5 Ways To Use Aldi's Fan-Favorite Salmon

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I actually really enjoy grocery shopping, and am about as big an Aldi fan as you'll find. (Apart from my complete unwillingness to caw like a crow in the Aisle of Shame, because who even does this?) From Winking Owl wine to Moser Roth chocolates, I love it all, but I'm especially fond of the super-affordable seafood. One item, in particular, is a must-buy item for first time Aldi customers: a delicious, heart-healthy, and versatile Atlantic salmon filet.

My experience with this salmon has been 100% positive, apart from one minor semantic quibble with the packaging. It's labeled as being "fresh, never frozen," but I certainly hope that isn't the case since I live 700 miles from the Atlantic Ocean and I doubt this salmon was pulled out of Lake Michigan. It's actually pretty standard for even so-called "fresh" fish to be flash-frozen before shipping to prevent spoilage, so most "never frozen" fish is actually a lie (and all the better for that). The true proof is in the eating, though, and this fish is just as fresh-tasting and flavorful as any other salmon I've had. The following list includes a few things I've made with it, as well as several more recipes that are on my must-try list for the next time I'm in the mood for a fishy dish.

Remember that viral baked feta pasta that took over TikTok a few years back? I tried it and found it a bit disappointing, but then, I'm not much of a mac and cheese fan. I did, however, appreciate the idea of using cherry or grape tomatoes in a cooked dish since I'd only ever eaten them raw up to that point. Our pan-baked salmon with burst tomatoes makes use of these tiny tomatoes, showcasing their satisfying squish and surprisingly intense flavor.

Apart from how it tastes, the best thing about this dish is just how simple it is to make. Basically, all you're doing is unwrapping your Aldi salmon filet, salting and peppering it, and then drizzling it with olive oil. Add some grape tomatoes and garlic to the pan, sprinkle a little oil on them as well, and bake the fish until it's done. To finish things off with a fancy touch, mash some of the tomatoes with a small amount of cream, season them with basil and oregano, and pour this sauce over the salmon.

If you have no tomatoes on hand or don't want a creamy sauce, another way to make extra-flavorful salmon is to whip up a simple, bourbon-based salmon glaze. Ours is so easy it doesn't even require a full recipe, since you just mix one part each of bourbon, brown sugar, and soy sauce. Toss in a little minced garlic plus some cracked black pepper, smoked paprika, and cayenne and you're all set to brush it over your salmon before it cooks.

As the salmon heats up, the glaze forms a sticky, delicious crust that keeps the juices inside where they belong. Besides the bourbon flavor, the alcohol isn't strictly necessary for the dish, so using booze-free bourbon in this recipe is certainly an option if you don't drink. A product such as Spiritless Kentucky 74 is not only great for making mocktails, but is equally well-suited for cooking. For a sweeter (and cheaper) alternative, you can also swap out the whiskey for honey or maple syrup. Since the sugary elements are balanced out with the salty soy sauce and the seafood flavor of the salmon, a maple syrup glaze will be just as tasty as the more spirituous option.

A long time ago, I was living on the Central California coast during an exceptionally large salmon run. I'm not much of a fisher, but they were selling for ridiculously cheap in the supermarket, so I bought a bunch of them. My freezer at the time could only hold so much, though, so I experimented with alternate ways of preserving the fish and found DIY gravlax to be the most successful. While my original efforts involved whole salmon, gravlax can also be made with store-bought salmon fillets, such as the ones sold by Aldi.

So, how do you make cured salmon gravlax at home? Quite easily: You'll start by covering the entire surface with a 50/50 mixture of coarse salt and sugar, to which you've added any desired seasonings such as black pepper, dill, or lemon zest. Wrap the salmon tightly in foil, put it in a pan big enough to hold it, and weigh it down with something heavy. Refrigerate it for three days, flipping it over and repositioning the weight every 12 hours. Once the salmon is done, give it a light rinse before eating it. Gravlax on a bagel with cream cheese is a deli classic, but it also goes great with eggs, on a salad, or on toast with thin-sliced onions and lemon juice. (The last one is a favorite of mine.)

The upscale restaurant chain Nobu, namesake of chef Nobu Matsuhisa, is known for its pioneering Peruvian-Japanese fusion cuisine. One of its legendary dishes is miso black cod, an entree that can run you a hefty $50 before tax and tip. If that's a bit out of your price range (or you don't live anywhere near a Nobu), you can recreate a similar dish on the cheap using an Aldi salmon filet.

To make it, you only need four ingredients besides the salmon: mirin, sake, sugar, and white miso paste. These are combined to make a marinade, in which you'll soak the salmon for 12 to 18 hours. This allows enough time for the subtle flavors to penetrate the fishy flesh, but not long enough to turn it mushy. The fish is then broiled for a few minutes on each side until it's cooked through and ever-so-slightly charred. This dish is so easy to make that one Takeout staffer even prepared it in an office toaster oven. Believe it or not, all of the taste testers were wowed by the results.

Clint Eastwood has been around for nearly a century (he was born in 1930), but he's still going strong. Could we have his healthy diet to thank for that? He breakfasts each morning on a super-simple combo of brown rice and salmon, which sounds kind of austere, but can actually be quite delicious if you customize it with a few flavorful tweaks.

You'll start by cooking your Aldi salmon filet — pan-sear it, poach it, grill it, or bake it straight from frozen. Put the salmon on top of a heap of rice (brown, white, basmati; whatever kind you like), then drizzle it with some kind of dressing like vinaigrette, teriyaki sauce, or spicy sriracha mayonnaise thinned out with a little citrus juice. You can add some spinach for extra vitamins or top the salmon rice bowl with a poached egg for extra protein. Maybe throw in some diced avocados or tomatoes and sprinkle it with toasted sesame seeds for crunch. This healthy breakfast may not guarantee you seven decades of stardom, but it's sure to power you through until lunch.