Smoked salmon may be best known as a bagel topping, but it deserves credit for all it can do beyond breakfast. The rich flavor and meaty texture of Provisions smoked wild salmon plays well with a wide variety of flavors and ingredients. These firm, flaky retort-packed fillets are similar to hot-smoked salmon. The fillets are delicious on their own, topped with fresh herbs or paired with creamy cheese; in a light grain salad or a seafood stew; or in tacos, pastas and scattered over pizzas. Of course, there’s nothing wrong with eating it right out of the pouch with a slice of crusty bread, either.

Here are some of our favorite ideas and recipes for serving smoked salmon.

When you’re trying to get out of a breakfast rut, smoked salmon is your ally. Toss it into your usual scrambled eggs and top with chives. Pile it on toast that you’ve spread with cream cheese, or, if you have a few extra minutes in your morning, try it with poached eggs and greens for a deluxe take on a bagel sandwich. Smoked salmon’s plentiful protein—along with omega-3 fatty acids and vitamin D—will keep you satisfied till lunchtime or beyond.

Smoked salmon is a brunch staple for a reason. It elevates everything it’s served with, whether you add the fish to a big fat omelet or pan-sear it in salmon cakes to pair with a green salad. Or, for a smoked-salmon platter, lay out the fillets with other brunch fixings—like cucumbers, hard-cooked eggs, capers, tomatoes, red onions, dill, cream cheese, and bagels or toast—so people can help themselves.

That salad or veggie sandwich you make for lunch on autopilot every week can instantly become more appealing—and nutritious—with the addition of smoked salmon. For workday desk lunches or a weekend picnic, try adding salmon to a four bean salad, a cucumber, avocado and tomato salad or a tangle of soba noodles. If you’re off for a hike, take two minutes and pack up this salmon wrap. In camp? Stir smoked salmon into hearty Tsampa Soup for a satisfying midday meal. Have a little more time? Put together a tangy, gingery take on ceviche, using smoked salmon instead of the usual raw fish.

Salmon with cream cheese on a cracker is the classic. There’s nothing wrong with that, but sometimes it’s fun to break out of the box and go for salmon spring rolls with lots of fresh herbs, or addictive, crunchy Salmon Hush Puppies with Chimichurri Tartar Sauce. For a twist on the smoked-salmon cracker, try this Wild Salmon Spread (one of Provisions’ most popular recipes ever).

Smoked salmon tends to get the glory earlier in the day, and is often underestimated as a dinnertime main. But it can handle a wide range of strong seasonings for dinnertime. And, because the fish is already cooked, it’s especially convenient for weeknights. Try smoked salmon any number of ways in tacos—with pineapple tomatillo salsa, pickled radishes or cilantro slaw and mango salsa. Or use the salmon in pastas like Salmon and Broccoli Penne or Spinach Pesto Fusilli, or over crisp rounds of baked polenta.
 

Smoked salmon makes for easy main dishes that seem like they took a lot of work. Add hunks of it to mixed-seafood tacos and top with seasonal vegetables (like watermelon radishes, above), or check out recipes like our decadent Puff Pastry Salmon Turnover or Wild Salmon Chanterelle Pizza. Or go all out and pair it with other seafoods in a festive Feast of 7 Fishes Seafood Soup or a piping hot bowl of cioppino.

Of course, you don’t need a recipe for enjoying smoked salmon—just a sense of what foods pair best with it. A few suggestions:

• With crackers, softened cream cheese and capers
• Tossed into a green salad with a lemony dressing
• Stirred into hot pasta with a light tomato sauce, green onions, fresh parsley and extra-virgin olive oil
• As deconstructed sushi: Eat it with steamed short-grain rice, avocado, cucumber, and seaweed strips for folding up the bites
• On lightly steamed or blanched vegetables
• Mixed into any grain-and-veggie bowl
• In an egg salad (capers are great here)
• On avocado toast
• In a creamy risotto with dill and chives