This beetroot cured salmon is the most show-stopping appetizer you've ever seen, and it's delicious! Easily cure this at home and slice it thinly to serve on a bagel or toast for brunch.
If you are a fan of smoked salmon, you'll love this gravlax, which is cured salmon rather than smoked, but it comes out to a very similar taste and texture! Curing it in a mixture with beetroot gives the outside a vibrant pink hue that looks SO good when sliced!
I know that curing your own salmon at home sounds really intimidating, but it is shockingly simple. Seriously, you'll be amazed. The hardest part is just wrapping the salmon!
For another fun salmon recipe, check out my Salmon Crudo! And if you have leftover cured salmon, use it in my Penne al Salmone recipe!
Table of Contents:
📖 Recipe Origins
Gravlax, which refers to a dry-cured salmon, originates in the 14th century in northern Sweden. Salt was expensive at the time, so they actually used a curing method called gravad lax, which means "buried salmon."
The salmon would be buried in the ground and covered in bark, the fish's blood, water, and spices and herbs.
Over time, it evolved to a salt and herb cure much more similar to what we do today.
🎥 Watch the video of this recipe
🍣 Why you'll love this Beetroot Cured Salmon
- It's pretty, duh. Once you slice into the beetroot cured salmon, you'll see a beautiful pink-purple hue on the edges that bleeds into the natural pink of the salmon!
- This is way cheaper than buying lox. If you enjoy lox or smoked salmon, you know it can be quite expensive for a small amount of fish. Buying a big piece of salmon and curing it yourself saves so. much. money.
- It's impressive AF! Seriously, anyone that tries this will think you're a wizard. You cured your own salmon with beets?? That's impressive.
🥘 What you need for this recipe
Ingredients and Substitutions
- Whole Salmon Side - Buy a skin-on whole piece of salmon that weighs around 2 pounds. The one I purchased was more than two pounds, but you want to remove the thinner pieces so that it cures evenly. 2 pounds after trimming is ideal.
- Beets - No need to cook the beets, just peel and cube about 3 raw beets.
- Sugar - Personally, I prefer a slightly saltier cure, so we only need about ½ cup of white sugar. Do not substitute this for any sugar alternative.
- Salt - KOSHER SALT is the only kind you should be using for this recipe. I will repeat: do. not. use. table salt. Either Diamond Crystal or Morton's kosher salt will be fine.
- Gin - You could also use vodka here, but I like the subtle juniper flavor in gin. If you can't or choose not to consume alcohol, you can omit it. Substitute with about ½ the amount in water, this helps the mixture blend properly.
- Aromatics - Whole black peppercorns, coriander seeds, juniper berries, etc. I couldn't find juniper berries so I omitted those, but I highly recommend the other two.
Tools and Equipment
- Food processor
- Plastic wrap - And lots of it. You'll need this to properly wrap the salmon.
- Large Container - A container that fits the salmon whole without any bending or folding is ideal. I used a sheet pan and that was fine too.
- Rubber spatula - For spreading the curing mixture.
📋 How to make Beetroot Cured Salmon
Step 1: Prepare the Salmon
Buy a skin-on whole piece of salmon. When you buy it, it will likely not be trimmed, so buy a little more than 2 pounds.
Using a sharp knife, carefully trim off the thin pieces of the salmon. The belly, the "tail," and the head/neck.
You should have a rectangular piece of salmon, even in thickness, weighing around 2 pounds.
Step 2: Cure the Salmon
Begin by peeling and dicing 3 medium sized beets. It should be around 14 ounces after peeling.
To a food processor, add the chopped beets, 1 cup of kosher salt, ½ cup of sugar, 4 teaspoon coriander, 4 teaspoon black peppercorns, 1 teaspoon lemon zest, and ¼ cup of gin or vodka.
Pulse in the food processor until soupy but still thick and somewhat chunky.
On a sheet pan, place a long piece of plastic wrap vertically.
Place another long piece of plastic wrap horizontally.
Pour about ⅓ of the mixture onto the plastic wrap and use a rubber spatula to spread it across. It should be evenly distributed and thick enough to not see through it.
Place the trimmed salmon flesh-side down onto the beet mixture.
Pour another ⅓ - ½ of the curing mixture onto the exposed skin side of the salmon and, again, use the rubber spatula to spread it.
Be liberal in your use of the curing mixture and make sure all of the salmon is covered.
Wrap the salmon like you would wrap a burrito. First wrap one horizontal side, then tuck in both vertical sides, then the other horizontal side.
I suggest taking another long piece of plastic wrap and giving it a second wrap to prevent excess leakage.
Make sure the wrapped salmon remains flesh-side down, skin-side up.
Step 3: Finishing Touches
Place the salmon flat in the refrigerator.
Wait 48 hours or more.
Remove the salmon from the fridge.
In a clean sink, carefully use scissors to remove the plastic wrap. (This will be messy).
Gently rinse the salmon with cold water until all of the cure is gone.
Pat dry.
Optional, let it sit for another 12-24 hours without the cure to help it dry out and even out the saltiness. It is fine to omit this step.
Once ready to eat, slice thin pieces with a sharp knife going from the top down to the skin.
Slice away from the skin, not through. Do not eat the skin, it is chewy and not enjoyable.
Keep refrigerated and enjoy!
💭 Expert Tips & Tricks
- Buy a skin-on whole piece of salmon that weighs around 2 pounds. The one I purchased was more than two pounds, but you want to remove the thinner pieces so that it cures evenly. 2 pounds after trimming is ideal.
- KOSHER SALT is the only kind you should be using for this recipe. I will repeat: do. not. use. table salt. Either Diamond Crystal or Morton's kosher salt will be fine.
- If you can't or choose not to consume alcohol, you can omit it. Substitute with about ½ the amount in water, this helps the mixture blend properly.
Recipe FAQs
Cured salmon is technically still raw since it hasn't been treated with any kind of heat. However, it is safe to eat because the curing process removes any moisture and bacteria.
Cured salmon is different from smoked salmon, though they have a very similar feel and texture. However, cured salmon doesn't have any smoke flavor as it is just treated in a dry salt mixture without heat.
The longer the cure sits on the fish, the more moisture will be removed and more of the salt/sugar will be absorbed into the fish. This can result in a different final texture and a saltier final flavor. In the case of beetroot cured salmon, the purple hue would bleed deeper in.
Related Recipes
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📖 Recipe
Beetroot Cured Salmon (Beet Gravlax)
Ingredients
- 2 lb Salmon *see notes* boneless, skin on, whole filet, (trout or arctic char can be used as a substitute)
- 14 oz Beetroot raw. peeled, grated
- 1 cup Kosher salt NOT table salt.
- ½ cup White sugar
- ¼ cup Gin or vodka
- 1 teaspoon Lemon zest
- 4 teaspoon Black peppercorns
- 4 teaspoon Juniper berries optional
- 4 teaspoon Coriander seeds optional, recommended
Instructions
- Buy a skin-on whole piece of salmon. When you buy it, it will likely not be trimmed, so buy a little more than 2 pounds.
- Using a sharp knife, carefully trim off the thin pieces of the salmon. The belly, the "tail," and the head/neck.
- You should have a rectangular piece of salmon, even in thickness, weighing around 2 pounds.
- Begin by peeling and dicing 3 medium sized beets. It should be around 14 ounces after peeling.
- To a food processor, add the chopped beets, 1 cup of kosher salt, ½ cup of sugar, 4 teaspoon coriander, 4 teaspoon black peppercorns, 1 teaspoon lemon zest, and ¼ cup of gin or vodka.
- Pulse in the food processor until soupy but still thick and somewhat chunky.
- On a sheet pan, place a long piece of plastic wrap vertically.
- Place another long piece of plastic wrap horizontally.
- Pour about ⅓ of the mixture onto the plastic wrap and use a rubber spatula to spread it across. It should be evenly distributed and thick enough to not see through it.
- Place the trimmed salmon flesh-side down onto the beet mixture.
- Pour another ⅓ - ½ of the curing mixture onto the exposed skin side of the salmon and, again, use the rubber spatula to spread it.
- Be liberal in your use of the curing mixture and make sure all of the salmon is covered.
- Wrap the salmon like you would wrap a burrito. First wrap one horizontal side, then tuck in both vertical sides, then the other horizontal side.
- I suggest taking another long piece of plastic wrap and giving it a second wrap to prevent excess leakage.
- Make sure the wrapped salmon remains flesh-side down, skin-side up.
- Place the salmon flat in the refrigerator in a container or sheet pan.
- Wait 48 hours or more.
- Remove the salmon from the fridge.
- In a clean sink, carefully use scissors to remove the plastic wrap. (This will be messy).
- Gently rinse the salmon with cold water until all of the cure is gone.
- Pat dry.
- Optional, let it sit for another 12-24 hours without the cure to help it dry out and even out the saltiness. It is fine to omit this step.
- Once ready to eat, slice thin pieces with a sharp knife going from the top down to the skin.
- Slice away from the skin, not through. Do not eat the skin, it is chewy and not enjoyable.
- Keep refrigerated and enjoy!
Video
Notes
- Buy a skin-on whole piece of salmon that weighs around 2 pounds. The one I purchased was more than two pounds, but you want to remove the thinner pieces so that it cures evenly. 2 pounds after trimming is ideal.
- KOSHER SALT is the only kind you should be using for this recipe. I will repeat: do. not. use. table salt. Either Diamond Crystal or Morton's kosher salt will be fine.
- If you can't or choose not to consume alcohol, you can omit it. Substitute with about ½ the amount in water, this helps the mixture blend properly.
Avim says
I tried this recipe with a twist.
Instead of using white sugar use 1/2 brown sugar and 1/2 honey, it provides a deeper buttery flavor. Also honey has strong antimicrobial properties. Kills risks of salmonella.
Got raving reviews.
Alex says
This looks amazing. I want to give it a shot. I have removed plastics from my cooking and am curious if you have any idea on what else to wrap the salmon in for the soaking/resting period?
Emily says
Hi Alex! I haven't tried it, but wax paper or foil may work, as long as it is tightly wrapped. Alternatively, you may be able to use something like Stasher Bags, though you may have to reduce the amount of salmon to make it fit. Let me know if you find a good alternative and how it turns out!
Russell says
I just use it to make a lox bagel- incredible! First thoughts with the coloring from the beets, it's just beautiful to look at. Goddamn is it good. I would recommend letting it sit another 12 hours without the cure to even out the saltiness like the optional step- especially if you'll be eating it alongside other saltier foods. Probably my favorite of Emily's recipes I've made so far. Just really really good.
KMWD says
Hello!
I’m looking forward to starting the cure today. When you suggest resting the salmon without the cure for an additional 12-24 hours, is it wrapped and refrigerated?
Thank you!
K
Emily says
Hi! Yes, wrapped and stored in the refrigerator to cure.