Whitefish Salad

By Joan Nathan

Updated April 16, 2024

Whitefish Salad
Kelly Marshall for The New York Times. Food Stylist: Samantha Seneviratne.
Total Time
15 minutes
Prep Time
10 minutes
Cook Time
5 minutes
Rating
4(175)
Comments
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Whitefish salads are most often drenched in mayonnaise, masking the distinctive smoky, salty flavor of the fish and covering up the crispy celery and onion. In this lighter, fresher salad, included in my new cookbook, “My Life in Recipes” (Alfred A. Knopf, 2024), the celery adds a tiny bit of texture while the herbs complement without overpowering. A minimal amount of mayonnaise adds silkiness as freshly squeezed lemon juice brightens, letting the fish dominate. The only tricky part is to make sure you remove all the bones. Serve this whitefish salad as a dip; a spread for matzo, bread or bagels; or as a topping on leafy greens, cucumber rounds or endive spears.

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Ingredients

Yield:About 2¼ cups
  • 2(packed) cups flaked smoked whitefish (about 12 ounces)
  • ½small white onion, minced
  • 1stalk celery, minced
  • 2fresh dill sprigs, minced
  • 1lemon, juiced, or more to taste
  • 1tablespoon mayonnaise, or more to taste
  • Freshly ground black pepper
Ingredient Substitution Guide
Nutritional analysis per serving (4 servings)

129 calories; 4 grams fat; 1 gram saturated fat; 0 grams trans fat; 1 gram monounsaturated fat; 2 grams polyunsaturated fat; 3 grams carbohydrates; 1 gram dietary fiber; 1 gram sugars; 20 grams protein; 897 milligrams sodium

Note: The information shown is Edamam’s estimate based on available ingredients and preparation. It should not be considered a substitute for a professional nutritionist’s advice.

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Preparation

  1. Step 1

    Put 1½ cups of the whitefish into a medium bowl. Finely mince the remaining ½ cup, then gently stir it into the flaked fish.

  2. Step 2

    Add the onion, celery, dill, lemon juice and mayonnaise and stir to combine. Taste it, and adjust as you like, with more lemon or mayonnaise. (The lemon really makes this whitefish salad shine.) Season to taste with pepper. Whitefish salad keeps, covered and refrigerated, for up to 3 days.

Ratings

4 out of 5
175 user ratings
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Comments

Lori F in NYC

For those who can't find whitefish: Acme Smoked Fish is Brooklyn based, but it supplies stores (including Costco) all over the country. It's not Zabars, but it's entirely credible. You can get local information details here: https://acmesmokedfish.com/pages/where-to-buy. (We're doing homemade gravlax in lieu of gefilte this year but I'll be making this recipe soon. It sounds perfect.)

Lucinda

We add horseradish to the mix to give it an edge. Great recipe!

Stewart

Saying that Acme Smoked Fish is not Zabars is like saying it's not Long John Silvers. Acme's smoked fish -- especially their various salmons, but the whitefish is also top-quality -- is arguably the best in the entire country. I've certainly never found better.

Jill in Nyack

Regarding the comment that mayo is not pesadik, there is in fact pesadik mayo available, although it's pretty terrible and typically made with cottonseed oil. But it's also fairly easy to make mayonnaise with an egg, oil, and a bit of lemon juice or vinegar.

Es

This is good. I love whitefish and am usually disdainful of whitefish salads. For this we had the remains of a large piece of smoked whitefish that I picked over (I need to take a shower now) and ended up with about a cup of fish. I added more onion than specified and more mayo (Hellman's) but otherwise stuck to the recipe. So quick and so good. I thought about adding capers but decided against it as the salt content is already high but they would be good with this.

Krista

This recipe is fantastic and way better than any whitefish salad I’ve ever eaten. I didn’t have fresh dill but no matter. I had celery from our organic farm with beautiful leaves and used those instead-lots of them. Got my whitefish from Murray’s Sturgeon Shop in NYC. A very nice young man took every bone out for me and the whitefish was so delicious on its own I could’ve eaten eat plain.

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Credits

Adapted from “My Life in Recipes” by Joan Nathan (Alfred A. Knopf, 2024)

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