This skillet pesto salmon is a one-pan weeknight dinner ready in 30 minutes and full of bold flavor! Fresh tomatoes cook down into a jammy sauce, finished with a swoop of vibrant pesto.
Here’s an easy dinner recipe that I am obsessed with because it’s so full of flavor and feels so fancy, so it works for weeknights and date nights!. The idea came from Alex, who spotted a TikTok trend of steaming whole tomatoes in a skillet with onions and garlic. The tomatoes collapse into a jammy sauce at the bottom of the pan and it really is as good as it looks.
It takes only 30 minutes, one pan, and it tastes like you put in way more effort! For the pesto, I love using my pistachio pesto, a recipe I developed after my parents came back from a trip to Sicily raving about the stuff. But honestly, any homemade pesto will work!
Why You’ll Love This Recipe
Ready in 30 minutes. This recipe fits into any busy weeknight rotation if you make the pesto in advance.
Extremely delicious. Like, extremely. The fresh tomatoes break down into a jammy, savory sauce that keeps the salmon moist and interesting versus dried out in the pan.
Mediterranean diet-friendly. Olive oil, wild-caught salmon, fresh tomatoes, herbs: this is everything Mediterranean diet.
What You’ll Need
Here’s a quick look at the key players in this recipe:
Salmon fillets: I like wild-caught salmon when I can find it: the flavor is better and it’s a more sustainable choice. You can use 1 to 1½ pounds depending on what you can find (I like using more, usually).
Ripe tomatoes: You want medium ripe tomatoes: heirloom or vine tomatoes work well. The riper they are, the better the flavor.
Homemade pesto: I love pistachio pesto here for its rich flavor: I highly recommend it! But a classic basil pesto is equally delicious. Either way, I love using homemade pesto, though you can use jarred in a pinch. (For more ways to use up a jar, see my 20 Best Recipes with Pesto.)
Smoked paprika and onion powder: These simple spices season the salmon perfectly.
Olive oil, white onion, and garlic: These form the foundation of the sauce.
Tips for the Best Skillet Pesto Salmon
Use an oven-safe skillet: cast iron is ideal. This recipe moves from stovetop to broiler, so you need a pan that can handle the heat. My cast iron skillet is my first choice here; it retains heat well and gives the tomatoes a nice sear. If you don’t own one, a stainless steel skillet works too.
Let the sauce cook down before adding the fish. This uses a technique that’s been trending on Tik Tok where you add tomatoes to a skillet with onion, steam the tomatoes, and then remove the skins before mashing everything into a sauce. See above for what it looks like before you smash the tomatoes!
Watch your broil time carefully. Broilers vary quite a bit and salmon can get overcooked fast. Start checking at the 5-minute mark for thin fillets; thicker pieces may need 8 to 10 minutes. I pull mine when the internal temperature reads 125°F, which is medium.
Make the pesto ahead. The smashed tomato sauce can be made up to 2 days in advance and stored in the refrigerator. When ready to cook, just reheat it in the skillet and add the seasoned salmon. This turns an already-fast recipe into a nearly instant one.
Pesto Choices
I love this skillet pesto salmon with pistachio pesto – it was inspired by my parents visit to Sicily where they had a pistachio pesto pasta! To make it, here’s what to do:
½ cup roasted salted pistachios (this is important for flavor)
1 small garlic clove
1 large handful fresh basil leaves
¼ cup grated parmesan cheese
¼ cup olive oil
In a food processor, pulse the pistachios and garlic until crumbly. Add the basil and pulse a few times to incorporate. Add the parmesan, turn on the food processor, and slowly drizzle in the olive oil through the feed tube, adding up to 1 tablespoon more and scraping the sides as necessary until the desired texture is reached.
With crusty artisan bread: For scraping up every last drop of sauce!
Variations & Substitutions
Swap the fish. Tilapia, halibut and cod would also work here; just adjust the broil time based on thickness.
Add greens to the sauce. Before adding the salmon, stir a few large handfuls of baby spinach or arugula into the tomato sauce. It wilts down and adds color and nutrition.
Make it dairy-free. Most store-bought pestos contain Parmesan: look for a vegan pesto option if necessary.
Turn up the heat. Add a pinch of red pepper flakes or a tablespoon or two of jarred Calabrian chilis.
Storage & Reheating
Leftovers store in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to 2 days. To reheat, warm gently in a skillet over medium-low heat. Store pesto separately in a refrigerated container up to 1 week.
Dietary Notes
This skillet salmon recipe is gluten-free, dairy-free (with a dairy-free pesto), and fits into a Mediterranean diet or pescatarian eating plan.
This skillet pesto salmon is a one-pan weeknight dinner ready in 30 minutes and full of bold flavor! Fresh tomatoes cook down into a jammy sauce, finished with a swoop of vibrant pesto.
Heat a large oven-safe skillet over medium heat. Add the olive oil and the tomatoes, placing them cut side down. Add the diced onion to the center of the pan and cover tightly. Cook until the tomato skins soften, about 6 to 8 minutes, then use tongs to peel away and discard the skins. Add the minced garlic to the pan over the onions and stir once, then cover and cook for 1 minute more, until the garlic is fragrant and golden. Uncover and mash the tomatoes with a potato masher until saucy, then stir in ¼ tsp kosher salt. Cook the sauce for 3 minutes.
Meanwhile, preheat a broiler to High. Pat the salmon fillets dry and season the top with ½ to ¾ teaspoon kosher salt (depending on 1 to 1 ½ lbs), smoked paprika, and onion powder. When ready, nestle the fillets into the tomato sauce in the skillet, then transfer the pan to the oven. Broil uncovered for 5 to 10 minutes (5 for very thin salmon and 10 or more for thicker), depending on thickness, until the salmon reaches an internal temperature of 125°F.
Remove the skillet from the oven and spoon the tomato sauce over the salmon. Top each fillet with a dollop of pesto and serve immediately.
Notes
Use an oven-safe skillet. Cast iron is ideal here since the recipe moves straight from stovetop to broiler. If you don’t have one, transfer the sauce and salmon to a baking dish before broiling.
This skinny margarita recipe is only 100 calories and tastes just as good as the classic! It’s ready in 5 minutes with fresh lime, orange juice, and a touch of sweetener.
Want a margarita recipe with less calories? There’s a solution for that: the Skinny Margarita! Now that I’ve been drinking a lot more mocktails, I realized that this is my perfect drink: like a mashup of my virgin margarita and beloved classic margarita.
From the first sip of my first “Skinny”, I realized this drink is extraordinarily tasty and does not taste like you’re giving anything up. Using lots of lime, orange juice, and a little less tequila, it’s possible to make a margarita that tastes as good as the real thing (I think!). It’s now a part of my go-to margarita recipes.
What Is A Skinny Margarita?
A skinny margarita is a margarita designed to have less calories than the standard recipe. A classic margarita is a mix of tequila, lime juice, and Cointreau (orange liqueur). Here’s the key to removing calories from a cocktail: cut back on the alcohol! Here are the ingredients you’ll use for a Skinny Margarita recipe
Tequila blanco: Use a good one. The quality of your tequila matters more in a simple cocktail like this because there’s nowhere to hide. Check out our guide to the best tequila for margaritas if you’re not sure where to start.
Fresh lime juice: Always use fresh lime juice: especially in a margarita!
Fresh squeezed orange juice: This replaces the Cointreau and provides sweetness and citrusy notes.
Agave syrup or maple syrup: Just a touch rounds out the flavors.
How to Make a Skinny Margarita
To mix up your own Skinny Margarita, there’s not much to it! Just mix the ingredients together, and serve it on the rocks (with ice). You don’t even need to use a cocktail shaker with this one, which makes it even easier. Here’s what to do:
Rim the glass with salt. Salt enhances the sweet and sour flavors in the drink, and gives you that classic margarita flavor.
Stir together in a mixing glass. Take that tequila, lime juice, and orange juice, and stir it together in a cocktail mixing glass or large glass of any kind.
Strain into a glass and add ice. Strain the drink into a glass and add ice. You can use the classic margarita glass, but I like using a lowball glass like the one you see in the photos.
How Many Calories in a Skinny Margarita?
This recipe comes in at about 100 calories per serving, compared to around 170 calories in a classic margarita. That makes it a 40% reduction in calories, mostly from less liquor. If you’re keeping track of your drinks, this is one of the most satisfying swaps I’ve found. For more low-calorie options, I have a guide to my top 10 low calorie alcoholic drinks.
Use a cocktail mixing glass to mix it!
Top It With Margarita Salt
This Skinny Margarita is perfect with any kosher salt or flaky sea salt. But if you want to make it look even more festive, try a batch of our Margarita Salt. The green and orange colors of lime and orange zest look beautiful against the glass. Alex and I love doing this for entertaining.
Margarita salt is ultra festive! (shown on our Frozen Margarita)
Adding Clear Ice
Want to know the secret to professional looking cocktails made at home? Clear ice. What is it? I thought Alex was crazy when he told me he wanted to make a recipe for it. Clear ice is artisanal ice used in cocktails because of its crystal clear look and beautiful organic shapes. We try to have a batch ready before we have a cocktail hour because this ice truly steals the show.
You can make clear ice at home and it’s so easy! All you need is a small cooler and 24 hours, and your cocktails will look like you ordered it in a fancy bar. Here’s how to make clear ice.
When to Serve This Drink
The Skinny Margarita is perfect any time you’d make a regular margarita. Most people can’t tell the difference, and some people like it because it’s brighter and less sweet than the standard cocktail. I like it for:
Weeknight happy hour when I don’t want a heavy drink
Dinner parties, especially with Mexican-inspired food like my shrimp tacos or fish tacos
Batch-making ahead in a margarita pitcher (just scale everything up and refrigerate the mix; add ice when serving)
Girls’ night or any occasion where people want a lighter drink
This skinny margarita recipe is only 100 calories and tastes just as good as the classic! It’s ready in 5 minutes with fresh lime, orange juice, and a touch of sweetener.
Cut a notch in a lime wedge, then run the lime around the rim of a glass. Dip the edge of the rim into a plate of flaky sea salt (or for a festive look, use our Margarita Salt).
Place the tequila, lime juice, orange juice, and maple syrup in a mixing glass and fill with ice. Stir until cold.
Strain the margarita into the glass with the salted rim. Serve immediately.
Here’s how to make fresh limeade with just limes and sugar for a bright, refreshing drink that’s better than any bottled version! My homemade limeade recipe uses less sugar than store-bought and has the ideal sweet-tart balance.
Want a way to beat the heat? Try my homemade limeade recipe. This refreshing lime drink has a tangy pop and is a perfect summer drink for parties, or for making a big pitcher to drink off of all week.
Homemade limeade from real limes is infinitely tastier than store-bought. You use less sugar to get even more real, sweet-tart flavor. The finish to the sip almost feels like you’re drinking a margarita, but it’s just limes, sugar, and water. A friend of mine brought some over recently, and it made my night!
5 Star Reader Review
“So easy to make and such a great balance of citrus and sweet. I had a bunch of limes leftover from a party and still have enough to make another pitcher.” -Amy
Ingredients You Need
Limeade is a drink that’s made with limes, sugar, and water. It’s like lemonade, but made with limes! It’s popular in the United States, tropical countries like Guyana and Trinidad, and in Southeast Asian countries like Thailand. What you’ll find in many of those places is likely less sweet than the American version, though.
All you need are 2 ingredients for limeade, plus water:
Limes: To make a full pitcher of 8 servings, you need about 10 limes. There are 2 tablespoons of lime juice in the average lime, and you’ll need 20 tablespoons for the recipe. If you want to make limeade by the glass, I’ll have some tips in a bit.
Sugar: The best sugar to use here is plain old granulated sugar. This type of sugar makes for the best green limeade color. You can use other sugars like cane sugar or coconut sugar, but the color will be darker. If you prefer alternative sweeteners, try this limeade with honey or maple syrup.
How To Make Limeade (The Fast Way)
Many limeade recipes call for boiling a simple syrup on the stove. This is time-consuming and heats up the sugar. I decided to make my recipe even simpler. Here’s all you have to do for this limeade:
Juice the limes. This is the most time-consuming part of the process…by far! If I have one essential tip for you here, it’s to get a good juicer. Then you don’t have to do the rolling on the table trick, or break your fingers trying to squeeze as hard as you can.
Mix the sugar with 1 cup of warm water. All you have to do is mix sugar into warm water, and it dissolves. There’s no need to heat it on the stove.
Add the cold water and lime juice, and some ice. Cool it back down by adding the water, lime juice, and some ice. Limeade is served!
Limeade By The Glass
This recipe makes 8 to 9 cups of limeade, which is actually quite a bit. If you want to make this lime drink by the glass, here’s what to do:
Squeeze 2.5 tablespoons lime juice into a glass. That’s 1 large lime or 2 small ones.
Add 2 tablespoons of sugar and 2 tablespoons of warm water and stir until it dissolves.
Add 1 cup cold water and a handful of ice. Water it down more if necessary. Enjoy!
Variation: Cherry Limeade
The most famous spin on limeade is cherry limeade. These two fruits go hand-in-hand. The sweet and tart go perfectly together! You can use this limeade recipe and add cherry flavor using the juice from a jar or maraschino cherries for a fresh cherry limeade.
More Variations
The process of making lemonade is the same as this lime drink, but it uses lemons instead. You can also mix limeade or lemonade with booze for a fun cocktail idea! Here are some places to start:
Fresh Lemonade: Freshly squeezed lemons and sugar make an extraordinary sweet-tart flavor.
Bourbon Lemonadeor Limeade: This is a perfect summer drink! Make fresh-squeezed lemonade or limeade and swirl in some whiskey for a spicy finish.
Spiked Lemonade or Limeade: Beat the heat with this fresh and boozy homemade lemonade, starring vodka and limoncello.
Dietary Notes
This limeade recipe is vegetarian, vegan, plant-based, dairy-free, and gluten-free.
Here’s how to make fresh limeade with just limes and sugar for a tangy drink that’s better than any bottled version! My homemade limeade recipe uses less sugar than store-bought and has the ideal sweet-tart balance.
Add the sugar and 1 cup warm water to a large pitcher and stir until it is dissolved.
Add 6 cups cold water and lime juice.
Add ice and serve.
Notes
*To make it by the glass: Squeeze 2.5 tablespoons lime juice into a glass (1 large lime or 2 small). Add 2 tablespoons sugar and 2 tablespoons warm water and stir until it dissolves. Add 1 cup cold water and a handful of ice.
More Lime Recipes To Try
There are so many great things to do with extra limes! This zesty citrus adds a zing to anything it touches. Here are some of my favorite lime recipes:
This creamy Bushwacker drink recipe is a frozen cocktail that tastes like a chocolate milkshake meets piña colada! Here are my expert tips for the perfect consistency every time.
If you love cocktails with sweet, chocolaty flavor, the Bushwacker is for you! This creamy drink is like the lovechild of a chocolate milkshake and a classic piña colada, with rich coffee and coconut notes that make it absolutely irresistible.
As a drink expert who’s tested countless cocktail recipes over the years, the Bushwacker is one of my favorite frozen drinks! It’s perfect for sipping poolside as a summer cocktail, or as a dessert drink any time you’re dreaming of sun.
5 Star Reader Review
“This is so delicious! I wanted something different than a variation of rum punch or with soda So glad to have tried this! Other recipes online used many other ingredients but this is simple and tastes even better.” -Isabella
What Is a Bushwacker?
The Bushwacker is a frozen cocktail made with rum, Kahlua, creme de cacao, cream of coconut, and milk, known for its creamy texture, sweet flavor, and boozy kick. Invented in the 1970’s in St. Thomas, US Virgin Islands, it has since become popular in Florida and the American South.
It belongs to a family of tropical frozen drinks alongside the Painkiller and Chi Chi, and it’s very popular in the Southern coastal states, especially Florida.
Bushwacker Ingredients
You’ll need a few specialty liqueurs but once you have them, you’ll be making Bushwackers on repeat! This frozen boozy milkshake relies on these ingredients blended to perfection with 3 cups of ice:
Rum (2 oz): I typically use aged rum for its subtle vanilla and caramel undertones, but white or dark rum work well too.
Kahlua (2 oz): The smooth sweetness of Mexican coffee liqueur Kahluais perfect for this recipe. You can use leftovers in my classic Mudslide recipe.
Creme de cacao(2 oz): The popular chocolate liqueur creme de cacao is available in both white and dark varieties. The original Bushwacker had dark creme de cacao, but white is easier to find and what gives the drink its signature flavor.
Cream of coconut(2 oz): This is crucial—make sure you buy cream of coconut (the sweetened syrup for drinks), not coconut cream. It’s easy to find in squeeze bottles at liquor stores or online.
Milk: (2 oz): Any milk works here. I use 2%, but you can easily substitute oat milk or almond milk for a dairy-free version.
Tip: If you accidentally buy coconut cream, you can still save your Bushwhacker! Use 1 oz coconut cream and 1 oz simple syrup in place of the 2 oz cream of coconut.
The Story Behind The Drink
The Bushwacker has a charming origin story. It was created in 1975 at the Ship’s Store Pub in St Thomas, U.S. Virgin Islands a tropical spin on the White Russian by bartender Angie Conigliaro and manager Tom Brokamp. Apparently they named it after a guest’s dog, an Afghan hound named Bushwack!
Tips for The Perfect Bushwacker
Once you’ve got your specialty liquors, mixing up the Bushwacker drink is a breeze! Here are a few tips:
Pour into a glass and garnish with a straw. Garnish with a maraschino cherry for a classic presentation.
Stir it with a straw if it separates. The drink tends to separate, which is normal: just stir it up with your straw while drinking!
It’s easily made dairy-free: There’s no dairy in any of the liqueurs in a Bushwacker drink, so it’s easy to convert it into a dairy free or vegan cocktail using any type of non-dairy milk, like oat milk or coconut milk.
Make-Ahead and Storage
The Bushwacker drink is definitely best fresh, but here are some tricks I’ve learned for planning ahead:
Store a blended Bushwacker in the freezer for up to 30 minutes before drinking: just give it a good stir before you dig in.
To make ahead, you can pre-measure all the liquid ingredients and store them in the refrigerator for up to 24 hours. Add ice and blend when ready to serve.
For parties, you can make double or triple batches; whatever fits in your blender!
Any leftover Bushwacker can be frozen in ice cube trays to use in future drinks.
Frequently Asked Questions
What does a Bushwacker taste like?
The dominant flavors are chocolate and coconut, with hints of coffee and rum. The creaminess adds a luxurious mouthfeel, and the overall taste is sweet and refreshing. It’s not a strong drink, but there’s enough alcohol that it should be enjoyed responsibly.
Is a Bushwacker similar to a Piña Colada?
While both are creamy and tropical, a Piña Colada features rum, pineapple juice, and cream of coconut. The Bushwacker adds coffee liqueur, dark crème de cacao, and skips the pineapple juice, resulting in a more chocolatey and coffee-forward flavor.
What kind of rum is best for a Bushwacker?
Dark rum is the traditional choice, offering a deeper flavor compared to lighter rums. You can also aged rum (anejo) with great results. White rum works but has a more straightforward flavor.
What is creme de cacao and what other drinks use it?
Creme de cacao is a chocolate liqueur. It’s possibly one of the first alcoholic beverages, made in the 1600’s by monks after cocoa beans were brought back to Europe from America (source).
This creamy Bushwacker drink recipe combines rum, Kahlua, and creme de cacao for a frozen cocktail that tastes like a chocolate milkshake meets piña colada! Here are my expert tips for the perfect consistency every time.
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