I tried baked-salmon recipes from Ree Drummond, Sunny Anderson, and Giada De Laurentiis, and the best reminded me of a delicious pizza (2024)

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I started with Drummond's Spanish-inspired baked salmon.

Drummond's recipe called for sourdough-bread croutons, green olives, red onions, bell peppers, paprika, salt, pepper, olive oil, and fresh parsley.

I easily found the ingredients at Whole Foods and already had most of the spices in my kitchen.

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I preheated my oven to 375 degrees Fahrenheit and prepared the vegetables.

I was surprised that this recipe called for the onions and peppers to be wedged instead of chopped. This ended up being the most time-consuming step of the recipe.

Including green olives was also interesting, but I figured they'd add some nice color to the final product.

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I added all of the ingredients to a pan.

I coated the ingredients with the spices and a tablespoon of olive oil. Then I rubbed the salmon with more oil and placed everything on the pan.

Drummond's recipe said to bake the dish for 10 to 12 minutes, but I thought it needed more time and opted for 15.

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Drummond's dish had the most impressive presentation.

The entire meal took about 45 minutes to prep, cook, and plate.

I'd never thought to add croutons to a salmon dish, but the crunchy, buttery texture complimented it perfectly.I might've added too many peppers and onions though because they seemed more flavorful than the salmon itself.

Next time, I'd use cilantro instead of parsley and skip the green olives.

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Next I tried Anderson's baked salmon with a blackberry-ginger glaze.

Anderson's baked-salmon recipe called for blackberries, ginger, lemon juice, sugar, olive oil, and pepper.

I was excited to try a sweet version of the dish. I love blackberries but never considered pairing them with fish.

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I wouldn't use fresh ginger if I made this recipe again.

I washed my fruit and chopped the ginger into coin-sized bits.

Peeling and chopping the ginger felt very tedious. Next time, I'd probably opt for a ginger powder or paste.

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I set my oven to 400 F and started on the blackberry-ginger glaze.

For the glaze, I combined blackberries, ginger, water, and fresh lemon juice in a pan. But I regretted not using a pot, considering the mixture had to boil for about five minutes.

After the berries broke down, I used the back of a spoon to strain it over a pot.

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I added a good amount of sugar to the new pot.

As instructed, I added ¼ cup of sugar into the pot and let it boil. I think I probably could've used less sugar, but I wanted the glaze to be super sweet.

I let this mixture simmer for about 20 minutes and stirred as it thickened.

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I prepped my salmon for baking by layering the glaze on top.

I brushed my salmon with oil, salt, and pepper, and once it cooled, I painted on the glaze.

Anderson's recipe said to cook the salmon for only four minutes, but I was worried it'd be undercooked, so I opted for 10.

The recipe then called for reglazing and broiling the salmon for three minutes. The fruity, gingery smell that came from my oven after this was divine.

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Anderson's salmon was not what I expected at all, but most of that was my fault.

It was hard to pour the leftover sauce onto the plate since I let it sit. Perhaps because of this, I thought the flavor of the salmon didn't match its sweet aroma, and I could barely taste the sugar in the glaze.

Anderson called for one piece of ginger, but I tossed a lot of thin slices into my pan, which may have thrown the flavors off. I also wasn't a fan of how sticky the glazing process was.

Next time I think I'll nix the ginger and try adding honey to the glaze.

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Finally I tried Laurentiis' baked-salmon recipe.

De Laurentiis' recipe called for olive oil, salt, pepper, oregano, thyme, tomatoes, shallots, and lemon juice.

After making mistakes with Anderson's recipe, I was excited to cook everything in a simple boat of aluminum foil.

I kept my oven at 400 F and prepped all of my ingredients.

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De Laurentiis' topping seemed like a salsa.

I started by washing and chopping my tomatoes and shallots. Then I put them in a bowl and added olive oil, pepper, lemon juice, oregano, and thyme.

Based on the salsa-like topping alone, I had a feeling this recipe would be my favorite.

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I cooked the salmon for a shorter time since the foil was open.

I placed my salmon onto a pan, added the topping, and wrapped everything in foil.

The recipe said to bake this for 25 minutes, but since I kept the foil open, I only baked it for 20 minutes.

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I loved how the foil retained all of the juices from the tomatoes and oil.

The smell from the oven was amazing and reminded me of a pizza.

Luckily the foil retained all of the salmon's juiciness, which made it taste similar to bruschetta. I felt like I could top it with a vinaigrette to elevate it even further.

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De Laurentiis' baked-salmon recipe was my favorite by far.

Maybe I'm biased because oregano and tomatoes instantly remind me of delicious pizza, but Di Laurentiis' salmon was my favorite by far.

Next time, I'd love to try making this over a grill — or even take a page from Drummond's book and top it with buttery croutons.

Click to check out the other celebrity-chef recipes we've put head-to-head so far.