Last updated on May 6th, 2017
Before I started eating low-carb, salmon was a minor part of my diet. If I ate salmon at all, it was in the form of a grilled or broiled salmon steak, usually in a restaurant.
I never purchased or prepared canned salmon. But that has changed. Now I look for sales on canned salmon, and try to always have a few cans in the pantry.
Canned salmon is usually wild-caught fish, which has a better reputation for purity than farm-raised fish. It’s typically sold in 14.75 ounce cans, each of which provide 630 calories, 84 grams of protein, and significant calcium and Omega-3 fat. Salmon is something of a wonder food. Even the American Heart Association approves of it.
Looking for low-carb ways to cook canned salmon, I came across many recipes for salmon patties, most of which combined the salmon with one or more eggs, herbs, and some sort of filler — bread crumbs, rolled oats, or even crushed saltines or pork rinds.
The filler often adds carbs, though, so I tried it without any filler, and it seemed to work just fine. Here is my recipe for No-filler Salmon Patties. It makes four patties. They taste great and can be made in 15 minutes.
Ingredients
- 1 can (14.75 oz) pink salmon (any brand)
- 1 large egg
- 2 tsp garlic powder (optional)
- 2 tbs olive oil (or butter or coconut oil)
Preparation
- Open and partly drain the salmon. (It’s OK to leave in some of the water.)
- Place salmon in a mixing bowl, and mash with a fork. (Work in the skin and fine soft bones; that’s where much of the nutrition comes from!)
- Start olive oil heating in a no-stick pan.
- Add whole egg and garlic powder to the salmon, and mix those in.
- Form four salmon patties of roughly equal size.
- Pan fry patties about 3 minutes on a side over medium-high flame. (You want the patties nicely browned on both sides, and heated through.)
Nutrition
Each patty has 240 calories, 1.5 grams of net carbs, and 22.5 grams of protein.
Obviously, there are many ways to vary the recipe. I have tried it with some lemon juice and Tabasco mixed in, and also with diced onions (though the onions add some carbs and also tended to reduce patty-cohesion). The oil is an important way to vary the flavor.
I originally cooked the patties in olive oil, but have come to prefer butter or coconut oil. (See “No-filler salmon patties in coconut oil.”)
Since I am the only one in the house who eats fish, I usually eat one or two of the patties and then wrap the others individually in aluminum foil (marking them so that no one has a rude surprise, thinking it is a saved hamburger). The salmon patties reheat well in the microwave.
Firstly these were absolutely delicious. I had them with tobasco, mayo and lettuce. My only issues and probably my fault? Was that they fell apart during cooking. I used butter and a non stick pan, they still stuck! Possibly too much heat I’m not sure. Next time might try a different pan and lower heat. Thank you for your yummy and simple recipe
Glad that you enjoyed the salmon patties! I have had a patty break apart now and then, but most times they don’t. Lower heat and a different pan are things to try.
I love canned salmon! I use a similar recipe that I adapted from Dana Carpender’s book, “500 Low-Carb Recipes.” The little bit of oat bran, ground flax, onions & nutritional yeast (which I love & wasn’t in Dana’s recipe) add a few carbs, but not enough for me to worry about. I also sauté plain straight-from-the-can salmon or sardines in butter with my eggs for breakfast.
My favorite sardines are canned in olive oil, so when I want to heat them, I just dump the entire contents of the tin into a frying pan.
Bump! I just started my low carb journey a couple of months ago. I love salmon filets but getting a little bored. I am going to try the canned salmon mashed together with avocado, a very little onion & garlic, egg, crushed pork rinds, chopped up black olives, salt, pepper, and some Old Bay seasoning. Fried / browned patties in avocado oil, stored & reheated the next few dinners.
I can’t do pork so the the pork rinds are a no-go but I’m thinking some onion flakes in lieu of fresh onions would keep it from falling apart. This sounds really good. I’ve only been doing Keto for a short while and never was much of a avocado fan. However now I can’t think of anything I wouldn’t want avocado with.
Delicious dish especially with large lettuce leafs used as wraps or buns.
I made this last night and even the kids gobbled them up (I had to use 2 cans to make enough!). Thank you!
This sounds yummy but this: “Work in the skin and fine soft bones” scares me!! I have a can of salmon but have never opened it because I didn’t know what to do with it.
I thought the same thing when I first started eating canned salmon, but it’s really good. The skin and bones are nutritious, and blend right into everything else seamlessly.
I remember (back in the 60’s, when I was a young girl making salmon patties for my Mom, I got punished for picking out the bones and eating them all for myself. They are nutritious and my body must have been craving them!
Us kids used to fight over who got the backbone. I still eat the bones separately. Awesome nutrition content too. (My kids are horrified!)
Depending on the brand, the skin and bones may not even be visible. Lately I’ve been buying Chicken of the Sea (because it’s frequently on sale) and a multi-can pack at Costco. Both wild-caught Alaskan.
This was wonderful, I used butter and olive oil.
Made these for the first time, just added a bit of pimentos for added flavoring and they were easy and delicious. I am a fan. Will definitely be adding this to my diet from now on.
My grandmother’s recipe for salmon patties is very complicated and carb laden. I’ll admit I was a little iffy the first time around trying these. It just seemed too simple! I am now glad to say I am making them for the second time and I prefer them to the carb filled version of my childhood.
I’m trying this recipe now, thanks for posting!