Superfood Salmon Salad
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Published Apr 18, 2022, Updated Sep 12, 2023
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This salmon salad is loaded with roasted sweet potato croutons, avocado, pickled onions and dressed in a light lemon vinaigrette! It’s an easy go-to meal you’ll love having as part of your weekly rotation.
I’m sure you’ve noticed by now, but I love doing recipe recreations! And I’ve got another copycat recipe for ya today! This salad is inspired by the grilled superfood salmon salad at Bonefish Grill.
It’s kind of funny because although I’ve been to Bonefish Grill before (many years ago) I’ve actually never had the superfood salmon salad, but it sounded delicious, so I thought it would be fun to recreate!
Why You’ll Love This Recipe
- It has all the components of good meal-sized salad… protein, smart carbs, healthy fats, lots of veggies and satisfaction factor!
- This is the perfect recipe for a quick and easy weeknight dinner.
- You can easily prep parts of this salad ahead of time for quick assembly.
WATCH HOW TO MAKE THIS SUPERFOOD SALAD:
Salmon Health Benefits
Salmon is a superfood in my book! It’s packed with long-chain omega-3 fatty acids which can help reduce inflammation and blood pressure. It’s a great source of protein and has a ton of key vitamins and minerals. Studies have linked salmon to protecting brain health, reducing heart disease and weight control. (Source)
The nutrition facts for wild vs. farmed salmon are kind of crazy! If I didn’t do some research, I would have thought the stats would have been fairly similar. Not the case! Farmed salmon has a lot more fat, almost three times the amount of omega-6 fatty acids and three times the amount of saturated fat. It also has almost 50% more calories. Farmed salmon also generally has higher amounts of contaminants.
Disclaimer after having said all of that: all salmon is still good salmon! Wild-caught salmon can be more expensive and not available in every grocery store so get what’s available and what you can afford.
Ingredients Needed
- salmon fillets – both wild salmon and farmed salmon have benefits! While wild salmon might be considered the better choice, it is more expensive and farmed salmon is still a great option!
- avocado oil – I personally like searing my salmon in a little avocado oil because the salmon gets golden and a little crispy.
- sea salt and pepper – for a little seasoning.
- baby kale + romaine – any greens would work here.
- sweet potato croutons – the perfect healthy salad topping.
- avocado – for some creaminess and healthy fat.
- pickled red onions – a great way to add some extra flavor and a pop of color!
- feta – the feta adds a bit of creaminess to the salad and gives it a little tang as well. I recommend using vegan feta to make this salad dairy-free if needed! You could omit it, but you’ll lose a lot of flavor.
- pepitas – aka pumpkin seeds, which is one of my favorite seeds. Feel free to swap these for another seed or nut.
- lemon vinaigrette dressing – a mixture of apple cider vinegar, olive oil, lemon juice, Dijon mustard, maple syrup (or honey), oregano, garlic, salt, and pepper. It’s a light, fresh and super easy dressing that pairs perfectly with the salmon!
Customize Your Superfood Salmon Salad
This salad is completely customizable! Here are some suggestions for variations and substitutions:
- Switch up the greens – if you’re not a romaine or baby kale fan, feel free to use your favorite leafy green instead.
- Make this dairy-free and vegan – simply skip the feta cheese (or use a vegan option).
- Use different veggies – Have different veggies on hand? Toss them in! Cucumber, cabbage, broccoli or bell peppers would be delicious additions.
- Use a different protein – swap the salmon with chicken or if you want to make this salad vegetarian swap in tempeh, tofu or beans!
- Switch up the dressing – craving a different dressing? This red wine vinaigrette, white balsamic vinaigrette, or apple cider vinaigrette would be delicious on this salad!
- Swap the seeds for nuts – if you have a seed allergy or if you just prefer nuts you can swap the pepitas for almonds or another nut of choice. Sunflower seeds would also be delicious.
- Add fresh herbs – I love adding fresh herbs to my salads. Fresh chives, oregano or dill would all be delicious in this salad.
How to Prep in Advance
If you want the real deal but don’t have time to make everything in this salad in one night, you can prep some of the components in advance for faster assembly. Here’s what I would prep in advance:
- Sweet potato croutons – these only take about 25 minutes to cook but that’s precious time on busy weeknights! Make these during your weekend meal prep for quick assembly on the night of.
- Pickled onions – this step is hands-off once you slice the onion and make the vinegar mixture.
- Dressing – so simple to whip this up in advance!
More Meal-Sized Salad Recipes to Try
- Blackened Tempeh Salad
- BBQ Chicken Salad
- Mandarin Orange Chicken Salad
- Blackened Chicken Cobb Salad
- Grilled Chicken Caesar Salad
- Quinoa Spinach Salad
- Cheeseburger Salad
- Grilled Chicken Salad
More Salmon Recipes to Try
- Mediterranean Salmon Salad
- Maple Glazed Salmon
- Air Fryer Salmon
- Grilled Salmon Salad
- Honey Lemon Garlic Salmon
- Blackened Salmon
- Teriyaki Salmon
- Miso Salmon
- Salmon Salad
- Salmon Burgers
- Easy Salmon Meal Prep Bowl
- Air Fryer Salmon Bites
Be sure to check out my full collection of meal-sized salads as well as all the salmon recipes on EBF!
Superfood Salmon Salad
Ingredients
- 2-4 oz salmon fillets
- 1 Tablespoon avocado oil
- sea salt and pepper, to taste
- 4 cups baby kale + romaine, or spring mix
- 2 cups sweet potato croutons
- ½ avocado, sliced
- ¼ cup pickled red onions
- ¼ cup crumbled feta
- 2 Tablespoons pepitas
- Lemon vinaigrette dressing
Instructions
- Make pickled red onions, the lemon vinaigrette dressing and bake your sweet potato croutons.
- Season salmon filets with sea salt and ground pepper. Heat oil in a large skillet (a cast-iron works great) over medium-high heat. Place salmon in pan, skin side up for about 4 minutes or until the flesh is golden brown. Turn and cook until salmon is medium-rare, about 4 more minutes.
- In a salad bowl, toss greens with sweet potato croutons, pickled red onions, feta and pepitas.
- Divide between 2 plates. Top salad with salmon and avocado. Then drizzle with the lemon vinaigrette. Season with additional salt and pepper, to taste.
Video
Notes
- Dairy-free – Feel free to leave of the feta cheese for a dairy-free version.
- Mix-ins – Feel free to switch up your mix-ins for this superfood salad… I often do! Sometimes I change up the veggies based on what I have on hand. Feel free to get creative and make this your own!
- Dressing – I love the lemon vinaigrette dressing I created for this salad but any dressing would work if you’re in a pinch. Some options: creamy balsamic dressing, balsamic vinaigrette, apple cider vinaigrette or white balsamic vinaigrette.
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
This salad literally has all of my favorite foods: salmon, avocado, feta, and sweet potatoes?! and kale 🙂 Definitely will be making this ASAP, especially since I always have all of those ingredients on hand! 🙂
This salad turned out amazing and I have been craving it everyday since I made it!
Ahh!! I’m so glad you loved this salmon salad, Mckenzi. It’s one of my favorites!
Great recipe! I added quinoa like Bonefish has in theirs. I haven’t made the salad dressing yet, but plan too. Thank you!
So glad that you enjoyed this salad, Abby! And thank you so much for leaving a comment and star rating for the recipe. Both are super helpful.
Love this salad, we have it at least once a week. At first it seemed a lot of bother to make the vinaigrette and pickled onions. However, they tasted so good, I now ensure that I have a bottle of each in my fridge at all times.
Every recipe I make of yours is fantastic.thank you for sharing such great tasting food.
Thank you! I just made this and love it. I did a quick one with eliminating the sweet potato croutons, feta, and oil in the vinaigrette. I also used sunflowers seeds instead of the peptias
Ahh yay! So glad you loved it, Adrianne. 🙂 Thanks for trying my recipe and for coming back to leave a comment + star rating. I really appreciate it!
I just made this for supper tonight! I was unsure about it as I was making it but it turned out SO good! The dressing and sweet potato combo was unreal 🤤
Ahh yay!! So glad you enjoyed this salad, Jessica. I appreciate you trying my recipe and for coming back to leave a comment + star rating. <3
We made this Bonefish took it off the menu during corona . It was great! We used Organic Girl Super Greens, added farrow like bonefish. I had blood orange olive oil and lemongrass mint vinegar for my dressing from my local gourmet oil store. It was ah-maze-omg! Thanks for posting this. We loved it!! Better that the restaurant!
Ahh yay! So glad this salad was a hit, Sandra. Thanks for making it and for coming back to leave a comment + star rating. I appreciate it. 🙂
Soooooo good! This was so filling and scrumptious! I actually used canned salmon and it turned out perfect – and the lemon vinaigrette is a new favorite! Thank you Brittany for another amazing salad 😉
Oh awesome!! So glad it turned out with canned salmon. 🙂 I’m so glad you loved this salad, Janell. Thanks for making it and for coming back to leave a comment + star rating. I so appreciate it.
Oh my it looks gorgeous… beautiful
My 22 year old said this is the one if the top five meals of the year. If I had a restaurant this would be on the menu. This is amazingly delicious!!
So good!! Audra told me about the recipe. My husband even ate there dressing and he never likes a vinaigrette. Will make this regularly. Tip: I used a potato slicer and cooked the sweet potatoes in the air fryer. This allowed them to cook evenly and quickly.
I’m so glad you enjoyed this salmon salad, Meira! Thanks for trying it and coming back to leave a review. I really appreciate it!
This salad was the bomb.com!!! So refreshing!!! 6 yr old grand son loved it!! He didn’t even notice the avocado that he doesn’t like! 😂
Woo!! So glad you enjoyed this salad, Audra. Thanks for the review. I so appreciate it!
My family loves salmon so I’m always looking for new unique delicious ways to make it. This recipe was amazing & did not disappoint. It was packed with SO much flavour & was a huge hit. Thanks for this, it’s a keeper!
AMAZING!! My husband looooved it! Thanks for putting together these delicious/healthy dishes. This is the one you really knocked out of the park! My favorite dish so far.
I’m speechless! Thanks so much, Kelly! I’m so glad this salad is a hit, thanks for leaving a review 🙂
This was so delicious. My husband said it looked like something out of a magazine.
Wow, what a compliment! Great job, I am so happy you both enjoyed this recipe. Thank you for the review + star rating, I so appreciate it.
This is an exceptionally good dish and perfect to share with guests. It was fun and satisfying to prepare the lemon vinaigrette, sweet potato croutons and pickled onions. I will serve this many times because it is so perfect! Love your recipes!
Oh I am so happy to hear that you were able to share this recipe with your guests and everyone enjoyed it, Jan! Thank you for your review and star rating, I really appreciate it!
This salad knocked it out of the park. A new family hit. We each salad often, and I usually make my own dressing/vinaigrette but this version was so nice and lovely, I will make it often. I don’t typically remake dressings and vinaigrettes I find online because they often are ok, but are missing something. Yours was fabulous and had the right balance of everything. I have never added sweet potatoes to a salad, and that was a huge hit (especially with my kids). Also, I have never pickled onions, and we are now using them on everything. So, thanks!
I made this for a family night, left my mom with leftovers, and she is craving more, so I am going back again today to make her more. Thanks for a new family favorite!
Yay!! That makes me so happy to hear, Stephanie. So glad this salad was a hit with the family. Thanks for making them and for coming back to leave a review. I so appreciate it!
THE best dressing and such a fantastic salad. This one will be in my rotation for sure.
WOO! I am so glad that you are loving this recipe, Cee! Thank you so much for coming back and sharing your review & star rating, I really appreciate it!
The Superfood Salmon Salad was superb. We harvest many Sockeye Salmon in the summer so we eat fish on a regular basis. This will defintely be a regular treat fo us.
Amazing! I am so excited that you will have such fresh salmon for this recipe, Sam. Thank you for your review + star rating, I appreciate it. Enjoy!
So satisfying and all the flavors go together perfectly! I will be making this regularly.
Ah yay! I am excited to hear that this recipe is a hit, Sierra. Thank you so much for your review + star rating, I really appreciate it.
This salad is SO good! My husband said that when he got a little bit of each ingredient on his fork it was “the perfect bite”. This is definitely going into the regular dinner rotation at our house. EBF is one of my top 3 go-to sites for healthy meal planning, so thank you for putting out such wonderful and delicious content!
Ahh this is the best, I am so glad that you both are loving this salad and other recipe on my site. It truly means so much to me, Caitlin. Thank you for coming back and sharing your review + star rating, I really appreciate it!
Absolutely delicious! I made this last night and I honestly can’t wait to make it again! I used the red wine vinaigrette, and also air-fried the sweet potato croutons – both were incredible. I forgot the avocado, but the salad was so delicious I didn’t even notice. Even my salad/salmon hating boyfriend ate the whole thing! Thank you for this recipe!
WOO! This is the absolute best, Cat! I am so excited to hear that this salad is a hit and you both are loving it. Thank you so much for sharing your review + star rating, I really appreciate it!
This is terrific! Make a little extra salmon a couple nights before, pull it out of the frig and you have another meal that’s super delicious and filling. Thank you for this.
This is amazing, Tess. I am so glad you’re loving this salad, perfect quick and easy summer meal. Thank you for sharing your review + star rating, it means so much to me!