These 18 Salmon Recipes Were Hand-Selected by Hungry Bears (i.e., You’ll Love Them)
Special enough for company, quick enough for weeknights, good enough for Grizzlies.
Salmon are as iconic a fish of the West as you can imagine. From the fisheries of Alaska to the rivers of Idaho, from the First Nations peoples who’ve caught and preserved them for thousands of years to the Seattle fishmongers who toss them back and forth like small children, salmon are essential to our history, image, and dining habits. Also: They’re delicious and healthy! Over the years we’ve published dozens, possibly hundreds, of salmon recipes, but here we’ve rounded up our favorites, sure to please no matter how you like your fish cooked.
Grilled Salmon Recipes
Roasted Salmon Recipes
1 of 4Ed Anderson
Nancy Silverton’s Roasted Salmon Steaks with Remoulade Butter
In the world of mid-1970s cooking, horseshoe-shaped salmon steaks were far more common than the now ubiquitous fillet, says L.A. chef Nancy Silverton, who cites the cut as her proving grounds when learning to cook. Now the old-school cut is back, seared in a hot pan, then roasted in the oven and topped with herby compound butter.
2 of 4Iain Bagwell
Roasted Salmon with Purslane, Fennel, and Green Olives
A common weed in many a gardener’s backyard bed, wild purslane is perfectly edible—delicious, in fact! Its juicy little leaves have a citrusy, sometimes peppery zip.
3 of 4James Carrier
Soy-Roasted Salmon with Cucumbers
Toasted dried sea palm fronds—also called sea crunchies—are the leaves, or blades, of the sea palm, an ocean vegetable unique to Northern California, Oregon, and points farther north. The ribbed, noodlelike fronds turn crunchy-chewy when toasted.
4 of 4John Clark
Oven-Baked Salmon with Picholine Olive Sauce
This oven-baked salmon recipe is the perfect meal to have after a long day. The picholine olive sauce is easy to make and adds delicious warm tangy flavors.
Salmon Salad Recipes
1 of 4Leigh Beisch
Seattle Pickled Salmon Salad
John Sundstrom, chef of Lark restaurant in Seattle, drew on his Scandinavian heritage to create this sweetly spiced fish. Try it as an appetizer with bread and radishes, as he does, or turn it into a salad as we’ve done here.
2 of 4James Carrier
Grilled Salmon Salad with Raspberry Vinaigrette
You may as well call this an “antioxidant salad,” because in addition to bursting with summery colors and flavors, it’s full of phytonutrient rich produce like raspberries, soybeans, and tomatoes.
3 of 4Erin Kunkel
Salmon and Grains Salad with Pistachio Salsa Verde
Wild rice and black quinoa (the quinoa fried until crunchy) form a backdrop for colorful greens and salmon. In winter, frozen sockeye salmon is an excellent choice.
4 of 4Annabelle Breakey
Salmon with Roasted Grapes and Arugula Salad
In this healthy weeknight dinner, thyme and arugula keep the sweetness of the grapes in balance. Nearly all the cooking is done on a single baking sheet.
Poached Salmon Recipes
1 of 4Luisa Brimble
Confit Salmon with Eggs and Greens
2 of 4Thomas J. Story
Poached Orange-Fennel Salmon with Dill Crème
Kristen Murray, pastry chef and owner of Maurice restaurant in Portland, learned the easy technique of oven-poaching fish in a foil pouch from her grandmother.
3 of 4Annabelle Breakey
Poached Salmon with White Bean and Radish Salad
The salmon takes almost no time to cook, so prep the radishes and rosemary before the fish goes in the pan. If your backyard rosemary is blooming, sprinkle on a few blossoms before serving.
4 of 4Annabelle Breakey
Poached Salmon Niçoise
This poached salmon recipe offers a variety of delicious ingredients, perfect for a summer day.
Smoked Salmon Recipes
1 of 3Iain Bagwell
Smoked Salmon Breakfast Burrito
The cream cheese and salmon in these wraps make for decadent breakfast burritos. If you’re in the mood for meat, you could easily substitute bacon or sausage for the fish.
2 of 3Rachel Weill
Smoked Salmon Summer Squash Salad
The salmon comes off the grill juicy yet fragrant with smoke, a contrast to the creamy salad made with grilled and raw squash.
3 of 3Leo Gong
Smoked Salmon Vermicelli
This elegant pasta has only a few ingredients, but together they make an incredibly satisfying supper. The dish requires nothing more than a big green salad as accompaniment.
1 of 5
DalStrong Fish Spatula
If you’ve ever butchered a delicate piece of fish with a pancake flipper or a pair of tongs, you’ll appreciate the firm-but-gentle functionality of a fish spatula.
2 of 5
Fish Basket with Rosewood Handle
Have you ever had half a salmon filet stick firmly to the grates of your Weber grill? We have, so we well understand the value of this fish basket (with a lovely rosewood handle!).
3 of 5
Fire & Flavor 15-inch Cedar Plank for Grilling
How to get all the flavor of flame-grilling, but with none of the operational difficulties (see grill basket, above)? Use a firm cedar plank like this one from Fire & Flavor, which is oversized so the fish won’t flop over the edge. Bonus: It doubles as a serving dish!
4 of 5
Field Cast-Iron Skillet no 12
In all likelihood, we’re not the first people to urge you to buy a good-quality cast-iron pan. That’s because they’re great—indestructible, but also flexible, able to go from stovetop bacon-and-eggsing to oven-roasting a pair of herb-stuffed branzinos. (Branzini? Branzinum?) Please get this one so we don’t have to ask you again.
5 of 5
All-Clad Stainless Steel Roaster
Yes, it says “roaster,” but we love this All-Clad one for poaching fish of all sizes and shapes.