How to Remove Skin from Salmon

But sometimes skinless fillets are the way to go. 

The good news is that removing the skin is supereasy. All you need is a boning knife and a paper towel.

There are many instances where the skin is deemed unnecessary. Poaching salmon, for example, turns the skin flabby and unappealing. If you’re chopping it up to make salmon cakes, ditch the skin. Or maybe you’ve made a flavorful glaze to adorn your fish. Of course you want it adhered to both sides!

Or maybe salmon skin just isn’t your thing. That’s OK too.

To remove the skin, all you need are three things: a plastic cutting board, a boning knife, and a paper towel. A boning knife’s thin, flexible blade is perfect for removing the skin and leaving most of the flesh behind. If you don’t have a boning knife, a sharp chef’s knife will still do the trick. 

Think of the paper towel as your grip. It’ll give you something to easily grasp the skin with so that your nonknife hand doesn’t slide off the slippery skin.

1. Place the fillet skin side down on your cutting board. Using your knife, make a small cut into the flesh on the corner of the fillet just above the skin. Continue making small cuts across the fillet until you can grasp the flap of the skin with your fingers. Note: If necessary, you may need to turn the fillet around on your board so that the skin flap is facing your nondominant hand.

2. Use a paper towel to grasp the skin flap and continue cutting away the flesh, keeping the knife just above the skin, until the knife cuts through the other side.