31 Best Sides for Salmon (Easy & Tasty)

Got your salmon recipes ready and need to find some of the best sides for salmon? These side dishes will take your favorite fish to a whole new level.

Salmon is an oily fish with nothing to prove. It’s the ocean jewel, with pink flesh and fresh flavor iconic in many international cuisines.

We all know it’s good already, so our only mission is to find a side dish that can honor it. That’s the mission we are embarking on with this list, and I think we accomplish it handily.

What to Serve with Salmon?

As I said, salmon is a rich and oily fish with a unique flavor profile. Choosing the suitable dish to accompany it is about understanding this fish’s traits and adapting to them.

The best side dishes for a salmon-based meal freshen the fish, highlighting its juiciness and distinctive color. The good news is, there are so many dishes out there that meet these criteria.

So, let’s kick into it.

Sides for Salmon Dinner

Who’s coming to dinner today? Salmon, that’s who! If you choose to hero this iconic seafood for your dinner, you’ll need a delicious side dish that can anchor the whole affair.

Salmon is a light and delicate protein with many robust flavors, but it won’t satisfy everyone at the table all on its own. That’s why it’s essential to choose a tasty side dish.

1. Apple Sweet Potato Bake

We’re kicking off our list with an homage to fall. These apple sweet potatoes sing with autumn flavors and warm spices. It’s the perfect presence to anchor a fish as light and oily as salmon.

Aside from its delicious taste, this dish is simple to make and clean up. You only need one dish to roast all your ingredients in, so you won’t be chained to the dishwasher once dinner is made.

Best of all, any leftovers are easy to store and reuse for the next day. The flavors in this bake deepen over time so that it will be twice as good the following day.

This is also a wonderful side for ribs.

2. Mediterranean Roast Vegetables

Roast vegetables are a classic choice for a side dish, but how do we transform this standard meal into a treat we could enjoy ocean-side?

Using a Mediterannean spice profile, this recipe brightens a series of roast vegetables.

Rather than wintry and hearty, the vegetables become light and refreshing, but they still have their delicious earthy flavor.

As we all know, roast vegetables are also very easy to make. Just toss them in a pan with your spice mix, whack them in the oven, and you’re ready to go!

Use fresh ingredients, get great flavor and make a great meal!

3. Easy Honey Roasted Carrots

One vegetable that is particularly good roasted is the humble carrot. These unassuming vegetables are packed with natural sugars and become golden and sweet when roasted low and slow in the oven.

This perfect recipe doubles down on that sweetness, adding a light honey glaze that brings out the carrots’ natural earthiness. The honey also introduces a touch of floral fragrance.

The result is a delicate yet robust side dish that beautifully highlights your salmon. You could also easily serve this side dish with pasta.

4. Garlic Butter Mushrooms

Mushrooms and salmon are paired in various regional cuisines all over the world.

Since mushrooms are so versatile, you can prepare them any way you like to suit your chosen salmon preparation.

In addition, the deep rich flavors beautifully complement the salmon’s light and delicate touch.

With each bite, your guests will be drawn into a cycle of heavy and light, ending in an empty plate and full bellies.

Best of all, these garlic butter mushrooms are super easy to prepare. You can whip them up in fifteen minutes for just about any dish under the sun. All you need is your stove!

5. Whole Roasted Baby Potatoes

In my opinion, potatoes are one of the best vegetables to grace this earth. Depending on how you prepare them, they can be light, heavy, creamy, crunchy, or any other adjective.

In this case, you’ll be roasting baby potatoes whole to create little flavor bombs scattered on your plate. These tasty treats are hard to beat, and they’re a classic companion for a salmon dish.

This is also just a wonderful side dish to have with chicken wings.

6. Parmesan Roasted Cauliflower

Roasted cauliflower is another vegetable dish that has captured the heart of so many chefs around the world.

Thanks to its earthy flavor and crunchy, smooth texture, it can find a home on almost any dish.

When you pair it with salmon, you’ll find the smokey notes from the charred cauliflower offer a solid contrast to the delicate fish. This spotlights both flavors, creating a cohesive plate of food.

You might want to use the same spice blend you’re using on your salmon on your cauliflower to tie the two elements together even more.

Sides for Salmon Patties

Salmon patties rely on the flakiness of this delicious fish to create a light, crunchy patty. Forget your standard fish cakes; salmon patties are the way of the future.

Rather than emphasizing the salmon’s freshness, easy side dish recipes paired with a salmon patty should draw attention to the fish’s deeper flavors.

This fish has a delightful depth that deserves appreciation when cooked and flaked. So, these perfect side dishes will make salmon patties your family favorite.

7. Red Lentil Pasta Salad

First off the ranks is a red lentil pasta salad that is, by turn, fresh and hearty. Featuring red lentils and woody chickpeas, this pasta salad is the perfect way to highlight salmon’s dual freshness and depth.

I love preparing a pasta salad in advance for large gatherings. It’s an easy recipe to make in large quantities, the flavors get better the longer you leave it, and everyone loves a good pasta salad.

8. Tabbouleh

Originating from the Mediterranean, tabbouleh is a woody, sweet, and crunchy dish.

Every time you take a bite, it feels like standing in the warm Mediterranean sunshine and being sprayed by the ocean.

Paired with a robust seafood protein like salmon, tabbouleh cannot be beaten in terms of flavor. The two dishes play off each other to create delightful new sensations with every mouthful.

If you’ve had tabbouleh before, it’s time to have it again. If you’ve never tried this dish before, you’re about to enter a whole new world of flavor!

9. Cilantro Lime Taco Slaw

Coleslaw and fish cakes go together like fries and a burger. The two were made for each other in some corner of heaven and sent down to us, and now we get to enjoy them to our hearts’ content.

This slaw recipe is undeniably fresh, bursting with cilantro and lime notes. That freshness is tempered by the light creamy dressing, which makes the salmon love it so much.

As with any coleslaw, I’d recommend making this recipe in advance and giving it a chance to mellow in the fridge before serving. This brings a depth of flavor to the dish that you can’t find in a fresh slaw.

10. Pineapple Pico De Gallo Salsa with Avocado

Pico de gallo is a raw vegetable salsa that usually spotlights the lovely tomato. However, this time we’ll be drawing the focus to a more tropical option: the pineapple.

Tropical fruit and salmon are historically good friends, so it makes sense to pair them in this way. The salsa helps temper the pineapple’s sweetness, making it more approachable and savory.

The tart pineapple will bring your salmon patties to life with their freshness. This would also suit salmon sashimi or seared salmon dish.

11. Cheesy Garlic Broccoli

First off, I’ve got the secret to making anyone fall in love with broccoli, children included. It’s cheese! Roasted broccoli topped with cheese is a tasty dish that blends with salmon perfectly.

You only need three ingredients and about ten minutes of preparation to make this dish happen, so it’s fantastic for weeknight cooking.

In addition, you just need one pan, so there are no dishes to do!

This is also a great healthy side dish to bring if you’re headed somewhere else for dinner and unsure what they’ll like.  You can’t go wrong with a blend of these two classic ingredients.

Enjoy a side dish with brisket!

12. 5-Minute Lemon Pepper Asparagus

Asparagus is a spring vegetable with a light, delicate flavor profile that ideally suits salmon.

Add lemon and pepper into the mix, and the result is a side dish just waiting to make your salmon sing.

It takes literally five minutes to prepare the asparagus. That’s right; I said five minutes! Simply snap the stalks, dress in lemon and pepper, and fry off in a pan. They couldn’t be simpler.

Shine a spotlight on your salmon’s delicate fragrance with a spring side dish that ties beautifully into its flavor profile.

13. Bulgur Wheat Salad

This bulgur wheat salad is packed with protein and fiber. Combined with the amino-rich salmon, you’ll have a dinner plate that touches every healthy layer of the food pyramid!

Bulgur wheat salad is a recipe of my creation. It’s a quick and simple salad that anyone can make, but the result is bursting with woody flavors.

Speckled with slices of avocado throughout, this salad is a play on textures that will highlight the delicate smoothness of the salmon. This is one of the healthy recipes that will be the best part of your dinner!

14. Garlic Herb Roasted Vegetables

Nothing says ‘delicious’ like a plate of roasted vegetables, and these garlic herb versions certainly do the trick. This dish is perfect for large groups, as it requires minimal preparation.

It’s also a crowd-pleaser (I haven’t met anyone who hasn’t loved roasted vegetables… at least not yet). Get creative with your vegetable combinations or stick with the classics; it’s up to you!

Regardless, the fragrant garlic and herb combination is a perfect pair to the salmon’s freshness. I recommend serving this side with a cooked salmon dish to highlight the smokey goodness.

Enjoy this side dish with steak too.

15. Air Fryer Roasted Bell Peppers

Raw bell peppers are fresh, crispy, and bursting with hidden natural sugars. Once you roast them, those bright and crunchy stripes of color turn golden and crisp.

Rather than the fresh sweetness of their raw counterparts, roasted bell peppers have a dark sweetness like molasses. This makes them an excellent choice for adding depth to a fresh dish.

Salmon loves roasted bell peppers. The two textures are pretty similar, so you won’t know where one flavor ends and another begins whenever you take a bite. It’s heavenly.

16. Air Fryer Carrot Fries with Greek Yogurt Dip

You’ve heard of sweet potato fries before, but have you heard of carrot fries? I’m a firm believer in the power of an air fryer, and this carrot fry recipe proves it can do amazing things.

Turn this ordinary vegetable into an extraordinary side dish with just a few minutes of quality time with your chopping board.

Chuck the fries into the air fryer, and twenty minutes later, you’re golden (and so are they).

Your salmon and these carrot fries will pair well with a creamy sauce. Ranch, Caesar dressing, or a Greek yogurt dip are all great options.

17. Roasted Root Vegetables

These golden roasted root vegetables remind me of the first days of fall. Think pumpkin patches, warm drinks in cozy armchairs, and watching the leaves turn to gold as the sky darkens.

All the woody vegetables are offset by the occasional burst of sweetness from a charred red onion slice.

This isn’t a one-note side dish, so you’ll have a lot of different elements to pick from on your plate.

Keto Sides for Salmon

Salmon is an ideal protein for keto lunches and dinners. It’s high in healthy fats, so it will help bulk up the portions of your diet you’re looking to improve upon.

In terms of finding a good side dish, plenty of keto side dishes will harmonize with a lovely fillet of salmon. Let’s see what some of them are.

A good hearty side dish will make for a great addition to any ketogenic main course.

18. Keto Roasted Asparagus

Let’s begin with roasted asparagus, a tasty vegetable treat that’s tough to beat. With parmesan cheese dusting its surface, this dish should give your dinner a spring in its step.

Because the asparagus has a light char on its stems, this spring-time vegetable takes a small step backward into autumn. Thanks to this, it’s the perfect partner for a salmon-based dish.

I love this recipe because of how simple it is to make. With almost no preparation time and only one dish in use, it’s ideally suited to weeknight dinners.

19. Keto Cauliflower Risotto

Salmon and risotto are a match made in heaven. But if you’re going keto, you can’t have risotto, right?

Wrong! It turns out that there are geniuses on the internet who have already figured out how to make risotto keto-friendly so that you can enjoy it with your salmon.

Using cauliflower as a rice substitute makes your risotto light and creamy, the perfect contrast to a fresh fillet of salmon. Plus, this version is so much faster to make than regular risotto!

20. Cilantro Lime Caulirice

Speaking of cauliflower substituting rice, this following recipe uses that same trick on an old Mexican street food favorite.

Cilantro and lime help this dish burst with freshness, and the creamy cauliflower rice does the same.

This is another dish that’s easy to make on a weeknight, especially if you prepare your cauliflower rice in advance.

You can shred and store your cauliflower for up to a few days before it gets too soggy to use.

Use this as a base for your next meal preparation recipe that heroes salmon. Everyone at the office will be clamoring for the recipe in no time.

21. Keto Broccoli with Lemon and Garlic

Broccoli is already known for its delightful freshness and crunch, but this recipe takes it to a new level.

Featuring notes of fresh lemon juice and garlic, this recipe makes these tender stalks extra juicy and crunchy.

The key is to cook your broccoli al dente. Many people push their broccoli too far, becoming soggy and unappetizing.

In fact, this is a huge reason why broccoli can be unpopular at times!

When prepared right, you’ll have your guests snatching pieces off the plate before you’ve even set it down at the table.

22. Keto Stuffed Mushrooms

If you’re eating keto, you know mushrooms are one of your very best friends. These delicious fungi are so packed with flavor that they barely need anything else to round them out.

Stuffing mushrooms with a generous portion of cheese is a great way to turn this vegetable into a simple side dish.

These keto-friendly stuffed mushrooms are easy to make, but they’ll definitely impress your guests.

Serve these straight out of the oven for maximum mouth-watering impact. You could also serve this side dish with polish sausage.

23. Crispy Air Fryer Brussels Sprouts

We’re back with another air fryer recipe, and this time we’re highlighting Brussel sprouts! These crunchy and caramelized pearls of delight are excellent as a side dish or even as a healthy snack.

While they may look impressive, these sprouts take minimal time and effort to make. They’re also super cost-effective since sprouts (the main ingredient) don’t cost a lot to buy.

If you’re serving up an Asian salmon dish, you can swap out the delicious parmesan for a light Asian dressing on the sprouts. They’re delicious either way.

Rice Sides for Salmon

Finally, we’ve reached the last section on our list of the best side dishes for rich-tasting fish. Our category is rice dishes!

Rice and salmon go hand in hand because rice’s light, airy texture forms the perfect base for the richer, heavier salmon. We don’t just want to serve salmon with plain rice, do we?

We certainly don’t, not when there are ten much better options! These are some of the best salmon side dishes you can enjoy in different ways and transform any easy meal.

24. Lazy Slow Cooker Rice

They say that lazy people are the smartest because they figure out how to get the best results while putting in the least effort. So, if there’s a kind of chef I’d like to be, it’s a lazy one.

A lazy chef came up with this slow cooker rice recipe, and I think it’s genius! Using your slow cooker to make rice means you don’t have to watch a pot. You can just leave it to its own devices.

This recipe is just for plain rice. However, once you know how to make rice this way, you can use it as a quick and easy base for various other rice dishes waiting in the wings.

25. Rice Cooker Coconut Rice with Black Beans

If you have a rice cooker at home, this recipe is a simple way to elevate plain rice to a whole new level.

The coconut milk makes the rice lovely and sticky, lending it a mild flavor that deepens the whole dish.

Salmon and coconut are two flavors that exist in harmony, so you could easily serve this rice with a salmon fillet on top and call it a day.

The black beans add an extra dose of protein to make the dish extra filling.

26. Sprouted Brown Rice Pilaf

Sprouted grains are, essentially, living food. Because of this, they’re even healthier than their sproutless versions, bursting with protein and amino acids.

Sprouted brown rice is perfect for pilafs because it has a lovely chewy texture. It also tastes slightly nuttier than traditional brown rice, so the almonds in this recipe make so much sense.

Best of all, sprouted rice is super filling and very versatile. Make a large batch of this pilaf with dinner and use it as a base for lunch the next day. You’ll save time, money, and stress with this method.

You could also serve this with your favorite ground lamb recipe.

27. Lemon Brown Rice

Brown rice is known for its nutty texture and taste, which can be underwhelming on its own.

However, when you introduce lemon into the mix, the freshness creates a magical contrast that brightens the whole affair.

This lemon brown rice recipe combines other elements like feta, garlic, and dill to emphasize the interplay between depth and lightness.

It’s a fragrant and woody option that will make your salmon taste even fresher.

You could also serve this with leftover brisket recipe.

28. Easy Mixed Vegetable Rice

This next dish is the ultimate leftover-buster. Clean out your vegetable drawer and give new life to those week-old vegetables by including them in this delicious mixed vegetable rice.

It’s light, fluffy, and speckled with little gems of color and sweetness that make each bite an adventure.

Paired with a fillet of salmon, this will spotlight this sea tycoon’s mild oiliness and richness.

Easy mixed vegetable rice is also a brilliant way to sneak more vegetables into your diet. Where you might have served plain rice, opt for this extra healthy option to bolster your nutrient intake.

29. 5-Minute Easy Rice and Beans

When this recipe says “five minutes,” it means it! This is a quick and easy recipe you can prepare ahead of time, so you can focus on getting that salmon absolutely perfect.

This is my go-to dish when I have to cater to more people than I expected unexpectedly. It’s easy to make, filling, and delicious. Everyone at the table will fall in love with it from the first bite.

30. Golden Garlic Rice

This golden garlic rice uses a unique ingredient to achieve that stunning golden color: achiote powder!

This powder is made from the annatto seed with a mild peppery flavor that enhances the earthy garlic.

If you can’t find this specialized ingredient, something like turmeric will have a similar effect. The visual impact of this dish makes it feel like it took forever, but it’s one of the simplest on this list!

That’s a win-win in my book.

31. Lemon Butter Rice

Finally, we’re closing out this list with a personal favorite. Lemon butter rice combines the three ingredients put on this earth to accompany salmon: lemon, butter, and rice.

It’s effortless to make, but the flavors bursting forth from each bite are anything but.

From the second this side dish touches the table, everyone’s mouth will start watering. I guarantee it.

It will be your favorite way to make rice from now on for any main dish.