Top 3 Most Popular Smoked Salmon Recipes

 Smoked salmon is one of the most popular ways Americans enjoy wild salmon, and there are lots of easy smoked salmon recipes to make smoked salmon part of your weekly meal routines. In this post, we’ll share how to smoke salmon at home, discuss the health of smoked salmon, and share some of our favorite recipes using Wild for Salmon’s Nova Style Sockeye Salmon and Traditional Smoked Sockeye Salmon. 

How to Smoke Salmon

First things first, there are two different types of smoked salmon. What most people recognize as smoked salmon is the thinly sliced lox style that is found in delicatessens and on bagels with schmear, or cream cheese. This style is known as cold-smoked, when the salmon is cured with salt and then smoked in cool temperatures for preservation, not flavor. Wild for Salmon’s take on this smoked salmon product is our Nova Style Sockeye Salmon.

The other type of smoked salmon is hot-smoked, just like your other smoked meats. This is the most popular method in what we know as “salmon country” in bush Alaska and other coastal communities where folks can fish subsistence for salmon. The fish is brined, dried, then smoked. You can try Hank Shaw’s recipe for hot smoked salmon, or read about our very own Steve Kurian’s first foray into smoking wild salmon on the banks of the Naknek river in this "Putting Up Fish" blog post from 2017. Smoking salmon is a fun backyard activity if you have the right tools like a smoker, a drying rack, good wild Alaskan salmon and time. The most important part of good smoked salmon is starting with good salmon; otherwise, you just need some salt, some sweetness and a fire to make salmon at home. 

How Healthy is Smoked Salmon?

Something we answer a lot in the normal days when customers are able to come browse at the store and chat with our front of house staff is questions about the health benefits of our products. Thankfully, the health benefits of wild Alaska salmon are largely the same whether it’s smoked or not. Health experts say that smoked salmon is a good source of protein, B vitamins (energy providing!), vitamin D, magnesium and selenium. Smoked Alaskan salmon, with its high levels of Omega-3 fatty acids is also linked to a lower risk of heart disease, macular degeneration and Alzheimer's. The calories in salmon do not change much whether the product is smoked or not, but it is important to note that the salt brine process of smoking fish increases the salt and sodium content. Smoked salmon can be a great staple in a keto diet because of the high protein content of about 22g of protein per 85g portion. 

Here are three of our favorite, and most popular, smoked salmon recipes. If you are stretched for time, remember that all smoked salmon is ready-to-eat upon thawing, comes de-boned, and is delicious straight out of the package. You can also make a whole meal out of it and order our smoked salmon tortellini, but for breakfast, a winter soup or a heartier pasta, try these recipes below. 

Smoked Salmon Pasta

This is a smokey-flavored, healthy, smoked salmon pasta dish. This recipe is great for hot smoked salmon and would work well with or Traditional Smoked or add an extra kick of flavor with the garlic-pepper smoked salmon. This smoked salmon pasta recipe from Makenzie Gore at Delish feeds a family of four or will be delicious as lunch leftovers the following day if stored properly in the refrigerator. 

Ingredients

• 1 lb. spaghetti
• 1/2 red onion, chopped
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 1/4 c. white wine
• 3/4 c. heavy cream
• Juice of 1/2 lemon
• Kosher salt
• Freshly ground black pepper
• 1/2 lb. Wild for Salmon Traditional Smoked Salmon, cut into bite size pieces
• 1/4 c. capers, drained
• 2 tbsp. freshly chopped dill, plus more for garnish

Directions

• In a large pot of salted boiling water, cook pasta according to package directions until al dente. Drain, reserving ½ cup pasta water, and return to pot.
• In a large skillet over medium heat, heat oil. Add onion and cook until soft, 5 minutes, then add garlic and cook until fragrant, 1 minute more. Add wine and cook until almost completely reduced, 5 minutes. Add heavy cream and lemon juice and cook until thickened, another 5 minutes. Season with salt and pepper. 
• Add salmon, capers, and dill and cook until salmon is warmed through, 2 minutes, then toss sauce and pasta together. Add ¼ cup pasta water if sauce is too thick. Garnish with more dill to serve.

Thank you Delish.com for the recipe! This is one of our favorite smoked salmon recipes and will likely become one of your family’s comfort food dishes. Alaskan salmon is the perfect addition to the weekly meal rotation, and the ready-to-eat smoked salmon makes the week’s meal planning look even better as Sunday evening rolls around. 

Scrambled Eggs with Smoked Salmon

For cold smoked salmon, the meal that most supports this version is obviously breakfast. This scrambled eggs + smoked salmon recipe is perfect for the morning and debunks the idea that salmon isn’t a breakfast food. It is simple to make, but the flavor is sure to satisfy. Salmon for breakfast is one of Captain Steve’s go-to meals (or added protein to an egg sandwich), but this scramble, with a dozen eggs, is meant to feed a crew.

Ingredients

• ¼ lb(s) sliced Nova Style Sockeye Salmon or Alaskan sockeye salmon cold-smoked at home! 
• 12 eggs
• ½ cup heavy cream
• Salt and freshly ground black pepper
• 2 Tbsp butter
• 12 - 15 blades fresh chives, finely chopped

Directions

• Reserve 2 slices of salmon for garnish. Chop the remaining salmon into very small pieces.
• Whisk your eggs and cream together. Add 1/2 of your chopped chives and season eggs with salt and pepper. Preheat a large nonstick skillet over medium heat. 
• Melt butter in the pan and add eggs. Scramble eggs with a wooden spoon. Do not cook eggs until dry. When eggs have come together but remain wet, stir in chopped salmon. 
• Remove pan from the stove and place on a trivet. Garnish the eggs with remaining salmon and chives and serve right out of the warm pan.

Thank you Foodnetwork.com and Rachel Ray for the recipe! Chives plus smoked salmon are a match made in food heaven! 

Smoked Salmon & Celeriac Dauphinoise

A take on a traditional Swedish dish, this is a gratin-inspired (and one pan!) comfort food that you’re sure to love. We like this one at Wild for Salmon because many of these ingredients live in our fridge normally, just be sure to add celeriac to the grocery list and smoked salmon to your online fish order from Wild for Salmon! This recipe is best made with traditional hot smoked salmon!

Ingredients

• 1 lemon, juice only
• 1 small celeriac (about 1.5lb) peeled and quartered
• 2 medium baking potatoes, peeled and thinly sliced
• 8 oz packs smoked salmon
• Small handful fresh dill, chopped
• 1 onion, finely sliced
• 1/2c heavy cream

Directions

• Preheat the oven to 350°F. Pour the juice of one lemon into a large bowl. Slice your celeriac into pieces about the thickness of a quarter (you may want to use a mandolin if you have one) tossing them into the lemon juice as you go, then add the potato slices. 
• In a large ovenproof dish, layer the celeriac and potato with the slices of salmon, sprinkling with your small handful of chopped dill, 1 chopped onion and drizzling a little cream over each layer. Season with a little salt and lots of pepper at each stage. You should have three layers of potatoes and celeriac sandwiching two of salmon, onion and dill. Finish with the remaining cream.
• Cover the dish with foil and place on a tray. Bake for 45 minutes, then remove the foil and bake for another 30-40 minutes until bubbling and the top is crispy and golden. Test that the vegetables are cooked by inserting a skewer or small knife – it should push in easily. If you like, you can flash it under a hot grill to get the top layer really crispy. Leave to cool slightly then serve straight from the dish with a crisp green salad and some chilled white wine.

Thank you BBCgoodfood.com for the recipe! 

Buy Smoked Salmon Online

Our wild-caught Alaskan salmon has amazing flavor that will bring any recipe up a few notches. With Captain Steve, who spent his childhood in and out of his dad’s butcher shop and fishes for our sockeye salmon product himself, overlooking the whole process, our smoked salmon products are of our exceptional quality and taste. 

Try these recipes with our smoked salmon, or order some wild Alaska salmon to try smoking it yourself! Each species of wild Alaska salmon is worth smoking, but the best species for smoked salmon are king, coho, and sockeye. You can buy each of these fish online here. For more smoked salmon recipes, check out our Wild for Salmon collection of smoked salmon recipes here. Sustainably caught fresh Alaskan salmon, with quality that you can trust.

Order some of our smoked salmon here! We’d love to see what you’re cooking up - tag us on social and let us know. 

Here are three more recipes for smoked salmon that we at Wild for Salmon love!