Today’s salmon salad recipe introduces a side dish with delectable flavor and nutrition. The flavorful pan-seared salmon is layered on a bed of crunchy lettuce, cucumber, red onions, radish, cherry tomatoes, and chickpeas, then drizzled with olive oil dressing.
Savory, sweet, and tangy, our salmon salad has all the flavors you love, and requires little effort to put together. This salad is light enough to be served as a side for lunch and dinner, and an excellent meal to make using your leftover seared fish.
Is This Salmon Salad Recipe Healthy?
With plenty of healthy fat from salmon and the various vegetables used in this recipe, our salmon salad turns out healthy and wholesome.
The salad is nutrient-dense and low in calories. There are approximately 250 calories per serving, making the salad an ideal side to pair with a filling main dish.
Besides, our salmon salad is a balanced dish made with fish and vegetables, providing a good source of protein, fiber, and micronutrients. Each serving contains 54% of the recommended daily intake for vitamin K and 40% of the recommended daily intake (RDI) for vitamin B3.
Additionally, we keep the sodium, sugar, and saturated fat of one serving to a manageable 12%, 3%, and 15% respectively of the recommended daily intake from the USDA’s dietary guidelines. These amounts align with our healthy limits and will help you maintain a healthy lifestyle.
Ingredients for Salmon Salad
Along with the visual and taste of a restaurant-quality side dish, our is made with easy-to-buy ingredients and is simple enough to customize to your liking.
1. Salmon
The versatile salmon is always the star of this favorite seafood salad. For this recipe, we used fresh salmon filets. We don't always recommend grocery store salmon filets because it’s hard to know how long they've been sitting out.
Unless you can go to the local market to buy freshly caught fish on that day, go the safe route and get the frozen salmon filets for the best quality.
2. Seasoning
The seasoning for salmon salad depends on how you plan on the dressing. Since we love to use a light dressing, there is plenty of room to play with condiments. Besides the basic combo of salt and pepper, here are some flavor enhancers that go well with salmon:
- Garlic powder
- Paprika
- Cajun seasoning
- Italian seasoning
- Chili pepper
3. Vegetables
Our rule for picking vegetables for this salmon salad is to keep things simple. Thus, we went with basic ingredients you can buy at any local store, such as crystal lettuce, cherry tomatoes, cucumber, radish, and red onions.
This combination adds texture and color to your salad, ensuring it looks and tastes like a summer in a bowl. Make sure you chop the veggies into bite-sized pieces so that you can have a little bit of everything in each bite.
4. Dressing
We like to keep things bright and flavorful for this salmon salad by making a simple dressing of olive oil, lemon juice, and ground pepper.
How to Make Salmon Salad
With all the ingredients gathered in less than 30 minutes, you will get a super simple yet delicious side that we’d love to try again.
Step 1: Marinate the salmon for 5 minutes with seasonings.
Step 2: Sear the salmon in olive oil.
Step 3: Prepare the dressing.
Step 4: Assemble the vegetables and salmon on a plate.
Step 5: Drizzle the dressing over the salad and serve.
For more flavor, try the blackening method in our blackened salmon recipe for your fish and add that to this salad.
How Long Does Salmon Salad Last in the Fridge?
If your salad is made using fresh salmon, it can last well in the refrigerator for 2 to 3 days. With canned salmon, it will keep for an extra 1 to 2 days.
Note that salmon should always be kept in an airtight container. Otherwise, the other foods in the fridge might absorb the aroma from the fish.
Storage and Freezing the Leftover Salad
This salmon salad is best when made fresh. If you want to store any leftovers from this salad, store the fish, veggies, and dressing in separate containers.
Alternatively, you can keep the ingredients together in one container but pack the dressing on the side since the liquid can make your salad soggy.
Raw veggies like cucumbers or lettuce don’t freeze well, so freezing the salmon salad is not a great idea. However, you could freeze the salmon, and prepare the vegetables and add the dressing after reheating the salmon.
What to Serve With Salmon Salad
Packed with protein and vegetables, our salmon salad is hearty enough to be a light meal on its own. If you want to add some extra fiber, add some cauliflower rice or quinoa.
To incorporate the salad into lunch or dinner, we serve it with a filling main dish like pasta or casserole. Of course, a loaf of French bread or sandwiches could be a tasty addition as well.
With cooked salmon, you can also whip up a tasty burger. Get some buns and some greens, you can make a delicious burger.
Salmon Salad Recipe
Our 20-minute salmon salad recipe makes a protein-packed, delicious, and healthy side dish you'll come back to again and again.
- cook TIME 10 mins
- prep TIME 10 mins
- total TIME 20 mins
- COURSE Side Dish
- CUISINE American
- SERVINGS servings
- CALORIES 207 kcal
INGREDIENTS
- 10 ozboneless salmon (filet)
- 0.5 tspground pepper (divided)
- 0.5 tspgarlic powder
- 0.5 tsppaprika
- 0.3 tspsalt
- 2 tbspolive oil (divided)
- 2 tsplemon juice
- 4 ozcrystal lettuce
- 4 ozcherry tomato (halved)
- 4 ozcucumber (sliced)
- 1 ozradish (sliced)
- 1 ozred onion (sliced)
- 0.5 ozfeta cheese (crumbled)
- 4 ozcanned chickpeas
INSTRUCTIONS
Marinate 10 oz salmon with 1/4 tsp pepper, 1/2 tsp garlic powder, 1/2 tsp paprika, and 1/4 tsp salt for 5 minutes.
Heat a skillet over small-medium heat, add 1/2 tbsp olive oil. Sear the salmon on all sides until crispy and cooked, about 7 minutes. Remove the salmon to a plate and set aside.
Make the dressing: In a small bowl, whisk together 1 1/2 tbsp olive oil, 1/4 tsp pepper, and 2 tsp lemon juice. Set aside.
Assemble 4 oz crystal lettuce, 4 oz cherry tomato, 4 oz cucumber, 1 oz radish, 1 oz red onion, 0.5 oz feta cheese, 4 oz chickpeas, and salmon on a salad plate. Drizzle with the dressing.
Serve.
NUTRITION
Luna Regina
Writer, Author
Natalie Butler, RD, LD
Nutrition Reviewer