I used to enjoy salmon burgers.  Unfortunately, many people made them with eggs and processed oil.  Within a few minutes of eating one, I would get an upset stomach.  Eggs, oils, and other unnecessary ingredients are often called for in salmon burger recipes.  Even health food restaurants and stores like Whole Foods use eggs and canola oil in their product.  Since I have personally discovered the health benefits of avoiding eggs, dairy, and processed oils, I wanted to see if I could make a strictly pesco-vegetarian salmon burger

I started with a highly rated salmon burger recipe, the ”Jammin Salmon Burgers” recipe by Aaron McCargo host of Food Network show, Big Daddy’s House.  His original recipe called for eggs, mayonnaise, and grapeseed oil.  In order to achieve my objective, I had to modify the recipe by first identifying the purpose of the each of the unwanted ingredients and then replace the unwanted ingredients with a whole food alternative that performed the same function.  For example, the eggs and mayo in his recipe served as a binder. So I replaced them with ‘flax eggs’ a well-known vegan egg substitute.  Don’t look for “flax eggs” in the supermarket.  (Flax seeds do not lay eggs, you will look crazy asking for them.)  You will make this vegan egg substitute in less than 2 minutes as part of the recipe below.  I also changed the cooking method from pan frying in oil to an oven bake followed by broiling in order to achieve the desired texture.

The result is a delicious salmon burger without processed oil and eggs — just dairy-free whole food nutrition.  We also avoided the traditional taco shell and wrapped these burgers in big crisp romaine lettuce.  I never felt so satisfied and clean after eating salmon burgers as I did with the ones from the recipe below.    I hope you feel the same.  Enjoy.

Ingredients (yields 6 burgers)

• 2 tsp.       Freshly chopped parsley leaves
• 1/2           Vidalia or yellow onion, diced
• 2              ’Flax eggs’ (see Instructions)
• 1/2 C.       Panko bread crumbs
• 1/2 tsp.    Cracked black pepper (optional)
• 1 tsp.        Sea salt
• 1               Lemon, zested (optional)
• 1/8 tsp.     Ground chipotle pepper

• 14.5 oz     Wild Alaskan salmon (wild caught canned ok)

Instructions

• Preheat oven to 400 degrees F.
• Prepare a cookie sheet with parchment paper.
• In medium bowl, add, parsley, onions, panko, black pepper, salt, lemon zest and drained salmon.

Prepare “Flax eggs”

• Add 2 Tbs. of ground flax seed and 6 Tbs. of water to a small bowl.
• Whip mixture by hand until smooth and let set for 5-7 minutes.

Bringing It All Together

• Add flax eggs to other ingredients.
• Mix all ingredients well.
• Form into 4 in. round patties, approximately an 1/2-3/4 inch thick.
• Arrange on prepared cookie sheet.
• Bake for 20 mins. then flip and broil in oven until brown (~ 2-3 min).

The original full non-vegetarian “Jammin Salmon Burgers” recipe by Food Network host, Aaron McCargo can be found here.

Off The Grid Health Recommends

• Using organic or Clean 15 ingredients wherever possible.
• Using wild-caught salmon, we used Bumble Bee Red Salmon.