Air Fryer Harissa-Honey Salmon & Turmeric Rice
with Tomato-Cucumber Shirazi Salad
- Fish
For this Mediterranean meal, salmon fillets are marinated in a well-balanced mixture of smoky-spicy harissa powder, honey, and lime juice, then air-fried until crisp skinned and flaky. The salmon is served over vibrant turmeric rice and topped with shirazi, a fresh, juicy Persian-style salad of tomato, cucumber, and red onion seasoned with parsley, dill, and sumac.
Ingredients
1 unit
Red Onion
¾ cup
Jasmine Rice
1 teaspoon
Turmeric
1 unit
Mini Cucumber
1 teaspoon
Sumac
2 teaspoon
Honey
1 tablespoon
Harissa Powder
1 unit
Tomato
1 unit
Lime
¼ ounce
Parsley
¼ ounce
Dill
10 ounce
Salmon
(Contains: Fish)
Not included in your delivery
teaspoon (tsp)
Salt
0.13 teaspoon (tsp)
Sugar
2 teaspoon (tsp)
Olive Oil
2 teaspoon (tsp)
Cooking Oil
teaspoon (tsp)
Black Pepper
Nutrition Values
Utensils
Cooking Steps
- Heat a drizzle of oil in a small pot over medium-high heat. Add ¼ tsp turmeric (½ tsp for 4 servings) and cook, stirring, until fragrant, 30-60 seconds.
- Add rice, 1¼ cups water (2¼ cups for 4), and a pinch of salt. Bring to a boil, then cover and reduce to a low simmer. Cook until rice is tender, 15-18 minutes.
- Keep covered off heat until ready to serve.
- While rice cooks, wash and dry produce.
- Halve and peel onion; dice onion until you have 2 TBSP (4 TBSP for 4 servings). (Save remaining onion for another use.) Quarter lime. Dice tomato. Trim and quarter cucumber lengthwise and cut crosswise into ¼-inch pieces. Roughly chop parsley. Pick and roughly chop fronds from dill.
-
In a large bowl, mix diced onion with a squeeze of lime, a pinch of sugar, and a pinch of salt. Set aside.
- Preheat air fryer to 400 degrees. (Skip this step if you don’t have an air fryer!)
-
In a medium bowl, combine harissa powder, honey, juice from two lime wedges (four wedges for 4 servings), a drizzle of oil, salt, and pepper.
-
Pat salmon dry with paper towels. Add salmon to bowl with marinade and rub to coat.
- Place salmon in parchment-lined preheated air fryer, skin sides up. Air-fry until skin is crisp and salmon is cooked through, 8-10 minutes.
- STOVETOP ALTERNATIVE: Don’t have an air fryer? No problem! Heat a drizzle of oil in a large pan over medium-high heat. Add salmon, skin sides down, and cook until skin is crisp, 4-6 minutes. Flip and cook until salmon is cooked through, 2-3 minutes more.
- While salmon cooks, to bowl with onion mixture, add tomato, cucumber, sumac, dill, parsley, juice from remaining lime, a large drizzle of olive oil, salt, and pepper. Stir to combine.
- Fluff rice with a fork.
-
Divide rice between shallow bowls. Top with salmon. Spoon shirazi salad over fish and serve.
Customer reviews
Review summary
Updated on Sep 2026- Flavor: The shirazi salad was a highlight for many, and the harissa-honey marinade delivered bold flavor when it stayed on the fish 🌶️. Some found the overall dish a bit bland, particularly the rice.
- Ease of prep: The air fryer made cooking the salmon quick and simple; those without one found the stovetop method tricky, as the honey in the marinade burned easily at medium-high heat.
- Suggestions: Add veggie stock or extra seasoning to the rice for more depth; consider baking the salmon in the oven as a safer alternative to pan-frying with a honey-based marinade. Marinating the salmon longer before cooking can also boost flavor.
- Cooking method: If pan-frying, lower the heat to prevent the honey glaze from burning before the fish is cooked through; several reviewers found oven-baking a better alternative.
