Creamy Salmon Pasta
⏱ 5 min prep · 🍳 15 min · 🍽 4
Creamy salmon pasta is built for the middle of the week - the kind of Tuesday or Wednesday where it's somehow already 5pm, nobody's thought about dinner, and school pickup just ate the last free hour you had. With 5 minutes of prep and 15 minutes in the pan, it's on the table before the pasta water has even cooled down.
The salmon fillet gets seared whole and flaked afterward rather than cut raw - that gives bigger, juicier pieces than pre-cut chunks, and holds up better when kids want to fish out their own bite-sized bits. Cream and pesto build a sauce that clings to the spaghetti without turning heavy, and the spinach folds in easily enough that it doesn't become a standoff at the table.
Slot this into the weekly plan as "the easy night" - the day after something slower, or whenever there's a practice or activity running right up until dinnertime. Put out bread for anyone who wants to mop up extra sauce, and leave the rest of the parmesan on the table.
Ingredients
- 400.000 g laks
- 500.000 g pasta
- 300.000 ml fløte
- 200.000 g spinat
- 190.000 g pesto
- 2.000 fedd hvitløk
- krydder
- paprika
- parmesan
Instructions
Kok spaghetti al dente etter anvisning på pakken.
Stek laksefileten hel i panne med litt olje, 4-5 minutter per side, og brekk deretter i store flak.
Fres hvitløk i olje i ca. 1 minutt.
Tilsett fløte og la koke i 3 minutter.
Rør inn pesto og spinat til spinaten faller sammen.
Smak til med salt og pepper.
Bland sausen med spaghetti, topp med laks og revet parmesan.
This recipe earns its keep on the nights you want dinner to feel like a small occasion without asking for weekend-level effort — seared salmon has a way of making a Tuesday taste like a Sunday. It's also a good bet for a household with one reluctant fish eater: flakes from a whole seared fillet are easier to spot, push aside, or bury in sauce than pre-cut cubes, and kids can serve themselves exactly as much salmon as they're ready for. Because the whole meal runs through one pot and one pan, the cleanup stays light enough to survive on the rotation even during the weeks when nobody has energy left for a sink full of dishes. And since the cream and pesto are doing most of the flavor work, you can swap in leftover rotisserie chicken or shrimp and nobody at the table will clock that it's technically a leftovers night.
FAQ
Can I use frozen salmon fillets instead of fresh?
Yes, this works well as long as you thaw the fillets fully in the fridge overnight and pat them dry with paper towels before cooking. Wet salmon steams instead of searing, so dry the surface well and keep the heat high for the first couple of minutes to get a proper crust. Cooking time stays the same at 4-5 minutes per side; just check the center is opaque all the way through before flaking.
How do I store leftovers, and can this be frozen?
Leftovers keep well in the fridge for 2 days in a sealed container. Reheat gently in a skillet or the microwave with a splash of cream or milk, since the sauce tightens up and can look slightly split once chilled. Freezing isn't recommended - cream sauces with pasta tend to separate and turn grainy on thawing, and the salmon loses the tender texture that makes this dish work.
Can I swap the pesto for something else?
Absolutely - classic basil pesto gives the dish its familiar flavor, but sun-dried tomato pesto works just as well and leans slightly sweeter and more tomato-forward. If you don't have any pesto on hand, skip it and add a little lemon zest plus extra minced garlic to keep the sauce tasting bright. Try to stay around 200g of pesto total, or the sauce turns heavy and overly salty.
How do I adapt this for kids who are picky about fish or spinach?
Break the salmon into smaller, visible flakes and pile them on top instead of stirring everything together, so hesitant eaters can choose how much fish lands on their plate. Finely chop the spinach or pulse it briefly with an immersion blender before stirring it into the sauce, so it nearly disappears into the pesto's green color. Put extra grated parmesan on the table too - cheese is usually what tips a skeptical kid into finishing the bowl.
Can I prep any of this ahead for the week?
Yes - sear the salmon and make the cream-pesto sauce the day before, storing them separately in the fridge. Cook the spaghetti fresh right before serving, since pasta that sits around turns gummy when reheated together with the sauce. This is a good one to slot into the plan as the fast night, since fridge-to-table takes under 10 minutes once the sauce is already done.
What goes well on the side?
A piece of good bread for mopping up the sauce is the easiest add-on, and a simple salad with a lemon dressing balances out the richness of the cream. To stretch the meal for a bigger group, stir extra vegetables like sugar snap peas or halved cherry tomatoes into the sauce alongside the spinach. For kids, corn on the cob or cucumber sticks on the side add something crunchy and fresh.