Salmon-Pasta Skillet

Everything cooks in one skillet: the pasta, the vegetables, and the creamy salmon sauce. No separate pot of boiling water, no colander, no extra dishes. The pasta simmers directly in chicken broth, which infuses it with savory flavor and creates a starchy cooking liquid that becomes the base of the sauce.

After the pasta and frozen mixed vegetables are tender, cubed cream cheese with chives gets stirred in until it melts into the broth. That’s your sauce, right there. Milk, Parmesan, mustard, and basil go in next to build layers of flavor. The mustard adds a sharp tang you can’t quite identify but would miss if it weren’t there.

Canned salmon goes in last, gently folded in so the flakes stay in nice pieces rather than disintegrating into the sauce. It just needs to heat through since it’s already cooked.

Kitchen Tips

• Use corkscrew or rotini pasta. The spirals trap the creamy sauce in their crevices better than smooth shapes
• Cut the cream cheese into small cubes before adding. Large blocks take forever to melt and can leave lumps
• Stir gently once the salmon goes in. Heavy stirring turns it into mush
• If the sauce gets too thick, add a splash more milk to loosen it

Variations

• Use fresh cooked salmon fillets broken into large chunks for a more upscale version
• Swap frozen mixed vegetables for fresh broccoli florets and peas
• Add a squeeze of lemon juice at the end to brighten the cream sauce