Healthy Baked Salmon Patties Recipe

We’ve already got a recipe for salmon cakes that you cook in a skillet. You can also bake them, which saves you the trouble of standing over the skillet and flipping them.

Why Bake Instead of Pan-Fry?

Baking salmon cakes is the set-it-and-forget-it method. No babysitting the pan, no flipping, and way less mess – just 15 minutes of prep and the rest is up to the oven.

It’s also a bit more consistent – every patty cooks evenly, and you won’t have hot spots like you sometimes get on the stovetop. If your oven has convection, turn it on for extra crisp edges.

If you’re feeding a crowd, baking wins big. You can fit 12 patties on a single sheet pan, easily double the recipe, and they all come out at the same time. No batch frying needed.

Baked salmon cakes have a texture that’s crunchier on the outside and softer on the inside. They feel lighter and less dense than the skillet version.

Choosing the Right Salmon

Canned pink salmon is a great budget-friendly choice, and it works perfectly here. If you want richer flavor and a bit more moisture, try canned sockeye.

If your can includes skin and bones, don’t stress – just mash them in. The bones are soft and add calcium, and the skin adds omega-3s and flavor.

Fresh cooked salmon works too. If you use that, flake it well and keep an eye on moisture. You may need a touch more breadcrumbs to help it hold together.

Does Baking Dry Them Out?

You might wonder if baking would make them drier. The answer is not really. It does a tiny bit, but not so you’d notice unless you’re used to the fried version.

And certainly not in a way that will have you grabbing for a beverage to wash them down. You can serve them with applesauce or any other sauce of your choice, too.

Make-Ahead, Freezing, and Reheating

These are great for meal prep! You can definitely make a big batch, freeze them, and take out what you need for dinner each time you want to serve them.

I like to freeze them cooked and then reheat at 375°F for about 15 minutes. You can also freeze them uncooked: just form the patties, place them on a parchment-lined sheet, freeze them solid and then store in freezer bags for up to 2 months. Bake from frozen at 425°F for about 30 minutes.

Tip: If freezing is your plan and you want more moisture, consider pan-fried salmon cakes instead. They reheat very well in the oven.

That said, if you’re making these to freeze so you can pull them out for meals as needed, freezing can dry them out more. So the fried version might be preferred if that’s what you’re doing.

When you bake them, we also recommend brushing butter over them first – again for the flavor and to get the outside nice and crispy. You can mix butter with olive oil instead. Or use margarine.

With either recipe, the amount of butter that will actually end up in the salmon patties is pretty small. Salmon is all about good fats – it’s full of omega 3s, which most of us don’t get nearly enough of.

So if you want to cut the saturated fat, substitute your preferred oil or fat for butter. But if you want flavor with negligible saturated fat, we recommend a good, tasty butter.