with basil artichoke avocado salsa and harissa aioli
Salmon mixed with herbs, cannellini beans, onions, sweet peppers, a bit of lemon juice, mustard and lots of good seasonings, then rolled in a crunchy coating and pan fried until golden brown, topped with a zesty basil artichoke avocado salsa and a drizzle of creamy tingly harissa aioli sauce, this burger has so much going on, you won’t miss the bun! (But if you really must have one, just go ahead and do what makes YOU happy.)
This post is part of a kick-butt burger grill giveaway hosted by GirlCarnivore but the burger epicness is all my own.
I knew when GirlCarnivore first asked who wanted to be involve this year for #BurgerMonth I was totally all in … and I also just KNEW I had to do a salmon burger of some kind … you know, because heart health is my THEME for this year, but I had no idea exactly what that salmon burger would look like.
It’s really funny, you guys. I had several ideas for this salmon burger and thought I had settled on one, but once I started mixing up the burger mixture, well, my plan flew out the window and my burger took another direction entirely. That’s the funny thing about the creative process … you never quite know where you’re going to end up. I didn’t even dream of the basil artichoke avocado salsa. Somehow, it just happened. Something in the back of my head told me THIS would be the perfect thing to go with my salmon burgers. So I went with it and oh, man, that little voice was SPOT on. (Note to self: listen to that smarty pants voice in the back of my head more often!)
The harissa aioli was one of the options I’d already considered, so I decided to include that too … because pshaw! Who wants just ONE topping for their salmon burger when you can have TWO epic toppings?
What’s harissa? Harissa is a Mediterranean/North African seasoning that is sometimes made as a paste, sometimes as a powdered spice mix, but personally, I prefer the paste. The paste is a blend of hot peppers, garlic, oil and lots of good spices. It’s spicy, complex and (imho) totally addictive. In North Africa, it is apparently one of the condiments that is served with everything, kind of like Sriracha. You can purchase harissa (and if you buy it from Amazon via that link, they’ll throw me a few pennies), but it’s also quite easy to make at home. Last summer when I had a bunch of hot peppers from the garden, I made a bunch of harissa and froze it. (Pssst! Here’s the recipe.)
Because harissa is spicy (some varieties moreso than others), I recommend adjusting the amount of harissa you use in both the salsa and the aoili to your own tastes. Different people have different tolerances for hot, spicy foods and I recognize that my taste for heat is skewed after living in New Mexico for many years. Start small and add harissa until you’ve reached the level of spice that’s comfortable for your tastes. Keep in mind, whatever you don’t use can be frozen for later.
Can this burger be dairy free? Yes, to make the burger and toppings dairy free, simply skip the cheese and replace with extra ground nuts OR vegan cheese and then use all dairy free mayo in place of BOTH the mayonnaise and yogurt in the aioli (so 2/3 cup dairy free mayo).
BUT WAIT! STOP THE PRESSES! I must tell you something very, very important. There’s a GIVEAWAY!
Oh you guys, there’s a super fun grilling giveway for burger month and it’s worth over $800. You definitely want to enter this one before it’s over … look at all the good things you could win:
Use this rafflecopter to enter:
Even if you entered before on my Cinco de Mayo burger, you can totally enter again! There are prizes awarded each week of burger month.
Go enter!!! I’ll wait for you …
Now that you’ve finished entering, I know you’re going to want to see this burger up close and personal … so here you go … just gaze at that deliciousness! Don’t you just want to reach through the screen and take a bite? If I could hand you one, I totally would … this recipe makes a LOT of burgers with just one can of salmon and one can of beans. I think I need to have a party now to serve up all my salmon burgers. Any of you want to join us?
Print
Herbed Salmon Cannellini Burgers
- Prep Time: 20 minutes
- Cook Time: 30 minutes
- Total Time: 50 minutes
- Yield: About 10 servings 1x
Ingredients
For the burgers:
- 1 15-oz. can of cannellini beans, drained and rinsed
- 1 15-oz. can of wild-caught salmon
- 1/3 cup pine nuts or cashews
- 1/3 cup finely chopped onion
- 1/3 cup finely chopped red bell pepper (or mini sweet peppers)
- 1 cup shredded mozzarella or Italian blend of cheeses
- 1 teaspoon dried dill
- 2 teaspoons Old Bay Seasoning
- 2 teaspoons Trader Joe’s 21 Seasoning Salute (or other salt-free blend of seasonings)
- 2 teaspoons lemon juice, freshly squeezed
- 2 teaspoons mustard
- 2 eggs
- 1 – 2 cloves garlic, peeled & chopped
- 3 – 5 fresh basil leaves, 1 small sprig of rosemary and several chives, finely chopped
For frying the burgers:
- Rice chex, finely chopped (or panko bread crumbs)
- 2 – 3 Tablespoons olive or avocado oil
For the basil artichoke avocado salsa:
- 12 campari cocktail tomatoes, chopped (or about 4 medium garden tomatoes)
- 1 cup chopped sweet onion
- 12 marinated artichoke hearts, drained and chopped
- 1 large ripe avocado, chopped
- About 10 fresh basil leaves, chopped
- 3 or more teaspoons harissa paste, to taste. (Use store bought or this recipe here.)
For the harissa aioli:
- 1/3 cup avocado oil mayonnaise (or light mayo of your choice)
- 1/3 cup nonfat yogurt
- 1 – 3 teaspoons harissa paste (to taste)
To serve: fresh lettuce leaves or buns
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350 F. Spread a silicone baking mat out on a large rimmed baking sheet (or spray with cooking spray). Drain and rinse the cannellini beans, then spread them out on the prepared sheet. Bake at 350 for about 20 minutes or until the beans are split and slightly dried.
- While the beans are baking, put the salmon in a medium mixing bowl and crush any bones with a spoon, then mix together with the rest of the burger ingredients except the beans and the nuts.
- Also, stir together the salsa ingredients in a separate bowl and whisk together the harissa aioli ingredients in a small bowl.
- When the beans are done toasting, put them in a mini food processor with the nuts and process until finely ground. Stir this mixture into the salmon mixture in the bowl. (At this point, some of the salmon burger mixture can be put in a sealed container and saved in the fridge or freezer for later.)
- Form the burger mixture into about 10 – 12 patties, and heat a large frying pan over medium heat. Roll each salmon burger in a bowl of crushed rice chex or panko. Add the oil to the pan, a Tablespoon at a time. and fry the burgers until golden brown on the bottom, then flip and fry until the other side is golden brown.
- Serve hot on fresh crunchy lettuce leaves with the salsa spooned over top and drizzled with harissa aioli. Garnish with fresh basil leaves, if desired.
Notes
RECIPE SOURCE: http://www.sumptuousspoonfuls.com/
© Copyright 2019, Sumptuous Spoonfuls. All images & content are copyright protected. Please do not use my images without prior permission. If you want to publish any of my images, please ask first. If you want to republish this recipe as your own, please re-write the recipe in your own words or link back to this post for the recipe.
Nutrition
- Serving Size: 1 salmon burger with salsa & aoili
- Calories: 252
- Fat: 16.3 g
How does this tasty burger stack up, health wise? I was aiming for something heart healthy and I’d say I nailed it! This salmon burger recipe has over 5 g of fiber and 14 g of protein, plus it’s super low in carbs and it’s a significant contributor to vitamin D, iron, calcium (thanks to those salmon bones … they are a great source of calcium that your body can absorb easily) and potassium too! The fats used here are heart healthy fats as well. Whether you’re eating for your heart or want to cut carbs or you’re diabetic or gluten free, you can feel good about eating these yummy salmon burgers.
(Note: Because I didn’t measure the crushed rice chex (and it’s very hard to tell how much is actually used on the burgers), plus the amount of olive oil used varies, I didn’t include them in the recipe analysis. This nutrition analyzer also doesn’t tell you that the tomatoes, onions, peppers, garlic and avocados also contribute vitamins and minerals that aren’t even mentioned, like vitamins A and C.)
A huge thanks to the #BurgerMonth sponsors for the Ultimate Burger Grilling Giveaway: Cabot Cheese, Char-Griller Grills, Crow Canyon Home, Porter Road, Melissas Produce, Red Duck, Spiceology, & Western BBQ
Make sure to go to BurgerMonth.com and see ALL the epic burger creations for this month. I’m thrilled to be join all these talented blogger participants in #BurgerMonth!
🍔 Girl Carnivore 🍔 A Kitchen Hoor’s Adventures 🍔 A Simple Pantry 🍔 Abra’s Kitchen 🍔 AcadiaTwo’s Kitchen Antics 🍔 An Affair from the Heart 🍔 Bakersbeans 🍔 Betsi’s World 🍔Caroline’s Cooking 🍔 Cindy’s Recipes and Writings 🍔 City Living Boston 🍔 Cluttercafe 🍔Comfortably Domestic 🍔 Cooking With Carlee 🍔 Convos with Karen 🍔Daily Dish Recipes 🍔 Dance Around The Kitchen 🍔 Dixie Chik Cooks 🍔 Dizzy Busy and Hungry 🍔 Doodlecraft 🍔 Everyday Eileen 🍔 Family Around the Table 🍔 Family Food on the Table 🍔 Family Spice 🍔Farmwife Feeds 🍔Food Above Gold 🍔 For the Love of Food 🍔 Grillax.com 🍔 Grilling Montana 🍔 Grumpy’s Honeybunch 🍔 Hezzi-D’s Books and Cooks 🍔 Honeybunch Hunts 🍔 HORNS BBQ 🍔Intelligent Domestications 🍔 It Is a Keeper 🍔 Jolene’s Recipe Journal 🍔 Jonesin For Taste 🍔 Juggling Act Mama 🍔 Karen’s Kitchen Stories 🍔 Kate’s Recipe Box 🍔 Krazy Kitchen Mom 🍔 Life Anchored 🍔 Life of a Ginger 🍔 Mildly Meandering 🍔 Miss in the KItchen 🍔 Palatable Pastime 🍔 Pastry Chef Online 🍔Perspective Portions 🍔 Plowing Through Life 🍔 PNW Eats 🍔 Pook’s Pantry 🍔 Real Life With Dad 🍔Sarah’s Cucina Bella 🍔 Seduction In The Kitchen 🍔 Simple and Savory 🍔 Souffle Bombay 🍔 Spiced 🍔Spoonabilities 🍔 Strawberry Blondie Kitchen 🍔 SueBee Homemaker 🍔 Sumptuous Spoonfuls 🍔 Sweet ReciPeas 🍔 Swirls of Flavor 🍔 Take Two Tapas 🍔 Tampa Cake Girl 🍔 Taste And See 🍔 The Baking Fairy 🍔 The Beard and The Baker 🍔 The Complete Savorist 🍔 The Crumby Kitchen 🍔 The Heritage Cookbook Project 🍔 The Keto Guy 🍔 The Redhead Baker 🍔 The Rowdy Baker 🍔 The Schmidty Wife 🍔 The Shirley Journey 🍔 The Spiffy Cookie 🍔 This Farm Girl Cooks 🍔 Thyme for Cocktails 🍔 We are not Martha 🍔 Well Fed Baker 🍔 West Via Midwest 🍔 Who Needs A Cape? 🍔 Wildflour’s Cottage Kitchen 🍔 Wok & Skillet 🍔Zest & SImmer 🍔
Reminder: This post is part of a kick-butt burger grill giveaway hosted by GirlCarnivore but the burger epicness is all my own.
17 comments
Wow, that’s a whole lotta flavor going on there! What a great burger, and I love how your idea sort of shaped itself as you went. Those types of recipes are always the best, when you trust your gut!
They really are! Thanks so much, Jenni.
I’m so glad you listened to that voice! This burger looks delicious, and I love its it healthy and on the low carb spectrum! AND those toppings? I have to try this. I’ve been wanting to make something with Salmon anyway, so this is just the ticket!
Oh I’m so excited you’re going to try it, Shelby! I think you’ll love it.
Salmon Burgers are a great change of pace from beef burgers. Such a great idea! Looking forward to making these soon!
Love the idea of white beans in a salmon burger, can’t wait to try this!
Yumm! Looks good. So is this kind of like a crab cake just make with Salmon?
Yeah, it kind of is, Sarah! Very much like a crab cake.
So many awesome ingredients.
I’m loving all the flavors of your salmon burger! And bring on the heat and the harissa! YUM!
You know it! I gotta have a little heat on my burgers. Thanks so much, Laura.
Such a creative and delicious burger for Burger Month!!
What a fancy burger! I think this to my sister because she LOVES salmon. 🙂
Thanks Angela! It made my heart happy … I ate salmon burgers for 3 days in a row before I told myself I needed to STOP eating them! I hope your sister loves this salmon burger. 🙂
I’ve put cannlini beans in a veggie burger. I can only imagine what a hearty filler it makes for a salmon burger. So much flavor and texture in there.
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