It's Basically Never Worth It To Make Your Own Salmon Burgers

For fish lovers or pescatarians who want something they can eat at the family barbecue, salmon burgers are a tasty alternative to typical meat-based patties. Salmon burgers are so fun to make from scratch that most people prepare them at home this way. A typical recipe involves combining salmon filets in a food processor with ingredients such as mustard, mayo, lemon juice, shallots, spices, and breadcrumbs before shaping the mixture into round patties and cooking them. It sounds straightforward enough, and aside from the salmon, these burgers are usually made with kitchen staples you probably already own.

Although you can make them yourself, most grocery stores offer some version of premade salmon burgers — and these are undoubtedly easier to cook up than preparing patties from scratch. All you need to do is cook the frozen salmon burgers in the oven, air fryer, or stove, or on the grill, which typically takes 15 minutes or less. Then, slide those patties into a bun and top with greens, tartar sauce, or whatever toppings you prefer. While using store-bought salmon burgers is an extremely simple process, there's yet another reason why it's not worth it to make your own at home.

Not only are store-bought salmon burgers easier to make, but they're usually cheaper too. Trader Joe's Fresh Atlantic Salmon Boneless Skinless Fillet, which is on the cheaper end of grocery-store salmon, is $9.99 per pound. The Atlantic salmon fillets at Albertsons are about $11 per pound, while the ones at Whole Foods can get up to $15.99 a pound — and its king salmon fillet can even go up to $32.99 per pound. Keep in mind that for salmon burgers, most recipes call for over a pound of the fish, since it is the star of the show.

Store-bought salmon patties, on the other hand, are more cost-effective per pound — so no matter how many people you're feeding, you should still end up saving money by buying them. For example, a box of four Premium Salmon Burgers at Trader Joe's that add up to almost a pound total costs only $7.49 — around the same price of a box of four patties at Kroger. And if you head to Walmart, you may get even cheaper prices — on the chain's website, a box of four Aqua Star salmon burgers costs $5.76.

There are exceptions to this rule, of course, as some salmon burgers can be pricier than these options. But in general, it pays to buy store-bought patties instead of making them at home.