Salmon patties
Crisp, golden Southern-style patties made from a can of salmon and a handful of crackers, with sweet buttered peas on the side.
- 35 min total
- 25 min hands-on
- Follow-a-recipe easy
- Serves 4
- About $3.20 a serving
- 440 calories
- Good the next day
Dolly says: Make the full amount. It’s just as good for lunch the next day.
Ingredients
For 4 servings.
- 14¾ oz canned salmon, drained
- 1 large egg
- 15 saltine crackers, finely crushed (about ½ cup)
- ¼ yellow onion, finely chopped
- 2 tbsp mayonnaise
- 1 tsp Dijon mustard
- 2 cups frozen peas
- 1 tbsp butter
- 1 lemon, cut into wedges
From your pantry
- ¼ tsp black pepper
- 3 tbsp vegetable oil
- ¼ tsp salt
Each serving has about 440 calories, 27 g protein, 20 g carbs and 28 g fat, and costs about $3.20 at typical US grocery prices. Both are estimates from what the recipe uses.
Missing something?
- No yellow onions? White onions or red onions work.
- No frozen peas? Frozen mixed vegetables work.
- No butter? Ghee works.
- No lemons? Limes work.
Steps
Tap an underlined word for a quick explanation.
Flake the salmon into a bowl with a fork. Pick out the skin and any big bones, and mash the small soft ones right in.
Drain. Draining means pouring off liquid, like tipping pasta into a colander or spooning extra fat out of the pan. Pour hot grease into a can or jar, not the sink, where it hardens and clogs the pipes.
How you’ll know: Only a few drips are left, and the food isn’t sitting in a puddle.
Dolly’s tip: The soft bones are edible and full of calcium. Mashed in, you’ll never notice them.Add the egg, crushed crackers, onion, mayonnaise, mustard and pepper, and mix with a fork until it holds together when squeezed.
Shape the mixture into 8 patties about ½ inch thick and chill them for 10 minutes.
Timer: 10 min
Dolly’s tip: Chilling firms them up so they don’t crumble when you flip.Heat the oil in a large over medium heat until it .
Skillet. A skillet is a frying pan: wide and flat with low, sloped sides. The shape lets steam escape, so food browns instead of stewing.
How you’ll know: It’s the pan you’d fry an egg in, and a 10 or 12 inch one handles most recipes.
Shimmering oil. Oil shimmers when it’s hot enough to cook: its surface looks rippled and wavy, like heat over a road. That’s your cue to add the food, just before the oil would start to smoke.
How you’ll know: The oil looks wavy and runs thin like water when you tilt the pan, with no smoke yet.
Medium heat
Cook the patties 3 to 4 minutes per side, until deep and hot all the way through. them on paper towels.
Golden brown. Golden brown is the color of good toast, somewhere between yellow and light brown. It means the outside is cooked and crisp but not burnt.
How you’ll know: It looks like toast and smells toasty; dark brown with a bitter smell means it went too far.
Drain. Draining means pouring off liquid, like tipping pasta into a colander or spooning extra fat out of the pan. Pour hot grease into a can or jar, not the sink, where it hardens and clogs the pipes.
How you’ll know: Only a few drips are left, and the food isn’t sitting in a puddle.
Medium heatTimer: 7 min
Dolly’s tip: Flip once, gently, with a thin spatula. Moving them too early is what breaks them.Food safety: For the safest eggs, cook until the whites are fully set and the yolks begin to thicken. Dishes made with eggs are done at 160°F.
While they cook, warm the peas with the butter and salt in a small over medium heat for 4 to 5 minutes, now and then.
Saucepan. A saucepan is a pot with tall, straight sides and one long handle. It’s for things that need depth, like rice, sauces or a few boiled eggs.
How you’ll know: The food fills it about halfway, leaving room to bubble without spilling over.
Stir. Stirring means moving food around with a spoon or spatula so it cooks evenly and doesn’t stick. Unless the recipe says constantly, every so often is plenty, and it gives food time to brown.
How you’ll know: When you drag the spoon across the bottom, nothing is sticking or scorching.
Medium heatTimer: 4 min 30 sec
Serve the patties with the buttered peas and lemon wedges for squeezing.
Plan this in Dollop, and get the grocery list
Dollop puts this dinner on a night that suits your week, lists only what you still need to buy, and walks you through each step while you cook.
More dinners like this
Pantry dinners ›Cozy comfort food ›What to make with eggs and frozen peas ›