From a practical standpoint, wild salmon is so versatile and easy to prepare that you can incorporate it into literally every part of your meal plan, and that includes your appetizers.
From crostini to stuffed mushrooms, to tarts and stews, salmon is a classy, elegant and delicious fish to include at the beginning of any meal. Whether you’re hosting an intimate dinner party for friends, a casual family meal or a larger cocktail party, wild salmon is the perfect appetizer ingredient to kick off a multi-course meal with a flavor-forward nutritional bang. Here’s some great inspiration:
Salmon Skin Cracker with Tartare *
Don’t be afraid of salmon skin; it contains a lot of essential nutrients such as omega-3 fatty acids, plus vitamins B and D. This salmon tartare recipe is refreshing and light and perfectly seasoned with shallots and citrus juices — and it's served with crispy salmon skin crackers. If your goal is to impress your guests, this dish needs to be in your appetizer repertoire.
Poached Sockeye Salmon Cucumber Bites with Dill
Carb-free apps never tasted so good. Typically we gravitate towards anything that is served on a cracker, but these poached salmon bites sing a different tune. The cucumber and dill pair perfectly with the light and flaky salmon spread.
Blowtorched Wild Salmon Bites
These salmon bites look like they came from a professional kitchen, and all you really need is a little bit of fire. Serve it on top of cucumber slices with a dollop of spicy wasabi mayo and people will think you ordered the best Japanese takeout in town.
Salmon Croquettes
It’s hard to play favorites with croquettes, but these salmon croquettes are pretty spectacular. They use minimal breading and lots of salmon. Plus you can make them in bulk and freeze them to use at a later date.
Salmon Tartare*
A nice trick when it comes to making salmon tartare is that if you freeze the fish for a brief amount of time (20 minutes or so) it will be easier to dice into small bite-sized pieces, perfect for tartare. The sesame seeds and cucumber add a nice amount of crunch and the jalapeño adds just enough heat. Pro-tip: serve the tartare with potato chips or Terra chips.
Salmon Stuffed Mushrooms
Stuffed mushrooms = good. Salmon stuffed mushrooms = amazing. It’s everything you love about stuffed mushrooms plus extra credit.
Salmon and Leek Pâté
Pâté is a paste made from meat, typically liver, that is served with crackers or some other carb of choice. But this salmon and leek pâté puts a slightly different spin on the traditional dish. And the best part is you literally dump all of the ingredients into a food processor and blend until you achieve a smooth, spreadable consistency.
Wild Salmon Green Curry Broth
If you’re looking for a comforting appetizer, this salmon curry is warming, satisfying, flavorful and great to serve as a first course. It also makes a lot, or you can always double the recipe so that everyone will get a taste, which is great, because you’ll definitely want seconds.
* Officially, we cannot recommend that you eat our salmon raw; and are required to inform you that consuming raw or undercooked seafood and shellfish may increase your risk of foodborne illness. There's a physiological change that wild salmon experience when they move from fresh water to salt water (and back again), which makes them more susceptible to parasites found in fresh water. While we follow modern flash-freezing processes that help to kill off the parasites, we definitely recommend cooking our salmon before eating it.