Salmon Cakes
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Made from fresh salmon and dill, these salmon cakes are as elegant as crab cakes but so much more affordable to make.
Photo by Johnny Miller (Clarkson Potter, 2021)
When I told my friend and Once Upon a Chef right hand, Betsy Goldstein, about these salmon cakes, she said, “Hmmm…I think I’ll wait until some of the reviews roll in to try those.” I laughed because I knew she was thinking of the version made from canned salmon that many of us grew up on. I promise: these are a whole different animal. Made from fresh raw salmon and seasoned with Old Bay, they’re as elegant as crab cakes yet so much more affordable to make. What’s more, they can be made entirely ahead of time and reheated.
I love these salmon cakes for brunch over a green salad with vinaigrette, but they also make a delicious dinner alongside rice pilaf and roasted asparagus. Either way, they are wonderful with my easy homemade tartar sauce.
Table of Contents
What You’ll Need To Make Salmon Cakes
Step-by-Step Instructions
To begin, finely dice the salmon into 1/4-inch pieces (or smaller). It’s important that the pieces are not too large or the cakes won’t bind together easily.
Set the salmon aside and, in a large bowl, combine the mayonnaise, lemon juice, mustard, Old Bay, salt, and pepper.
Whisk to combine.
Add the diced salmon, ¼ cup of the panko, the scallions, the celery, and the dill.
Gently mix until uniformly combined.
Place the remaining 1 cup of panko in a shallow dish or pie plate.
Using a 1/3-cup measure, scoop the salmon mixture and form into a compact cake about 1 inch high. Place the salmon cake into the reserved panko and gently coat it all over in crumbs.
Repeat with the remaining mixture to form about 9 cakes. (At this point, you can refrigerate the cakes for up to a few hours before cooking, if you’d like.)
Heat the oil in a medium nonstick skillet over medium-high heat until shimmering. Place the salmon cakes in the skillet and cook without moving until golden brown, about 2 minutes.
Carefully flip the cakes and cook until second side is golden brown, about 2 minutes more. Reduce the heat to medium if the cakes are browning too quickly.
Transfer cakes to a paper towel–lined plate to drain. Repeat with the remaining cakes (no need to change the oil).
Serve warm with tartar sauce and enjoy!
Video Tutorial
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Salmon Cakes
Made from fresh salmon and dill, these salmon cakes are as elegant as crab cakes but so much more affordable to make.
Ingredients
For the Salmon Cakes
- ¼ cup mayonnaise
- 1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice, from 1 lemon
- 1 teaspoon Dijon mustard
- 1 teaspoon Old Bay seasoning
- ¾ teaspoon salt
- ¼ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
- 1¼ lb skinless salmon fillet, finely diced into ¼-inch pieces (see note)
- 1¼ cups panko bread crumbs, divided
- ¼ cup thinly sliced scallions, from 3 to 4 scallions, light and dark green parts
- ⅓ cup finely diced celery, from 2 stalks
- 2 tablespoons finely chopped fresh dill
- ½ cup vegetable oil
- Salad greens with vinaigrette, tartar sauce and/or lemon wedges, for serving (see note)
Instructions
- In a large bowl, whisk together the mayonnaise, lemon juice, mustard, Old Bay, salt, and pepper. Add the diced salmon, ¼ cup of the panko, the scallions, the celery, and the dill. Gently mix until uniformly combined.
- Place the remaining 1 cup of panko in a shallow dish or pie plate. Using a ⅓-cup measure, scoop the salmon mixture and form into a compact cake about 1 inch high. Place the salmon cake into the panko and gently coat it all over in crumbs. Repeat with the remaining mixture to form about 9 cakes. (At this point, you can refrigerate the salmon cakes for a few hours until ready to cook, if you'd like.)
- Heat the oil in a medium nonstick skillet over medium-high heat until shimmering. Place half of the salmon cakes in the skillet and cook without moving until golden brown, about 2 minutes. Carefully flip the cakes and cook until second side is golden brown, about 2 minutes more. Reduce the heat to medium if the cakes are browning too quickly. Transfer cakes to paper towel–lined plate to drain. Repeat with the remaining cakes (no need to change the oil). Serve warm.
- Note: If buying a skin-on salmon fillet, purchase 1⅓ pounds of fish to yield 1¼ pounds of fish after skinning.
- Make-Ahead: The salmon cakes can be fully cooked and refrigerated up to several hours ahead of time. To reheat: preheat the oven to 350°F and line a baking sheet with aluminum foil. Place the salmon cakes in the oven and cook until crisp on the exterior and warm throughout, 10 to 15 minutes. The cakes may also be frozen for up to 3 months; defrost in the refrigerator before reheating.
- Freezer-Friendly Instructions: The cooked salmon cakes can be frozen for up to 3 months. Once cool, lay them out on one (or more) foil-lined baking sheet(s) and cover them loosely with plastic wrap. Freeze the patties in a single layer for about an hour, then remove them from the freezer. Wrap the cakes individually in plastic wrap and then put them together in a freezer bag or airtight container. Before serving, defrost in the refrigerator before reheating.
Nutrition Information
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- Serving size: 1 salmon cake
- Calories: 280
- Fat: 22 g
- Saturated fat: 3 g
- Carbohydrates: 6 g
- Sugar: 0 g
- Fiber: 0 g
- Protein: 14 g
- Sodium: 222 mg
- Cholesterol: 37 mg
This website is written and produced for informational purposes only. I am not a certified nutritionist and the nutritional data on this site has not been evaluated or approved by a nutritionist or the Food and Drug Administration. Nutritional information is offered as a courtesy and should not be construed as a guarantee. The data is calculated through an online nutritional calculator, Edamam.com. Although I do my best to provide accurate nutritional information, these figures should be considered estimates only. Varying factors such as product types or brands purchased, natural fluctuations in fresh produce, and the way ingredients are processed change the effective nutritional information in any given recipe. Furthermore, different online calculators provide different results depending on their own nutrition fact sources and algorithms. To obtain the most accurate nutritional information in a given recipe, you should calculate the nutritional information with the actual ingredients used in your recipe, using your preferred nutrition calculator.
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Comments
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Hi Jen
I am unable to get Old Bay seasoning here in Australia. I note that a number of your recipes use it. Can you suggest an alternative?
Thanks in anticipation.
Hi Jean, You can make a big batch of your own to use whenever you need it. Here’s a good recipe to use. 🙂
Hi Jenn, I’m from New Zealand and like Jean can’t get Old Bay seasoning down here either so will give this recipe a go (sounds intriguing) …cheers for your help 🙂
Delicious! I baked them at 400 for 25 min, flipping half way thru and then browned both sides under the broiler for a few min. Perfect!
Wow! This recipe was loved by my entire family. My husband said he likes them even better than crab cakes and he is generally not a big fan of salmon. The salad dressing was super delicious too. Thanks for another crowd pleasing recipe!
Jenn, these look absolutely delicious and I’m going to make tonight. I was wondering if you think it could possibly work to broil or bake these instead of frying.
Thanks for your wonderful website – you inspire me!
Hi Sharon, While I like these best pan-fried, you can get away with cooking them in the oven. I’d use a combination of baking and broiling; bake them in a 350-degree oven on a lightly greased baking sheet for about twenty minutes, or until hot (and it’s not necessary to flip them), then slide them under the broiler for about a minute to get them golden brown on top. So glad you like the website!
These were the talk of my Supper Club. I received RAVE reviews! Just follow the directions precisely and you will not be disappointed. I tripled the recipe and did all the chopping the day before to save time. All I had to do was take the chopped salmon, celery, and onions out the next day and put them all together. I fried the cakes just before Supper Club and garnished the platter with sprigs of dill. They were absolute perfection and looked so appetizing. I also made the homemade tartar sauce which was equally amazing. Thank you, Jenn, for another amazing recipe!
These are delicious! My family raved about them. They are as good as crab cakes, if not better and I am fussy about my crab cakes. Thank you for a delicious recipe.
This was my first time making or eating salmon cakes and they came out great! I left out the dill and celery – dill because I didn’t have any and celery because I personally don’t like it. I also gave half of them to a friend who is a fan of salmon cakes and also quite the food critic, and he loved them. It’s a very simple recipe that doesn’t require much except dicing salmon and making the mixture into discs. Dicing the salmon was a bit tricky cause of the texture and it was quite a sticky process overall, but it was worth it in the end! Oh and I added some extra seasoning and some finely chopped habenero pepper since I like spicy food. Fantastic recipe and definitely one for the books!
Best salmon cake recipe I have ever used. Made it today and it was great. I used canned salmon instead of fresh salmon.
How much canned Salmon did you use to replace the Salmon Fillet please?
I try to serve salmon or fish once a week; these were so tasty and even better left over for lunch the next day. A bit hard to flip successfully. The final six turned out better than the first two, but then again, I made them and put them directly into the pan without refrigerating. I made the tartar sauce with dill pickle relish, since that is what I had on hand. Delicious! I will definitely make these again.
We eat salmon once a week and this was a really nice way to change things up. Although very good, the presentation was not as nice as your photos. They didn’t bind as well and from your notes I gather I didn’t chop the salmon as finely as I should have. I’m definitely making these again but wondering if I could use a food processor to chop the salmon to a finer consistency?
Yes, definitely – I’ve tried it and it works well. Just be careful not to process it too much.
I made these salmon cakes using cooked salmon leftover from previous night’s dinner. I weighed the salmon and had exactly 3/4 of a pound, so I cut the recipe in half. Unfortunately, as I was making the patties they just were not holding together. I also had trouble getting the panko crumbs to adhere to the salmon cakes. I considered adding an egg or more mayo but because recipes from Once Upon a Chef have NEVER failed me I decided to stick with the recipe but refrigerate for 30 minutes before frying (as I typically do for crab cakes). Oh well, they fell apart while cooking. I have to assume it was because I used cooked, rather than raw salmon as per the recipe. Since the salmon cakes fell apart during frying. Even eating our salmon cakes in pieces they were still delicious, so may may give it another try with raw salmon.