Integrating wild-caught seafood into your snacking regimen is a satisfying and healthy way to satiate your appetite in between meals. Snacks made with wild-caught seafood will be just filling enough to tide you over, while giving you a nutritious boost.
As with any snack, you want your seafood snacks to be perfectly portioned and ready to eat — or at least easy to assemble so that you don’t have to break a sweat when you just want a quick nosh. Here are a couple of ideas we have in mind that will make it easy for you to snack on seafood any time of day.
Take Advantage of Captain’s Cuts
Our Captain’s Cuts are portioned out to be anywhere between two and four ounces per piece. This makes them a snackable size that won’t spoil your appetite for your next meal. As a matter of convenience, the smaller size of our Captain’s Cuts means that they’ll generally cook up faster than our full-sized portions of wild salmon — and, as they’re typically thinner, they’ll thaw faster once you pull them from the freezer. Check out our guide on how to defrost your seafood the right way; it can take as little as half an hour to have a pack of Captain’s Cuts ready to use.
As far as how to enjoy Captain’s Cuts, you could pan-sear a small portion of salmon in a small pan in under five minutes, enjoying this crispy little snack with a side of your favorite dipping sauce. Or if you’re willing to take a quick look at a snackable recipe, we have some fun ideas lined up for you in our blog post on how to enjoy Captain’s Cuts.
Salmon Jerky
Another salmon-centric snack idea? Salmon jerky. It’s perhaps the ultimate snack, since you can pack it up in a bag without ever having to worry about something like refrigeration. After making a batch of salmon jerky, as long as you’re storing it in a cool, dry place in an airtight container, it’ll keep for weeks.
Try this recipe for salmon jerky from From Chef to Home. Marinated for 12-24 hours in honey and sriracha, it’s a little sweet, a little spicy, and extremely addictive — so even though you’re just making these to have in your pantry “as a snack,” you’ll want to make a big batch of them. If you have a food dehydrator, the strips of salmon will only take about 5 hour or so until they’re perfectly chewy.
Fish Dips
Having a dip, schmear, or spread in your fridge makes snacking on seafood incredibly accessible. Whether your ready-to-eat dip is something you’d enjoy hot or cold, on something toasty or with a fresh vegetable, spending time to whip up a batch of these flavorful condiments makes snack time ridiculously easy for everyone in your household. We’ve got a whole list of recipe ideas in our blog post about spreadable seafood.
Almost Ready to Go
While this recipe from The Washington Post for scallion corn cakes, served with smoked salmon, was probably designed to feed a group of party guests, we think it will turn your snacktime into your very own little party. The cornmeal in these pancakes gives them some heft, as well as some nutty sweetness to complement the salty pop of smoked salmon. Make a batch of these buttermilk scallion corn cakes to freeze — and when you do, you might want to make them big enough to perfectly fit your toaster, as the frozen corn cakes can easily be revived by popping them into a toaster or toaster oven. You could also enjoy these corn cakes with your own home-cured salmon, too; iff you haven’t cured salmon at home yet, you’ll want to hop over to our post that walks you through how to make your own gravlax.
Martha Stewart’s recipe for lemon-parsley cod cakes requires a little foresight, but having a stash of them in your freezer can be a relief when you want to have a really satisfying snack option on hand. For one thing, you’ll have to cook up cod in the first place, since you’ll be using cooked flakes of fish in these fish cakes — but don’t let that stop you. After assembling the fish cakes, adding in some herbs and binding ingredients, you can freeze them on a tray in your freezer before wrapping each of them up individually and storing in a freezer-safe bag. Once they’re defrosted, these fish cakes just need about five minutes in a hot pan before they’re ready to eat.
