Friday night is about light, fresh, spicy, sweet salmon burgers. I meant to try the salmon burgers recipe this past summer but never got around to it. Good thing salmon is one of those food items one can get year-round.
I usually grill, bake or steam salmon filets but I was so interested in making salmon burgers. I thought about using canned salmon but was afraid I would be disappointed, so I put it off. I was so happy to find this recipe that uses one of my favorite types of sauce- honey mustard. I’m a big fan of combining sweet with contrasting flavors like sour, or spicy. These were easy to make and even easier to chomp down. Yum, yum,yum- Enjoy!
I didn’t use the tarragon called for in the original recipe. I suspect dill or thyme would have worked well, but I didn’t use those either. Since chopped shallots are used in the salmon patties, I also omitted the sliced onion.
The biggest difference was that I cooked the salmon burgers on the stovetop and not on a grill. Things to keep in mind: 1. Cooking Light advises using center-cut salmon because the meat closer to the tail has more connective tissue than the flesh from the center. 2. The best way to bind the patties is to puree a quarter of the salmon first, then mix that with the rest of the ground fish as breadcrumbs or eggs could obscure the flavor of the salmon too much.
Fresh And Easy Salmon Burgers
Ingredients
- 1 pound salmon filets skinless, center-cut cut, into 1-inch pieces, divided
- 2 tablespoons Dijon mustard divided
- 2 teaspoons grated lemon rind
- 1 tablespoon shallots finely chopped
- ½ teaspoon kosher salt
- ¼ teaspoon black pepper freshly ground
- 1 tablespoon honey
- 1 teaspoon fresh lemon juice
- 1 teaspoon extra-virgin olive oil
- 1 cup lettuce or baby spinach
- ½ tablespoon olive oil or cooking spray
- 4 pieces hamburger buns (1½-ounce each), toasted
Instructions
- Puree 1/4 of the salmon, 1 tablespoon of mustard and the lemon rind in a food processor. Place in a bowl and set aside. Coarsely chop the remaining salmon in the food processor. Add chopped salmon, shallots, salt, and ground pepper to puree. Mix, then divide into 4 equal servings, forming into burgers.
- Coat with 1/2 tablespoon olive oil (or spray a large skillet with Cooking Spray) and cook salmon burgers over medium heat, 1-2 minutes on each side.
- Mix the remaining 1 tablespoon of mustard and honey in a small bowl, whisk, and set aside.
- In another bowl, whisk olive oil and lemon juice together. Add lettuce or a choice of greens to the dressing.
- Assemble burgers on buns, topped with honey mustard and lettuce and dressing mix.