Recipe: Easy salmon burgers

Fish isn’t often regarded as a pantry-friendly ingredient, but between the high-quality frozen seafood available online and the large selection of canned fish in most grocery store aisles, it is easier than you think to plan a pantry meal around fish. For the quickest weeknight meal, pick up canned salmon and turn it into rich, flavorful burgers.

When preparing fish burgers of any type, you need to include some kind of binder to hold the fish together. This is especially true with relatively soft canned salmon. I prefer to use a combination of mayonnaise and panko breadcrumbs. Between the protein-binding eggs and the moisture-giving oil in its ingredients list, in addition to its mild flavor, mayo is an ideal seafood burger binder. Panko keeps the patties in the proper shape.

I love pairing briny capers with salmon in any form, so they are a must in the burgers. A couple tablespoons of spicy Dijon mustard add complexity and likewise compliment the capers.

As for the salmon itself, choose the highest quality canned fish you can find. I prefer olive oil-packed fish for its richer flavor and higher moisture content, but water-packed salmon will also work here; you may find you need a little extra mayonnaise to hold the burgers together.

Serve the burgers on buns with whatever toppings you’d like — butter, lettuce and mayonnaise, with a little squeeze of lemon, is particularly nice.