Can You Eat the Skin on Salmon?

The FDA recommends 2-3 servings of oily fish, such as salmon, per week. If you’re making this happen you may have wondered whether you should serve your salmon with or without the skin. Let’s take a look at why you might keep the skin on and why you might avoid it:

🐟 Salmon skin is safe to eat, as long as you consider where the fish was sourced.

🐟 The skin is highly concentrated in omega-3 fatty acids since it kept the fish warm in cold waters.

🐟 However, the skin also absorbs toxins from the water the fish lived in.

🐟 Wild-caught salmon is safer than farm-raised.

🐟 Wild Alaskan salmon is typically the safest, with coastal wild salmon being the next best choice, but toxins are usually somewhat higher. It’s best to avoid salmon skin from farm-raised fish.

🐟 Cooking salmon with the skin on can help keep it from drying out.

🐟 You can also separate the skin and cook it in a skillet on its own like bacon.