Leftover Salmon Cakes – Patties in the Air Fryer or Oven!

Leftover salmon might taste way too fishy… but not if you turn them into leftover salmon cakes in the air fryer or oven! This recipe was a win – but you can also check out my kids’ favorite 3 ingredient tuna patties. This post contains affiliate links.

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We LOVE eating salmon in our house. But if there’s anything we can’t stand it’s dry salmon. I mean leftover salmon that just tastes fishy and not quite there.

The problem with salmon is that it tends to get that way the next day. Unless I’m making a saucy salmon, I find that it’s really not the same thing once it’s gotten cold.

This recipe for leftover salmon cakes was born of need. We were buying full sides of salmon and forgetting to split them in half. Unless we’re hosting a lot of people, that’s way too much salmon for us. And no, we don’t eat “salmon salad” with mayo added – most of us just aren’t fans.

So one day, I took that half side and made some patties, and it came out so good that I decided to share! Yes, it came out delicious on the first try so I quickly jotted down what I did to share.

Everyone – including my picky kids loved it and so I declared it a win and decided to share!

Ingrendients and Substitutes for making leftover salmon cakes

After every recipe, everyone tends to ask “can I use X instead of Y?” I’m trying to address that in advance.

The salmon

One of the reasons that this recipe was such a no-brainer and so easy to get right? Salmon is a fatty fish (healthy fats!) which makes a mean patty. In fact, I’ve even repurposed pans that just baked salmon to make tuna patties, so that they can adopt some of those fats!

While you don’t need to use leftover salmon, the recipe does call for already cooked salmon. You can cook it special, or use canned salmon. I imagine that canned salmon just wouldn’t be the same, but I haven’t tried it.

If you don’t cook the salmon first, you will need to grind it in the food processor – and that’s just a whole different recipe…

I imagine that you can mimic this recipe with other fatty fish, but I can’t promise it’ll come out the same.

Nori snack – and alternatives

This is one of those “happy accidents” where everything just fell into place. One of those was that I had some leftover Nori seaweed snacks in the house. I crumbled it up and mixed it into the salmon cake mixture. It added fabulous flavor that just fits right in.

You can substitute this with regular Nori – although I find that it sometimes clumps a bit more when adding it to a recipe. It also has no added flavor, while the seaweed snack has sesame oil and often has other flavors.

You can also add other flavor boosters, like French’s fried onion, chopped scallions, or anything else that you think might taste good. It’s not a science: you can play around and find a flavor that you love.

How to cook your leftover salmon cakes

I made theses leftover salmon cakes two ways side by side. I put half the mixture in the air fryer, and half in the oven, to see what worked best. I did NOT try pan frying it, but definitely try it if you want.

In the Air Fryer

My instinct was to do this in the air fryer… and it was INCREDIBLE! I put it right on the grate and it stuck a bit, so use a liner if you can.

You don’t even need to add any oil or spray it first – it has plenty of natural oils. Air frying will definitely be my method of choice for baking these in the future. It makes it so crispy, and is ready in half the time.

In the Oven

Not everyone has an air fryer (in fact, I only got mine recently), so I decided to try it in the oven too. While not AS crispy, and ready in double the time, the natural oils really ensure that it comes out delicious this way too.

And it doesn’t take that long regardless. You just need to cook/set the eggs (which happens quickly) and get it crispy. It’s getting it crispy that takes a bit longer, but again, it’s almost oven-fried because of the fats in salmon.

More tips for making leftover salmon cakes

Here are some more storage and serving tips for leftover salmon cakes!

Can you freeze these salmon patties?

I froze a few of these salmon cakes just to test it for you and it was still delicious. Any time you don’t eat these right away, they will automatically be less crispy. But because the oils are natural to the patty, and it wasn’t fried in piles of oil, it doesn’t get soggy or chew.

How long do they last in the fridge?

I can’t really give you insights as to how long this will last refrigerated. Because you will be using leftover fish, it’ll heavily depend on how fresh that fish is. I recommend exercising caution when eating leftovers and follow best practices for leftover salmon.

What to serve your salmon burgers with

As a dinner, I’d serve this with a Romaine lettuce-based salad, and either past or rice on the side! It’ll go great with a starch that’s rich and creamy, plus a light salad.

You can serve it as an appetizer or side dish as well, and it goes well with a dipping sauce. I threw together a quick dill sauce using some mayo, lemon juice, and of course dill. I use frozen dill cubes as my dill-of-choice, but you can use dried or fresh dill as well. Just add it to your mayo-lemon base slowly, until you’re happy with the dill flavor.

Leftover Salmon Cakes Recipe

Ingredients

• About four cups leftover salmon (after flaking)
• 2 cups breadcrumbs (one for every two cups of salmon)
• 4 eggs (1 for ever cup of salmon)
• 4 packs seaweed snack (about .17 oz/5 grams each – one for every cup of salmon)
• If the salmon is well-seasoned, you don’t need more seasoning.

I highly recommend these baking sheets – they get perfectly clean in the dishwasher each time – no parchment needed!

Process

1. Using gloves, flake up the salmon with your hands.
2. Add the breadcrumbs and eggs, mix well.
3. Crumble up your seaweed snack and mix that in gently.
4. Form patties.
5. Bake at 400 for 30 minutes on a sheet pan (spraying with oil is optional.) Or air fry at 350 for 12 minutes, flipping halfway through.