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Pan-fried salmon, flaked into tender pieces and served with spaghetti and courgetti in a light lemon cream sauce. Mixing the spaghetti with the courgetti gives the dish an even lighter feel, plus the courgetti is barely noticeable, so my kids eat it all, no problem!
“Oh my!!! So delicious. I used broccoli, and added a few shrimp in the shell along with my salmon. It’s the best I’ve ever made along this score. Thanks, jo”
Nicky’s Notes
I love this as a lighter dinner that still has the comfort of pasta and a creamy sauce.
I’m often guilty of cooking too much pasta, but this recipe, with the addition of the spiralized courgetti (zucchini) reminds me to reduce it down a little, whilst still making sure I get a nice, decent portion size!
You can replace the pasta entirely with courgetti (zoodles) if you like, but I can’t live without my pasta. So I won’t be doing that 😁
Table of Contents
📋 Ingredients for this Salmon Pasta Dinner
***Full recipe with detailed quantities in the recipe card below***
- Salmon – you only need 3 salmon fillets to feed four people in this recipe, as the salmon is flaked into nice little chunky pieces, once it’s cooked.
- Courgetti/zoodles – your can by these courgette noodles from larger supermarkets in the salad section. If you want to make your own, you’ll need a spiralizer. I have this one (<–affiliate link).
🧑🍳 Abbreviated Recipe
***Full recipe with detailed steps in the recipe card below***
Cook the spaghetti, adding the sugar snaps and courgette for the final minute, then drain and save a splash of pasta water. Pan-fry the salmon until crisp-skinned, add onion to soften, then lift out the salmon and stir garlic, wine and cream into the pan. Flake the salmon back in with lemon zest, then toss through the pasta, veg, lemon juice and a little pasta water until glossy. Finish with Parmesan, black pepper and lemon wedges.
Recipe Tips
- Be sure to save some of the water you cooked the pasta in. We add in a good splash of this lovely starchy water to the pan, near the end of cooking, to help produce a light, silky sauce for the spaghetti.
Pin this now to find it later
Pin ItPerfect light creamy pasta with al dente sugar snap peas, a little courgetti hidden in there and nice chunky flakes of tender salmon ❤️
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📺 Watch how to make it
Pan Fried Salmon with Spaghetti and Cream Lemon Sauce Recipe
Ingredients
- 250 g (8.8 oz) dried spaghetti
- 1 tbsp olive oil
- ⅛ tsp salt
- ⅛ tsp black pepper
- 3 boneless salmon fillets
- 1 small onion peeled and chopped
- 2 cloves garlic peeled and minced
- 2 tbsp white wine optional
- 5 tbsp double (heavy) cream
- zest of 1 lemon
- 85 g (1 cup) sugar snap peas (snow peas) roughly chopped
- 1 small courgette (zucchini) spiralized or cut into thin strips
- juice of 1/2 a lemon
To Serve:
- 2-4 tbsp shaved parmesan
- pinch black pepper
- lemon zest
- lemon Wedges
Instructions
- Place the spaghetti in a large pan of boiling water and simmer for 10-13 minutes – until cooked to your liking. Note – you'll be adding the sugar snap peas and courgette to the spaghetti for the last minute of cooking.250 g (8.8 oz) dried spaghetti
- Whilst the spaghetti is cooking, heat the oil in a large frying pan, over a medium-high heat.1 tbsp olive oil
- Sprinkle the salt and pepper on the flesh of the salmon fillets and place in the frying pan, skin-side-down. Cook for 3 minutes, until the skin is crispy.1/8 tsp salt, 1/8 tsp black pepper, 3 boneless salmon fillets
- Turn the salmon over and add the chopped onions to the pan. Cook the salmon and onions for a further 3 minutes, until the onions start to soften.1 small onion
- Take the salmon out of the pan and place on a chopping board.
- Add the garlic to the onions and cook for a minute whilst stirring. Add the wine and let it bubble for a minute, then add in the cream and turn the heat down to medium.2 cloves garlic, 2 tbsp white wine, 5 tbsp double (heavy) cream
- Whilst the cream is heating through, remove the skin from the salmon, and break the salmon into rough chunks (don't worry if it's not quite cooked at this point as it's going back in the pan). Add the salmon back into the pan along with the lemon zest.zest of 1 lemon
- By now the spaghetti should be almost ready. Add the sugar snap peas and spiralised courgette in with the spaghetti for the last minute of cooking.85 g (1 cup) sugar snap peas (snow peas), 1 small courgette (zucchini)
- Drain the pasta, reserving about half a cup of the cooking water.
- Add the spaghetti, sugar snaps and courgette to the frying pan and toss through along with the lemon juice and a couple of splashes of the reserved pasta water.juice of 1/2 a lemon
- Divide between four bowls and top with grated parmesan, freshly ground black pepper, and a little bit of lemon zest. Serve with lemon wedges.2-4 tbsp shaved parmesan, pinch black pepper, lemon zest, lemon Wedges
Video
Notes
Pan Size
Make sure your frying pan is big enough to hold all of the pasta and courgetti, as it’s all tossed together at the end. I use a 30cm/12″ frying pan. This is my favourite Le Creuset frying pan (<– affiliate link)Want it more saucy?
If you want the pasta dish to be a little more saucy, add in a more of the reserved pasta water and an extra tbsp of cream.Can I make it gluten free?
Yes, simply swap the spaghetti for gluten free spaghettiCan I swap out the salmon for chicken?
Yes, replace the salmon fillets with boneless, skinless chicken fillets, but pan fry them for 5-8 minutes longer, so they’re cooked all the way through before you slice/shred the chicken. You can also replace with other fish, such as haddock or cod, although I think salmon tastes best. Trout would work well, and prawn would too. If you’re using prawns, just add them in with the softened onions for the last few minutes of cooking, rather than pan frying them first.Can I freeze salmon with spaghetti?
Unfortunately this dish won’t freeze well.Want to remove the pasta to make it even lighter?
Replace more (or all) of the spaghetti with more courgetti (zoodles). Removing the spaghetti entirely and replacing with 2 extra spiralized courgettes (zucchinis) will save approx 215 calories per portion!How can I make a vegetarian version?
You can make a vegetarian version by replacing the salmon with quorn ‘chicken style’ strips (Linda McCartney Vegetarian Pulled Chicken is pretty good). Replace the Parmesan/Grana Padano cheese with a Italian-style vegetarian hard cheese. Nutrition info is approx. for one serving of this recipe.Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
This recipe was first published in March 2018. Updated June 2023 with new photos, video and a couple of small recipe tweaks. Updated since with additional improvements and for housekeeping reasons.
🍽️ What to serve it with
- Top with shaved parmesan, a good grind of black pepper and a little lemon zest. I like to serve with a lemon wedge too.
- You could also add some garlic bread and/or a nice simple salad.
More Salmon Recipes
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love this recipe, I used shrimp because I had that on hand, but i will make it with salmon next time.