Salmon Bites w Sweet Chili Sauce

About

Sweet chili sauce is a favorite in Asian cooking, whether you’re eating a traditional dish or indulging in Americanized takeout. Sweet chili sauce is usually a little translucent or pink in color, very sticky, and loaded with little spicy chili flakes. Don’t let the name fool you; this Keto version of sweet chili sauce is spicy! If spicy dishes offend you, you can omit the chili sauce listed in the ingredients and substitute it with plain crushed red pepper flakes or a squirt of Sriracha sauce. Just a little Keto-friendly Swerve sweetener adds the “sweet” to the chili sauce. Pour the Keto chili sauce over simple marinated salmon. The salmon is sliced super thin for a really short marinating and cooking time. Use this recipe when you want to meal prep multiple portions of protein. You can serve the salmon with sweet chili sauce as is with one or two side dishes, on top of a salad, or sashimi-style with cauliflower rice and cucumber.

What Type Of Salmon Should I Use?

Since you’ll be slicing the salmon thinly in this recipe, you’ll need a nice quality piece of salmon. Don’t worry – nice quality does not mean “expensive”! Avoid any frozen salmon fillets that are already quite flat. You can use frozen salmon if the fillets have thick, meaty areas that won’t become too soft after thawing. However, your best bet is to use fresh or vacuum-sealed salmon. As far as origin, it will be up to you if you purchase wild-caught or farmed salmon.

How To Change The Spice Level

If you’re concerned that adding chili paste to your sauce will make it too spicy, there are multiple ways you can adjust this Keto recipe. To start, you can simply reduce the amount of chili paste used. This ingredient does not affect your macros. If you want to substitute the chili paste for something less spicy, your best bet is to use dried red pepper flakes. Add as much or as little to the sauce as you’d like. To combat the heat, you may add additional sweetener at your discretion. Using liquid stevia in addition to the Swerve will help you keep carbohydrates low.

Ingredients

3 ½ ounce salmon, red (sockeye), raw, alaska native
½ tablespoon olive or extra virgin olive oil
⅛ teaspoon black pepper
1 tablespoon sauce soy
½ teaspoon garlic
2 tablespoon water
½ teaspoon gelatin (jello) powder, plain
4 fluid ounce water
1 teaspoon sauce sriracha or hot chile
1 teaspoon lemon juice
¼ teaspoon ginger
½ teaspoon granular sugar replacement

Instructions

Prepare a salmon fillet by removing the skin if necessary and patting the flesh dry with a paper towel. Use a very sharp knife or pairing knife to slice the salmon into thin slices, no more than ¼-inch thick. Add the thin-sliced salmon to a mixing bowl and combine with olive oil, pepper, soy sauce, and minced garlic. Fold the salmon slices with the marinade until the salmon is coated. Set the bowl of salmon aside in your refrigerator to marinate while you prepare the sweet chili sauce.
Pour the first amount of water into a small dish. Sprinkle powdered gelatin directly over the surface of the water. Set the dish aside to let the gelatin bloom for 5 minutes. Meanwhile, in a small pot, whisk together the second amount of water, chili sauce, lemon juice, grated ginger, and swerve. Place the pot over low heat and bring to a simmer.
Once the water is at a simmer, remove 1-2 tablespoons of hot liquid and pour it over the bloomed gelatin. Turn the stove heat down so the pot is heating at just below a simmer. Whisk together the gelatin water and slowly whisk the concoction into the saucepot. Whisk the sauce together and then remove from the heat. Set the sauce aside to cool and use later.
Place a clean pan on your stove and heat on medium-high heat. When the pan is hot, place the marinated salmon slices in. Pour any remaining marinade over the salmon. Cook the salmon for about 3 minutes per side. Wait until the slices naturally release from the pan before flipping them over. At your discretion, you may also simply sear the salmon over very high heat if you prefer this style instead.
Once done, transfer the cooked salmon slices to a serving dish. Return your pan to low heat on the stove. Pour the chili sauce into the pan. You may notice the chili sauce is slightly thicker but mostly still liquid. Bring the chili sauce to a bubbling simmer in the pan until it reduces to a properly thickened sauce – about 2-3 minutes. Once thickened, pour the sweet chili sauce over the salmon for serving.