Salmon Avocado Sandwiches (Canapes)

These Salmon Avocado Sandwiches (Canapes) are super easy, healthy and the perfect appetizer to serve at your next party. Combining avocado and smoked salmon is a delicious flavor experience you will want to taste over again. These sandwiches are the perfect breakfast or an easy dinner alternative to throw together in minutes.

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Salmon Avocado Sandwiches Recipe:

These smoked salmon sandwiches were first introduced almost a decade ago at my older sister’s house. I was not an avocado eater back then, but when I introduced myself to them, these sandwiches were first to come to my mind.

Salmon avocado sandwiches can be a bit costly, but they are wonderful in every way and can be the perfect avocado breakfast sandwich. These are one of my favorite salmon recipes to enjoy regularly.

This recipe can be easily doubled or tripled for a bigger crowd. If you have extra fresh bread, you can definitely skip the bread toasting and save yourself few minutes. I usually brush with butter and toast it for the extra crunch and buttery flavor.

What is a Canape?

Canapes are small pieces of bread or pastry with a savory topping that is held in fingers and often eaten in one bite. They can also be referred to as ‘finger food’.

Our canapé recipes are usually created with thinly sliced fresh baguette, topped with some kind of savory items and fresh herbs as garnish to complete the presentation.

Ingredients for Salmon Avocado Sandwiches:

Avocados are pretty bland in taste to enjoy on their own, but they taste wonderful combined with smoked salmon. We like to add a bit of salt and pepper to bring out more flavor and make it less bland. Adding freshly squeezed lemon not only slows down the browning process of avocados, but also creates a slight tangy spread on these sandwiches.

How to Choose the Best Avocados for Sandwiches?

Picking good avocados sounds complicated, but with few helpful tips it’s easier than it sounds.

• Check the color: avocados with blackish or a darker green skin are more ripe. Vibrant green avocados are underripe and still need couple days or so to ripen.
• Gently press the avocado in the palm of your hand with your fingertips: ripe, ready-to-eat avocado will be firm, yet will yield to your gentle pressure. Hard solid avocados are not ripe yet, too soft are overripe or even bruised.
• Check avocado stem: if it’s still green and easy to remove, it’s ripe. If you’re not able to flick it off, it’s not ripe or if it’s too easy to remove and you see brown underneath, it’s overripe.
• Avoid avocados with dark spots on skin: these can be signs of bruising inside. Also, those with random soft spots is usually another sign of bruised avocado.

How to Ripen Avocados?

• Store avocados in a warm place – this will speed up ripening process. If you want them to slowly ripen, keep them in the fridge.
• Place avocados in paper bag with fruit – place avocados in a paper bag and loosely fold down the top. Adding banana, apple or kiwi will increase the amount of ethylene gas produced and it will speed up the ripening process.

How to Make Salmon Avocado Sandwiches:

1. Preheat the oven to a 350°F and prepare a nonstick baking sheet.

2. Melt 4 tablespoons of unsalted butter. Slice 1 long French baguette into 1/3-inch thick slices. (You should get about 25-30 slices). Brush bread with melted butter and toast for 5-7 minutes or until edges are just barely starting to turn golden. Bread should be still soft in the center.

3. While bread is cooling, make the spread. In a medium bowl, place 2 medium avocados (pitted and peeled). Mash them with a fork, pastry cutter or potato masher (works the best).

4. To the bowl, add 1/4 teaspoon fine salt, 1/8 teaspoon ground black pepper and 1 teaspoon freshly squeezed lemon juice. Stir to combine.

5. Spread about 1 teaspoon of the avocado spread over each bread slice. Top with a generous piece of salmon and garnish with fresh dill or parsley.

6. Serve right away or tightly cover with plastic food wrap and refrigerate until ready to serve within the next couple hours.

How to Keep Avocados from Turning Brown:

To my knowledge, there is no perfect way to store any avocado appetizer for day or so to prevent it from browning. These are few tips that will help slow down the process. From personal experience, following the tips below, these scrumptious appetizers can last up to 4 hours before they slowly start changing the color.

• Adding acid – freshly squeezed lemon juice, distilled white vinegar or lime juice will help keep the bright green color and slow down the browning process.
• Cover and refrigerate – tightly cover with plastic food wrap as soon as sandwiches are arranged and store in refrigerator until ready to serve. Oxygen is what causes avocados to start browning.

Check Our Easy Breakfast Favorites:

• Perfect Hard-Boiled Eggs – with the perfect results every time
• How to Cook Buckwheat – one of the healthiest foods and gluten-free
• Smoked Salmon Cream Cheese Tea Sandwiches – reader-favorite and takes minutes to put together
• Easy French Toast + Video – childhood favorite breakfast
• Croissant Chicken Salad Sandwich – the perfect breakfast for on-the-go OR to make the night before

What are the Benefits of Avocados?

Avocados come with many health benefits, especially in the healthy fats department. They have 5 grams of monounsaturated fats per serving and 1 gram of polyunsaturated fat. Monounsaturated fatty acids help reduce the risk of heart disease by lowering the LDL cholesterol levels.

Avocados are pretty much always used in diets to support a weight loss regimen. They are a good source of antioxidants and can act as a nutrient booster by helping increase the absorption of fat-soluble nutrients such as vitamins A, D, K and E.

Eating avocados as the most important meal of the day (aka breakfast) will make you will full longer as they are rich and work great as a stealthy fat substitute.