Salmon Burgers with Caper Mayo
These. Seriously.
I’ve had my share of salmon burgers – most of them frozen and shrinkwrapped, tasty but dry. I’ve never fallen in love with a salmon burger until today. These were made with fresh salmon – steelhead trout, actually – roughly chopped, which makes all the difference, texture-wise. Doing it in the food processor would turn them into paste – and using a knife took all of five minutes to produce a loose mixture that barely held its shape as a patty, but cooked up nicely as one, turning golden and crusty in a hot cast iron skillet. In about five minutes.
I’m on a bit of a burger bender these days. (For charity, right? It’s the least I could do. Really.) And while I do adore a good beefy burger, I was challenged to come up with some alternatives to the usual red meat – and I’m so glad I was, or I would never have known these exist. They’re moist and juicy with a crunchy edge – lots of crispy bits – and the layers of veggies, tangy mayo and soft bun? Seriously.
The tartar sauce: I feel like the term evokes images of pale yellow sauce in a jar, reserved for bad fish & chips. But. It’s really just a tangy mix of mayo and pickles – gerkhins and such – which sounds to me exactly what I’d love on any burger. This ramekin of mayo, lemon juice and capers is so much better than I imagined, I may have finished the lot, spooned directly over slabs of ripe tomato and cucumber, cut into thin ribbons with a vegetable peeler.
I’m already plotting when we can be together again.
Salmon Burgers with Caper Mayo
AuthorJulieAdapted from Ricardo - with massive thanks.
Roughly chop the salmon or trout, and combine it in a bowl with the remaining ingredients. Set a heavy skillet over medium-high heat and add a drizzle of oil. Shape the mixture into four patties and place them gently into the pan; cook until deep golden on one side, then flip and cook on the other side - they should cook through and be crusty and golden in about 5 minutes.
To make the caper mayo, stir together the mayo, lemon juice, capers and pepper. Spread on the buns and top with salmon patties, tomato, lettuce and thinly sliced cucumber - and a little more caper mayo. Serve immediately.
Serves 6.
Ingredients
Directions
Roughly chop the salmon or trout, and combine it in a bowl with the remaining ingredients. Set a heavy skillet over medium-high heat and add a drizzle of oil. Shape the mixture into four patties and place them gently into the pan; cook until deep golden on one side, then flip and cook on the other side - they should cook through and be crusty and golden in about 5 minutes.
To make the caper mayo, stir together the mayo, lemon juice, capers and pepper. Spread on the buns and top with salmon patties, tomato, lettuce and thinly sliced cucumber - and a little more caper mayo. Serve immediately.
Serves 6.
These look absolutely fantastic! I love the rustic presentation, and with chunks of fish like that I can only imagine it makes it a lot meatier, mmm!
I have only made salmon burgers myself once, and they were delicious! I did process them and they did turn more mushy, but I reckon both takes on them are tasty 🙂
I had a “pignut” burger when I was out on a pub quiz yesterday actually, and it features a beef burger, haggis, chorizo, bourbon jam and cheddar amongst other things, SO tasty 😀 Burgers are a bit of not bad *sneaky grin*
I hope you have a great Wednesday Julie 🙂 x
One of the best looking burgers I have ever seen!
Jules – WOW, that sounds like some burger! I can’t believe the concoctions they come up with!
Thanks Medeja!
This look great! Not sure that I would be willing to share one of the four patties to serve 6 though 😉
Just wondering whether you start with raw fish or fish that has already been cooked?
Heather – You start with raw fish.
oh, yum! That completely gets my juices flowing!
Thanks, Julie!
Augh, that looks SO GOOD. The two recipes I’ve marked today are this and a lamb one with mint/pistachio pesto. Cheers for non-traditional burger deliciousness!
I’ve gotta have one of these! I just bought some of the frozen variety you were describing ……
I believe it will do wonders with my wild rice and onions bread. Probably better than the fish patties (with more white bean than fish) I usually put together for my boys! I’ll try it, when it won’t be our “meat hamburgers on a cheese and bacon bun”.
Hi Julie
The photo you took of the burger is so perfect! The lettuce looks beautiful and I had a bit of a stare at it. Then snapped out of it and must say salmon burgers are so delicious!
Oh yum…I can just imagine how tasty these would be with a slice of avocado in there too!!!
Jeanette! Avocado! Brilliant!!
Good recipe, but I would add spice to the salmon patties, maybe a little cayenne or red pepper flakes. I would also add a little more oil to the pan to make the patties a little more crispy. I also made these gluten free and they turned out great. Even though there are green onion in the patty mix I would like some thinly sliced red onion on the buns too. But all in all, a good recipe.
everyone LOVED these for dinner last night. We mixed them up a few hours before forming them into patties and they held together beautifully. WE love spice so had to jazz them up with some with Inca Fire Salt!! New favourite burgers!
Thanks
Ben hates burgers but loves salmon. You’ve just solved one of my dinner dilemmas because now he can eat these while the rest of us enjoy our traditional burger.
These look DIVINE. Mmmmmmmm. Can’t wait to try these out. Thanks for the idea/recipe/mouthwatering photos!
Made these tonight…….EXCELLENT!
I added chopped dill and a tbsp of mayo to the mixture……..served them on brioche buns w/ slices of red onion and that delicious caper mayo.
A big hit!
Next time I am making these as sliders for my summer BBQ.
Thanks!
I guess I didn’t have enough egg because these mostly disintegrated in the pan. I kept a couple together, and the burgers were good. The caper sauce, too, was great. I like the idea of using chunks of fresh salmon in the burgers, but next time I’ll bind it better.
I really wanted these to be Salmon Cakes, but they really insisted on being burgers, rightfully so! I got six out of my mixture, slightly smaller but still substantial.
They were terrific and I agree w/Stacey, I think they’d be wonderful as mini-sliders.
i have never heard of salmon burgers before but it smells delicious and yummy. i was thinking of trying the salmon burger this weekend. thanks Julie
Hi there! I’m at work browsing youur blog from my new iphone 4!
Just wanted to say I love reading your boog and look forward to all your posts!
Keep up the outstanding work!
Hi Julie, I was just wondering where you get your soft, perfect looking burger buns in Calgary??
These were SO good! I used 1/4 cup panko instead of fresh breadcrumbs and they were perfect – juicy and delicious, and the caper mayo is fantastic. Thanks for sharing Julie!
Yay! So glad to hear it!! I do love the caper mayo!
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