These Southwest Salmon Cakes with Avocado Ranch Aioli make an easy 30-minute Whole30 & Keto dinner with a little kick – just the way I like it 🙂
Salmon cakes are one of those things I used to feel kinda “meh” about – but now I LOVE them. They have quickly become one of my favorite easy weeknight meals to make! I decided to create my own version with a Mexican twist (because who doesn’t love Mexican themed meals?!). Believe me when I say, this is the only salmon cake recipe you will ever need:)
These salmon cakes and the aioli are Whole30 friendly, keto friendly, paleo, gluten free, etc. And salmon is packed with healthy Omega 3’s! I love using canned skinless/boneless salmon from Wild Planet. I like to bake my salmon cakes to avoid the whole grease splattering out of the pan thing. Anything to create less of a mess = my friend. Because my house is already enough of a mess thanks to the 3 little people who live here.
These would be perfect served with my Southwest Breakfast Potatoes or my Fool Proof Roasted Sweet Potatoes. And the aioli….feel free to put it on EVERYTHING.
Southwest Salmon Cakes with Avocado Ranch Aioli
Ingredients
Salmon Cakes
- 4 6 oz cans boneless/skinless salmon, drained I like Wild Planet brand!
- 1/2 medium red onion diced
- 1/8 cup chopped fresh cilantro can use parsley if you prefer!
- 1 tbsp coconut aminos
- 1 tbsp dijon mustard
- 1/2 cup mayo
- 2 eggs
- 1/3 cup almond flour
- 1 tsp sea salt
- 1 tsp cumin
- 1 tsp chili powder
- 1 tsp garlic powder
- 1/2 tsp paprika
- 1 tbsp ghee or olive oil
Avocado Ranch Aioli
- 1 large avocado peeled and pitted
- 1/3 cup mayo
- 1 tbsp fresh lemon juice
- 2 cloves minced garlic
- 1/4 tsp sea salt
- 1/2 tsp dried parsley
- 1/2 tsp dried minced onion
- 1/2 tsp dried dill
- 1/2 tsp dried chives
- 2 tbsp water more if you want it thinner
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 425. Combine all salmon cake ingredients in a large bowl and mix well, making sure to break up all of the salmon pieces. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper. Use a pastry brush to spread cooking oil of choice over the parchment paper.
- Use a 1/3 cup measuring cup to scoop up the mixture and form 8 1-inch thick patties using your hands. Place them on the baking sheet. Bake for 15 mins, then remove from the oven and flip using a spatula. Return them to the oven for an additional 10 minutes until browned and cooked through.
- While the cakes are baking, make the aioli. Combine all aioli ingredients in a blender and blend on high for 30 seconds. Add water as needed until desired consistency is reached.
- Serve the salmon cakes with the aioli. Enjoy!
These are delicious!! Even my kids who are usually a little seafood averse were obsessed, they asked for leftovers multiple times. The aioli is bomb and I’ll be making it on the regular for everything 🙂
Thanks Jodi!! I’m so glad you loved them!!
I am not one for Salmon Cakes, but these were good. I substituted fresh Salmon and added Toasted Sesame Seeds. I am enjoying your recipes. We had the Loaded Potato and Buffalo Chicken Casserole last night for dinner. Very tasty! Tomorrow, I am taking the Buffalo Tuna Salad for lunch. Thanks for sharing these great recipes.
Hi Taffy! Thanks so much for the kind words. I’m so glad you’re loving the recipes! Thanks for your support 🙂
Absolutely loved this recipe!!! Not only was it easy to make but soooooo good! I will be keeping this one in rotation!
Thank you so much for letting me know! I am so glad you loved it!!
This is the FIRST Whole30 ranch recipe I’ve made and actually ENJOYED! I’m not a big dill fan so I decreased the amount to just under a 1/4 tsp and it is PERFECTION.
Yay! That makes me happy! So glad you loved it 🙂
Made these for lunch today — got my teenagers to eat avocado 🤣🤣🤣 I made them on the stovetop bcuz we don’t have A/C and I didn’t want to heat up the house. Easy, delicious & filling – win! win! win!
Yay! I’m so glad!! Thanks <3
I’m not big on salmon cakes, but gave this recipe a try during Whole30. I’m so glad I did! These were phenomenal and will now be part of my normal rotation. We couldn’t get enough of these and the leftovers were equally fantastic!
Oh wonderful! I am so glad you liked them!! Thanks for letting me know <3
To👏die👏for👏!!! And the aioli!! Man. So good. Super simple and easy to make, super hard not to eat them all in one sitting 😂
The absolute best! So easy to make and so delicious. That aioli accents the patties so well
Thanks, Janessa! I’m so glad you enjoyed it!
Making these for the 5th time tonight. My daughter loves salmon and requests these patties often. So healthy and delicious. Another great recipe from Maryswholelife.
OH YAY! Love this! Thanks Kim!
Made these last night and they were tasty! My husband & I both enjoyed. Pretty easy to make too. I realized after mixing and finding it very wet that my salmon cans were an ounce less each than the recipe states so I added more almond flour to thicken it up a bit. Still a very wet mixture — like a very moist tuna salad! But once you scoop onto the parchment paper you can easily just flatten/shape with your hands and they baked up nicely.
Not super into the avocado ranch aioli but probably just personal preference — we found it needed more acid & salt and we both ended up adding hot sauce, which really helped. Next time I would probably make the same aioli I make for crab cakes — mayo, garlic, lemon juice, salts, and lots of black pepper. But for those who still want to try the avocado aioli, I found it blended up nicely with a stick blender.
I plan on making theses soon as they sound incredibly delicious!! I wanted to ask, just just for ideas, what do/would you serve with this for dinner?
Roasted veggies, mashed potatoes, cauliflower rice, anything you want! 🙂
These were delicious! Do you think you could sub the mayo for Greek yogurt?
Yay! And yes that should be fine!
SO DELICIOUS! I’m not a big fan of leftovers, but these reheated well for lunches, and it made so many patties! I froze some for a couple weeks and still were tasty. Thanks Mary!
Awesome, glad to hear this! Thanks Alex!
Do you think I could substitute finely chopped shrimp instead of salmon? (I have shrimp in the freezer already & am trying not to go to the grocery store too often)
Ruthie
Hi Ruth – sorry for the delay on this! It might work but I haven’t tried it – so can’t say for sure. Would love to know if you try it how it goes!
I made it with raw shrimp. Used food processor to chop it (wanted to leave some chunky). Then added your recipe ingredients. They turned out super!
Amazing! So great to know it works!
Canned Salmon? I was skeptical, I’ll admit it. I figured this would be a fill in meal for the week. One that I would eat because I knew it was good for me and I’d be done with it. Boy, was I wrong!! This. Is. Amazing. I can not get over how good these are. SUCH a pleasant surprise. Have definitely made this several times now.