Salmon Fritters

These Salmon Fritters with Zucchini and Potato are lightly fried and take less than 30 minutes to make.  Cooked until golden brown, making them deliciously crispy on the outside, they're perfect for the whole family and easy to make on busy weeknights.

Ingredients

• Tinned Red Salmon: I use John West red salmon, however you could also use canned pink salmon, or leftover cooked salmon. If you don't like tinned salmon fishcakes, you can easily make them using Air Fryer Salmon!
• Potato, Carrot, Zucchini and Red Onion: These are my staples for making any type of salmon fritters recipe as they not only make the patties go further, the vegetables add taste and texture. Green onions can be used instead of red onions.
• Fresh Dill, Salt and Black Pepper: Salmon needs seasoning otherwise it can be a bit blank. Substitute dill for any fresh herbs
• Egg: you'll need one large egg to bind the ingredients together. The moisture in salmon alone will not hold the patties together once cooked
• Lemon: you'll need lemon juice and lemon rind.
• Breadcrumbs: wholemeal breadcrumbs, or panko breadcrumbs will help to create a crispy texture
• Oil: Any type of cooking oil will work including vegetable oil, coconut oil, avocado oil, and extra virgin olive oil.

Canned fish recipes are convenient because you can keep them in your pantry for those days where you need something quick and easy without going to the grocery store. One of my favorites is this Tuna Mornay Pasta Bake (Made with Canned Tuna)

How To Make

1. Prepare Salmon: Open the can of red salmon, drain the liquid, and transfer the salmon to a bowl. Carefully flake the salmon, removing any bones and skin.

2. Add Grated Veggies and Seasonings: Combine grated potato, carrot, zucchini, red onion, dill, lemon juice, and lemon zest. Mix and season with salt and pepper.

3. Add Egg and Breadcrumbs: Incorporate the egg and breadcrumbs into the mixture, ensuring thorough combining.

4. Shape into Patties: Form the salmon mixture into 6 patties, approximately 2-3 inches in diameter.

5. Cook Fritters: Cook the patties in hot oil for 3-4 minutes on each side until golden brown and cooked through. Transfer to a paper towel-lined plate to absorb excess oil.
6. Serve: Enjoy warm salmon and zucchini fritters with lemon wedges, dill sauce, hot sauce, or homemade tartar sauce.

Quick Salmon recipes are one of my favorite things to make when meal prepping because Salmon reheats well without losing its texture or flavor. Aside from Salmon Fishcakes, Salmon Noodles and Salmon Burrito Bowls are two recipes I make as part of my meal prepping routine.

Common Questions

Crafted from pantry staples salmon patties are light, crispy, and customizable with herbs and spices. Perfect for dinner with veggies or rice, or as salmon burgers for lunch. They reheat well, making them great for meal prepping.

I hope you don’t freak out when I tell you for this recipe I used tinned Red Salmon, which I had at the ready in my pantry.  I know many people are a little bit anti canned salmon or tuna, but I honestly find it really convenient, especially for things like pasta bakes, and fish cakes.

Related:  Tuna Mornay Pasta Bake (Made with Canned Tuna)

Since I almost always have canned salmon and tuna in my pantry, it means I don’t need to make a special trip to the grocery store.  How about you?  Do you keep tins of salmon or tuna in the cupboard either for “dinner emergencies” along with a bag of pasta, or maybe just because you like it?

The trick to working with canned salmon, after getting it out of the tin, is removing the bones and excess skin.  This can be a bit of a delicate operation as the bones are quite fine and the skin is slippery.

My top three tricks for getting the salmon ready are:

• Get the salmon out of the tin and hold in one hand. Start removing the bones and skin and putting them back into the tin, and placing the good salmon flesh into a clean bowl.
• It will be difficult to remove every single tiny bone. This is OK.  The whole point of de-boning the salmon is to remove the majority.  The remaining ones will be so tiny and unnoticeable when the fritters are cooked it will not be an issue.
• Once you have the salmon in the bowl (bones and skins removed), clean your hands, and use your fingers to further break up the salmon, ready for the other ingredients.

(note:  if you must wash the salmon before adding the rest of the ingredients, please do so, but I never do and I don’t think it’s necessary as I want to keep as much of the salmon flavour as possible)

Red Salmon versus Pink Salmon

Both red and pink salmon are pacific salmon caught in the wild.  Red salmon is more expensive than pink salmon, and the red salmon has a more robust flavour, whereas the pink salmon has a more delicate flavour.

If you’re used to eating salmon on a regular basis, you might find the pink salmon a little lacking in flavour.  (I use John West Red Salmon). The other thing about salmon of course, is that it is high in omega 3 fats which is great to incorporate into your diet.

Making up a batch of these is also great for taking to work for lunch – along with some brown rice, wholemeal spaghetti, or  quinoa with a garden salad.  Packing a few of these salmon fritters into your work lunch each week would definitely help with keeping the 3pm munchies at bay.

Are you mad keen about Salmon like me?  Then check out my other Salmon recipe creations that are just as quick and tasty as this one:  Super Quick Salmon Curry In A Hurry, Easy Weeknight Salmon Stirfry, Chilli Soy Salmon with Sesame Noodles, and this mexican masterpiece - Salmon Burrito Bowls!

Recipe Tips

1. Grate the veges you are using, as opposed to chopping them. This makes for a better consistency and helps them to hold together better.
2. Instead of white potato, use sweet potato grated instead for a bit of variety.
3. Don’t have the pan/oil on the absolute highest setting – Medium to high is best and I like to use Rice Bran Oil which has a high smoke point but doesn’t burn. Avoid using olive oil as the flavour from the oil will be too overpowering for the fish
4. Don’t skip the seasoning – Salt and pepper definitely go a long way to bringing out the flavours of the salmon.

I thoroughly enjoyed making and eating these salmon fritters.  I had them for lunch and dinner and am seriously looking forward to the next time I make them.