Smoked Salmon Pasta Salad

close up shot of salmon pasta salad garnished with dill

Print Recipe

5 from 1 vote

Here I'll show the easiest and most delicious way to whip up a salmon pasta salad!

Prep Time10

Cook Time10

Total Time20

Course: Dinner, Lunch, Main Course, Side Dish

Cuisine: Italian, Western

Servings:

Author: Chris Collins

Cost: £3.50 / $4

Equipment

Sharp Knife & Chopping Board
Small Baking Tray
Large Pot & Colander (for pasta)
Small Mixing Bowl (for dressing)
Large Mixing Bowl (for combining everything)

Ingredients

Dressing

120g / 1/2 cup full-fat Mayo
120g / 1/2 cup Sour Cream
1 1/2 tbsp Lemon Juice
1 heaped tbsp finely diced Fresh Chives
1 heaped tbsp finely diced Fresh Dill
2 tsp Dijon Mustard
1/2 tsp EACH: Sugar, Black Pepper, or to taste
1/8 tsp Salt, or to taste (see notes)

Pasta Salad

1 Bagel, sliced into semi-circles
300g / 1 1/2 cups / 10.5oz uncooked Orzo (see notes)
200g / 7oz Smoked Salmon, roughly torn/sliced
150g / 5.3oz Cucumber, sliced in to small pieces
2 1/2 tbsp Capers
1/2 small Red Onion, finely diced
Olive Oil or Oil Spray, for croutons

Instructions

Preheat the oven to 180C/350F. Add the bagel chips to a baking tray and spray or drizzle with oil. Toss in a pinch of salt then bake in the oven for 10-12 minutes or until golden and crisp. Leave to completely cool (they'll crisp up more as they cool).
Meanwhile, add the orzo to salted boiling water and cook until al dente. Drain and rinse with cold water until completely cool. Give it a really good shake to remove excess water.
As the pasta is cooking combine all of the dressing ingredients in a small bowl.
In a large bowl, combine the drained/rinsed orzo, cucumber, capers, onion and dressing. Stir in the croutons and salmon until everything is evenly distributed then serve and enjoy!

Video

Notes

a) Bagel - I just use regular plain bagels, but have used the red onion & chive ones before, which work well! It's important that you let the croutons cool so they don't warm the dressing and turn it gloopy. They will hold up pretty well and stay crunchy for a good 30 mins or so.

b) Salt - I only add a small amount to the dressing as the capers and salmon add a good amount of salt to everything. You can adjust with more salt after everything has combined if you'd like.

c) Orzo - I love using orzo for this recipe, but you could sub other small pasta like macaroni. If you are, work to the weight comparison (i.e. 300g / 10.5oz)

d) Salmon - I like using smoked salmon because it adds loads of flavour and doesn't need cooking. You could cook some raw salmon (preferably smoked) then leave to completely cool and break up into the pasta if you'd prefer.

e) Consistency - There will be a fair bit of dressing at the start but as you mix everything it gets soaked in.

f) Make ahead - If you want to make it ahead of time leave out the croutons and store them in an airtight container at room temp, then stir in before serving. Keep the pasta salad tightly covered in the fridge.

g) Calories - Whole recipe divided by 4.

Nutrition