Roasted salmon, cut into tender pieces and served with spaghetti and zucchini in a light lemon cream sauce. Mixing the spaghetti with the zucchini makes the dish taste even lighter and the zucchini is barely noticeable so my kids can finish it all, no problem!
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I love this as a lighter dinner that still has the convenience of pasta and a creamy sauce.
I often blame myself for overcooking pasta, but this recipe with the addition of the spiral zucchini (zucchini) reminds me to reduce the amount a bit while still making sure I get a nice, decent serving size!
You can substitute zucchini (zoodles) for the pasta altogether if you’d like, but I can’t live without my pasta. So I won’t do that 😁
📋 What do we need?
- Salmon – In this recipe, you only need 3 salmon fillets to feed four people, as the salmon is cut into nice, small, chunky pieces after cooking.
- Zucchini/Zoodles – You can buy these zucchini noodles in the salad section of larger supermarkets. If you want to make it yourself, you will need a spiral cutter. I have this one (<--affiliate link).
📺 Check out how to make it
For the full recipe with detailed steps, see the recipe card at the end of this post.
👩🍳PRO TIP Make sure you save some of the water you cooked the pasta in. Towards the end of cooking, we add a good splash of this wonderful starchy water to the pan for a light, silky sauce for the spaghetti.
🍽️ What to serve it with
- Top with shaved parmesan, a good pinch of black pepper and some lemon zest. I also like to serve it with a lemon wedge.
- You could add some too garlic bread and/or a nice one simple salad.
Perfect, light, creamy pasta with firm sugar snap peas, a little hidden zucchini and beautiful, chunky, tender salmon flakes ❤️
🍲 More recipes with salmon
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Fried salmon with spaghetti and creamy lemon sauce
Roasted salmon, cut into tender pieces and served with spaghetti and zucchini in a light lemon cream sauce.
INSTRUCTIONS
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Place the spaghetti in a large pot of boiling water and simmer for 10-13 minutes – until just right. Note: In the last minute of cooking, add the snow peas and zucchini to the spaghetti.
250 g (8.8 oz) dried spaghetti
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While the spaghetti is cooking, heat the oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat.
1 tbsp olive oil
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Season the flesh of the salmon fillets with salt and pepper and place in the pan, skin side down. Cook for 3 minutes until the skin is crispy.
⅛ tsp salt, ⅛ tsp black pepper, 3 boneless salmon fillets
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Flip the salmon and add the chopped onions to the pan. Cook the salmon and onions for a further 3 minutes until the onions are soft.
1 small onion
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Remove the salmon from the pan and place on a cutting board.
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Add the garlic to the onions and stir-fry for a minute. Add the wine and let bubble for a minute, then add the cream and reduce the heat to medium.
2 cloves of garlic, 2 tablespoons white wine, 5 tablespoons double (heavy) cream
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While the cream is heating, skin the salmon and break the salmon into rough chunks (don’t worry if it’s not quite cooked at this point, as it will go back into the pan). Return the salmon to the pan along with the lemon zest.
zest of 1 lemon
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By now the spaghetti should be almost done. Add the snow peas and spiralized zucchini to the spaghetti for the last minute of cooking.
85 g (1 cup) snow peas (sugar snap peas), 1 small zucchini (zucchini)
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Drain the pasta, reserving about 1/2 cup of the cooking water.
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Add the spaghetti, snow peas and zucchini to the pan and toss together with the lemon juice and a few splashes of the reserved pasta water.
juice of half a lemon
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Divide between four bowls and top with grated parmesan, freshly ground black pepper and a little lemon zest. Serve with lemon wedges.
2-4 tbsp grated Parmesan, a pinch of black pepper, Lemon peel, lemon slices
✎ Notes
Make sure your skillet is big enough to hold all of the pasta and zucchini, as it will end up stirring everything together. I use a 30 cm/12 inch frying pan. This is my favorite Le Creuset frying pan (<-- affiliate link)
Want it naughtier?
If you’d like the pasta dish to be a little spicier, add some more of the reserved pasta water and an extra tablespoon of heavy cream.
Can I make it gluten free?
Yes, just swap out the spaghetti for gluten free spaghetti
Can I substitute chicken for the salmon?
Yes, substitute boneless, skinless chicken fillets for the salmon fillets, but add 5-8 minutes more to the pan to ensure they are fully cooked through before slicing/grating the chicken. You can also substitute other fish, such as haddock or cod, although I think salmon tastes the best. Trout would work well, shrimp too. If you’re using shrimp, simply add them in the last few minutes of cooking with the softened onions instead of pan-frying them first.
Can I Freeze Salmon With Spaghetti?
Unfortunately, this dish does not freeze well.
Want to take out the pasta to make it even lighter?
Replace more (or all) spaghetti with more zucchini (zoodles). If you remove the spaghetti whole and replace with two extra spiralized zucchini (zucchini), you’ll save about 215 calories per serving!
How can I prepare a vegetarian version?
You can make a vegetarian version by substituting Quorn chicken strips for the salmon (Linda McCartney’s Vegetarian Pulled Chicken is pretty good). Replace the parmesan/grana padano cheese with a hard, vegetarian Italian-style cheese.
The nutritional information is approximately for one serving of this recipe.
Nourishment
Calories: 556kcalCarbohydrates: 54GProtein: 36GFat: 20GSaturated Fatty Acids: 7GPolyunsaturated fat: 4GMonounsaturated fatty acids: 7GCholesterol: 93mgSodium: 188mgPotassium: 1014mgFiber: 4GSugar: 6GVitamin A: 679IUVitamin C: 26mgCalcium: 91mgIron: 3mg
This recipe was first published in March 2018. Updated June 2023 with new photos, videos, a few small recipe changes and some cleaning work.
Some of the links in this post may be affiliate links. If you purchase the product, I will receive a small commission (at no additional cost to you). If you buy, then thank you! This helps us keep Kitchen Sanctuary running. The nutritional information given is approximate and may vary depending on several factors. You can find more information in our General Terms and Conditions.
