Tasty Salmon Pasta Recipe

A natural source of much-needed Omega 3s, salmon is a firm favourite in British households. But it is more expensive than other protein sources. So the NimbleFins team has come up with a recipe that uses an affordable amount of salmon but doesn't sacrifice on taste (or protein). And we tried to make it for under £5. Could we do it?

• The recipe
• Could we make it for under a fiver?
• Tasty salmon pasta Aldi vs Tesco cost

Notes

One reason the salmon was cheaper at Aldi was that Aldi sells offcuts of salmon fillets called 'salmon pieces'. Buying 'salmon pieces' may not be your choice if you have company over and want perfect fillets, but for a regular family meal we think they're a great way to save some money on salmon. With 'salmon pieces' you typically get some smaller fillets that didn't meet the size requirements for 'fillet' and some smaller offcuts to bring the weight up to 250g. We tried them, and they taste just as good—in fact, in our opinion, the smaller salmon bits cook even better in an air fryer, because they have more surface area to get brown and crispy!

Naming note: Why did we name this 'Tasty Salmon Pasta'? When they had their first bite, our first taste tester exclaimed, 'This is tasty!' So...

Alternative: One of our writers likes making this recipe with cream cheese instead of cheddar, and smoked salmon. It's an easy recipe to customise to your own taste buds!

Salmon Pasta Recipe

Enjoy!

Ingredients

Directions

Here we go!

1. Cook & flake the salmon. We cooked our salmon in the air fryer—wrap tin foil around the shelf to make clean up easier, place the salmon fillets on the shelf, spray with oil, then cook at 190C for around 12 minutes until a little browned on the outside and cooked through in the middle. Let it cool enough to handle, then flake the salmon into a bowl with a fork. (Alternative: you could also wrap the salmon in foil and bake in the oven until cooked.) (Time-saving note: start a pot of water boiling for the pasta before you start on the salmon!)

Before

After

Flaked

2. Cook the pasta & peas. While the salmon is cooking, start cooking the pasta according to the directions on the box. You can grate the cheese while the pasta is starting to cook, unless you bought pre-grated cheese. When there are around 5 minutes left for the pasta to cook, add the frozen peas and return the water back to a boil as quickly as possible (it can help to put a lid on the pot, but watch carefully to avoid the water boiling over and making a big mess!).

Grate cheese

Add peas to cooking pasta

3. Combine. After draining the cooked pasta and peas, mix some butter or oil into the pasta in the pot, then stir in the grated cheese to make a sauce and, finally, add the flaked salmon.

Add butter

Add cheddar cheese

Add flaked salmon

Mix then serve. If you have any, a sprinkle of Parmesan is a nice touch. And we always like adding a dollop of natural yogurt to pasta dishes to enhance the saucy element. To your personal tastes! Enjoy!

How to make tasty salmon pasta for £5

The NimbleFins team went to Aldi to see if we could make this recipe for under £5 and, low and behold, what's known as the cheapest UK supermarket came through. By shopping at Aldi, the price of the salmon pasta meal was £4.86—under a fiver!

Here's what we bought and how the costs broke down:

While the total spend for ingredients was £6.7 at Aldi, you're left with 200g of cheddar cheese and 580g of frozen peas to use later. Over a jacket potato, perhaps, for another cheap and cheerful meal? (With a dollop of natural yogurt!)

Tasty salmon pasta Aldi vs Tesco cost

We were first inspired to make this meal after seeing salmon on offer at Tesco.

But how would the cost of the meal compare from Tesco, compared to Aldi?

The meal cost £7.30 to make with ingredients bought at Tesco. The two salmon fillets were the most expensive component, at £4 (even on offer). Next, the cheese, followed by the pasta and peas. Here's how the costs broke down at Tesco:

Dinner for a family of four for £7 isn't bad (this is 6% of the average weekly grocery bill for a family of four), but we were able to make the meal for less at Aldi.

Per gram, the salmon, cheese and pasta were all cheaper at Aldi. The peas cost the same amount at Tesco and Aldi (99p for 900g).

Note, the pack of salmon from Aldi was 250g vs 260g at Tesco, but that is a marginal difference.

Does this meal have enough protein?

Protein is generally expensive, salmon even more so (read about the costs of protein here). Which is why we used only 2 salmon fillets for 4 people. Does 2 salmon fillets split over 4 people provide enough protein? We calculated the protein in this meal (assuming the food is split into 4 equal portions) and found that each serving provides 37.3 grams of protein.

It's commonly said that adults need 0.75 grams of protein per day, per kg of bodyweight. That means around 50 grams of protein is needed per day on average, as a rough estimate. So, a meal providing 37 grams of protein is solid indeed.