Sheet-Pan Salmon and Kale

This pomegranate-glazed sheet-pan salmon is giving weeknight glam.

By
Leah Colins
A studio portrait of editor Leah Colins.
Leah Colins
Senior Culinary Editor

Leah is the Senior Culinary Editor at Serious Eats, and was previously a recipe developer and editor with America's Test Kitchen for almost 9 years. She has developed recipes for and edited over 20 cookbooks ranging in topic from bread baking to plant-based eating to outdoor grilling and so much more. While there, she also developed recipes and articles for Cooks Illustrated Magazine, Cooks Country Magazine, and ATK's digital platform.Before her life as a recipe developer, she cooked in 5-star and Michelin-starred fine dining establishments from coast to coast such as The Herbfarm and Aubergine Restaurant at L'Auberge Carmel; she also treasures her time flipping burgers on flattops in her teenage years, and baking and boxing cookies and pies at a wonderful family-owned German bakery in her early professional life.

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Published October 15, 2025
Salmon fillets topped with pomegranate seeds and greens on a baking sheet

Serious Eats / Morgan Hunt Ward, Prop Stylist: Julia Bayless, Food Stylist: Margaret Monroe Dickey

Why It Works

  • Massaging the kale before roasting tenderizes the leaves and jump-starts wilting, ensuring the vegetable crisps evenly in the oven.
  • Strategic food placement on the sheet-pan, with the kale pushed to the outer ring and the salmon fillets centered, leverages the oven’s natural heat zones so both greens and fish cook perfectly at once.

If a sheet-pan dinner could win a beauty pageant, this dish would be the reigning queen. The glossy, ruby-lacquered salmon sits in a nest of crisped kale, studded with pomegranate arils and finished with a verdant mint gremolata. It looks like something you'd serve at a dinner party, but it's built on the humble foundation of a weeknight sheet-pan meal. It's proof that practicality and elegance can absolutely coexist.

This recipe, developed by our colleague Marianne Williams in our Birmingham, Alabama, test kitchen, takes Daniel Gritzer's sheet-pan commandments to heart: Every move here is deliberate, every layer of flavor earned through smart orchestration, not chaos. Instead of crowding everything together and hoping for the best (the classic rookie sheet-pan cooking mistake), the kale and shallots roast first, gaining the space and time to crisp. Then the salmon takes the stage, placed dead center—an architectural decision that leverages what Daniel calls the "ring of fire," where foods placed around the sheet pan edges brown more aggressively than those in the middle. The kale gets the hot zone, and the salmon gets the even heat of the center. The result is tender fish and kale with shatteringly crisp edges, and a kitchen that smells like roasted heaven.

A dish of salmon glazed with pomegranate sauce served on a bed of kale and garnished with pomegranate seeds and nuts with a fork

Serious Eats / Morgan Hunt Ward, Prop Stylist: Julia Bayless, Food Stylist: Margaret Monroe Dickey

Every supporting element has a purpose. The kale isn't just filler; it's an edible frame that delivers bitterness and crunch against the rich fish and syrupy glaze. The gremolata is a fresh mixture of mint, oregano, toasted walnuts, garlic, and pomegranate that does what great garnishes should do: Resets your palate with every bite. It’s herbaceous and nutty, bright where the sauce is lush. Together, these components form a kind of edible wreath. It's gorgeous, yes, but more importantly, dynamically balanced.

In the glaze, pomegranate molasses adds deep, tangy sweetness, but Marianne found that achieving the right texture proved tricky. When the ingredients for the glaze were simply whisked together, the mixture was too loose and ran off the fillets, burning on the pan before it could cling. The solution was to reduce the sauce separately with maple syrup and Dijon, then whisk in cold butter to create a glossy, emulsified glaze that adheres to the fish. Brushing it on only at the end of cooking, before it goes under the broiler, gives the salmon that jewel-like finish without scorching the sugars. The remaining tangy, buttery sauce is spooned on after roasting, pooling gently into the kale.

Salmon fillets topped with pomegranate seeds and nuts served on a bed of greens on a tray

Serious Eats / Morgan Hunt Ward, Prop Stylist: Julia Bayless, Food Stylist: Margaret Monroe Dickey

This dish definitely makes you rethink what "sheet-pan dinner" means. It's efficient, yes, but not lazy. Every step works toward maximizing contrast in flavor and texture—sweet and tart, rich and sharp, crisp and tender. It might look like you tried very hard to pull this dinner off, when really, you just cooked smart.

This recipe was developed by Marianne Williams. The headnote was written by Leah Colins

Recipe Details

Sheet-Pan Salmon and Kale

Prep 15 mins
Cook 30 mins
Total 45 mins
Serves 4
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Ingredients

  • 1 pound (453 g) curly kale (about 2 medium bunches), stemmed and roughly chopped (about 12 cups)

  • 1/4 cup (60 ml) extra-virgin olive oil, divided

  • 2 teaspoons Diamond Crystal kosher salt, divided; for table salt, use half as much by volume

  • 2 medium shallots (1 1/2 ounces each; 42 g), thinly sliced (about 2/3 cup)

  • 1/4 cup chopped toasted walnuts (1 ounce; 28 g)

  • 3 packed tablespoons (9 g) chopped fresh mint 

  • 1 packed tablespoon (3 g) chopped fresh oregano 

  • 1/4 cup pomegranate seeds (arils) (1.65 ounces; 47 g), divided 

  • 1 small clove garlic, grated or finely minced

  • 4 (6-to 8-ounce each; 170 g) skin-on, center-cut salmon fillets

  • 1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

  • 1/4 cup (60 ml) pure maple syrup

  • 3 tablespoons (45 ml) pomegranate molasses

  • 1 teaspoon Dijon mustard

  • 4 tablespoons (56 g) cold unsalted butter, cubed

  • Flaky sea salt, for serving (optional)

Directions

  1. Adjust oven rack to middle position and heat oven to 450°F (230°C). Meanwhile, in a small bowl, stir together walnuts, mint, oregano, 3 tablespoons pomegranate seeds, garlic, 1 tablespoon oil, and 1/4 teaspoon kosher salt to combine; set aside.

    A glass bowl containing a mixture of pomegranate seeds chopped nuts herbs and other ingredients with a spoon inside

    Serious Eats / Morgan Hunt Ward, Prop Stylist: Julia Bayless, Food Stylist: Margaret Monroe Dickey

  2. In a large bowl, add kale, and drizzle with 1 tablespoon oil and 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt. Massage firmly with clean hands until kale starts to wilt and become tender, about 1 minute. Add shallots, and toss to combine. Spread onto a rimmed baking sheet and bake until the kale starts to steam and becomes crisp around some of the edges, about 5 minutes. (Kale mixture may seem like a lot to start but will significantly wilt as it cooks.) Remove from oven and push to outer edges of baking sheet, leaving a 10-x-7-inch clearing in center.

    A baking tray with roasted greens and a spatula

    Serious Eats / Morgan Hunt Ward, Prop Stylist: Julia Bayless, Food Stylist: Margaret Monroe Dickey

  3. Drizzle open area of baking sheet with 1 tablespoon oil. Pat salmon dry; place skin-side down on oiled part of baking sheet, spacing fillets about 1/4 inch apart. Sprinkle with pepper and 3/4 teaspoon kosher salt. Drizzle with remaining 1 tablespoon oil. Bake until salmon is almost cooked through and an instant-read thermometer registers 120°F when inserted into thickest part of salmon, 8 to 12 minutes. Remove from oven and stir kale mixture.

    Four seasoned salmon fillets baked on a sheet pan with kale and onion slices

    Serious Eats / Morgan Hunt Ward, Prop Stylist: Julia Bayless, Food Stylist: Margaret Monroe Dickey

  4. While salmon cooks, combine maple syrup and pomegranate molasses in a small saucepan and heat over medium heat. Cook, whisking frequently, until just slightly thickened and syrupy, 4 to 5 minutes. Remove from heat and whisk in mustard and remaining 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt. Whisk in butter, a few cubes at a time, until melted and emulsified. Once salmon is out of the oven, brush salmon with 2 tablespoons pomegranate sauce, and return sheet pan to oven. Turn oven to broil, and cook until salmon is glazed and an instant-read thermometer inserted in thickest portion of a fillet registers 120°F to 125°F for medium, about 2 minutes. (Alternatively, cook salmon to desired degree of doneness.)

    Tray of pomegranateglazed salmon fillets with kale

    Serious Eats / Morgan Hunt Ward, Prop Stylist: Julia Bayless, Food Stylist: Margaret Monroe Dickey

  5. Remove from oven; drizzle salmon and kale mixture with 3 tablespoons pomegranate sauce, spoon mint mixture over salmon, and sprinkle with remaining 1 tablespoon pomegranate seeds. Sprinkle flaky salt over salmon and kale, if desired. Serve immediately with remaining pomegranate sauce on the side.

    A tray of pomegranateglazed salmon with kale a hand places a utensil near one of the salmon pieces

    Serious Eats / Morgan Hunt Ward, Prop Stylist: Julia Bayless, Food Stylist: Margaret Monroe Dickey

Special Equipment

Rimmed baking sheet, small saucepan

Make-Ahead and Storage

Leftovers can be refrigerated in an airtight container for up to 4 days.

Nutrition Facts (per serving)
785 Calories
52g Fat
40g Carbs
42g Protein
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Nutrition Facts
Servings: 4
Amount per serving
Calories 785
% Daily Value*
Total Fat 52g 66%
Saturated Fat 14g 69%
Cholesterol 138mg 46%
Sodium 808mg 35%
Total Carbohydrate 40g 15%
Dietary Fiber 5g 17%
Total Sugars 29g
Protein 42g
Vitamin C 58mg 292%
Calcium 171mg 13%
Iron 3mg 16%
Potassium 1252mg 27%
*The % Daily Value (DV) tells you how much a nutrient in a food serving contributes to a daily diet. 2,000 calories a day is used for general nutrition advice.
(Nutrition information is calculated using an ingredient database and should be considered an estimate.)

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