Gordon Ramsay’s salmon wellington recipe sandwiches four salmon fillets in two layers around a piped spinach cream cheese filling, wraps them in a herbed crepe, then bakes the whole log inside puff pastry at 200°C (400°F) for 25 to 30 minutes. Sliced thick and served with watercress, it feeds four generously.
There’s no salmon wellington in any of his cookbooks, but his Academy team demonstrates the full method on video. The sandwich technique comes from his Sunday Lunch salmon en croûte, where he places fillets “in opposite directions so both ends are of an even thickness.” The crepe also comes from Sunday Lunch, where he recommends wrapping crepes around salmon to “keep the pastry dry and crisp.”
The filling is completely different from every other wellington on the site. No mushroom duxelle, no Parma ham. Salmon is too delicate for earthy mushrooms, so the Academy uses spinach and cream cheese with dill instead. It keeps things light and lets the fish taste like fish.
Gordon Ramsay Salmon Wellington
Course: MainCuisine: BritishDifficulty: Easy4
20
minutes30
minutes480
kcal50 min
(plus chilling)Easy
Four salmon fillets sandwiched around spinach cream cheese and wrapped in a herbed crepe inside puff pastry, using the sandwich technique from Ramsay’s Sunday Lunch and the method from his Academy.
Ingredients
- For the salmon:
4 skinless salmon fillets, about 150g (5 oz) each, pin bones removed
Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
- For the filling:
150g (5 oz) baby spinach
100g (3½ oz) cream cheese
Small bunch of fresh dill, chopped
Zest of ½ lemon
1 tsp wholegrain mustard
- For the crepe:
60g (2 oz) plain flour
1 egg
140ml (5 fl oz) milk
1 tbsp fresh chives, finely chopped
Pinch of salt
- For the pastry:
1 sheet puff pastry, rolled to about 3mm thick
1 egg yolk, beaten
Directions
- Wilt the spinach: Cook the baby spinach in a dry pan over medium heat until just wilted, about 1 minute. Drain in a sieve and press out all the water with the back of a spoon. Chop roughly and leave to cool completely. Wet spinach will ruin the pastry.
- Make the filling: Mix the cream cheese with the cooled spinach, chopped dill, lemon zest and wholegrain mustard. Season with salt and pepper. Spoon into a piping bag or a zip-lock bag with the corner cut off.
- Make the crepe: Whisk the flour, egg, milk, chives and salt until smooth. Cook in a large non-stick pan over medium heat until golden on both sides. You need one large crepe. Leave to cool.
- Season the salmon: Pat all four fillets dry with kitchen paper and season with salt and pepper on all sides.
- Build the bottom layer: Lay a large sheet of cling film on a work surface. Place the crepe flat on top. Lay two salmon fillets side by side in the centre of the crepe, touching edges to create a wide base. Season again with salt and pepper.
- Add the filling and top layer: Pipe the spinach cream cheese filling evenly over the bottom salmon fillets. Place the remaining two fillets on top, matching the shape of the bottom layer. Season again with salt and pepper.
- Roll and chill: Use the cling film to roll the crepe tightly around the salmon sandwich into a neat log. Twist both ends to seal. Chill for at least 20 minutes to set the shape.
- Wrap in pastry: Brush the puff pastry all over with egg yolk. Unwrap the salmon log and place it seam-side down on the pastry. Fold the pastry around it like a parcel, pressing to seal the edges and tucking in the ends. Trim any excess. Turn seam-side down onto a lined baking sheet. Brush all over with egg yolk. Chill for 15 minutes.
- Bake: Heat oven to 200°C (400°F/Gas 6). Score the top of the pastry lightly with the back of a knife and brush with egg yolk again. Bake for 25 to 30 minutes until deep golden and puffed. Rest for 5 minutes before slicing into thick portions.
FAQs
What do you serve with salmon wellington?
The Academy serves it with just dressed watercress, and honestly that’s enough. Steamed tenderstem broccoli or buttered new potatoes if you want more. Avoid heavy sides like mash because the pastry already brings plenty of starch.
A minted hollandaise on the side lifts it for a dinner party. Ramsay pairs his Sunday Lunch salmon with one, and it cuts through the richness of the pastry and cream cheese beautifully.
Can you use frozen salmon for this?
Yes, but thaw it fully in the fridge overnight and pat it bone dry. Frozen salmon releases more water than fresh, so press extra moisture out or the pastry goes soggy from inside. Lay the fillets on kitchen paper for 10 minutes before seasoning.
Fresh holds together more cleanly when you slice through the baked wellington. Thawed fillets tend to flake apart.
Can you skip the crepe?
You can, but you’ll probably get a soggy bottom. The crepe absorbs moisture from the filling before it reaches the pastry. Without it, the spinach cream cheese leaks into the puff layers and stops them rising. Ramsay recommends this in Sunday Lunch for exactly this reason.
Shop-bought crepes work fine if you don’t want to make your own. Just make sure they’re thin and fully cooled.
Can you make salmon wellington ahead?
Assemble up to the pastry wrap, then chill for up to 6 hours before baking. The colder it goes in, the better the pastry puffs because the butter layers stay firm. Don’t freeze this one though. Salmon releases too much water when it thaws and the pastry goes soggy from inside out.
What is the difference between salmon wellington and salmon en croûte?
Different dish entirely. The en croûte version uses shortcrust pastry and a spiced butter filling with crystallised ginger, currants and cloves. Salmon wellington uses puff pastry, a herbed crepe and spinach cream cheese. Google ranks different pages for each because the intent is different.
