Salmon skin also contains collagen proteins that help maintain healthy skin and joints.

“Cooking salmon fillets with the skin on can also better preserve the natural fat and nutrients in the salmon during cooking,” adds clinical nutritionist Huma Chaudhry, RD, LDN. These nutrients include vitamin D for support of immunity4potassium for blood pressure control5and vitamin B12 (folate) for energy exchange6.

All of which means it’s worth leaving the skin on if you can. This will help take salmon — which is already a very healthy food — to a new level of nutrition. “I tell people if [salmon] comes with the skin on, leave it on—no need to peel it off,” says registered dietitian nutritionist Roxana Ehsani, MS, RD, CSSD, LDN.

If you do cut the skin, do so carefully to protect the gold mine of healthy fats underneath. Before cooking salmon, run a sharp knife under the skin, getting as close to it as possible. You can also use your hands to peel off the skin after the salmon is cooked, again to protect the layer of meat underneath.