Hot Honey Salmon Bites with Avocado Salsa (Air Fryer Recipe)
Even though I primarily share plant-based recipes, I do enjoy seafood from time to time — and I’ve been loving creating new dishes that reflect that balance. Lately, I’ve been a little obsessed with Zab’s Hot Honey, and it inspired this sweet-and-spicy recipe for Hot Honey Salmon Bites with Avocado Salsa.
These bite-sized pieces of salmon are coated in a sticky hot honey glaze, then cooked in the air fryer until perfectly crisp on the outside and tender inside. The avocado salsa adds the perfect cool, creamy contrast to the heat — it’s fresh, colorful, and so easy to make.
You can serve these salmon bites over white rice for a filling meal or keep it low-carb and grain-free by serving them over greens. Either way, it’s a simple, flavorful recipe that hits all the right notes: sweet, spicy, crispy, and fresh. I like to serve these with some sriracha mayo to add a little extra creamy heat.
Ingredients
Salmon
- 1 ½ pounds salmon filets, cut into bit-sized chunks (I like to remove the skin but that is optional. Some people love a crispy salmon skin, but I prefer to take that off).
- 2 tablespoons avocado or olive oil
- 3 tablespoons Tamari or gluten free soy sauce
- ½ cup honey
- 3 tablespoons sriracha
- 1 tsp cayenne pepper
- ½ tsp garlic powder
- ½ tsp onion powder
Avocado Salsa
- 2 avocados, diced
- 3 Persian cucumbers, diced
- 1 serrano or jalapeno, finely chopped
- 1/3 cup cilantro, chopped
- 1 tbsp rice vinegar
- 1 tablespoon Zab’s hot honey (or you can do 1 tbsp of regular honey and add some sriracha for heat)
- 1 tablespoon tamari or gluten free soy sauce
Sriracha Mayo
- ½ cup vegan mayonnaise (I love the Follow your Heart avocado Vegenaise)
- 2-3 tablespoons sriracha depending on how spicy you like yours.
Instructions
To prepare the salmon bite, preheat your air fryer to 400 degrees. If you don’t have an air fryer, you can use an oven set at 425 degrees.
In a medium sized bowl, combine the oil, tamari, honey, sriracha, cayenne pepper, garlic powder and onion powder and then add the salmon chunks to the bowl. Toss until the salmon chunks are fully coated.
My air fryer is like a large toaster oven, so I cook mine on a small baking sheet. Depending on what kind of air fryer you are using, place the chunks in your air fryer or in the oven on a baking sheet and cook for 10 minutes (depending on how big you cut your pieces you may need to cook a few minutes longer or shorter).
I turn the heat up the last few minutes to 500 so that the outside of the salmon bites get a little crispy.
If you are using rice for the base, cook some white rice according to the package.
While the rice cooks, prepare the avocado salsa by combining all ingredients in a medium bowl. Mix well so that all ingredients are well incorporated.
I like to serve these spicy salmon bites with rice or some greens, topped with the avocado salsa and a big dallop of sriracha mayo. Enjoy
