and veggies available in your pantry will make it easy to slip them into your family’s dinner routine on a regular basis. Thank heavens because I can’t live 6 months of the year without pineapple you guys, that’s just not something I was built to handle. How about you?

Even if the weather outside is crummy, you can feel pretty warm inside when you dive into a plateful of this baked, flaky salmon with juicy Dole pineapple slices, all smothered in a sweet and spicy Thai sauce and topped with chopped peanuts and cilantro. 

WHAT INGREDIENTS DO YOU NEED TO MAKE BAKED THAI PINEAPPLE SALMON? 

• Large salmon fillet
• Salt and pepper
• Sweet chili sauce
• Hoisin sauce
• Rice vinegar
• Dole Pineapple Slices 
• Peanuts
• Cilantro

HOW DO YOU MAKE BAKED THAI PINEAPPLE SALMON?

To make this delicious baked salmon recipe, preheat your oven to 375 degrees and then line a baking sheet with nonstick foil. 

Put the salmon in the middle of the sheet and season with salt and pepper. Then, put pineapple slices underneath the salmon around the edges. Reserve the pineapple juice in the can. 

In a bowl, whisk together the sweet chili sauce, hoisin sauce, rice vinegar, and 1/4 cup of pineapple juice. Pour the mixture right on top of the salmon. Then, fold the edges of foil up around the salmon to keep everything contained. 

Put the salmon dish in the oven for 15 minutes, then pull the edges of foil back to allow more of the salmon to cook because at this point, you’ll switch the oven over to “broil” and allow the fish to cook another 5-10 minutes until the edges start to blaken just a bit. 

When the salmon is done, I like to sprinkle it with chopped peanuts and cilantro for a garnish and to give it more texture and taste. 

WHAT IS THAI SAUCE MADE OF?

For this recipe, I consider all of the sauces mixed together a Thai sauce. While it’s usually made of fish sauce, sugar, tamarind paste, and vinegar, I’ve made my own out of prepackaged sweet chili sauce, hoisin, rice vinegar, and pineapple juice. Same flavors, MUCH easier to make than trying to make your own, since some of the ingredients like tamarind paste are hard to come by. 

TIPS & TRICKS FOR MAKING BAKED THAI PINEAPPLE SALMON 

• Baking the salmon and pineapple in foil keeps all of the sauce and juices trapped right around the salmon so it soaks up all the flavors while it’s cooking. Plus it makes for the easiest cleanup! No pans to scrub, no dishes to wash, just toss the messy foil in the garbage and you’re good to go.
• I prefer to use Dole pineapple slices and not crushed or chunk pineapple. For one, the slices are easier to stick right under the salmon. Also, diced or crushed pineapple will be too wet and messy and it’s much easier to serve everyone a pineapple slice on their salmon than to try to scoop up a bunch of pineapple pieces. However, if that’s all you have on hand, any kind of canned Dole pineapple will taste good! 
• If you don’t have peanuts or you have an allergy you can substitute a tree nut or skip the nuts all together. You could even finely crush up pretzels and sprinkle them over the salmon for some crunch and salty taste. 
• Lay the salmon in one piece on the baking sheet. If it’s too long, cut off the end and arrange it on the side to cook. You want all the salmon to cook at the same time and if some is folded under, it might end up being underdone. 
• If you don’t have any non stick foil, just spray the baking sheet itself before laying down the foil — ta da! Now the foil won’t stick, and will still clean up just as easily. 

What people are saying about this Baked Thai Pineapple Salmon in Foil

“This was an amazing dish! Simple, super tasty and healthy. I can’t wait to make this dish again, but I will double the sauce. It was so delicious to pour over rice! We all wanted more of that amazing Thai flavor. Thank you!” – Michelle

“This was seriously outstanding! My 7 y.o. couldn’t stop eating it – I’ve never seen her eat up something so voraciously! Thank you so much for sharing. I will look at your other recipes  Oh, and I used fresh pineapple!!” – Laura

“Made this dish, absolutely delicious! I served it with sweet and salty coconut rice. So good!” – Amber

“I made this tonight. Very, very good! I will definitely make this again. Only thing I might do differently next time is caramelize the pineapple in a skillet before I use it in the dish. Definitely a keeper!” – Renee