Can You Eat Canned Salmon Straight Out Of The Can?

Like tuna, you can purchase salmon in a can right off the grocery store shelf. In fact, it's almost always located by the canned tuna. But since it's a different product altogether, you might be wondering if you can eat salmon straight out of the can like other tinned fish. The answer is yes — like many varieties of canned meat and fish, canned salmon is fully cooked and ready to eat. That means if you really want to, you can devour it straight from the can for a major protein boost (think a situation like camping or hiking), or you can use it to top a salad, turn it into a sandwich filling (exactly like tuna salad), or transform it into a quick dip for entertaining.

You can also cook with it and make quick and simple dishes like salmon croquettes (a canned fish staple in Southern food history). But, unlike the raw stuff, you'll never be able to prepare canned salmon medium-rare, since it's already well-cooked for preservation purposes. Just think of it as a canned tuna alternative, something to use if you want to switch up your fish game a little bit. 

Canning salmon is a fairly straightforward process. Once the salmon is caught, it's brought to a processor to remove the heads, eggs, and other undesirable canning portions such as the scales, organs, and fins. The fish are then washed and cut into proper steak sizes.

The raw fish meat is placed into the can, a salt tablet is added to it, and lids are affixed to each can. Eventually, the cans are pressure-cooked (what's known as retort processing) to ensure the contents are cooked, sterilized, and shelf-stable. Once labeling and final processes are complete, the cans are shipped to stores where you can purchase them. So really, when it comes to salmon from the can, you can hit the ground running since the fish itself is already fully prepared and ready to eat. Some products are even flavored, like Fishwife's Fly By Jing chili crisp salmon. All you have to do is open the can and you've got an ingredient that's fully prepped to go whenever you are.