These Crispy Salmon nuggets are a real crowd pleaser in my home. Well, except with my 3 year old daughter whose fish radar is unbelievably strong. She is not a fan of any type of fish. But the boys (7 and 1), they devour these the moment they hit the table. The recipe is pretty flexible. You can add or omit any spice you like or do not like.
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Prepping the fish for your Salmon Nuggets
I know what you are thinking, salmon is pretty high in fat so how are you frying those into crispy nuggets? It is all in the preparation of the raw fish. You can choose skin on or skinless fish, it really doesn't matter but fresh fish works better than frozen fish. After you are done prepping your fish add a generous sprinkle of fresh squeezed lemon juice and let it sit for 5 to 10 minutes before patting completely dry. Adding the lemon juice before cooking helps you to avoid adding it while eating the fish and therefore allows for the full crispy effect while eating.
Dried Seasoning versus green seasoning
For this recipe dried herbs and spices over fresh green seasoning are the better choice. Using green seasoning (a Caribbean Holy Grail for seasoning protein) makes the fish soggy and since salmon is already an "oily" fish we want it to remain as dry as possible before frying or you will end up with a soggy mess. And seasoning the fish just before frying is the best option for these. No need to marinate for a long period or anything.
Add some flavor to the coating
Please don't skip this step. It makes a huge difference in the flavor of your Salmon Nuggets. I love to season my coating for anything I fry. Here you can add a little spice to kick it up the heat too. We keep our spice on the side in the form of hot sauce, but there is plenty room in this recipe for a pinch of pepper.
Making it Paleo and Whole30 Compliant:
- Use a coating mix like Paleo Powder to make this dish Whole30 compliant and Paleo
- Or keep it simple and use seasoned cassava flour to coat your fish. You can also do a very shallow fry and use significantly less oil than this recipe requires.
- Alternatively, you can use an air fryer if you have one and are used to air frying your fish.
A Good Dusting of coating
Just before you are ready to fry your salmon nuggets and no sooner, coat your fish in the seasoned coating mix, then shake off any excess coating mix and add your fish to the hot oil for frying. Coating the fish and letting it sit before frying, will make the coating soggy and lose the crispiness when frying. Shaking off the excess coating is also necessary to prevent the fish from burning.
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The Printable Crispy Salmon Nuggets Recipe
Printable Recipe Card
Crispy Salmon Nuggets
Ingredients
- 2 lbs of salmon filet cleaned and cut into 2 inch nuggets
- Juice of 1 lemon
- 1 teaspoon of garlic powder
- 2 teaspoons of onion powder
- ¾ teaspoon of salt
- pinch of black pepper
- 2 cups of Avocado oil
Coating
- 1 cup of All Purpose Flour
- ½ cup of bread crumbs
- 1 teaspoon of garlic powder
- 1 teaspoon of onion powder
- ¼ teaspoon of paprika
- 1 tablespoon of parsley flakes
- Pinch of black pepper
Whole30 Coating
- 1 cup of cassava flour
- ½ cup of almond meal or coconut flour
- 1 teaspoon of garlic powder
- 1 teaspoon of onion powder
- ¼ teaspoon of paprika
- 1 tablespoon of parsley flakes
Paleo Coating:
Instructions
- Add the nuggets to a large bowl, sprinkle with lemon juice and let rest for 5 to 10 minutes before patting completely dry (with paper towels)
- Mix together a teaspoon of garlic powder, 2 teaspoons of onion powder, ¾ teaspoon of salt and a pinch of black pepper, then generously coat the salmon nuggets
- Mix together all the ingredients for your coating mix of choice and set aside
- Add oil to a frying pan or skillet on medium heat and bring up to temperature
- When oil is hot and you are ready to start frying your nuggets, coat nuggets in the coating mix, shaking off any excess flour, then add nuggets to the hot oil skin side up for frying
- Fry until brown on the side that is in the oil, then flip over to the skin side and continue to fry until the nuggets are completely golden brown, This should take about 3 minutes of total frying time
- Remove the crispy salmon nuggets from the oil and place on a plate lined with sheets of paper towels to drain any excess oil from the fish
- Repeat the frying process until all of the nuggets have been fried
- Serve nuggets warm with your choice of hot sauce or dipping sauce
Notes
Love Salmon, try these other Salmon dishes:
Oven Broiled Salmon
Salmon with Cranberry Chutney 
Sautéed Canned Salmon
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Lisa s says
Looks delicious 😋 - don’t usually fry salmon but will do so soon - thanks for recipe and idea
Althea Brown says
You’re welcome and let me know how it comes out.
Katrina says
This recipe looks great!
If Using an air fryer, what would be the recommended temperature and cooking time?
Althea Brown says
I haven’t tried it in the air fryer. Only recently got one so I’m not sure. Sorry.
ELIZABETH says
How could you do the frying in the air fryer so as not to use all the oil?