Salmon Salad
Refreshing, healthy, and satisfying salmon salad enjoys perfectly seared filets and crispy veggies. This unapologetically delicious recipe is not only gorgeous to the eyes, but it’s also pleasing to the palate. The incredibly easy garlic lemon dressing makes a colorful, healthy, and hassle-free meal.
Who says comfort food has to be bad for you? Honestly, anything that satisfies cravings, like this salad, is comfort food, in my opinion. Maybe it’s the perfectly seared salmon with all its healthy fat or the veggie fiesta. All I know is that this salad hits the spot every single time.
And the homemade dressing! The perfect zing with fresh lemon juice and red wine vinegar balances the fresh herbs, like dill, Italian herbs, and minced garlic. Even non-salad lovers will appreciate this one.
How to Choose the Best Salmon
Salmon can be expensive, so go for quality salmon to get the most bang for your buck. Make sure the color is vibrant, and the fish is plump and moist. It should spring back if you give it a little press, and it shouldn’t smell overly fishy or have brown spots or bruising. Frozen works well for this recipe because frozen salmon is often fresher than fresh.
How to Make Salmon Salad
- Season and cook the salmon, and make the dressing.
- Assemble the chopped salad ingredients, top with the salmon, and pour on the dressing.
Recipe Tips and Twists
- Grill your salmon or stick them in the oven for an even healthier main-dish salad.
- Feel free to top a traditional Caesar salad with salmon for a healthy and filling salad.
- Use different colors of bell peppers for an Instagram-worthy plating.
- Don’t be afraid to mix and match other meats, such as chicken, tuna, or shrimp, with this dish.
Make-Ahead and Storage Instructions
The salad dressing can be made a few days (even a week) before and stored in the refrigerator. And salmon will stay fresh for 3-4 days in the fridge for easy meal prep. All the vegetables except the tomatoes can be prepped a day or two ahead as well. Tomatoes are best cut fresh and added at serving time.
Salad dressing tends to wilt the lettuce, so try to eat leftover salad within a day or two.
What Goes With Salmon Salad
For sides, roast potatoes and carrots, tomato bisque or French onion soup, and homemade garlic bread are wonderful. Grilled pineapple makes a surprisingly good dessert for this lighter fare.
More Easy Salmon Recipes to Top Salads
Watch How to Make It
[adthrive-in-post-video-player video-id=”bHvfgaLe” upload-date=”2021-04-14T06:00:00.000Z” name=”Salmon Salad” description=”A refreshingly beautiful plate of Salmon Salad hits your palate with a fiesta of greens paired with chunky seafood. You’ll surely fall in love with this healthy light dish you can serve on a weekly basis. Whip up this easy, colorful, and tasty recipe for your hassle-free weekend dinner!” player-type=”collapse” override-embed=”false”]
This blog post was originally published in August 2019 and has been updated with additional tips, new photos, and a video.
Salmon Salad
Ingredients
The Dressing
- 3 tablespoons (45ml) olive oil
- 2 tablespoons (30ml) lemon juice, freshly squeezed
- 1 tablespoon (15ml) red wine vinegar (optional)
- 1 teaspoon (4g) Dijon mustard
- 1 tablespoon (15g) fresh dill
- 1 teaspoon (4g) garlic, minced
- ¼ teaspoon (1g) onion powder
- ½ teaspoon (2g) Italian seasoning
- 1 teaspoon (5g) salt
- ½ teaspoon (2g) pepper
The Salmon
- 2 4-6-ounce skinless salmon fillets
- salt and pepper to taste (½-1 teaspoon salt per pound of salmon)
- 1 tablespoon (15ml) cooking oil
Salad
- 4 cups (188g) Romaine lettuce leaves, washed and dried
- 1 cup (119g) cucumber, quartered
- 2 cups (400g) cherry tomatoes, halved
- 1 red onion, sliced
- ½ cup (75g) red bell pepper, sliced
- ⅓ cup (60g) black olives, halved
- 1 avocado, sliced
- lemon wedges for garnish
Instructions
- In a small bowl, whisk all of the salad dressing ingredients: olive oil, lemon juice, vinegar, mustard, dill, garlic, onion powder, Italian seasoning, salt, and pepper. Set aside in the refrigerator.
- Season salmon with salt and pepper to taste, and heat 1 tablespoon of oil in a skillet or grill pan over medium-high heat. Sear salmon on both sides until crispy and cooked to your liking.
- While the salmon is cooking, prepare the salad ingredients and mix them in a plate or bowl.
- Arrange salmon over salad, and drizzle with the salad dressing. Serve with avocado and lemon wedges.
Tips & Notes:
- Romaine lettuce is popular for its pleasant crunch. You can also use Bibb or Boston lettuce. Other nice additions are shredded cabbage, grated carrots, arugula, and young dandelion leaves.
- Please keep in mind that nutritional information is a rough estimate and can vary greatly based on the products used.
I love this recipe! Do you by chance have the calorie information or servicing size for just the dressing itself?
Hi Chelsea
Total (with optional red wine vinegar): Approximately 396 calories for all of the dressing (198 calories for 1 serving)
Total (without optional red wine vinegar): Approximately 392 calories for all of the dressing (196 for 1 serving)
Feel free to reduce the amount of dressing for a lower calorie salad. It will still be delicious, and many people prefer not drowning the salad in dressing.
Please note that these are approximate values and could vary based on the specific brands or types of ingredients you use. Always consult with a nutritionist or use a specific calorie-counting tool for the most accurate information.
Hope this helps 🙂
I was not convinced at first about this marinade/salad dressing; I thought it might not go well with the salmon because it seemed too strong tasting. But it does go! It goes splendidly well! We ladled it over the finished salads topped with the cooked salmon fillets. Delicious. Thanks so much for sharing this recipe.
You’re welcome, Dee. I’m happy that you tried this one. Thanks for stopping by.
This right here is all I needed today…. Thanks Imma
Love it! Thank you, Shirley!
Looks great. Trying tonight. Thankyou.
Hope you enjoyed it! Thank you for dropping by.
Looks great!
I’m a diabetic this recipe sounds great would love to try it calories are high for some other ingredients can it be reduce for a diabetic to enjoy type 2
Hi Christine. Feel free to reduce the amount of dressing. Some people love to drown their salads, but if you put just a light drizzle (maybe with a quarter of the dressing), you’ll drastically reduce the calories. You could also leave the avocado out. Hope that helps.
In the size of the salmon you say 4 to 6 pound each.
Did you mean, 4 to 5 ounces each. 4 to 6 pounds is a lot for two people.
My bad Joanna, recipe has been updated . Thanks for bringing this to my attention.
Easy but great recipe, we always enjoy salmon and iam always looking for new way’s to serve it
Thank you for dropping by. It’s a fantastic salmon recipe indeed.