Sweet Potato Salmon Cakes: a Quick Weeknight Meal

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I love to cook, but that doesn't mean I love cooking elaborate meals every night. When I come home late from a full day of treating patients, the last thing I want to do is wait another 2 hours for dinner to be ready. Good thing is, making healthy food doesn't mean you have to spend hours prepping and cooking. These Sweet Potato Salmon Cakes are one of my go-to weeknight meals when I want healthy protein and fat, and I want them fast.

My #1 recommendation for nutrition is to eat whole foods. That means real food. Things you can identify on sight. Unlabeled foods that come from the produce or deli sections. This means I recommend a lot of cooking from scratch - combining whole foods into tasty meals to satisfy your taste buds while fortifying your body and mind.

This recipe has a bit of a cheat - the whole foods here do come from a labeled section: they're canned. When buying canned foods, it is important to look at the ingredients and ensure that there's nothing unexpected. If you didn't expect to see a particular ingredient, choose another brand. Also, be sure your cans are labeled as "BPA-free." BPA can be found in the lining of some cans and can mimic how some hormones, including estrogen, act in the body - thus disrupting your hormonal system. For this recipe, I highly recommend spending the extra dollar to buy boneless salmon. It'll save you about 15 minute of removing salmon spines from meat - a task that really slows the roll of a speedy weeknight meal.

These Sweet Potato Salmon Cakes are delicious on their own, but I recommend pairing with a side of lightly sauteed veggies or a veggie-laden side salad to round out the meal.

Salmon & Sweet Potato Cakes: the Recipe

Makes 8 cakes. Serving size: 2-4 cakes.

Ingredients

  • 3 6oz cans boneless wild-caught salmon
  • 1 cup canned sweet potatoes
  • 1 egg
  • 1/2 cup almond flour
  • 2 scallions, thinly sliced
  • 4 Tbsp fresh herbs - whatever you have on hand - minced
  • 1 tsp salt
  • 1 tsp paprika
  • 1/2 tsp ground black pepper
  • 1-2 Tbsp cooking oil: coconut oil, ghee, or safflower oil preferred
  • Lemon wedges, for serving

Recipe

  1. Preheat the oven to 425°F. Cover a baking sheet with parchment paper (cleanup is going to be a breeze!).
  2. Drain the liquid from the salmon and flake with a fork in a large mixing bowl.
  3. Add in the sweet potato, almond flour, egg, scallions, herbs, salt, paprika, and black pepper. Mix with a wooden spoon until well blended.
  4. Brush the parchment paper with cooking oil.
  5. Use your hands to form slightly-smaller-than-palm-sized patties with the sweet potato/salmon mixture. I usually get about 8 per recipe. Place on parchment paper and slightly press with your hand to flatten into uniform thickness.
  6. Bake for 20 minutes. Flip each patty with a spatula, and bake another 10 minutes, or until golden brown.
  7. Eat! Top with fresh lemon juice to add a little acid to the fat for a delicious bite.

Laura's Tips

I often double this recipe, serving 2 people dinner and having leftovers for 3 more servings. Cooking for someone who is egg-intolerant? Mix 1 Tbsp ground flaxseed with 3 Tbsp warm water, let sit for 5 minutes, and substitute this gloopiness for the egg in step 3. This doesn't alter the taste at all and adds even more omegas. Don't stress about the measurements - assume 1/2 can of sweet potato = 1 cup and you are good to go.

Recipe adapted from The Whole 30: The 30-Day Guide to Total Health and Food Freedom by Melissa Hartwig and Dallas Hartwig.