Skip Baked Salmon Cakes: Grab This Appliance For Dinner In Half The Time

When I was a kid growing up in 1970s Britain, store-bought fishcakes were dry, flavorless affairs, heavy on the parsley and often made with "mystery" white fish. Today, homemade versions are a regular feature at our family dinner table, presenting a comforting combination of flaky salmon, soft potato, and herbs. For the longest time, I pan-fried or oven-baked this homemade fish dish, exercising lots of patience as the hockey puck-thick cakes cooked. Little did I realize that, if I'd reached for the waffle iron, we'd all be chowing down in half the time!

Crab cakes are on our list of foods to make on a waffle iron, but if you're subbing in salmon (both fresh or canned are fine) for the crab, it works brilliantly too, so long as it's prepped for crab cake-style cooking (whole filets won't work so well). Throw the salmon in a bowl along with an egg, a spoon of mayo, some breadcrumbs, and your chosen herbs and spices, then mix the lot up and dollop it on your hot waffle iron. Press the lid down, and hey presto! In minutes you've got a delicious fish cake, complete with moreish, crispy edges that we think are near-impossible to replicate in the oven or a pan in such a short time.

Waffle iron salmon cakes can make a healthy, tasty, and speedy lunch when time is of the essence, especially if you prepare the mix the night before and leave it in the fridge. Depending on how generous the aforementioned dollop on your waffle iron is, we'd say two or three cakes would be a solid plateful, especially served with either a green salad or some steamed veggies.

The beauty of waffle iron salmon cakes goes far beyond convenience and texture. They're infinitely flexible vehicles for all kinds of flavor and ingredient variation. There are plenty of fish that are just as nutritious as salmon if the latter's not your bag, but almost any kind will do. One of our favorite recipes pairs a little smoked haddock with milder, budget-friendly Alaskan pollock.

You can also play around with the choice of herbs and aromatics to enhance and complement your salmon or other chosen fish. Fennel seed is delicious with salmon, though it pairs well with cod or trout too, while a few chili flakes, a spoonful of mustard, or a splash of sriracha will amp up the heat while playing well with salmon's distinct flavor.

We also like to play around with the texture of our salmon waffle cakes. Mashed potato and soft fish are comforting and yummy, but a little crunch will take the cake to the next level entirely, especially with the texture of these waffle iron cakes. Many home cooks stick to breadcrumbs, but roughly smashed saltine crackers are a tasty alternative, as is this pantry staple that we adore with salmon fillets. Best of all, you can cook batches of the salmoncakes in advance, cool them, and cover them in plastic wrap before popping them in the freezer. They'll reheat beautifully in the oven, air fryer, or after another spin in the waffle iron.