10 Minute Salmon and Sweet Chilli Fishcakes

Classic salmon and sweet chilli flavours come together perfectly in this incredibly quick and easy fishcake recipe. Ready to eat in just 10 minutes!

I absolutely love a good fishcake! They are versatile, delicious and above all-super quick to make. This is why you’ll find them happily featuring on my site. For example, check out my yummy Thai green tuna fishcakes that also only take 10 short minutes to make. So easy!

You can use almost any type of fish when creating the perfect fishcake but I find salmon works extremely well. This is why you find it happily in this delicious 10 minute salmon and sweet chilli fishcake recipe.

These salmon and sweet chilli fishcakes are particularly adored by children. My 5 year old and her friend both gave me the thumbs up when I tried this recipe on them. This means it’s a fantastic way to get kids to eat fish with all its health benefits. The smooth, creamy salmon combined with the sweet, tangy chilli is an irresistible combination, even to many people who claim to usually not like fish.

As with all of my quick recipes, getting the right type and quantity of ingredients is vital to creating a super fast and super tasty dish. I’m a big fan of keeping things simple so very few ingredients are needed here. Let’s have a look at each one in turn and how they all come together to create the perfect 10 minute salmon and sweet chilli fishcake…

Salmon

I really adore using salmon in so many of my recipes! Smoked salmon in particular is a delicious, classy and super quick ingredient which is why you’re find it in so many of dishes. For example, my 5 minute dairy free smoked salmon pate and my 10 minute dairy free salmon and spinach pasta. Check these both out if you’re keen for more quick salmon recipes. Smoked salmon of course requires no cooking which is why it’s the perfect quick cooking ingredient.

Although fresh salmon does require a bit more preparation than the smoked variety, it also cooks really quickly so I frequently make recipes with it. A lean source of protein, the health benefits of salmon are significant! It’s a fantastic source of vitamin B12, iron, vitamin D and of course, the all-important Omega fatty acids that we all should be including in our diets.

Breadcrumbs

Most fishcakes incorporate some sort of carbohydrate to bind everything together and create the perfect shape. Carbohydrates are also the main source of energy in our foods so good to use from that perspective too. Adding some type of carb also helps to stretch out the fish to allow you to make more fishcakes at less cost. With most of us trying to save money in the current economic climate, this is understandable!

Some recipes use mashed potato as the carbohydrate which works well but of course, this involves peeling, chopping, boiling and then mashing the potatoes before you can use them – very time consuming! So really not suitable for use in a quick recipe. This is why I use breadcrumbs instead for this 10 minute salmon and sweet chilli fishcake recipe.

Plain white bread is all you need to make the perfect breadcrumb here. Cheap in price, an excellent binder and bland in flavour so carries the taste of that delicious salmon and chilli just perfectly.

Egg

Fishcakes do have a tendency to fall apart during cooking unfortunately. There are various ways to try and avoid this happening but I find the quickest and easiest is to add some egg to the mixture before shaping and cooking the cakes. These 10 minute salmon and sweet chilli fishcakes definitely hold their shape much better with this key ingredient on board which is why I’ve included it here.

Sweet Chilli Sauce

Of course, you can’t make the perfect 10 minute salmon and sweet chilli fishcake without some delicious sweet chilli sauce! There are so many different varieties of sweet chilli sauce available to buy these days so you can take your pick! If you’re cooking for spice lovers then go ahead and select a hot, tastebud-tingling variety of sauce. Alternatively, select a milder type if you’re guests would not appreciate a fiery kick to their cakes.

Spring Onions

Spring onions help to add a bit of peppery flavour to your final fishcakes plus some nice extra texture and sassy green colour. Unlike other types of onion, spring onions requite very little- in fact no – cooking. This is why they are so well suited to quick recipes such as in this salmon and sweet chilli fishcake. Yum!

Lime

Finally, lime juice helps to add a little zesty zing to your quick salmon fishcakes! Citrus of all types complements the flavour of salmon so beautifully and in this particular recipe, helps balance out some of the sweetness of the sweet chilli sauce. This is why you’ll find it happily included here.

STEP BY STEP GUIDE TO MAKING THE PERFECT 10 MINUTE SALMON AND SWEET CHILLI FISHCAKES

Now lets have a quick look at each of stage of making these delicious salmon fishcakes, with helpful pictures along the way. Note this recipe makes about 10 fishcakes in total, perfect for a light meal for two people;

STEP 1;

To get started, you need to warm about 1 teaspoon of olive or vegetable oil in a large pan over medium heat.

STEP 2;

Whilst the pan warms up nicely, pop 1 medium slice of white bread and 2 spring onions (tops and tails removed) into a blender or food processor. Blitz these together for about 10 seconds. You’ll end up with fine-ish breadcrumbs and some bigger and smaller pieces of spring onion. You don’t want everything too fine as this will spoil the final texture, so resist the temptation to overblend.

STEP 3;

Add to the food processor 2 tablespoons of sweet chilli sauce, one egg and the juice from half a lime. Blitz this all together for a further 5 seconds. (Again, resist the temptation to overblend as we want to keep the texture!)

STEP 4;

It’s time to add the salmon! Take two medium salmon fillets (about 240g / 8.5oz), peel off the skins and pop them into the blender with all the other ingredients. Now here is the most important bit… blitz everything together for only 4-5 seconds. No more than that! You want to end up with some smaller and some larger bits of salmon. This creates the perfect final texture in your fishcake. So really resist the urge to overblend everything!

STEP 5;

Spoon the finished mixture into the preheated pan in about 1 tbsp amounts to create your fishcakes. Then squash each one down gently until around 1cm / 0.4 inch thick. You don’t want them too thin as they’ll fall apart and you also do you want them too thick, or they won’t cook quickly enough.

Fry each fishcake for 3-4 minutes one side then flip over and fry for a further 3-4 minutes on the other side until both sides are nice and golden brown. Remove each cake from the pan and pop them on your serving dish.

STEP 5;

That’s it, you’re done! Serve the fishcakes nice and warm – they go really well with a fresh side salad and, if you like, some lovely crusty bread. YUMMY!