Catfish Out of Water

I have been absolutely craving salmon burgers lately. Wisconsin does a fish fry absolutely every Friday. Although you can set your calendar to the apex of lent where, whether you're religious or not, the entire state rallies together and agrees on one incredibly vital thing. And that is that it's fish fry season. No matter who you are or what you do or do not believe in, the scent of fish fries and tartar sauce are absolutely in the air. Particularly living in the city? Even in the dead of winter with snow falling on the ground? The unmistakable scent of fried fish is there. Now, as much as I'm on the fish fry bandwagon, this does drive up the price of cod. There are plenty of other fish that you can fry. Although I was born and raised on the West coast and have a certain soft spot for salmon. So, instead of going the typical fish fry route? Because deep frying a salmon almost seems blasphemous. I've been determined that I will make burgers, instead. Tartar Sauce Salmon Burgers to be more specific.

Salmon burgers might not be deep fried and you're absolutely less likely to see salmon in this part of the country! But they're one of my favorites. And the tartar sauce is on point. I do ordinarily swap out mayonnaise for Greek yogurt, though. Which may firmly sement myself into the hipster generation of millenials (especially when I start adding avocados and sweet potato fries...). Although I've come to peace with that characterization. Particularly because it's all about how the food tastes! And salmon burgers are absolutely delicious in my book.

Gallery

Variations of Tartar Sauce Salmon Burgers

I am quite fond of making salmon burgers. I'll oftentimes mix and match the kind of burger bun. For this recipe, I made a No-Knead Dutch Oven Bread that I portioned into rolls. Although Brioche Rolls and Black Rolls w/ Squid Ink are also fun options.

Barbecue Salmon Burgers w/ Tartar Sauce & Tomatoes

Salmon Burgers w/ Squid Ink Buns & Tartar Sauce

Barbecue Salmon Burgers w/ Tartar Sauce & Avocados

Salmon Burgers w/ Greek Yogurt Tartar Sauce

These Tartar Sauce Salmon Burgers consist of homemade rolls, sweet potato fries, and Greek yogurt tartar sauce with freshly sliced avocados and lettuce.

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Prep Time 15 minutes mins

Cook Time 1 hour hr

Total Time 1 hour hr 15 minutes mins

Course Main Course

Cuisine American

Servings 6 servings

Equipment

• Baking Sheet or Griddle
• Oven
• Medium Bowl
• Skillet w/ Lid

Ingredients

  

Dutch Oven Rolls

• 472 ml. warm water ~100°F (2 c.)
• 7 g. instant yeast (2 ¼ tsp. or 1 package)
• 7 g. honey (or 2 tsp. granulated sugar, maple syrup, or brown sugar)
• 570 g. all-purpose flour (4 ¾ c.)
• 2 tsp. salt
• oil to grease bowl

Tartar Sauce

• 1 c. dill pickles minced
• 1/4 shallot minced
• 2 cloves garlic minced
• 2 red jalapeños minced
• 1 lemon juiced
• 1 c. Greek yogurt (or mayonnaise)
• dash salt
• dash pepper

Salmon Patties

• 1 fillet salmon (~1 lbs.)
• 2 lemons sliced
• dash salt
• dash pepper
• ~1 tbsp. olive oil
• 1 red bell pepper finely diced
• 2 eggs
• 1 c. bread crumbs
• ~1 tbsp. high heat oil

Sweet Potato Fries

• 1 sweet potato sliced
• spritz olive oil
• dash salt
• dash pepper

Burger

• 1 roll
• 1 salmon patty
• dollop tartar sauce
• 1/4 avocado sliced
• 2 leaves lettuce

Instructions

 

Prepare Ingredients

• This recipe utilizes a lot of things that you can make yourself or buy in a pinch. If you want to make everything from scratch, you will need to start a few hours ahead of time!

  For a quicker recipe, you can always substitute store-bought burger buns, salmon patties, or tartar sauce.
• Bake No-knead Dutch Oven Bread Rolls. You can easily buy burger buns. If you want to make it, though, this is a quick and easy recipe. The entire process takes about 3 hours, with no need to knead the bread or plan for days long proofs!
• Tartar Sauce is the easiest add-on to make. I highly recommend making it from scratch. The taste is far superior to store-bought varieties and only takes about 5-10 minutes to make. I also like to use Greek yogurt because I'm not a huge fan of mayonnaise! Although you can substitute it back in.

Make Salmon Patties

• Note that in this recipe I only show one burger. Salmon patties are usually much easier to make in larger quantities, though. You'll also get more rolls and tartar sauce than necessary for a single serving! This will make 4 large patties or 6 small patties.
• Preheat oven to 450 degrees Fahrenheit.
• Place salmon skin-side down on a baking sheet.

  I usually use a cast iron griddle. However, the exact cooking method isn't as important here because you're just going to blend them together. If you don't have a nonstick pan or you want an easier cleanup, you can line it with aluminum foil.
• Drizzle with olive oil and add a dash of salt and pepper. Slice a lemon and place evenly on top of the salmon.

  You want just enough lemon and oil to cover the top of the salmon and keep it from burning as the inside cooks. Salmon is already an oily fish, so use sparingly.
• Bake the salmon for 12-17 minutes, or until it begins to flake. Salmon tends to be cooked when it loses the bright color and you can take a fork and it easily separates. Remove from the oven and let cool.
• Meanwhile, lightly oil a skillet and heat to medium.
• Finely chop the bell pepper. Add to a medium-sized bowl along with eggs, breadcrumbs, salt, and pepper. Whisk to combine.
• When the salmon has reached a manageable temperature, flake into the bowl and stir to combine.
• Separate into 4-6 equal-sized portions and form into round patties, about 1/2 inch thick.
• Add salmon patties to the skillet and fry until lightly browned, about 3-5 minutes. Carefully flip and repeat on the other side. Add more oil as necessary to keep the pan lightly coated with oil.

Sweet Potato Fries

• Cut potatoes lengthwise into roughly 1 inch wedges. For smaller potatoes, quartering them should be adequate. For larger potatoes, you might need to cut them into 6 pieces.
• Lightly coat on all sides with salt, pepper, and oil.
• Arrange potato wedges in the basket of the air fryer, making sure that there is space between them. It's okay if they touch a little because you will end up rotating them. However, there does need to be some air flow between the potatoes for them to crisp properly.
• Cook at 400°F for 7-10 minutes, or until the edges have begun brown.
• Rotate the potatoes, either by flipping them one by one or shaking the basket until the have turned over. If they're starting to brown or blacken too quickly, spritz with more oil.
• Cook at 400°F for another 5-7 minutes. Cooking times will vary based on the size of the wedges and amount of oil.

Assemble Burgers

• Slice the roll in half. Place the sliced sides down on the skillet and toast until it crisps.

  Ordinarily I would look for golden brown, but that's not going to happen here because the roll is already black! Just cook until toasted, about 2-4 minutes.
• Place the roll on a plate. Top the top side with tartar sauce.
• Add avocado, lettuce, and any other ingredients that you desire to the top half of the roll.
• Add salmon patty to the bottom of the roll.
• Serve immediately.

Tips, Tricks, & Notes

• For more information on baking salmon, check out my articles on The Fundamentals of Oven Baked Salmon and Barbecue Salmon. I'm particularly fond of cooking on a well-seasoned cast iron griddle because you don't need additional oil or foil to to keep it from sticking. But there are certainly ways around this if you don't want to dedicate an entire cast iron pan to fish! Cooking salmon is also more of an art than a science. No two filets are going to cook in the exact same amount of time and there are definitely some tips and tricks to nailing the cook on fish.