Canned Salmon Tacos with Cucumber Dill Yogurt
Premium canned salmon flaked over small corn tortillas with sliced cucumber, red onion, and a cucumber dill Greek yogurt sauce. Zero heat required. Ten minutes. The taco that accidentally became healthy.
Ingredients
Meat & Protein
- 2 cans canned salmon 5 oz each — Wild Planet or Safe Catch in olive oil strongly recommended. Drain and flake.
Produce
- 0.5 cucumber halved lengthwise, seeds scooped, thinly sliced into half-moons — divided between filling and sauce
- 0.25 red onion thinly sliced
- 2 tbsp fresh dill roughly chopped — or 1 tsp dried dill if fresh unavailable
- 1 lemon juiced — about 2 tablespoons
- 1 lime cut into wedges, for serving
- 1 avocado sliced — optional
Dairy
- 0.5 cup plain Greek yogurt full-fat — the base of the cucumber dill sauce
Pantry & Canned Goods
- 12 corn tortillas small — 4 to 5 inch street taco size, warmed
- 1 tbsp olive oil for the salmon seasoning
Seasonings & Spices
- 0.5 tsp garlic powder for the sauce
- 0.5 tsp kosher salt divided
- 0.25 tsp black pepper
- 0.5 tsp smoked paprika for the salmon
Instructions
- Make the cucumber dill yogurt: finely dice a quarter of the cucumber half and add to a small bowl. Add Greek yogurt, fresh dill, garlic powder, lemon juice, salt, and pepper. Stir well to combine. Taste — it should be creamy, bright, and herby. Adjust lemon and salt. Set aside in the fridge.
- Drain the canned salmon and turn out into a bowl. Remove any large bones if present — they're edible but some people prefer them removed. Flake the salmon into bite-sized pieces with a fork. Drizzle with olive oil, add smoked paprika, salt, and pepper. Toss gently to season evenly without breaking the salmon into mush.
- Slice the remaining cucumber into thin half-moons. Thinly slice the red onion. Set everything out in separate bowls for assembly.
- Warm the corn tortillas directly over a gas burner for 15 seconds per side, or in a dry skillet over medium-high heat for 30 seconds per side, until warm, pliable, and lightly charred in spots. Stack two per taco and keep warm wrapped in a kitchen towel.
- Build each taco: a generous spoonful of cucumber dill yogurt spread on the double-stacked tortillas, a pile of seasoned salmon, cucumber slices, red onion, and avocado if using. Finish with fresh dill and a squeeze of lime. Serve immediately.
Notes
The canned salmon brand matters here more than in most recipes. This is a no-cook taco — the salmon is the centerpiece and it's not being hidden under heavy seasoning. Wild Planet and Safe Catch in olive oil are meaningfully better than budget shelf-stable salmon. The texture is firmer and the flavor is cleaner. Worth the extra dollar or two per can.
Fresh dill is strongly preferred over dried here. The cucumber dill sauce depends on the brightness of fresh dill — dried dill works in a pinch but the sauce loses its defining character. If your store doesn't carry fresh dill reliably, grow a small pot — it's extremely low maintenance.
The cucumber in the sauce does double duty: finely diced into the yogurt for flavor and texture in the sauce, then sliced thin as a filling component. Don't skip the cucumber in the sauce — it adds freshness that distinguishes this from plain yogurt dip.
This is a genuinely high-protein, low-effort dinner. Two cans of salmon provides approximately 50 grams of protein across four servings before the Greek yogurt adds more. Worth noting in the blog post for the macro-conscious angle the site is moving toward.
Tried this recipe?Let us know how it was!