This New ALDI Find Makes My Weeknight Dinners So Much Easier

This ALDI main dish helps me get dinner on the table in 15 minutes. It requires zero prep.

Standalone Aldi grocery store sign — Simply Recipes / Getty Images

I am a huge fan of ALDI's fresh, never frozen salmon. So, I was particularly delighted this past week when I discovered a new (to me) ALDI product: Lightly Smoked Salmon. I was SO excited to try it.

What I Love About ALDI's Lightly Smoked Fresh Salmon

I love fresh salmon, and I love smoked salmon, and this new salmon offering at ALDI combines the best of both. It’s fresh salmon that has been lightly smoked with real wood. At $10.99 per pound, it’s fresh and ready to cook.

Package of Lightly Smoked Atlantic Salmon Portion from Aldi on an orange and green speckled background — Simply Recipes / Instacart

How I Cook ALDI's Lightly Smoked Fresh Salmon

Normally, I either drizzle salmon with extra virgin olive oil and sprinkle it with herbs, or I mix up a quick compound butter with herbs and garlic, and then brush it on the salmon.

This lightly smoked salmon doesn’t need to be dressed up with butter or herbs—just brush it with a touch of olive oil and add a sprinkle of sea salt. It doesn’t need anything else. Then, just put it in a 400°F oven and bake for 12 to 15 minutes or until done to your liking.

Fresh out of the oven, the salmon is melt-in-your-mouth tender with just the right touch of smoke. It’s so good. Because the salmon is naturally smoked, it has a beautiful flavor that doesn’t need to be dressed up.

It’s easy to make a meal of it. Put the salmon fillets on half of a sheet pan, then add some broccoli or asparagus to the other side. Add some rice or your favorite frozen vegetable, and you’ve got an entire meal done within 15 minutes because there’s no prep.

A pound of salmon, according to the package, makes about four servings. If you really like salmon like my family, then it’s three generous servings (maybe one and a half to two servings if you are a teenage athlete, like my son).

Though baking it in the oven is the easiest way to cook it, you could also poach it in a little bit of white or rosé wine. It would be perfect in one of my favorite gourmet appetizers, an amazing salmon rillette recipe that combines poached fresh salmon with smoked salmon in a homemade mayo base.

Although I dream of getting back to making fancy French recipes, who am I kidding? I’m going to be making this as a regular weekday dinner staple. And that’s just fine.

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