Canned Pink Salmon

Pink salmon is the most abundant Pacific salmon species and the most commonly canned. It has a lighter colour and milder flavour than sockeye, with a softer texture that flakes apart easily. Sold as total can contents — meaning the liquid, soft edible bones, and skin are all included — it’s best suited to dishes where the salmon is mixed in rather than served as a centrepiece.

It’s a pantry workhorse for salmon patties, rissoles, mornays, pasta bakes, and sandwich fillings. The soft bones are fully edible after canning and add a calcium boost. In Australia, both wild-caught Pacific and farmed varieties are available.