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These salmon cakes are crisp on the outside with tasty bites of flaked salmon – YUMM!! It’s mostly salmon which makes every bite such a treat! These salmon cakes always disappear fast and are well loved by the kids and grown ups in our family. I love that there isn’t a hint of fishiness in them.
It’s a smart way to use up leftover cooked salmon, but it’s worth the extra 10 minutes it takes to roast salmon just for this recipe. These salmon patties are THAT GOOD! p.s. You can also use well-drained packaged or canned salmon if that’s what you have on hand.
Make sure to serve with this homemade tartar sauce – it’s the easiest sauce to make, keeps well in the fridge, and once you try homemade, there’s just no going back to the store-bought muck. The same goes for these salmon cakes – they are truly delicious!
Ingredients for Salmon Cakes:
1 lb fresh salmon filet*
Garlic Salt – I use Lawry’s brand
Black Pepper
Olive Oil
1 medium onion (1 cup finely diced)
1/2 red bell pepper, diced
3 Tbsp unsalted butter, divided
1 cup Panko bread crumbs (Japanese Style crumbs)
2 large eggs, lightly beaten
3 Tbsp mayo
1 tsp Worcestershire sauce
1/4 cup minced fresh parsley
*Note: Fresh salmon is best, but it can be substituted with leftover cooked salmon, or 14-15 oz of well-drained canned salmon, or three 5 oz salmon packets. If mixture is too moist to hold the patty shape, add more bread crumbs and if it is too dry, add an extra Tablespoon of mayo.
Watch How To Make Salmon Patties:
How To Make Salmon Cakes (Salmon Patties):
1. Preheat Oven to 425˚F. Line a rimmed baking sheet with parchment or a silpat. Place salmon skin-side down, brush with olive oil and season with garlic salt and black pepper.
Bake uncovered for 10-15 min or just until cooked through (my thinner cut wild salmon was closer to 10 minutes). Remove from oven, cover with foil and rest ten minutes. Discard skin, flake salmon with forks, remove any bones, and cool to room temp while prepping remaining ingredients.
2. Heat a medium skillet over medium heat. Add 1 Tbsp olive oil, 1 Tbsp butter and finely diced onion and bell pepper. Saute until softened and golden (7-9 minutes) then remove from heat.
3. In a large mixing bowl, combine cooled flaked salmon, sautéed onion and pepper, 1 cup bread crumbs, 2 beaten eggs, 3 Tbsp mayo, 1 tsp Worcestershire sauce, 1 tsp garlic salt, 1/4 tsp black pepper, and 1/4 cup fresh parsley. Stir to combine then form into 13-14 patties. I find it’s easiest to portion the patties using a flat ice cream scoop then pressing them into 1/3 to 1/2″ thick patties.
4. Heat 1 Tbsp oil and 1 Tbsp butter in a large pan over medium heat and once butter is done sizzling, add half of the salmon cakes and sauté 3 1/2 to 4 minutes per side or until golden brown and cooked through.
If salmon cakes brown too quickly, reduce heat. Remove to a paper-towel lined plate. Add remaining 1 Tbsp oil and 1 Tbsp butter and repeat cooking remaining salmon cakes.
I can’t get enough of those big flakes of salmon! Major Cravings for salmon cakes with homemade tartar sauce right now. Hands down, these are the best salmon cakes I’ve ever tried and they are so easy!
P.S. If you love this recipe and salmon in general, our famous baked salmon is a must try!
Salmon Cakes Recipe (Salmon Patties)

Ingredients
- 1 lb fresh salmon filet*
- Garlic Salt - I use Lawry's brand
- Black Pepper
- olive oil
- 1 medium onion, 1 cup finely diced
- 1/2 red bell pepper, diced
- 3 Tbsp unsalted butter, divided
- 1 cup Panko bread crumbs, Japanese Style crumbs
- 2 large eggs, lightly beaten
- 3 Tbsp mayonnaise
- 1 tsp Worcestershire sauce
- 1/4 cup minced fresh parsley
Instructions
- Preheat Oven to 425˚F. Line a rimmed baking sheet with parchment or a silpat. Place salmon skin-side down, brush with olive oil and season with garlic salt and black pepper. Bake uncovered for 10-15 min or just until cooked through (my thinner cut salmon was closer to 10 min). Remove from oven, cover with foil and rest ten minutes. Discard skin, flake salmon with forks, remove any bones, and cool to room temp.
- Heat a medium skillet over medium heat. Add 1 Tbsp olive oil, 1 Tbsp butter and finely diced onion and bell pepper. Saute until softened and golden (7-9 minutes) then remove from heat.
- In a large mixing bowl, combine cooled flaked salmon, sautéed onion and pepper, 1 cup bread crumbs, 2 beaten eggs, 3 Tbsp mayo, 1 tsp Worcestershire sauce, 1 tsp garlic salt, 1/4 tsp black pepper, and 1/4 cup fresh parsley. Stir to combine then form into 13-14 patties. It's easy to portion patties using a flat ice cream scoop then pressing them into 1/3 to 1/2" thick patties.
- Heat 1 Tbsp oil and 1 Tbsp butter in a large pan over medium heat and once butter is done sizzling, add half of the salmon cakes and sauté 3 1/2 to 4 min per side or until golden brown and cooked through. If salmon cakes brown too quickly, reduce heat. Remove to a paper-towel lined plate. Add remaining 1 Tbsp oil and 1 Tbsp butter and repeat cooking remaining salmon cakes.
Notes
Nutrition Per Serving
If you make this recipe, I’d love to see pics of your creations on Instagram, Facebook and Twitter! Hashtag them #natashaskitchen
Looking forward to making these tonight, but wondering if I can cook them in the oven instead of the skillet? Maybe at 400 or 425 and then turn them half way through cooking. Have you ever tried it? Thoughts?
Hi Gina, I haven’t tested that but I imagine it may work. If you experiment, please let me know how you liked that recipe.
Gina, How did they turn out baked in the oven?
Made the salmon cakes with leftover salmon. Also made the tarter sauce. Both were delicious! Family loved it. Will make again.
That’s nice to know. Thank you for sharing and for giving great feedback!
This was so yummy!! Both the Salmon cakes and the Tarter sauce.
I’m so glad you enjoyed it!
The recipe was simple and good.
Made these for the first time and they were absolutely delicious. Followed your recipe to a T. Will definitely be making these again. Thank you for this lovely recipe
I’m so glad you enjoyed it! Thank you for the wonderful review!
This being shelter-in-place times, couldn’t run to the grocery store so forced to improvise with what I had on hand – cilantro not parsley, carrot not red pepper – still turned out great! I think it needs a little spicy kick – sriracha mayo, or a little cayenne or some fine chopped jalapeno. Otherwise excellent!
Hello Patricia, that’s really good to know that your substitutes still worked great! We have to improvise nowadays, thanks for sharing, this is really useful information!
I follow you on Facebook. Your recipes are easy to follow and turn out great! The salmon cake recipe is my favorite. Thank you!
Awww that’s the best! Thank you so much for sharing that with me! I’m all smiles
I think you are a fantastic cook or should I say Chef. I have tried many of your recipes and all are terrific. I am hoping to run into you when I spend 2 months in Boise this summer. I have some 100 year old cookie recipes that call for a heaping quart of flour and a scant cup of lard. I think you would be just the person to perfect these. I can still taste them from 60 years ago but could never get them perfect.
Aww that’s the best!! That would be so neat! thank you for sharing that with me Barb! I hope you enjoy our city!
Natasha, another great recipe! I have this simple fish cake recipe. I didn’t have salmon but substitute with Cod and substitute GF with cornflakes crumbs or GF bread crumbs. It turned out great! Lots of flavor and delicious. Since, we’re a GF family I had to make adjustments because we really enjoy your recipes. Thank you for your works! God bless you!
Isn’t the flavor amazing, Sakuna! I’m so glad you enjoyed this recipe! Thank you for that wonderful review!
The salmon patties were so delicious. I did make a few tweaks to your original recipe. I used garlic and herb breadcrumbs 1/2 cup and plain pork rinds 1/2 cup to try to reduce the carbs a little. Thank you so much for posting the recipe.
So great to hear that you enjoyed this recipe, Misty. Thank you for giving an excellent feedback and for sharing some tips with us!
Ventured out into the wild today on a fishing expedition and tricked a Pacific NW spring chinook into being a salmon cake today. Fishy was happy to meet your recipe and so was I. Thanks!
LOL I’m glad that you were able to try this recipe, Jeff! Thanks for dropping by and leaving a good feedback here.
Absolutely outstanding. We used leftover salmon from the evening before. These salmon cakes were a huge hit even with our pickiest eaters. The best part is they are 95% salmon, not like your typical seafood carb-cake that has a hint of fish and/or crab. Highly recommended!
Love it! Thanks for your recommendation and wonderful feedback regarding this recipe.
how much old bay
Hi Bob, one of our readers wrote in with these results after using Old Bay: “I made these awesome Salmon cakes today.I added about 1/4 teaspoon of old bay seasoning. I did use fresh leftover salmon. My husband loved these cakes” I hope that helps.
Great recipe, I use Gluten Free breadcrumbs and add some corn.
I’m so glad you enjoyed it!
This recipe was great. I used canned salmon (14.75 oz) added onion, green pepper and celery and old bay as my salt source. I also added garlic and onion pepper. I used an ice cream scooper and it came out to 9 patties. Great taste and happy I found the recipe.
Great to hear that, Cherika! Thanks for sharing that with us.
I had a small piece of fresh salmon and was looking for something different. So I tried this recipe and now this is my family’s favourite dish. Thank you.
That’s just awesome!! Thank you for sharing your wonderful review, Jay! I’m so glad you found a family favorite!
Wow! These were amazing to make, especially with the homemade tartar sauce (Im never going back to store bought stuff again!). Easy to make and worked well with frozen salmon as well! Even my husband who dislikes anything seafood loved these!
So nice to hear that you and your husband loved this recipe! I always prefer homemade, it’s more effort but always worth it.
Has anyone tried baking these?
Hi Kim, One of my readers reported good results baking but did not share the details on bake time and temperature. If you test it out that way, let me know how you like them baked.
Was curious if it’s ok to make up patties or just the salmon mixture in fridge for the next day? Is that ok or must it be fried right away? Trying to save some steps after a long work day. Love your videos.
Hi Mary, Yes, these can be made ahead, just refrigerate until ready to cook.
Natasha, I couldn’t find the tartar sauce recipe, please advise
Hi Debbie, we have it linked in the recipe and can be found via the search field on our blog. I’ll like it for you here. I hope that helps.
Made these last night. Very easy and super delicious!!!
That’s just awesome!! Thank you for sharing your wonderful review, Marguerite!