Smoked salmon has always been a firm favourite of mine for breakfast or lunch; however, I could never really get on board with the type of salmon you cook.

When cooking salmon, I always found it tasted bland, even after adding many different types of seasonings.

However, that is until I tried marinating it with one particular ingredient - smoked paprika.

Smoked paprika really enhances salmon and brings a delicious smoky flavour to the fish. I highly recommend using smoked paprika for this recipe rather than sweet paprika.

Instead of popping it in the oven, my go-to is the air fryer - it cooks the salmon in only eight minutes.

Ingredients 

Two salmon fillets

Half a tablespoon of olive oil

Half a teaspoon of salt

One teaspoon of smoked paprika

Half a teaspoon of garlic powder

Method

I started by combining all of the seasoning ingredients listed in a small bowl.

Next, I coated the salmon fillets in the marinade, ensuring every inch was well-seasoned. I even added it to the bottom to ensure the bottom of the salmon didn’t stick to the air fryer basket.

Choosing fillets of similar size and weight is crucial for even and thorough cooking.

Then, it was time to place the salmon skin-side down in the air fryer basket and let it cook at 190 degrees for eight minutes.

If you've got a meat thermometer handy, you can check if your fish is cooked by ensuring it hits an internal temperature of 63 degrees.

Bear in mind that depending on your air fryer’s brand and model, you might need to adjust the cooking time slightly.

Plus, if you’re working with frozen salmon, there's no need to defrost. Just add an extra two minutes to the cooking time.

The salmon came out perfectly flaky, flavourful and not dry in the slightest, unlike oven-baked versions.

I served these salmon fillets with some roast potatoes I had cooking in the air fryer at the same time.