Salmon Avocado Bagels

A Salmon Avocado Bagel platter is our favorite way to use up leftover salmon, and is a delicious weeknight meal! This quick and easy dinner comes together in 20 minutes! Just toast your bagels and load on the toppings, cream cheese, avocado, tomato, red onion, cucumber, egg, capers, lemon wedges, and pieces of roasted leftover salmon!

• Leftover Salmon - We love Roasted Salmon in our house! I always like to get an extra large piece because the leftovers make a great dinner the second night. Served cold, these Salmon Avocado Bagels have all the classic flavors of a smoked salmon lox bagel. They make a beautifully colorful bagel platter, piled high with all the toppings!

• Fast and Easy! - When you already have leftover salmon, these Avocado Salmon Bagels can be ready in just 20 minutes! They are perfect for a weeknight dinner but also would make a great brunch option.

• We Love Leftover Salmon from this Simple Roasted Wild Caught Salmon recipe or this Salmon with Garlic Honey Butter.

Ingredients

• Hard Boiled Eggs - Perfectly cooked hard boiled eggs are the only cooking required for this recipe. They can be cooked while you prepare and assemble all the other ingredients.

• Bagels - One per person, sliced open and toasted.

• Cream Cheese - I usually use plain cream cheese, but chive or veggie would work too.

• Leftover Cooked Salmon - I usually plan to roast at least a half pound extra for a salmon and bagel platter for 4 people. You can also roast salmon fresh for this recipe, or substitute store-bought smoked salmon.

• Tomato - I used one tomato sliced, but cherry tomatoes cut in half would also be great.

• Red Onion - I love the sharp flavor of thin red onion slices paired with the creamy texture of the cream cheese. You could also substitute a milder shallot, scallions or fresh chives.

• Capers - A bagel with salmon and capers is a classic combination, adding a salty, briny, tangy flavor. Kalamata olives are a nice addition or substitute.

• Lettuce - Any type of lettuce, spinach or baby salad greens add a bright color and a bit of extra nutrition to your bagel platter.

• Cucumber - Cucumber is optional but great to garnish your platter. The cool crisp crunch balances the soft chewy bagels with cream cheese.

• Avocado - An avocado salmon bagel brings a nice creamy texture to balance the onion and capers. Make sure your avocado is ripe, the peel is black and soft when pressed.

• Lemon - Cut into wedges, lemons are a nice garnish and a squeeze of bright fresh flavor.

Instructions

Step 1 - Start by hard boiling the eggs, you can assemble and prepare everything else while they cook.

• For Perfect Hard Boiled Eggs: Place eggs in a pot covering them with cold water by about an inch. Bring to a boil over high heat. Right when they reach a boil, turn off the heat and cover. Let them sit in the hot water for 17 minutes, set a timer. Run under cold water, crack and peel.

Step 2 - Slice bagels open, toast them and arrange on a platter. Spread them generously with cream cheese and top them evenly with your leftover salmon, broken up with a fork.

Add tomato, red onion and capers. Garnish your platter with greens, avocado, cucumber, lemon wedges and the hard boiled eggs when they are done.

Recipe Tips

• Toppings - All of the toppings on these open-faced salmon bagel sandwiches are optional, so if there is something you don't like, you can leave it off. Scallions or shallots can be substituted if you don't like red onion. My kids usually do like these Salmon Bagels, but often pick a few things off!

• You can hard boil extra eggs for Egg Salad for lunch or a Chopped Dinner Salad with Roasted Potatoes for dinner tomorrow night! They also make great snacks for the week!

• Storage - Leftover salmon bagels can be kept in an airtight container in the fridge and eaten the next day for lunch.

• Freezer Tips - I often buy a full fillet of salmon and freeze it to have an easy weeknight meal on hand. Our local co-op sells frozen salmon that is good quality and often less expensive than fresh. Bagels can be frozen too, just thaw in the fridge or on the counter.