Ultra comforting, old-fashioned, delicious Creamed Salmon Recipe (2024)

This comforting, delicious creamed salmon recipe is unapologetically old-fashioned. Served this creamy salmon sauce or gravy over your favourite toast, rice, or hot egg noodles, you can’t beat this ultra-fast meal option for breakfast, lunch, or dinner.

This is a basic, ultra budget friendly version of classic salmon in cream sauce. You can make it as written or make it your own by tinkering with add ins! I’ll share some great ideas for variations on the theme.

Cream of Salmon Recipe

Before we get further, let’s go over the list of ingredients and equipment needed to make our delicious cream of salmon recipe. It’s truly a simple sauce,

Ingredients

1. Butter
2. All-purpose flour
3. Dried mustard
4. Granulated Onion
5. Milk
6. Salt and pepper
7. Canned salmon
8. Frozen peas
9. Lemon juice
10. Fresh dill weed (or dried dill weed)
11. Toast, crusty bread, egg noodles, rice, or cauliflower rice for serving
12. Optional: Green onions or fresh chives for garnish

While I adore fresh or frozen salmon, today’s recipe uses canned salmon! It’s delicious, convenient, economical, and makes even faster work of an already speedy recipe.

I mean break it down with me for a moment. A can of safe catch, wild-caught, boneless, skinless salmon comes in at $12.79/pound. A pouch of the same costs $9.54/pound.

Even at my grocery store, the least expensive frozen Atlantic salmon is over $13/pound. Considering that the can lasts indefinitely on my shelves and is less expensive, that seems a no-brainer to me!

You can get even more frugal if you use the sort of canned salmon that still has the skin, bones, and cartilage in it. You’ll need to pick the aforementioned squidgy bits out of your canned salmon before adding it to the recipe, but it is under $9/pound!

And if you’re wondering whether you can sub in canned tuna, the answer is a resounding yes! Creamed tuna on toast is amazingly delicious, too.

I include frozen peas because I just plain love them. You can opt to replace them with raw baby spinach, cooked asparagus tips or green beans, or omit them entirely, if desired.

I think dill is a natural pairing for the creamed salmon recipe, but you have options. I love fresh dill, but dried dill is also tasty! And if you don’t have that on hand, feel free to sub in fresh or dried parsley for a fun variation.

Just a wee bit of fresh lemon juice and dried mustard powder really makes this recipe sing. If you don’t have dried mustard powder, you can substitute in a teaspoon of Dijon mustard.

No fresh lemons? Just use a half teaspoon of bottled lemon juice or leave it out entirely. The fresh lemon juice is really special in the creamed salmon.

Cream Sauce Salmon Recipe

Let’s discuss the creamy portion of this sauce. While you might think this is a salmon with cream recipe, that’s not quite right.

I prefer to use whole milk instead of heavy cream. Milk keeps it a little lighter on the palate.

If you’re so inclined, you can add a handful of grated parmesan cheese to your creamy sauce when serving it. We’re a household divided over the cheese… half of us like it and half don’t.

Thankfully it’s a piece of cake just to add it at the table!

I almost always serve this creamed salmon over whole grain toast, but it’s equally delightful over crusty bread, hot egg noodles, or rice. You can even ladle it over cauliflower rice if you so desire.

Equipment

1. Measuring Spoons
2. Measuring Cups
3. 2-quart saucepan or stainless steel everyday pan
4. Whisk
5. Stove top or induction cooktop.

That’s it! Every kitchen should have everything needed to make our creamed salmon recipe.

I do not recommend using a nonstick skillet or pan unless you’re also using a whisk designed to be used with non-stick cookware. The reason for this is that nonstick coating is not super sturdy and metal whisks can damage or chip it.

In a saucepan or large skillet, melt butter over medium heat.

Stir in flour and dry mustard powder until smooth.

Cook for 2 minutes or until bubbly. Whisk in the granulated onion.

Gradually whisk in milk. Bring to a boil; cook and stir until thickened, about 1-2 minutes.

Drop the burner to low heat. Stir in lemon juice, salmon and its juices, salt, pepper, and dill. Cook until heated through, about 5 minutes. Serve the salmon sauce over toast, noodles, crusty bread, or rice, garnished with sliced green onions or fresh chives, if desired.