These elegant smoked salmon pinwheels are perfect if you want to enjoy lox without the bagels for a low-carb, keto appetizer, also great for breakfast or brunch!
Smoked Salmon Pinwheels
I love smoked salmon, especially Nova Lox with cream cheese so this appetizer has my name all over it! A few other smoked salmon, it’s a must when I set up a Bagel Bar for brunch, and in recipes like this Breakfast Omelet with Lox, and Avocado Egg Salad Toast with Lox.
This recipe is from the Everyday Ketogenic Cookbook (affil link) by Carolyn Ketchum. A fabulous cookbook and a great resource for anyone wanting to live a Ketogenic lifestyle.
This recipe is perfect to make ahead for a party, keep them refrigerated until ready to serve as they hold up best when chilled. You can make them a day ahead, I think they would also be wonderful with fresh dill.
Smoked Salmon Pinwheels
Ingredients
- 8 ounces thinly sliced cold smoked salmon, I like Nova Lox
- 4 ounces 1/3 less fat cream cheese
- 1/4 medium cucumber, cut into matchsticks
- 2 tablespoons finely chopped red onion
- 2 tablespoons capers, drained
- 1/2 lemon, sliced thin
Instructions
- Lay a large piece of plastic wrap on a work surface.
- Arrange the slices of salmon in an overlapping fashion to create a rectangle about 6 inches wide by 12 inches long, with one of the longest sides facing you.
- Gently spread the cream cheese over the salmon trying not to dislodge any of the pieces. Lay the cucumber along one side of the rectangle about 1/2 inch from the edge.
- Using the plastic wrap to guide you, roll the salmon up tightly around the cucumber sticks. Refrigerate until firm at least 30 minutes.
- Using a sharp knife, cut the roll into 16 1/2-inch thick slices.
- Sprinkle with red onion and capers and serve with lemon slices.
This was amazing! It was the hit of the party and the first to go.
Awesome!
I give it five star.
Nightmare site ! Unable to follow recipe, pop up adds , videos , side of screen obstructions unable to see full screen ! etc etc too busy to follow , total waste of time . AVOID
if you save the recipe or export to PDF you can avoid all the issues you’ve stated. Personally, I’ve never had a problem.
No one likes advertisements however the reality is you’re utilizing a site that is FREE. Gina is freely giving us resources to enjoy delicious meals that adhere to whichever dietary guideline we need or choose to follow. This site is the only site I use for diabetic friendly recipes. The ads are how she can continue to upkeep and pay for the site.
You should remember the days we had to sit and watch the tv channel guide slowly scroll without blinking so we didn’t miss what we were looking for. Patience. We have it pretty damn good nowadays.
I LOVE food and I thought being diabetic was the end of all good food, I was wrong thanks to Gina.
Ultimately, your issues boil down to user error. If you can take the time to leave an obnoxious comment you can take the time to learn how to successfully navigate this site. Or ask for help instead of talking trash.
Well put KC! I love following Gina and all of her delish recipes!!
Tasty and delicious!
Absolutely loved your recipe. Wondering can I make in advance and freeze if so for how long before
. Thanks Bev
Thank you! Not sure?
Hey there Gina thanks for the awesome healthy recipe! I can’t wait to share this recipe with for the sushi lovers in my blog 😀
Do you have any other healthy sushi recipes without rice?
Thanks so much
I love this recipe too 🙂 I just wanted to mention kindly that this is not sushi. Sushi is actually means vinegar or sour rice in Japanese.
I’m a bit of a stickler for cultural awareness and would urge you to do a quick google search.
This is easy and yummy. I shredded a carrot, cored a chopped a tomato, to add to the cream cheese (plus S&P). This added more veg and made the cream cheese easier to spread!
I haven’t tried this yet but I am looking for keto recipes. This reminds me of a Philadelphia roll without the rice.
How long would something like this keep? I recently discovered how sick carbs make me and have been looking for low carb bites. I’d love to make something like this and eat it over 2 or 3 days as a snack. Would that be possible do you think? -Fan of your site for years-
Maybe 2-3 days?
Must put basil in here its insane
Roll it in everything bagel seasoning before slicing it.
Muchas gracias por compartir sus recetas, Acabo de encontrar su pagina y me ha encantado. La suscripción es gratuita?. Un saludo
I nuke the cream cheese, 30 secs 1/2 power to make it easier to spread. Put onions inside with lemon juice and dill.
This looks mind blowingly good, but…I would use the greek yogurt cheese, meaning even less calories and fat. It tastes exactly like cream cheese. I’ll never eat cream cheese again. All I do is take fat free Greek Yogurt and strain it in cheese cloth overnight. That’s it. Easy peasy.
I’m making this again and will try with the yoghurt. Thanks. Bev
Won’t the yoghurt’s consistency be too soft for this?
What do you think about putting the red onion and capers in with the cucumber before rolling? I’m going to make this and actually have it for my breakfast for the rest of the week- excited to try!
Yes!
My favorite cold smoked salmon is made by Ducktrap . they have many different flavors. I buy it at Whole Foods but also many other retailers too. I like their peppered as well as the plain.
I had trouble getting the cream cheese to spread without ripping up the salmon — I used the block kind. Should I have used the spread kind?
You could microwave this cream cheese for just a few seconds to make it a lot easier to spread I’ve done that many times. I also add my very finely chocolate onions and capers and with it instead of garnishing it on the top
I added dried dill weed, just a sprinkling, before step 4.
I made this as an appetizer for Easter dinner! The plate was empty in no time. A definite winner Thanks!
Great!
Where can I find the salmon at whole foods…its called Lox?
Yup Lox
I’ll be trying this on the weekend and Instead of cream cheese I think i’ll skinny cow spreadable pepper jack cheese? Add a little heat!
This looks like a perfect appetizer for Easter to bring to a potluck! Thank you Gina!
I make a yogurt “cream cheese” by draining fat free Greek yogurt, then seasoning what’s leftover. I use it in baking, A LOT!
I recently made some “lox and cream cheese” where I added scalllions, capers, salt and pepper, and came up w/a true winner.
Made w/my zero point cream cheese (ff plain yogurt is now zero), Gina, your dish would be zero points.
Trust me, It’s delicious!
what tool do you use to slilce the cucumber so perfectly…..
I have a julienne peeler, looks like a potato peeler
The shredder blade on my Paderno spiralizer made strands in just a few turns.
Even though I’ve decided that I will try block (rather than tub) cream cheese next time to help the roll hold together more tightly, I was pleased with the taste of these. I did add fresh dill sprigs, and the red onion and capers give the finished slices not only a festive garnish but some valuable zing. Thank you for an interesting recipe.
These look amazing! Might be serving these soon!
Done and DONE!! I need a low carb make ahead dish for Easter brunch with my family and this is the first place I looked! I should have known you wouldn’t let me down. Happy Easter to you and your family! Thanks for all the delicious recipes!
Thanks Kiki! You too!
These are delicious!! Carolyn Ketchum is a fabulous recipe developer. Her cookbook The Everyday Ketogenic Cookbook is a culinary masterpiece for Keto and lowcarb lifestyles!! Thanks for posting her recipe!
I have a few questions….. Is smoked salmon cooked? Or is this considered raw fish? Also, how do I get thin cut salmon?
Thank you so much and I’m so very thankful I found your website!
Yes, it is cooked. It comes sliced thin. I find it in the seafood area of my grocery store, Publix.
No actually it is not cooked. It is cured in salt then cold smoked. However it’s not raw like sushi. The cold smoke flavors the cured fish at about 99° f. The curing makes it safe to eat, similar to dehydrating which also uses a very low heat to dry it out, which is how beef jerky is made. Beef jerky is not cooked either.
I’m a food safety inspector for the USDA. I don’t deal with salmon, but I inspect meat products, and Jerky is absolutely cooked. Due to issues with slow come-up times increasing the chance of salmonella growth, jerky is generally cooked to 160 F in large smoker ovens. Just an FYI.
Did you use the tub or block cream cheese? Just curious which works better.
For my first try, I used a half tub of lower-fat cream cheese. It was reasonably easy to spread (though I had to go slowly and carefully), but I think that the roll would have held together more firmly if I had used a softened block that would return to a tighter texture.