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15 Salmon Recipes That Make the Most of Your Leftovers
By Lacey Muinos,
1 days ago
Genius ways to reduce food waste and save time.
Salmon is a rich source of protein, omega-3 fatty acids , selenium, vitamin D, and other nutrients. It’s also the second most popular seafood in the United States. What’s not to like? Salmon is nutritious, tasty, and versatile, and if you’re a novice in the kitchen, it’s a beginner-friendly protein. You can air fry, pan fry, bake, and grill salmon , just to name a few cooking methods.
Another advantage of cooking with salmon is you can reheat it and give the leftovers new life by incorporating them in recipes for cooked salmon. It’s best to reheat salmon low and slow to prevent it from drying out, so avoid microwaving last night’s salmon. Instead, pop it in the oven at 300 degrees Fahrenheit for about 10 minutes. Then, use the good-as-new filets in these leftover salmon recipes.
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Salmon itself is a main dish, so if you have leftovers you can reheat, all you really need is a side dish or two. Reheat your salmon in the oven for a few minutes, allowing it to warm up without drying out. That gives you about 10 minutes to make this corn and tomato salad, but it can be prepared so easily that you’ll have time to spare. Serve the salad on the side or atop your salmon for a speedy dinner that contains both protein and fiber.
Need to use up day-old salmon? Look for recipes that call for canned salmon, like these salmon cakes. They might remind you of crab cakes, but salmon is higher in omega 3 fatty acids compared to crab. It’s usually more affordable too. Chile-garlic sauce gives these salmon cakes the perfect amount of heat, and the mayo- and lime-based sauce rivals tartar sauce as the ideal companion for fish.
If you smoke your own salmon, there’s a myriad of ways to use the smoky leftovers. Plop them on a bagel at breakfast, but for lunch and dinner, you can use the leftover smoked salmon as a flatbread topping. On a few naan flatbreads, spread a generous schmear of cream cheese and add your desired toppings, like arugula and red onion. The prep and cook time total just 10 minutes, making this a speedy weeknight dinner.
Canned salmon makes these burgers come together in just 20 minutes, but your leftover salmon works just as well. Form the patties with cooked salmon, egg, panko bread crumbs, mayonnaise, and some spices, and cook them in a greased pan for a few minutes on each side. While those are cooking, whip up a pesto-mayo concoction to spread on your buns. Assemble your burgers and pair with roasted potatoes for a quick, easy, and satisfying meal you’re going to want to repeat every week.
Commonly made with cod and other types of white fish, fish tacos are a satisfying dinner that’s surprisingly easy to prepare. And yes, you can make them with salmon. In this recipe, salmon develops a crispy exterior from sizzling in a hot cast-iron skillet. Heat up your leftover salmon in a pan with some oil to get a little bit of char. Then, whip up a quick grapefruit salsa and assemble your tacos.
If you’re overwhelmed by cooking on busy weeknights, sheet pan dinners are about to become your secret weapon. This one is a simple but balanced and tasty combination of salmon, potatoes, and broccoli. Instead of raw salmon filets, roast the veggies by themselves and add your leftover salmon for the last few minutes. This one will work best with salmon that was baked or roasted the night before.
Recipes for veggie patties often contain a grain, like brown rice or quinoa, which help give the patty some structure while also providing fiber. But oatmeal works just as well—it’s not just a breakfast food. Oatmeal helps these salmon patties retain their shape, along with eggs as a binding agent and some seasonings for flavor. They’re pretty straightforward to make—just blitz everything in a food processor—and use the resulting patties in burgers, sandwiches, salads, and bowls for a quick source of protein.
This soup recipe is easy to modify with already cooked salmon. After the broth and vegetables have cooked for about 25 minutes, add cooked salmon pieces to the pot. Stir in the final ingredients, and once the salmon has warmed up, it’s ready to serve.
Dinner doesn’t need to be complicated—seasoned salmon, potatoes, and a bed of greens are all you need for a rewarding meal. It’s all in the seasoning for this recipe. This salmon is seasoned with harissa chili paste, so it’s got some kick to it. If you meal prep plain salmon ahead of time, you can still spread the harissa mixture over the reheated filets. Pair with roasted potatoes and an arugula salad, and dinner is served.
It’s easy to substitute fresh salmon for leftover salmon in sheet pan recipes. Revive meal prepped salmon with smoky paprika in this dinner recipe. When the smoky-zesty potatoes are just about cooked through, add the leftover salmon to the baking sheet . Allow a few minutes for the salmon to get warm, plate up, and garnish with some orange slices.
Salmon salad calls for cooked salmon anyway, so save yourself some time by putting those leftovers to good use. This salmon salad comes together quickly. You can reheat your salmon in the oven if you’d like. Otherwise, all that’s left to do is assemble the arugula base, mix a quick sweet chili sauce dressing, and add your toppings.
In some recipes, you can use cooked salmon in place of raw salmon. These burgers call for fresh salmon, but fear not. You can use canned or leftover salmon, too. Just toss it in the food processor along with the other ingredients, such as scallions, garlic , and mayonnaise. Form the salmon mixture into patties and grill for a couple of minutes on each side.
There’s something more exciting about cooking with broccolini instead of regular broccoli, and this recipe is the perfect opportunity to do so. It’s a simple salmon and vegetable dinner, but with a twist—the salmon is coated in a sun-dried tomato butter. Even if you have precooked salmon, you can still spread the mixture over the top of the salmon while it reheats in the oven.
This recipe uses a technique commonly employed by the French. To cook en papillote essentially means to create a pouch using parchment paper , fill it with the ingredients of your choosing (typically fish), and bake the whole thing. If you already have salmon ready to go, you can still bake your vegetables this way. Add your vegetable pouches to a baking sheet and bake them for about 12-15 minutes. Then, add your leftover salmon to the baking sheet about halfway through so everything is done around the same time.
It only takes 20 minutes to prepare this salmon dinner, but if you already have cooked salmon in the fridge, it’s even faster. Even though your salmon isn’t raw, you can still brush on some of the glaze to get that soy sauce flavor. Cook up some rice of your choice (or better yet, get frozen rice you can nuke in the microwave) for your grain. For the veggies, add fresh broccoli florets straight into the hot rice—the steam from the rice will warm the broccoli.
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