10 Minute Dairy Free Creamy Salmon & Spinach Pasta

I love a good Scandinavian inspired dish (such as my 5 minute smoked mackerel and beetroot pate) and this 10 minute diary-free creamy salmon and spinach pasta hits all the right Scandi notes with fragrant dill, tangy lemon and smoky salmon flavours. Yummy! 

I’d recommend spending a few moments reading the following for useful information and tips on making this 10 minute dairy-free creamy salmon and spinach pasta. If you’d prefer though, skip to the middle of the page for step-by-step instructions or jump to the bottom for quick recipe.

Jump to Recipe

Note that 10 minutes is the approximate time to make this dish after you’ve gathered all of your ingredients. Actual preparation times may vary slightly due to factors like knife skills and how quickly your hob heats up.

So creamy, yet dairy-free!

I created this 10 minute diary-free creamy salmon and spinach pasta in response to my son’s dairy allergy. I’ve always loved the creamy, smoky flavours from similar pasta dishes and found it frustrating that there never seemed to be a dairy-free version available that fits the bill.

Thankfully, this dish hits all the right notes and is so creamy that most people won’t even notice the difference between this dish and a dairy-containing version. To achieve the perfect flavour, I’ve found oat-based crème fraiche works best in this creamy salmon and spinach pasta dish. Other dairy alternatives can become a little watery when heated up but this doesn’t seem to happen with the oat type. 

Of course, if you would prefer to use cows-milk based crème fraiche then feel free to do so, it’s an easy swap, although make sure to taste it as you go to ensure you don’t add too little or too much.

Time Saving Tips 

As you’ll see from many of my other recipes (such as this Mediterranean tuna pasta LINK) I am a huge fan of quick cook pasta. I tend to use a penne, which cooks in only 4-6 minutes as opposed to the usual 10-12. This variety works very well in my 10 minute dairy-free creamy salmon and spinach pasta. 

I firmly believe that everybody should have a pack or two of quick cook pasta in their kitchen cupboard, ready for nights when you are too time pressed to spend valuable extra minutes standing over a pot of boiling water. You can, of course, use the non-quick cook variety however this will likely take the whole time to make this dish slightly beyond the magic 10 minute mark.

Another clever quick hack is that this 10 minute dairy-free creamy salmon and spinach pasta uses smoked salmon ‘trimmings’ rather than either raw salmon or whole slices of smoked salmon. Salmon itself is a healthy source of protein and omega fatty acids so I love using it in my recipes. 

Smoked salmon trimmings are readily available in most supermarkets and do not require either chopping or cooking – rather, they just need to be taken out of the pack and heated through quickly, which saves you valuable time. Finally, the trimmings also have the added bonus of being cheaper than the whole sliced variety. What’s not to like?

Baby spinach is a colourful, healthy way to add extra flavour whilst providing you with one of your 5 a day. It’s packed full of many nutrients including vitamins A and C, iron and folic acid and it’s such a brilliant vegetable for quick meals such as this one as you can just chuck it in, directly from the bag and it cooks down in only a minute or two. Fab! 

A final word on the use of garlic in this 10 minute dairy-free creamy salmon and spinach pasta. I am a big fan of using the pre-minced varied that is readily available in jars and squeezy tubes and tastes great plus usually has a long shelf life so I’d definitely recommend keeping some on standby at home. 

Of course, you can chop your own garlic if you would prefer but this will take extra precious time, and you need to ensure it is very finely minced as it only gets briefly cooked in this recipe so could be overpowering in taste and texture if the pieces are too large. 

10 minute dairy-free creamy salmon and spinach pasta ingredients – Step by Step

Ingredients

• 200g (7oz) quick cook pasta
• 100g (3.5oz) fresh baby spinach
• 4 rounded tbsp oat based creme fraiche
• 120g (approx. 4.2 oz) pack of smoked salmon trimmings
• 1/2 tsp garlic puree
• 1 tbsp honey
• Juice of half a lemon
• 2 tbsp capers
• Small bunch fresh dill

Step by step method

1. Cook the pasta according to pack instructions in a large pan. Typically 4-6 minutes but according to your personal preference.
2. Whilst the pasta cooks, place the creme fraiche, salmon, honey, garlic and lemon juice into a medium bowl.

3. Put the dill and capers on a chopping board and roughly chop. (Just spend a few seconds on this – it’s not necessary to chop them finely). Add this to the creme fraiche bowl and stir all to combine.

4. The pasta should be ready about now. Drain the water and put the pasta immediately back into the hot pan.
5. Throw the baby spinach straight away into the pan with the pasta and place over medium heat, stirring quickly and continuously for approx. 1 minute until combined and spinach is wilting – this happens very quickly so watch closely and keep stirring all the time so it doesn’t stick to the pan.

6. Add the creme fraiche mixture to the pasta. Heat through over medium heat for approx 20-30 seconds, stirring continuously 
7. Divide between two plates and serve!