This salmon mango salad recipe features juicy, ripe mango, pan-seared salmon, tart pickled onions, and a tangy, citrusy jalapeño honey lime dressing you're going to love! Make it for meal prep or an impressive dinner.
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Why You'll Love This Dish
This mango salmon salad is the perfect dish for a hot summer day, a weekend brunch, or a work lunch on a Tuesday. No matter when you make this healthy meal, you'll love this fruity, flavorful salad.
This dish is colorful, beautiful, refreshing, and full of savory, sweet, spicy, and fresh flavor.
As you're making everything from scratch, there are no processed or mystery ingredients, so you'll feel good about making this (and good eating it!)
Savory, crispy-skinned salmon, sweet, juicy mango, earthy, tangy jalapeño dressing, and tart, spicy pickled onions combine with crunchy lettuce to create a wonderfully balanced meal in both flavor and texture.
What You'll Need for Mango Salmon Salad
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- Salmon fillets I personally love crispy-skinned salmon, but you are welcome to buy fillets without it.
- Mango Fresh mango is best here, but I've also successfully defrosted frozen mango. You can use sliced mango, diced mango, or mango chunks here.
- Lettuce of your choosing. I used little gems here, but also like this salad with red and green leaf lettuce, Bibb, or butter lettuce. You can also try mixed greens.
Dressing Ingredients
- Neutral Oil like grapeseed oil or avocado oil. I don't recommend olive oil here as it tends to overpower the other ingredients.
- Lime Juice
- Apple Cider Vinegar
- Jalapeños
- Cilantro
- Garlic I don't recommend swapping this for garlic powder. If you can't find fresh garlic, I'd use a bit of jarred chopped garlic.
- Kosher Salt
Spicy Pickled Onions
- Red Onion You can also use sweet, white, or yellow onion.
- Serrano Peppers Swap for jalapeños if you can't find serranos.
- Rice Vinegar You'll want unseasoned rice vinegar for this recipe.
- Sugar I've made this recipe with both demerara and regular white granulated sugar. Both work fine.
- Kosher Salt
Recommended Equipment
Stainless Steel Pan or Cast Iron Skillet
How to Make Salmon and Mango Salad
Step One Prepare the spicy pickled onions. For step-by-step directions, go to this Spicy Pickled Onions recipe.
Step Two Make your honey jalapeño lime vinaigrette. Devein your jalapeño if you are sensitive to spice.
Step Three Add all ingredients to a mini food processor or high-speed blender.
Step Four Blend until fully combined.
Step Five Pan fry your salmon. Pat your salmon as dry as possible with paper towels. Cook in a hot stainless steel or cast iron skillet for about 4 minutes per side.
Step Six Assemble your salad, drizzle with dressing, and serve.
Variations & Substitutions
- Add avocado to your salad for some extra creaminess.
- You can try a different protein, like shrimp or chicken.
- Swap the dressing for Lemon Herb Vinaigrette.
- Try adding another fresh fruit in place of mango. Oranges, tangerines, blood oranges, or pineapple would all be delicious, or you can make the salad more savory by swapping in tomato, bell peppers, or cucumber.
- Add some fresh herbs like fresh mint, cilantro, or basil.
- Instead of pan-frying, you can grill salmon or bake it.
How to Store
Fridge Refrigerate prepared ingredients separately as dressed lettuce will wilt quickly.
Cooked salmon will last 3 to 4 days in the fridge. Spicy pickled onions will last 2 weeks and dressing will last for 3 to 4 days. Fresh lettuce will last about a week, and fresh mango about 5 days.
Freezer I do not recommend freezing this dish.
FAQ
Salmon is a great source of protein, healthy fats, and several vitamins and minerals.
Check out this article on the health benefits of salmon from Healthline for more info!
When stored properly in an airtight container (I recommend a glass jar with a tightly fitting lid, such as a mason jar) in the refrigerator, lime vinaigrette should last for up to a week.
This will depend on the thickness of the salmon fillet you are using. However, all salmon will cook quickly on the grill. I would recommend cooking your salmon on the grill for no more than 12 minutes total.
Salmon should be cooked to medium rare. This will produce a fillet that flakes with a fork and maintains a lightly pink center. You can measure your salmon fillet with an instant-read thermometer and pull it from the heat when it has reached 120 degrees Fahrenheit.
How to Serve
This salad can definitely be a meal on its own. Here are some ideas for dishes you can serve alongside.
Air Fryer Fingerling Potatoes are a great side for salad.
Sautéed Sweet Potatoes are super easy and really tasty!
If you love toast with your salad, how about a little air fryer crostini?
Or try adding some Garlic Peanuts for a little extra crunch!
Looking for more healthy seafood recipes? Try this fantastic avocado tuna salad or these smoked salmon sushi bowls.
Expert Tips
- If the skin is sticking, let it keep cooking! It will let you know when it's ready and release from the pan on its own.
- When cooking salmon, it is done with the salmon flakes easily with a fork but maintains a moist, medium-rare interior. I take my salmon off when the internal temperature reaches 120 degrees Fahrenheit.
- Choose a mango with a bright orange and red exterior and be sure to feel it to ensure it's ripe. It should have some give to it when squeezed. It if it hard, it's not quite ready yet!
More Recipes You'll Love
Looking for more mango recipes? Try these!
And here are a few salmon recipes you'll enjoy.
📖 Recipe
Salmon Mango Salad with Jalapeño Vinaigrette
Equipment
- Saucepan
- Stainless Steel Pan or Cast Iron Skillet
Ingredients
Salad
- 2 salmon fillets
- 1 mango fresh, or about 1 cup of fruit
- 3 to 4 cups lettuce
Spicy Pickled Onions
- 1 red onion
- 1 serrano pepper
- 3 cloves garlic
- 1 cup unseasoned rice vinegar
- 2 tablespoons sugar
- 3 teaspoons kosher salt
Honey Jalapeño Lime Vinaigrette
- ⅔ cup neutral oil like grapeseed oil or avocado oil
- 2 tablespoons honey
- 3 tablespoons lime juice
- 3 tablespoons apple cider vinegar
- 2 jalapeños or 1 large jalapeño
- 2 tablespoons cilantro roughly chopped
- 1 clove garlic peeled
- kosher salt to taste
Instructions
Pickled Onions
- Thinly slice onion. Slice serrano pepper. Smash and peel garlic. Add onion, serrano, and garlic to glass jar or other nonreactive container.
- Place pot or saucepan over medium-high to high heat on stovetop. Add vinegar, sugar, and salt. Bring brine to a boil, stirring occasionally to dissolve salt and sugar.
- Remove brine from the stove and pour over the onion in the glass jar or container. Be careful handling, as the jar will be hot!
Honey Jalapeño Lime Vinaigrette
- If you are sensitive to spice, deseed and devein the jalapeños by slicing them in half lengthwise and using a spoon to scrape out the interior.
- If you are looking for a spicy vinaigrette, try to just remove the seeds of the jalapeño while leaving the white membrane intact.
- Chop into a few pieces and add to the food processor with all remaining ingredients.
- Blend until smooth. Taste for seasoning and adjust if needed. Set aside about 8 tablespoons of dressing (or to taste) for the salad and refrigerate the rest.
Salmon Mango Salad
- Wash and dry your lettuce. Cut or tear into bite-sized pieces.
- Arrange the mango and pickled onions over the lettuce leaves.
- Pat your salmon as dry as possible with paper towels.
- Place a stainless steel pan or cast iron skillet over high heat. Once hot, turn down to medium heat. Season the salmon with salt, add a bit of oil to the pan, and place the salmon in the pan skin-side down.
- Cook for about 4 minutes per side, depending on the thickness of your fillets.
- Use an instant-read thermometer to determine when the salmon is ready to take off of the heat. The salmon should flake easily with a fork, have a somewhat pink interior, and read 120 degrees Fahrenheit for medium-rare. Cook for a few minutes longer if you prefer more cooked salmon.
- Let the salmon rest for a few minutes, then transfer to the salad, skin-side up.
- Taste for seasoning, drizzle with dressing, and serve.
Notes
- You can also use very thinly sliced red onion dressed with a little lime juice to make this recipe quicker.
- If the skin is sticking while cooking your salmon, let it keep cooking! It will let you know when it's ready and release from the pan on its own.
- When cooking salmon, it is done with the salmon flakes easily with a fork but maintains a moist, medium-rare interior. I take my salmon off when the internal temperature reaches 120 degrees Fahrenheit.
- Use the remaining dressing on other salads, over grilled meats, roasted vegetables, grain bowls, tacos, and more.
- Add whatever you'd like to this salad, like avocado, fresh herbs, or additional fruit.
- Fridge Refrigerate prepared ingredients separately as dressed lettuce will wilt quickly.
- Freezer I do not recommend freezing this dish.
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