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- These salmon burgers are the healthy burger recipe that my friends and family cannot get enough of. And if you've only ever made salmon burgers from canned salmon, you are in for a treat, because today I'm showing you how to make these juicy salmon burgers from fresh, hand-chopped salmon for the most incredible texture. They're packed with fresh herbs, they're lightly seasoned, and they're topped with a creamy lemon dill yogurt sauce that absolutely takes them to the next level. And whether you serve them on a bun or wrapped in lettuce leaves, these healthy salmon burgers are easy to make, they're naturally gluten free, and they are perfect for summertime lunches and dinners. So let me show you how to make them.
To get started, you'll need about 1/4 pounds of salmon. When you remove the skin, you'll have about one pound of usable salmon for this recipe, which is what you want. To remove the skin, slice down on the flesh to create a little handle on the skin that you can hold onto tightly with one hand while you slide your chef's knife between the flesh and the skin. Go slowly and try to keep your knife at a slight even angle right above the skin to remove as much flesh as possible. And pro tip, do make sure your knife is sharpened before doing this, as it makes the process easier. Now, I've always used my knife to remove the skin, but recently I saw a video on social media that showed someone just literally slide their hand
between the salmon flesh and skin and remove the skin in mere seconds. I honestly didn't think it was gonna work, but it shockingly did. You just use the side of your hand and push against the flesh while you pull tightly on the skin in the opposite direction. Now, the social media video made it seem like this took three seconds, and as you can see, it did take a bit longer and with shimmy action needed, but I'm just happy to say that it did indeed work.
Once you've got your skinless salmon, just slice and dice it into cubes, then continue hand-chopping it until it's finely chopped, but still with a few chunkier pieces remaining. Some recipes out there will have you adding the diced salmon to a food processor to really mince it up. But I find that more often than not, you end up with this sort of salmon paste that then makes the burgers quite dense. So after testing this recipe a few times, I found that it's just easier and better to continue hand-chopping the salmon since you already started this method when you sliced and diced it anyway.
Once that's done, add the salmon to a large mixing bowl along with one lightly beaten egg, a 1/4 cup of almond flour, a 1/4 cup of roughly chopped parsley or dill, and I'm actually using a mix of both here, three tablespoons of finely diced red onion, one minced garlic clove, one tablespoon of Dijon mustard, one tablespoon of lemon juice, 1/2 a teaspoon of kosher salt, and a 1/4 teaspoon of ground black pepper. Then use your hands to gently mix everything together until it's just combined. Try not to overmix it too much. (upbeat music)
This recipe makes four salmon burgers, so grab about a 1/4 of the mixture and shape it into a burger patty. I like to then lay them on a parchment-lined quarter sheet baking tray. And after they're all formed, you'll need to refrigerate the burgers for 20 to 30 minutes, which helps firm them up and hold together better when you do cook them. So while the salmon burgers are chilling in the fridge, let's make the lemon dill yogurt sauce that you can spread on top. Add 1/2 a cup of Greek yogurt to a mixing bowl, along with one tablespoon of lemon juice, one tablespoon of olive oil, one tablespoon of roughly chopped parsley, one tablespoon of roughly chopped dill, one small minced garlic clove,
and some salt and pepper to taste. Stir that all together until it's nice and creamy, then let it rest for 10 to 15 minutes on the counter or in the fridge so that the flavors can meld together. All right, after the salmon burgers have chilled in the fridge, add a few tablespoons of oil to a pan over medium heat. Add the salmon burgers and cook them for about three to four minutes per side until they're golden and just cooked through. You really don't want to overcook them or you risk drying them out, which is obviously less than ideal. Now, I know some of you may want to cook these on a grill, and yes, you can do that, but make sure you check out the tips on my website first.
I've got a few extra tips for you to prevent any breakage or falling apart on the grill, because no one wants to lose their salmon burger through some grill grates. Once the salmon burgers are nice and golden on each side, remove them to a plate and then get ready to serve them up. You can of course serve them on traditional or gluten-free burger buns or you can lettuce wrap them. I usually make lettuce-wrapped salmon burgers, so I'll place a burger on a butter lettuce leaf, then doll up and spread some of my lemon dill yogurt sauce before continuing with the typical burger toppings like sliced tomato, a few slices of avocado,
sliced red onion, and I like to add some sprouts or microgreens, but feel free to tweak these toppings to your liking. I just recommend not skipping the lemon dill yogurt sauce as it really does pair so beautifully with the salmon burgers. Then add your top bun, or in my case, top lettuce leaf, and dig in. My one bite for taste testing might have turned into three bites here, but can you really blame me? These salmon burgers are so juicy and delicious, and I would say the key is definitely don't overcook them. As I mentioned earlier, I am using sockeye salmon today, though you could use coho or king salmon as well.
King salmon is probably my personal favorite, but it is pricey and not always in season and you can more easily get sockeye or coho. I also have extra tips on the recipe blog post if you do wanna grill these. They are a bit more fragile than a regular beef burger, probably more in line with my turkey burgers that are also a little bit more fragile, so I often do pan-fry them, though if you do wanna put them on the grill, you can absolutely do that. Just make sure to follow my tips on the blog post.
Now, if you do have any leftovers, consider yourself lucky (chuckles) because this is a very prized possession of mine for having meal prepped in the fridge that I can just easily reheat the next day for a following lunch. They will keep for about three to four days in the fridge or for up to three months in the freezer. I hope you guys enjoyed today's video for these salmon burgers, and if you did, don't forget to give the video a thumbs up. That always helps to support my channel. And remember that I also have two other burger recipes over on the website. I have turkey burgers and my Greek chicken burgers that are always a hit in the summer, and I have a ton of summertime recipes,
grilling recipes as well, and I will leave a link to that category of recipes in the video description below. And with that, I will see you guys in the next video. (upbeat music)
