Grilled Salmon Salad Sandwich Recipe

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This grilled salmon sandwich couldn't be further from a sad office lunch. It was inspired by the flavors of coastal New England, from the lobster shacks of Rhode Island, to the seafood and potatoes of Maine, and even the zesty, mayonnaise-kissed chicken salads of Boston. We wanted to combine it all into one cohesive seafood salad and serve it with pizzazz.

The resulting grilled sandwich is spectacular, and one that hits all those creamy-savory-salty-smoky notes. The salmon gets a smoked, almost blackened flavor from the grill, with a crispy exterior and a soft, flaky interior. According to Ksenia Prints from At the Immigrant's Table, it pairs beautifully with the lobster-roll-inspired dressing, where we use cream cheese, mayo, and sour cream to make a light, creamy sauce. And if you think that the celery-herb salad sounds like something you wouldn't enjoy, we highly recommend you give it a try. It cuts through the richness of the salmon salad, adding a herbaceous, grassy note and depth of flavor that we absolutely feel is necessary here.

To make the grilled salmon itself, you'll need a skin-on salmon fillet, garlic powder, paprika, salt, and black pepper for seasoning, and vegetable oil to brush on before grilling. For the salmon salad, you'll use cream cheese, sour cream, mayonnaise, chopped celery, chopped green onions, lemon juice, lemon zest, grainy Dijon mustard, a hot sauce of your choice, salt, and black pepper. 

For the herb-celery slaw that we serve inside and alongside the sandwich, you'll need chopped celery, fresh parsley and dill, lemon juice, mayonnaise, salt, and black pepper. Finally, to assemble the sandwiches, grab brioche bread and butter. If desired, serve the sandwiches with potato chips, preferably ruffled ones. 

Preheat grill to medium-high heat.

Season the salmon fillet with garlic powder, paprika, 1 teaspoon salt, and ½ teaspoon black pepper. Drizzle with the oil.

Grill the salmon skin side-down for 5 minutes, until the skin crisps. Flip and cook for another 3 minutes, until the flesh is opaque and easily releases from the grates. Flip the salmon back over and remove from grill.

Cool the salmon slightly, then flake into bite-sized pieces. Discard the skin.

Make the salmon salad: Mix the flaked salmon with the cream cheese, sour cream, mayonnaise, celery, green onions, lemon juice, zest, mustard, and hot sauce. Season with ½ teaspoon of salt and ¼ teaspoon of black pepper. Set aside.

Make the herb-celery slaw: Combine the chopped celery, parsley, dill, lemon juice, mayonnaise, salt, and black pepper. Set aside.

Butter the brioche bread slices. Grill for 1-2 minutes per side, until lightly toasted.

Spread the salmon salad onto two slices of the toasted bread. Top each sandwich with 1 tablespoon of the herb-celery slaw, then top each one with the remaining toasted bread slices.

Serve the grilled salmon sandwiches with the rest of the herb-celery slaw on the side, along with potato chips if desired.

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Using a grill adds a smoky, campfire-like flavor to the salmon that then translates into the salmon salad itself, making for a truly unique profile that is hard to replicate otherwise. However, if you don't feel like firing up the BBQ, no worries — you definitely can make it at home, albeit sacrificing a bit of the olfactory components.

The best replacement to a grill is a seasoned cast-iron skillet with grill grooves. Set it to medium high heat, heat it until it's smoking slightly, then add the salmon skin-side down and cook for 5 minutes before flipping. This will give you the grill marks and the same cooking quality as an outdoor grill. Another option is to use a regular grill pan, ideally one with grooves to get those nice grill marks on the bread. 

You can also use an oven set to the broil function. Place the seasoned salmon on a foil-lined baking sheet set about 6 inches away from the heat, and broil for 8 minutes, checking on it often to prevent burning. You can toast the brioche the same way, but it'll only take about 2 minutes. Alternatively, just toast the bread in a toaster and serve the salmon salad on toasted bread (as opposed to full-on grilled bread).

This sandwich is the perfect opportunity to play with flavors and ingredients. We love the salmon and herb combo, so don't skip it, but there are plenty of other things you can do.

One swap we often make is to switch the mayo for Greek yogurt. Not only does this add a slight protein boost, but it also makes the salmon salad a bit lighter and it adds a slight tangy flavor. We often add a few more drops of hot sauce, and even some chili flakes to the dressing for a nice, spicy kick.

For the herb-celery salad, adding fennel slices and some fennel fronds to the mix helps add some complexity. You can amp up the aromatics by adding some tarragon as well, and even skipping on the mayo here if you want it to taste fresher and stronger. More veggies like crunchy cucumber slices, arugula, or avocado would also add texture and flavor to the sandwich. 

Finally, you can swap out the brioche bread in favor of your favorite kind. We love how the thick brioche slices perfectly hold all of that salmon salad, but just about any type of sturdy sandwich bread would work here, like wheat, sourdough, multigrain, or ciabatta. 

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