Swimming in creamy flavor.
An elegant and easy 15-minute dinner, this creamy smoked salmon pasta recipe comes straight from Italy to your kitchen.
Until recently, I thought the only thing you could do with smoked salmon was pile thin slices atop a bagel with cream cheese. Was I wrong.
Pasta may not sound as natural with smoked salmon as a bagel, but it is no less delicious. Creamy smoked salmon pasta is 15-minute (yes) dinner that tastes amazing: salty, satisfying, and brightened with lemon and chives.
How to Make This Creamy Smoked Salmon Pasta
Buying smoked salmon used to mean using some of it once on a delicious weekend bagel, then letting the rest of the package languish in the refrigerator until I remembered (too late) that I was supposed to use it within a few days after opening. Now I cook this.
I adapted this recipe from a simple pasta dish in The Silver Spoon cookbook. The Silver Spoon is to Italy as The Joy of Cooking is to America: a necessary Bible of home cookery. This recipe involves little more than boiling pasta and adding it to a pan of smoked salmon pieces that have been simmering in a pan of butter and cream.
Smoked salmon is actually a not-unpopular Italian food. Smoked salmon was — and remains — an effective a way of preserving fresh seafood, enjoyed even by the ancient Romans and Greeks.
Creamy Smoked Salmon Pasta: Recipe Notes
Pasta choice. A creamy pasta wants a long, flat noodle. Pasta shapes like linguine, fettuccini, tagiatelle, or other ribbon pasta envelops the sauce just so. Often, when the pasta topping is chunky, you would want a chunky pasta. But here, the smoked salmon pieces are small enough to work with a long pasta.
Check the salt. Different brands and types of smoked salmon (lox, nova, and so on) differ in sodium content, but all do have a lot of salt. Thus, this recipe does not call for added salt — you are also boiling the pasta in salted water — but check for seasoning anyway.
Scallions also work really well here. Just like with salmon cream cheese, scallion and smoked salmon make a great flavor combination, with the fresh, mellow allium sharpness of scallions working as a great counterpoint to the salty salmon. I use chives here because they give the dish a great presentation and taste more mild, but scallions are a fine alternative.
Did you make this smoked salmon Pasta recipe? What did you think? Share below.
You’ll also like these easy, classy Italian recipes:
Creamy Smoked Salmon Pasta
Ingredients
- 1 pound long, flat pasta, such linguine, fettuccini, or tagliatelle
- 6 ounces smoked salmon, cut into pieces
- 6 tablespoons (3 ounces) butter
- 2 lemons, zested and juiced
- 2/3 cup heavy cream
- 3 tablespoons minced chives (can substitute 2 tablespoons thinly-sliced scallions)
- kosher salt
Instructions
- Bring a pot of salted water to a boil and cook pasta until just shy of al dente. Drain, reserving some pasta water.
- While the water is boiling, melt the butter in a large skillet over medium heat. Add the salmon, lemon juice, half of the lemon zest, and half of the chives. Cook for a few minutes, stirring occasionally. Stir in the cream and cook over low heat (the cream should be at a simmer) for about 5 minutes.
- Add the drained pasta to the cream mixture. Cook for a few minutes, tossing to coat. Taste for seasoning. If the pasta looks a little dry, add pasta water a tablespoon or two at a time until it is creamy enough.
- Serve immediately, topped with the remaining chives and lemon zest.
Wow this is creamy and good. I did not ever think to use smoked salmon in a pasta but it works. Loved this.
This was very easy to make and I really enjoyed it. Halved the recipe for 2 people.
Simple and lovely. Will make again.
A great pasta recipe. So easy to make. I used lox.
YES!!!! What a good dinner this was. Thank you! Love your blog.
Absolutely delicious and so easy. Added a few chilli flakes and it sang.
Fantastic! Loved hearing this and I love the chili flakes addition!
We just adored this dish! Did not have chives on hand so used lots of fresh dill. Wonderful!! Thanks so much for this elegant and very delicious reciipe. I will try it with chives next time.
Thanks! And I LOVE the idea of dill! What a perfect herb to use. So glad you liked it. It’s one of my favorites.
Delicious! I probably ate more than I should have but it was just too hard to stop:-)
Hah! That is exactly what happens to me, too! it’s just too good to stop! I am so glad you liked it.
I halved the recipe too but my salmon had 4 oz. We both enjoyed it a lot and will make it again.
Just had 4 OZ SALMON, SO I ADDED SOME CHOPPED patagonia shrimp. I added just a little too much lemon juice, so I added a little garlic powder and it evened out the flavor. Delicious!
Yum! This sounds great!
My husband has gotten into making linguini from scratch so I decided to make this recipe for a sauce. We loved it for several reasons: the ingredients are easy to get, the preparation is simple and its delicious. My husband is so proud to be able to make a dish that will impress guests. As it stands we have made it just for ourselves 3 times.
I am so happy that you enjoy this. It’s one of my favorites. And how wonderful to eat it with fresh linguine! Fresh pasta is always such a treat. Thanks for this kind comment and all the best in 2022!
Absolutely delicious! This recipe will be in my regular pasta rotation going forward 🙂
Wow! I happened to have smoked salmon and look for a dinner recipe using it. This was the first recipe searched. I am so surprised at how amazing and quick this recipe is. My daughter doesn’t like pasta, but tried it and agreed. So good I added parmesan cheese and it worked well.
So glad you liked this! And it’s easy too — a great bonus! Thanks for the nice comment.
I had some cold smoked salmon to finish using up and someone sent me this recipe as a suggestion. BEST suggestion ever!! This was amazing and I can’t wait to make it again!
So glad you liked it! One of my favorites.
Would a coconut cream/milk subsititute work for a dairy free version?
Coconut milk could work as a substitute, but the flavor and thickness would very a bit. But I think this could work well! If you try it, I’d love to know how it turns out.
Perfect easy dinner. Loved this.