If you have ever been to Primi Piatti in South Africa and ordered their Pasta Salmone, you probably fell in love with their salmon pasta recipe!
It’s an amazing meal that is consistently delicious. Every person in the family loves it. In fact, we get the large order so that we can split it between several people. But you may be thinking – why don’t we order a few of the salmon pasta meals. The predicament is that there are so many delicious meals on the Primi Piatti menu, so we order several large meals and then split them up so that everyone gets a little bit of everything they like.
However, we’re in the USA and with no access to Primi Piatti. As such, we had to come up with a dupe for their delicious salmon pasta recipe.
This is it! This recipe has been tried and tested several times. Below is our best version after several tests over the years.
Like easy, tasty meals? Try this easy chicken curry recipe. We make this as often as we can.
Eay & Delicious Salmon Pasta
Prep Time: 5 mins | Cook Time: 15mins | Servings: 4-6 | Difficulty: Easy
2 tablespoons of olive oil
1 6oz can of tomato paste
1 14oz can of crushed tomatoes
1 cup of your favorite white wine
1 tablespoon garam masala
1 teaspoon salt
1 cup heavy cream
1-3 tablespoon crushed garlic
16 oz / 1lb Smoked salmon
16 oz of your favorite pasta
TO SERVE
Dried or fresh basil
Parmesan cheese
Freshly grated black pepper
- In a large pot of boiling, salted water, cook your pasta according to package instructions.
- In a saucepan and over medium heat, add the olive oil, garlic, tomato paste, crushed tomatoes, wine, garam masala, and salt.
- Cook for 5 minutes. Stir until creamy and fully incorporated.
- Cut the salmon into slivers while the sauce is cooking.
- Add the basil and cream. Stir, then turn off the heat.
- Add the smoked salmon. (Smoked salmon is already fully cooked, so no need to cook it.)
- Once the pasta is ready, incorporate it into your sauce. The heat of the sauce and the cooked pasta will heat the salmon.
- If you like, sprinkle Parmesan cheese, extra garlic, basil, and fresh black pepper onto your pasta.
- Serve immediately, otherwise, the sauce will soak into the pasta.
A few helpful notes about Salmon Pasta
- This is an easy recipe. It is hard to mess it up.
- The recipe is easy to adjust. If you like more garlic, add more. Need it spicier, add a little more garam masala or curry powder. You can also add as much basil as you like.
- Serve your salmon pasta immediately. If not, the sauce soaks into the pasta and it may be dry later.
- If you need to serve it later, don’t mix the pasta and the sauce. Only mix it when you are ready to serve your meal.
- This pasta dish is very versatile. You can use any pasta you like – penne, macaroni, fettuccini, etc.
- You could also use fresh or canned salmon. We prefer smoked salmon because it offers the same taste and flavor as the Primi Piatti recipe we were trying to replicate. You can use whatever smoked salmon you like – we like this one from Costco.

Image credit: Kitchen Sanctuary