Last updated on April 13th, 2024

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Orange Teriyaki Salmon Bites (Easy, Low Carb)

Orange Teriyaki Salmon Bites are a great way to enjoy a delicious low-carb and keto meal without needing any sides to accompany it.

Sometimes an appetizer like these citrusy seafood bites becomes my main feast, and that’s okay since eating more protein as we age (as they say) has become an important part of my diet.

This salmon appetizer is undoubtedly high in protein, low in carbs and contains a high amount of Omega-3 fatty acids linked to improving heart health and increasing muscle mass.

I’ve researched (to self-diagnose, actually) that eating oily fish like salmon and exercising may help to reduce the pain and stiffness in my sacroiliac joint (SI) caused by osteoarthritis (the wear and tear of joints as we age).

For this reason, I try to include fish in my diet at least once or twice weekly and aim to exercise 5 days a week.

…orange teriyaki marinade coats the salmon

An orange teriyaki marinade coats the salmon pieces as they cook in my air fryer oven setting. That is a convenient feature I’ve never used since getting a new range months ago. I know, right?

I love the air fryer oven setting since it’s perfect for cooking larger batches of salmon in one go. In fact, I can use it for cooking large amounts of anything, fries and chicken, and it makes really crispy air-fryer kale chips too.

…sweet and zesty

However, these sweet and zesty, tender salmon bites can be baked in the conventional oven regardless of whether you have an air fryer oven setting.

Of course, I habitually stash my baking trays in my brand-new oven for storage since any extra space I find in my small kitchen is a bonus!

So when my laziness side sets in, and I can’t be bothered to empty the oven, I pull out my countertop air fryer or use the stovetop for cooking these salmon bites. They cook up fast and turn out extremely moist and flavourful.

…marinate, cook and serve

Alternatively, grilling these salmon pieces on a piece of foil on the BBQ will give them a smoky flavour. Similarly, you might like to try my eggplant curry salsa if you like charred flavours.

These delicious chunks of orange-infused salmon are quick to marinate, cook and serve up in less than 30 minutes. Since they are the perfect protein to cook up quickly, it’s no surprise that I often make these Orange Teriyaki Salmon bites on weekdays.

Why you’ll like Orange Teriyaki Salmon Bites

Low carb and keto:

These Orange Teriyaki Bites easily fit into a low-carb and keto lifestyle since salmon has almost zero carbs, and the ingredients in the marinade ensure the carbs stay low. We do like that!

Protein-rich:

This appetizer gives you enough protein boost to burn calories, maintain bone health and prevent muscle loss. By all means, it’s a superb protein to eat when you’re dieting and working out a lot. It has 20.9g of protein in one serving, just four pieces!

Cook salmon in various ways:

This recipe is not limited to cooking the salmon in an air fryer setting for the oven. Scroll down to read other ways to cook this salmon recipe. For instance, place the salmon pieces on a sheet pan and bake in a conventional oven or cook them on the stovetop in a cast iron pan, a popular option for most people.

Orange teriyaki flavour:

Okay, there’s teriyaki and then orange teriyaki! Both are tasty, true!; however, orange teriyaki has a fun and exciting umami flavour that bounces around your palate. The marinade and dipping sauce uses fresh orange juice to enhance a sweet and salty teriyaki flavour without adding regular sugar, honey or mirin, typically used in most teriyaki sauces.

Make it an appetizer or dinner:

Enjoy Orange Teriyaki Salmon Bites served with an awesome low-carb dipping sauce as an appetizer. Alternatively, these flavourful salmon chunks are tempting enough to add to a cauliflower rice bowl or lettuce wrap as a main meal.

Serve it in under 30 minutes:

With one easy marinade and dipping sauce, salmon cooks fast in the air fryer oven in a blink of an eye! Moreover, there is no fussing around adding ingredients as you cook; just let the marinade do its thing.

What Goes with Orange Teriyaki Salmon Bites?

If you’re looking for a hefty meal idea, serve these citrusy salmon pieces with your favourite sides. They will go with a lot of sides. However, keep in mind that dishes like sauteed vegetables will increase the carb amount per serving.

Serve Orange Teriyaki Salmon Bites with:

Cauliflower rice – make a cooked salmon poke bowl with lightly sauteed cauliflower rice as the base instead of sticky rice. Add your favourite toppings and a drizzle of orange teriyaki dipping sauce.

Cauliflower mash – a creamy mash is perfect for scooping up with salmon pieces; drizzle on some of that low-carb orange teriyaki dipping sauce.

Sauteed vegetables – asparagus, broccolini or low-carb greens pair well with succulent salmon bites.

Poached eggs – salmon and poached eggs are known to complement each other, which helps to keep the carb count low. Besides the abundance of protein, this combination works well for a fulfilling breakfast if you have leftover salmon bites.

Avocados – a few slices of avocado and these salmon bites are another popular combination to maintain a low-carb habit throughout your journey to eating fewer carbs.

Lettuce wraps – these salmon chunks are perfect for any kind of lettuce wrap, whether it’s Boston lettuce, romaine or iceberg. In fact, my Asian turkey burger recipe demonstrates how well lettuce wraps are ideal for holding high-protein meat and fish instead of buns or tortilla wraps.

Carbs and Servings in Orange Teriyaki Salmon Bites

1 serving: 3.2g carbs, fibre 0g, 3.2g net carbs 

This Orange Teriyaki Salmon Bites recipe makes five servings, including the marinade. As a result, each serving contains 3.2g of net carbs for four pieces of salmon!

Keep in mind that the carbs will increase depending on the amount of cauliflower rice or vegetables you prefer to pair it with.

As salmon does not contain any fibre, increasing the fibre in this meal may be a good idea by adding low-carb veggies.

Ingredients to make Orange Teriyaki Salmon Bites

To keep this appetizer low in carbs, the ingredients list reassures you how easy it is to make it fit into a keto or low-carb lifestyle.

Salmon – use fresh or frozen Atlantic salmon fillets that already come skinless to make it easier to cut into chunks. But if you like crispy salmon skin, then leave the skin on.

Pro Tip: How to defrost frozen Salmon

• Place frozen salmon in the fridge to thaw overnight, ready to use the next day.
• For a quick defrost, transfer the frozen salmon into a resealable ziplock bag and keep the bag immersed in a bowl of cold water for 1 hour, changing the water every 20 mins.
• Keep the thawed salmon refrigerated until ready to use.

Orange Teriyaki Marinade and Basting Sauce.

Arrowroot starch – helps to thicken the marinade and basting sauce as the salmon air fries. Arrowroot is a natural ingredient and replaces cornstarch, typically used as a thickening agent.

Low-sodium soy sauce – has less salt, and the bottle I use is also low in carbs.

Orange juice – freshly squeezed juice from a large orange is all that’s needed to make the marinade.

Rice vinegar – provides that extra tanginess since we use low-sodium soy sauce, which is less tangy.

Sweetener – I use Swerve Brown as it is similar in taste to demerara sugar or brown sugar.

Sesame oil – is mostly used for its nutty aroma.

Ginger root – finely grated about 1 inch.

Garlic – freshly crushed garlic, about two cloves.

Cold water – helps to create a thick but loose consistency to baste the salmon halfway through cooking.

Sesame seeds – for coating the salmon pieces towards the end of cooking.

Orange Teriyaki Dipping Sauce (optional)

You may wonder why I make the dipping sauce separately from the marinade since it uses the same ingredients (almost).

As it’s going to be a dipping sauce, it needs to be a little less thicker than the marinade. So the ingredient amounts vary to make a slightly larger batch of sauce for it to be a dipping sauce.

It doesn’t take long to make the dipping sauce, I add chilli flakes to the ingredients mentioned above, and the steps to make it are included in the recipe card below.

Steps to Air Fry Orange Teriyaki Salmon Bites

Make the Marinade

• Gather all the marinade/basting ingredients except the sesame seeds and measure them into a small microwaveable bowl or saucepan (since half of it will be heated to thicken).
• Whisk the ingredients until the arrowroot has fully combined into the mixture.

Marinate the Salmon

• Cut the salmon into bite-sized pieces, about 1-inch cubes and place them into a medium-sized bowl.
• Add half of the marinade to the salmon chunks and mix it thoroughly to coat the pieces. Then, allow the salmon to marinate in the fridge for 10 mins to absorb all the teriyaki flavours.
• Heat the remaining marinade in a saucepan or microwave in 20-second increments until it thickens. Then set the marinade aside to use it for basting while the salmon is cooking.

Air fryer Orange Teriyaki Salmon Bites

• Preheat the air fryer oven setting for 5 mins at 375F/190C, or if using a conventional oven, preheat it to 400F/200C.
• Transfer the salmon to an air fryer tray (or a rack on top of a sheet pan), placing them slightly apart to allow the air to flow around them and cook them evenly. I love using my Gotham Air Fryer Basket (picture) for cooking salmon and meats. It cleans up fast, and the salmon doesn’t stick to the rack while basting.
• Place the air fryer tray on the middle shelf of the oven and air fry for 8 mins to seal the marinade.

• After 8 mins, take the tray from the oven using oven mitts to baste the salmon. At this point, the salmon will be slightly white, with some fat oozing out.
• Coat the remaining marinade onto each salmon piece with a basting brush, then sprinkle on some sesame seeds that will stick to the marinade.

• Once all the salmon pieces are coated with sesame seeds, return the tray to the oven and air fry the salmon for another 5 minutes.

• Meanwhile, to make the dipping sauce, add all the ingredients for the dipping sauce in a small microwaveable bowl and heat and stir in 30-second increments or until it has turned thick.
• Alternatively, mix the ingredient in a saucepan and heat on low setting until it has become thick and dippable consistently or to your preferred texture.
• Remove the salmon from the oven and serve them on a bed of lettuce alongside a bowl of the delicious orange teriyaki dipping sauce. I love using these chopsticks to pick and dip a piece of salmon.

Tips for making Orange Teriyaki Salmon Bites

• Cut the salmon into equal bite-size pieces to cook evenly.
• Heat the marinade until it has become thick to ensure it coats the salmon well.
• Leave space around the salmon pieces for air to flow around them while they air fry in the oven.
• Blend the arrowroot starch into the marinade mixture until it has been incorporated.
• The marinade may become too thick and gloppy as it cools. Add a little bit of water, one tablespoon at a time to bring it back to a smooth consistency.
• Sprinkle sesame seeds after all the salmon pieces have been brushed with the basting sauce.
• As oven temps vary, cook the salmon until it is no longer dark pink in the centre and has a slightly charred sticky surface.

Other Ways to Make Orange Teriyaki Salmon Bites

Countertop Air fryer Orange Teriyaki Salmon Bites

Countertop air fryers are much smaller than oven air fryers, so cooking the salmon bites in batches is best. I use a Phillips Air Fryer, and the settings to make this recipe may differ slightly from other appliances.

1. Preheat your countertop air fryer to 180C / 350F and air fry a few pieces of marinated salmon in your air fryer basket for 2 mins, then brush over the marinade/basting sauce.
2. Sprinkle sesame seeds and cook for another 4 minutes until the salmon is fully cooked.
3. Transfer to a plate and repeat with another batch of salmon.
4. The air fryer will be much hotter during consecutive batches; watch that your salmon does not start to burn. You may need to turn down the heat to 160C and cook the salmon until it has cooked through and is tender.

Conventional Oven Orange Teriyaki Salmon Bites

The conventional oven (for regular baking) takes a little longer to cook food since it does not use a fan to circulate the air around the food but radiates heat from the bottom heating elements to the top of the oven.

1. Preheat the oven to 400F / 200C
2. Place the pieces on a greased oven rack over a baking sheet or the Gotham baking tray, which I use to make this salmon recipe.
3. Position the rack on the middle shelf and bake the salmon for 20 minutes, basting and sprinkling with sesame seeds halfway through the cooking time.
4. Cook the salmon until it has reached an internal temperature of 140F (until flaky and tender).
5. Remove the tray and let the salmon rest for about 5 mins to cook further internally, then serve.

Convection Oven Orange Teriyaki Salmon Bites

The convection oven setting works the same way as an air fryer. This means the fan in the back of the oven circulates air around the oven and cooks the food evenly. This is similar to air frying and much more energy efficient than conventional oven settings since it cooks the food faster. Keep in mind that the fan moves air around the oven less rapidly than the air fryer oven setting.

1. Preheat the convection oven to 375F/190C
2. Place the marinated salmon on a baking tray or oven rack (as you would for conventional baking).
3. Bake it in the oven for 15 mins turning halfway to baste, and garnish with sesame seeds.
4. Cook until the internal temperature of the salmon has reached 140F.

BBQ Grilled Orange Teriyaki Salmon Bites

This salmon recipe is perfect for grilling on the BBQ during the summer. Since the pieces are small, cooking the salmon on foil or a grill mat designed for the BBQ is ideal.

1. Preheat the BBQ grill to 400F. Put the marinated salmon pieces on skewers (optional).
2. Place a sheet of foil, an aluminum tray or a non-stick grill mat on the BBQ.
3. Place the salmon on the mat, close the lid and cook for about 5 mins.
4. Baste with orange teriyaki sauce, then cook for another 5 mins until fully cooked.
5. You can grill on an oven rack or a non-stick sheet like a Gotham baking tray.

Stovetop Pan Fry Orange Teriyaki Salmon Bites

Cooking this salmon recipe on the stovetop is a breeze. A good quality shallow or cast iron pan ensures the salmon does not stick to the bottom.

1. Heat 1-2 tablespoons of oil in a large pan, such as cast iron, on medium heat.
2. I’ve recently switched to grapeseed oil since it has a high smoking point. But coconut oil or any oil you have on hand will work.
3. Add the salmon pieces to the bottom of the pan and cook one side for about 2 mins without disturbing them.
4. Flip the pieces using tongs, then brush the tops with marinade/basting sauce. 
5. Cook until the salmon has reached an internal temperature of 145F.

Storage and Reheating Orange Teriyaki Salmon Bites

Storage:

Store cooled salmon pieces wrapped in foil, plastic wrap/container or airtight meal prep container (for making meals ahead) in the fridge for 3 to 4 days.

Reheating:

To reheat refrigerated salmon, place it inside a microwaveable bowl and heat for 20-30 second increments until heated through. Alternatively, you can preheat the air fryer to 140C, then air fry the salmon in the basket to warm through on medium heat (for 5 mins).

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