How to Make Easy Salmon Patties: A Low-Budget, Healthy Seafood Dinner

Janis loves to occasionally post original recipes, influenced by the creative cooking skills inherited from her mother and aunts.

Tasty, Affordable, and Nutritious

Imagine preparing a meal for your family where you strike the perfect balance between taste, affordability, and nutrition. Salmon patties, seasoned just right with herbs and other ingredients, are easy to make and will help you meet your goal. It is also a no-added-salt recipe.

Crispy on the outside and moist on the inside, salmon patties will delight children's taste buds while meeting your need to provide a nutritious and affordable meal:

• Tasty: Canned salmon is usually the product used to make tasty salmon patties, or as they are also called, salmon cakes or croquettes. The preferred choice, Alaskan wild-caught pink salmon, is packed in a can and is often used for salads, sandwiches and casseroles. It is a surprisingly tasty alternative to canned tuna.
• Affordable: A can of this delicious fish can range in retail price from $3 to almost $8, depending on the brand, the store, and the type of salmon. The most popular types are red sockeye, coho, and pink (see table below). At a fraction of the price of a fresh fillet, it's an ideal way to feed a large family or guests without spending a fortune.
• Nutritious: Canned salmon is full of omega-3 fatty acids, high in protein and essential amino acids, low in fat and cholesterol, an excellent source of calcium, magnesium, niacin, and selenium, as well as Vitamins D, B12 and B6.

Healthy Budget Dinner for the Family

Feeding your family tasty, nutritious meals within a budget is not always easy.

Buying fast foods like burgers, tacos, fried chicken, and pizzas might make your life easier—but those expenses can really add up.

Fast foods, eaten on a regular basis, can also increase the amount of salt, cholesterol, and fat your family is ingesting. We are all too familiar with the numerous reports in the media of increased childhood obesity and diabetes due to poor diet and nutrition.

Necessary Utensils

For this recipe, you will need:

• Large heavy skillet
• Medium mixing bowl
• Cookie sheet and paper towels
• Waxed paper
• 2 spatulas

Cook Time

Ingredients

• 1 can wild-caught pink Alaskan salmon
• 1/3 cup unseasoned bread crumbs
• 1/2 teaspoon crushed rosemary leaves
• 1 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce
• 1 teaspoon Spike Salt-free Natural Seasonings
• 1/4 teaspoon black pepper
• 1 large egg
• 1/2 cup vidalia sweet onion, finely chopped
• 1/4 cup green pepper, finely chopped
• 1/4 wedge fresh lemon, squeezed juice and grated zest
• 3 tablespoons water
• Cooking spray
• 1 cup canola oil, or as needed

Directions

1. Drain the can of salmon, place in mixing bowl, and break apart with a fork. Although the bones are full of nutrients, I like to remove them with a fork and discard. Continue to flake and break up the salmon with the fork.
2. Sprinkle bread crumbs evenly over salmon. Add crushed rosemary, Spike Natural Seasonings, and black pepper, shaking evenly over salmon and bread crumbs. Crack the egg in the center of mixture. Add Worcestershire sauce, sweet onions, green peppers, lemon juice, lemon zest and water.
3. Starting from the center, blending the egg first, move outward, stirring lightly with fork, but thoroughly blending all ingredients well. Do not smash the salmon, keeping the salmon as flakey as possible. Let the mixture set for 5 minutes.
4. Prepare the skillet by coating first with cooking spray. Cover the skillet with an 1/8 inch of canola oil (about 1 cup). On the stovetop, use low heat to warm the oil until salmon patties are ready to fry. Spread paper towels onto a cookie sheet to drain cooked salmon patties.
5. Using a fork, pick up about a 1/2 cup of salmon mixture to form each patty in one hand. Use the fork to shape patties gently, but firmly. Place formed patties onto waxed paper.
6. Turn flame on high to heat oil until slight smoke forms to get oil hot. Place salmon patties in skillet, cooking 4 to 5 minutes on each side.
7. Use two spatulas to turn the patties gingerly as they will be soft and prone to breakage. Turn flame to medium for the other side of the patties to brown. Carefully remove from hot skillet and place cooked patties onto the cookie sheet covered with paper towels.
8. Serve with baked French fries and tossed green salad with tomatoes. Add your favorite sauce (we enjoy serving with tartar sauce).

Prepare the Salmon Mixture

Canned salmon chunks are separated and lightly smashed with a fork.

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Blend the Ingredients

Salmon mixture is blended well with all ingredients.

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Form the Patties

Scooping up mixture to form salmon patty is easy.

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Fry the Patties

Patties browning in hot skillet.

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Nutritious Serving Suggestion

Most Popular Wild-Caught Canned Salmon Types

© 2013 Janis Leslie Evans