Salmon with Passion Fruit Sauce

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Salmon with Passion Fruit Sauce is made with pan-seared salmon and passion fruit sauce, sweetened with honey. Bold romantic flavor, easy recipe.

Have you ever had passion fruit before?

I’m not the biggest fan of tropical fruits. I don’t like mango, papaya, dragon fruit, etc. But I love the unique tart flavor of passion fruit. The first time I had passion fruit was when I traveled to Peru in 2013. (By the way, here’s my recipe for Lomo Saltado, a Peruvian dish.) Passion fruit is much more popular in South America than here in the US.

During my trip, every hotel served fresh fruit juice at breakfast, and they were usually juices we don’t normally drink at home, like blackberry-pear, tomato-orange, and a passion fruit blend. I also had trout with passion fruit sauce for dinner one night, which inspired today’s recipe.

Since then, I’ve eaten passion fruit dishes every chance I get. You don’t see it around much, but I’ve managed to try a passion fruit tart, passion fruit mousse, passion fruit cream chocolate, and probably a few others I’ve forgotten. In Poland, I had passion fruit sorbet. (I only knew what it was because passion fruit in Spanish is maracuyá, and in Polish it’s marakuja. I saw the sign and got so excited!) But I haven’t seen anything with passion fruit as part of a savory meal since that trout dinner.

Passion fruit by itself is very tart. It’s kind of like cranberry in that people don’t normally drink 100% cranberry juice. They either drink cranberry juice cocktail or a 100% juice blend that mixes cranberry with sweeter juices like apple and grape. Passion fruit goes so well in desserts because you are probably adding a lot of sugar anyway.

What type of Passion Fruit to Use for Passion Fruit Sauce

When I started out to make this recipe, I was looking for passion fruit juice. I only found passion fruit juice cocktail and passion fruit as part of a juice blend. I thought about scooping out the pulp from fresh passion fruit, but they were $2.50 each at the only supermarket that carried them in my area, which would be very expensive. (They’re tiny.)

Then I looked for frozen passion fruit. I found Goya brand sells frozen passion fruit pulp that already has the seeds removed. This was in the Latino Foods section in the freezer aisle. It’s much cheaper than buying fresh passion fruit and scooping out the pulp yourself, and easier. All I had to do before using it in the recipe was break off some chunks and defrost them in the microwave.

I used honey to sweeten the sauce. The added sugar also helps the sauce thicken up.

What to Serve with Salmon with Passion Fruit Sauce

I made this salmon with mashed potatoes as a side dish (not included in the recipe.) Without even realizing what I did, I had made a winter seasonal version of my Pumpkin Seed Crusted Salmon with Sweet Potato Mash. I didn’t mean for that to happen when I started out creating this recipe, but it did. What can I say? Salmon with a fruity sauce is just the best!

Make sure to choose some type of starch like rice, mashed cauliflower, etc. that can soak up the extra sauce. I made steamed green beans, but any steamed veggie will look beautiful with your vibrant pink salmon and orange passion fruit sauce.

Ingredients for Salmon with Passion Fruit Sauce

The ingredients here are two salmon fillets, cilantro, honey, and that defrosted frozen passion fruit pulp I was talking about.

How to Make Salmon with Passion Fruit Sauce

To make the passion fruit sauce, I reduced the passion fruit pulp with some honey. It takes about 10 minutes.

Then I seared the salmon on the stove-top.

Garnish with fresh chopped cilantro or parsley for some color contrast and an extra layer of flavor.

3.8 from 10 votes

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Salmon with Passion Fruit Sauce

Salmon with Passion Fruit Sauce is made with pan-seared salmon and passion fruit sauce, sweetened with honey. Bold romantic flavor, easy recipe.

Course Dinner, Main Dish

Cuisine South American

Total Time 20 minutes

Servings 2

Calories 470 kcal

Author Tara Leung

Ingredients

• 1 cup frozen passion fruit pulp (seedless), defrosted
• 3 tablespoons honey
• 2 (6-8 ounce) skin-on salmon fillets
• salt and pepper
• 1 tablespoon grapeseed or canola oil
• chopped cilantro or parsley for garnish

Instructions

1. Make sauce: Put passion fruit pulp and honey in a small saucepan. Bring to a boil over medium-high heat. Cook until the sauce thickens enough to coat the back of a spoon, 10 – 15 minutes. Set aside.

2. While sauce is cooking, prepare salmon. Pat salmon dry with paper towels and season with salt and pepper. Heat oil in a skillet over medium-high heat. Add salmon, skin side up. Use a splatter guard if you have one. Cook for 3 minutes. Carefully flip salmon over with a spatula and cook 3-5 more minutes, until it reaches your desired doneness. (A thinner fillet will be done in less time. Fish should flake easily or reach internal temperature of 145 degrees.)

3. Serve salmon with passion fruit sauce and garnish with cilantro or parsley.

Bon Appétit!