A restaurant recently opened up in my neighborhood with a fantastic fish selection. It’s great, but I’m always looking for the fish cakes they sell in the Maritimes. Unfortunately, the more I look for them, the more I realize they don’t have them, and it’s time to make my own.
One of the good things about making fish cakes is you don’t need expensive cuts of fish. Sure they look pretty and taste amazing, but you don’t need to go out and spend a fortune; they are incredibly cheap to make. The best way I have found is to use canned salmon. It’s already cooked; I remove the bones and mash them up. These are great to make with leftover mashed potatoes. I usually make fish cakes or potato fritters with leftover mashed potatoes; they are like gold in our house.
So here is a cheap and easy recipe worth trying. They taste amazing, trust me.

Cheap and Easy Fish Cakes
Ingredients
Instructions
- In a bowl, combine everything except the vegetable oil.
- In a large frying pan, heat vegetable oil at medium heat until it bubbles.
- Divide the fish cake mixture into 8 equal parts and form into paddies. Place paddies into the frying pan, and don’t overcrowd it (you might have to do them in two batches).
- Let patties cook until you see a brown crust forming, then turn them; if you turn them too quickly, they will fall apart.
- Flip them and allow the cakes to cook evenly.
- Once the fish cakes have a nice, even crust, place them on a paper towel-lined plate to cool.
- Enjoy them with ketchup or tartar sauce, or I like them just plain. They don’t taste too fishy, so even my little guy was a fan.
- Give this recipe a try; it tastes great and is much cheaper than buying it in stores!