Salmon and pasta becomes a very special dinner using delicate Angel Hair Pasta that’s drenched in a fresh paprika wine sauce. Easy enough for a weeknight dinner and brings with it a restaurant quality feel.
No matter which pasta shape you prefer, mixing salmon and pasta with fresh, seasonal vegetables makes for a healthy, delicious meal.
For this angel hair pasta with salmon dinner, we’ll combine delicate pasta to compliment fresh chopped tomatoes and sauteed sweet bell pepper and sweet onion.
The sauce of white wine, lemon, paprika and capers compliment the chunks of salmon and bring everything together for this fresh and easy pasta salmon recipe.
Let’s take a look.
Ingredients You’ll Need
- Salmon Fillet: 1/2 – 1 pound.
- Sweet Onion
- Orange Bell Pepper
- Tomatoes
- Shallot
- Lemon
- White Wine: Dry, such as Chardonnay, Sauvignon Blanc or Pinot Grigio.
- Capers
- Olive Oil
- Angel Hair Pasta
Ingredient Subs and Swaps
- Bell Pepper: Orange bell pepper works well here due to it’s color and sweetness. Substitute red or yellow bell pepper, but avoid green bell pepper due to it’s strong flavor.
- Tomatoes: Use fresh tomatoes when in season, but if you’re making this during the Winter months, substitute grape tomatoes.
- Capers: If you don’t have capers, fine chop green olives.
- Pasta: Use any pasta shape you’d like. Fettuccine, spaghetti, or even penne or farfalle.
Chef Tip: I like to purchase Cherub brand tomatoes. Cherubs are a variety of grape tomatoes which have a stronger outer skin and meatier, less watery flesh. They are easier to slice for salads, hold up better during cooking or roasting and are reliable year round with their mild, sweet flavor.
Step by Step Instructions … It’s Easy
- Step 1: Either grill or bake salmon and set at room temperature until time to add. Heat oil in a fry pan. Add bell pepper and onion and saute until soft.
- Step 2: Add shallots and stir until fragrant. Add in tomato, chardonnay and lemon and cook on low until heated.
- Step 3: Sprinkle in capers and paprika.
- Step 4: Stir well and keep warm.
- Step 5: Meanwhile cook pasta according to package directions. Drain and mix well with the vegetable mixture. Chunk the salmon. Add everything to the fry pan containing the sauce and vegetables and mix well. Add about 1/4 cup of the reserved pasta water to the pasta while mixing.
Pro Tip: Why is pasta water good for pasta sauce? Don’t throw all of that pasta cooking liquid down the drain, It’s liquid gold. It’s a must to add to any sauce for any pasta dish. It’s high in starch and this salty starchy water helps the sauce cling to the pasta while helping to thicken the sauce. It turns any pasta dish into a luxurious pasta dish.
Tip: For this salmon and pasta recipe, flake the salmon into fairly large chunks, remembering the salmon will break up a little bit more when stirring into the pasta.
All this salmon and pasta meal needs is a gorgeous green salad. Try this simple Louisiana Sunburst Salad to complete this meal.
I love leftovers as much as the next person, but this salmon pasta is best eaten once prepared. Seafood doesn’t re-heat well and since the salmon is mixed with the pasta, the two simply wouldn’t agree on reheating times. The time it takes to reheat the pasta, would overcook the salmon.
Wild caught Pacific salmon is considered to be the healthiest option. Look for specialty markets that offer wild caught, or a company that ships. Farm raised salmon is what is typically readily available in most grocery stores. I’d like to refer you to this article by the Pride of Bristol Bay for more in depth information. King Salmon, Sockeye Salmon, Coho Salmon are all good choices for the salmon and pasta dish.
Salmon and Pasta with Paprika Wine Sauce
Give this easy Angel Hair Pasta With Salmon Recipe a try. This salmon and pasta is low maintenance, straight forward and brings with it a special feel dinner.
How to easily cook salmon, simply preheat your oven to 400 degrees. Roast salmon for 20 minutes. The skin will easily pull off. You can also pan sear the salmon. Add a little oil to a large fry pan. Add salmon skin side down and cook until it’s crispy and flaky. About 15 minutes. Again, the flesh will easily separate from the skin.
More Light Pasta Dinner Recipes
And if you’re looking for more pasta recipe ideas, don’t miss my pasta category. You’ll find lots of good recipes, including the most popular pasta recipe on my site for Fettuccine mio Amore.
Salmon and Pasta in Paprika Wine Sauce
Ingredients
- 1 small salmon filet grilled, baked or pan-seared
- 1 Tablespoon olive oil
- 1 small onion sweet onion, sliced
- 1/2 yellow bell pepper thin sliced
- 1 small tomato Chopped. Or grape tomatoes, sliced in half
- 1 medium shallot peeled and diced
- 1 Tablespoon capers drained
- 1 Tablespoon paprika
- 1/2 Cup Chardonnay or any dry white wine
- 1/2 lemon juiced
- 4 ounces angel hair pasta 1/2 small box
Instructions
- Season salmon with salt and grill or bake until flaky and done. Let sit at room temperature until ready to add.
- Heat oil in a fry pan. Add bell pepper and onion and saute until soft.
- Add shallot and stir until fragrant.
- Add in tomato, chardonnay and lemon and cook on low until heated. Sprinkle in capers and paprika and keep warm.
- Meanwhile cook pasta according to package directions.
- Drain pasta. Chunk the salmon.
- In a pasta serving bowl, combine the pasta and vegetables and gently stir in the chunked salmon. Disperse the salmon throughout, making sure it's coated with that beautiful sauce.
Notes
Nutrition
Angel Hair Pasta with Salmon and Paprika Wine Sauce …It’s What’s for dinner.
What a delicious recipe! Using some leftover baked salmon, this was a fast & easy meal…the kind I love best! I would never have thought of the caper/paprika addition. Thank you for another great recipe idea.
It’s already a favorite.
Made this on the fly this afternoon. Quick, easy and delicious! Thanks for a fast Sunday afternoon meal!
love the flavors in this pasta dish!
Thank you Joumana. Always good to hear from you.
Right up my alley… love salmon and pasta.
Oooohhh!!! Paprika wine sauce?? I love it!!! I bet it was fantastic!!
Hmm, Lea Ann, that’s my kind of a dish. Bought lots of the wild caught sockeye and froze it the other week.
Oh yeah, I really love true Vidaillas. Walla walla, 1016, and St Augustine jumbos are all good but Vidaillas just have a better taste.
This is definitely going to be made at our house. Thanks for posting this great recipe, and I like the photo!
What a nice light dish for a hot summer’s day. Love it that you were able to use tomatoes from your garden. Ours were a wash this year so I am very jealous.
This looks wonderful, and as a hoarder of flatware, I love yours!!
Pam
Sidewalk Shoes
This looks delicious, Lea Ann! Salmon is on our menu for tomorrow. I hope I can find some good, wild salmon at the market tomorrow! Salmon and pasta are wonderful together.
I was just looking at some beautiful salmon in the market yesterday . . . it must have been a sign! What a beautiful pasta dish with so many layers of delicious flavors! So glad that you’ve had a productive garden Lea Ann!
xoxo
Roz
This sounds like a great one dish meal – I’ve never had salmon in a pasta dish before, but I’ve used tuna.
Thanks so much for stopping by and the comment. I hope you give this a try and that you let me know how you liked it. I had something similar to this in a restaurant a couple of weeks ago, hence the idea. I just switched it up a little for what I had on hand.