Sweet Potato Salmon Cakes with Chipotle Mayo
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Author Notes: I guess the first thing I should say is that this recipe is off my blog which I started as a result of my husband getting laid off. I call it Cheap Beets, a mostly vegetarian guide to eating well in the recession, and not completely vegetarian, as I have a major crush on anchovies. Well, fish of any sort, really. These fish cakes were a go-to recipe during the layoff. I'm a big believer in the well-stocked pantry, and this recipe is one of my favorites. The entire recipe costs about $3, with the canned salmon being the most expensive part. - CheapBeets
Food52 Review: I’d never before opened a can of salmon. As the top popped, I looked skeptically at the 5 ounces of light pink fish, questioning its satisfaction quotient. Enter CheapBeets’ method for combining sweet potatoes and breadcrumbs with the salmon and eggs and scallions: her recipe yields four, honkin’ big, flavorful cakes! I made half the recipe with fresh bread crumbs and half with boxed ones as the recipe doesn’t specify. Tasters were split on which was better, so use what you have on hand. I cut the sauce’s mayo with Greek yogurt for a bit of tang and sprinkled the cakes with good salt. - cheese1227
Makes about 6 very filling cakes
Sweet Potato Salmon Cakes
- 5 ounces canned salmon
- 1 Sweet potato, peeled and cubed
- 3/4 cups bread crumbs
- 2 eggs
- 2 tablespoons mayonnaise
- 2 green onions, chopped
- Juice of half a lemon
Chipotle Mayo
- 4 tablespoons mayonnaise
- 1 chipotle pepper and its adobo sauce, minced
- 2 cloves garlic, minced
- Squeeze of lemon juice
- In a 2-quart saucepan, boil the sweet potato in 2 cups water until tender.
- Drain potato. After it cools, place the cubes in a medium-size bowl and mash well.
- To this, add the rest of the ingredients and mix until well-combined. I find that using my hands is the best way to get this done.
- Heat a thin coat of oil in 10-inch nonstick skillet. Using 1/4 cup of fish mixture per patty, form patties and fry in skillet over medium flame, approximately 5 minutes per side, until golden on both sides. Add more oil to skillet if necessary.
- While the patties are frying, make the chipotle mayo by combining all ingredients in a bowl.
- This recipe is a Community Pick!
- This recipe was entered in the contest for Your Best Canned Fish Recipe
- This recipe was entered in the contest for Your Best Dirt Cheap Dinner
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5 days ago katstreet
Definite winner in this household. We roasted the sweet potatoes (skins on, 20min @ 380˚F) and used leftover salmon. Also, was a bit too lazy to make the Chipotle mayo, so went for Sriracha mayo instead. Such a great cheap eat!
about 1 month ago Shirley Ortiz
Loved this! Used Panko bread crumbs and Wasabi mayo . Very easy to make.
about 1 month ago vivbest
Delicious! We didn't have mayo on hands, so I just used whole milk yogurt instead. We used lime instead of the lemon (also because that's what we had on hand.) I'm inspired to make other kinds of patties now, and look forward to experimenting with some of the variations mentioned below! =) Thanks!
about 1 month ago Rita Goeckeritz
This is a great recipe! We had left over grilled wild salmon which I used instead of the canned. We loved the sweet potato as the bulk of the filler. I cooked it in the microwave will I pulled the other ingredients together. The meal was ready in less than 30 minutes - can't beat that. We will certainly be making this again.
about 1 month ago Hilarybee
I loved this recipe- a great staple, very adaptable. I added sesame seeds, swapped lime juice for lemon juice and sriracha sauce for the chipotle adobe. Served it with mango avocado salsa and stir fried vegetables.
about 3 hours ago Olijfjeb
Hi Hilarybee! I was just wondering if you have a special kind of recipe for your salsa, cause it sounds like it's a great addition to this dish, and I'd love to try it... !
about 2 hours ago Hilarybee
I really don't! I just diced a mango, an avocado, added a bit of red onion, a diced jalepeno and topped it with lime juice, salt and pepper.
about 1 month ago lucky3cook
Oh man was this good. I was distracted, and accidentally added chipotle pepper to the salmon cakes itself, but it was a happy mistake. The chipotle mayo sauce was great.
2 months ago mikha
YUM! I was skeptical about the canned salmon, but these were delicious! I swapped minced sweet onion for the green onion and added minced red pepper and fresh basil too. Definitely a keeper!
2 months ago katetheoptimist
We made these last night and they were spectacular! We had to adjust the cooking time by half with my electric stove...perhaps medium heat was too high? We used a meat thermometer to gauge doneness.
2 months ago Kitchenyogi
Great recipe. Great source for canned salmon: www.vitalchoice.com - you won't believe the difference - check out their site.
2 months ago tastysweet
Kitchenyogi> went to that site, which looks great, but which canned salmon did you use?
2 months ago Kitchenyogi
I get the skinless, boneless no salt added.
2 months ago tastysweet
Oops: which size can?
2 months ago Kitchenyogi
I get the 6 oz size (I think skinless boneless only comes in that size whereas some of the others also come in 3.75) - that recipe calls for 5 oz so you're good with the larger can :-)
2 months ago tastysweet
Much thanks.
2 months ago frog
Boiling sweet potatoes is easy and fast, bust roasting (baking) them brings out so much more flavor and sweetness. I would think that would be a plus in your recipe.
2 months ago jaccord
You can probably buy the chipotle peppers in sauce online.
2 months ago Mas Jen
I live in Europe and can't get the Chipotle sauce. What do you think about substituting Asian sweet chili sauce for mixing into the mayo, etc.?
2 months ago ustabahippie
I've been wanting to make salmon cakes successfully forever. I'm thinking I'll try putting some of the chipotle right into the cakes. Thanks for the idea.
2 months ago tastysweet
How big was the sweet potato(pound wise)
They come in so many various sizes. I like to go by weight. Will definitely make these. May add some diced sweet bell pepper to it.
2 months ago jaccord
Can't wait to try this! I've made salmon cakes before, but not with sweet potatoes, which I've been trying to find ways to use more. Thanks!
2 months ago hkrf1017
Made this today - used ~1 lb of mashed sweet potato and 12 oz fresh (uncooked) sockeye salmon since I wanted the fish to play more of a flavor. Will try using canned salmon later for comparison. Doubled the rest of the ingredients, save the egg (3 eggs instead of 4), plus added cilantro as suggested below. Also baked these on cookie sheets covered in lightly oiled foil at 375 for 30 minutes instead of frying them. These were wonderful and the chipotle mayo is a fantastic addition. Thanks for sharing this!
3 months ago adele93
as i am the only person in my family to eat salmon would i be best to cook and then freeze burgers or freeze, defrost and then cook them?
3 months ago CheapBeets
I actually made a batch of these, along with a whole bunch of other dishes, in my final month of pregnancy. I haven't removed these yet from the freezer, but I'm sure I will in the next few weeks. I can report back then to see how they defrosted and reheated. I have high hopes.
3 months ago tjpieper
Is there a reason why a person could not use leftover salmon/steelhead/trout instead of the canned stuff?
3 months ago CheapBeets
I've honestly never made the cakes with fresh fish. I developed the recipe for my blog, which features tasty, mostly vegetarian dishes (this being one of the only one not vegetarian) that don't break the bank. Fresh fish is usually more expensive which is why I stuck to canned/packaged. If you do give it a shot, please let me know how it turns out.
2 months ago CheapBeets
Here to report that I took a foil package of 4 of these from my freezer, set them to defrost on Sunday night, and on Monday night, put them in the toaster oven at 300 degrees for about 15 minutes. Perfect.
4 months ago Rachel Perera
Used a mix of pre-roasted lighter/sweeter and regular/orange sweet potatoes, with some chopped parsley, and I am amazed by how delicious these are! The cakes browned excessively in the pan (sugars in the potatoes, perhaps), but the crispy edges are a nice detail of this dish.
5 months ago mschrank
Hmmm..."1 sweet potato, peeled & cubed" That's a bit vague, no? I have one sweet potato that is about 5" long and weighs 6 oz. I have another that is about 12" long and weighs a bit over 1-1/2 pounds. Is there a sweet potato size standard I'm unaware of?
5 months ago CheapBeets
Wow, that's quite a sweet potato! I've never seen one that large. Go with the 6 oz. sweet potato. Or, double the recipe for the mammoth tuber. Good luck!