Here is a salmon salad using freshly poached salmon that is restaurant-worthy. It’s light, cool, and wonderfully flavored with dill, capers, and lemon. Perfect for a brunch or light lunch!

How to Make Salmon Salad

To make this salmon salad, we first salt the fillets and chill them. This gives time for the salt to penetrate the fillets a bit and give them more flavor. Then we lightly poach the salmon fillets for just a few minutes in salted water with a slice of lemon. Next we toss the cooled, poached salmon with celery, red onion, capers, fresh dill, and extra virgin olive oil, along with lemon juice and zest.

Poach the Salmon for the Best Results

While you could use leftover cooked salmon from a summer barbecue for this salmon salad recipe, it’s easy enough to poach it. Poaching allows you to have more control over how long to cook the salmon. You want to cook the salmon just enough to be barely cooked through. That way it will be tender. Over-cooked salmon is dry and tough.

Tips for the Best Salmon Salad

Love Salmon? Here Are 5 More Ways to Enjoy It:

Salmon Avocado Poke Bowl Angel Hair Pasta with Salmon, Arugula and Creamy Lemon-Parmesan Sauce Salmon Macaroni Salad Salmon Spread Fresh Salmon Cakes with Spicy Mayo

1 pound salmon fillet, cut in half 1/2 teaspoon sea salt, for the rub 4 cups water 1 1/2 teaspoons sea salt, for the poaching liquid 1 slice lemon 1 teaspoon lemon juice 1 teaspoon extra virgin olive oil

For the salad:

2 stalks celery, finely chopped 1/2 red onion, peeled, finely sliced 1 tablespoon capers, strain out the pickling juice 1 teaspoon lemon zest 3 tablespoons lemon juice 1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil 2 tablespoons fresh dill, chopped 1/8 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper