What to Cook With Salmon: 10 Easy Ideas for Any Meal

Got a salmon fillet or a side and no plan? Salmon is one of the easiest proteins to build a meal around, because it cooks in minutes and forgives a lot. Here are ten honest ways to use it, across breakfast, lunch, dinner and snacks: pan-sear it for crispy skin, roast it on a tray with vegetables, brush it with teriyaki, flake it into a rice bowl, stir it through pasta, fold it into a salad, or open a tin and make salmon cakes. The one rule that matters is doneness. Pull salmon off the heat when the centre is just turning opaque and flakes with light pressure, around 52 to 54C for a moist medium.

Why salmon is fast and forgiving

A fillet the thickness of your thumb cooks through in about eight to twelve minutes, whichever way you go. That is faster than boiling a pot of pasta. Salmon is also fatty, so it stays juicy even if you slightly overshoot, unlike a lean chicken breast that turns dry the second you look away. It takes strong flavours well, so soy, honey, lemon, garlic and chilli all suit it, and it plays nicely with almost any starch and any vegetable. Fast, forgiving and flexible: that is why it earns a spot in your regular rotation.

How to know when salmon is done

The number one thing people get wrong is cooking salmon too long. You want the flesh to turn from glossy and translucent to matte and opaque, and to flake when you press it gently with a fork. If you have a thermometer, aim for about 52 to 54C at the thickest part for a medium centre that is still moist. Nearer 60C it turns firm and well done, which some people prefer. It keeps cooking for a minute after it leaves the pan, so take it off a touch early and let it rest.

• Colour: glossy and translucent turns to matte and opaque
• Texture: it flakes when you press it with a fork
• A little white bead on the surface is normal, not a problem
• Thermometer: about 52 to 54C for medium, higher for well done

10 things to cook with salmon

Here is the full list, from a five minute breakfast to a proper sit-down dinner. Pick by the meal you need and by whatever else is already in the kitchen.

1. Crispy skin pan-seared fillet. The weeknight default. Skin down in a hot pan, most of the cooking on that side, a quick flip at the end.
2. Traybake with veg. Salmon plus chopped vegetables on one sheet pan, roasted together at 200C. Almost no washing up.
3. Teriyaki salmon. Sear or bake, then glaze with a simple soy, honey and ginger sauce reduced until sticky. Lovely over rice.
4. Salmon rice bowl. Flaked salmon over warm rice with cucumber, avocado, a drizzle of soy and a spoon of mayo or sriracha.
5. Salmon pasta. Stir flaked salmon through pasta with lemon, a little cream or creme fraiche, peas and dill. Ready in the time the pasta boils.
6. Salmon cakes from a tin. Mix tinned salmon with mashed potato, an egg and herbs, shape into patties and fry until golden. Cheap and quick.
7. Salmon salad. Warm or cold flakes over leaves, new potatoes, green beans and a mustard dressing. A proper lunch.
8. Salmon tacos. Flake spiced salmon into warm tortillas with slaw, lime and a cool yogurt sauce.
9. Breakfast salmon and eggs. Fold cooked or smoked salmon through soft scrambled eggs, or pile it on toast with cream cheese.
10. Poached salmon or a quick chowder. Gently poach in stock or milk, or simmer into a light potato and salmon soup for a cosy dinner.

The crispy skin method

This is the one technique worth learning, because it turns a plain fillet into something you would happily order out. Pat the skin bone dry, salt it, and give the skin side most of the time in the pan so it renders and crisps instead of steaming.

1. Dry the skin really well with kitchen paper and season it with salt.
2. Add a little oil to a nonstick or stainless pan over medium heat. Lay the fillet skin down and press it flat for ten seconds so it does not curl.
3. Cook skin side down for most of the time, about four to five minutes, until the flesh has turned opaque up the sides.
4. Flip and give the top thirty to sixty seconds, then rest. Check it is opaque and flakes with light pressure before you plate it.

Salmon from a tin

Do not sleep on tinned salmon. It is already cooked, it keeps for ages, and it costs a fraction of a fresh fillet. Drain it, flake it, and it slots straight into cakes, pasta, a rice bowl, a sandwich or a salad. For salmon cakes, mash a tin with an equal amount of cooked potato, bind with one egg, add spring onion and a squeeze of lemon, then shape and pan-fry until golden on both sides. It is the cheapest way to get a salmon dinner on the table, and a good friend to the gym crowd who want protein without the price. For more of that thinking, these high protein dinner ideas from one ingredient run the same play.

Buying and frozen salmon

Fresh or frozen both work. Frozen salmon is often better value and just as good once thawed, so keep a couple of fillets in the freezer for nights with no plan. Thaw them overnight in the fridge, or in a sealed bag under cold water for about thirty minutes if you forgot. Pat them very dry before cooking, especially the skin, or it will steam instead of crisp. Skin on is worth buying even if you do not eat the skin, because it protects the flesh and holds the fillet together in the pan.

Sides and quick nights

Salmon barely needs a recipe once you have the doneness cue down. On a busy evening, roast it with whatever veg you have and call it dinner, which is the same logic behind these one-pan dinner ideas that keep the washing up to a single tray. Good partners are rice, new potatoes, noodles, crusty bread, roasted broccoli, asparagus, or a sharp green salad to cut the richness.

If you are staring at one fillet and cannot decide, tell Pann the one thing you have and it builds the meal around it, sized to your goal with no counting, then walks you through it step by step. You bring the salmon, it brings the plan.