Revised 12/21/22
Lox is a traditional and well-loved holiday appetizer! Salmon is cured with smoked sea salt, brown sugar, and pepper. This Homemade Lox Platter includes a creamy goat cheese schmear, fresh cucumbers, red onion, salty capers, soft pumpernickel, dill, and lemon – this is an appetizer spread that is sure to please!
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Easy Homemade Lox!
Personally, anytime lox is on a menu I have a moment. It always sounds good, because there’s always a solid schmear of cream cheese. Which I have a love/hate relationship with (like, why can’t it have like some absurd amount of nutrients in it?).
If you too are looking for an impressive recipe to try whether you’re serving guests or just wanting a fun kitchen project: this is it! Read on to learn how to make Easy Homemade Lox!
How To Make Easy Homemade Lox
I’ve always wanted to cure my own salmon, which, by the way – is what lox and gravlax technically are. As opposed to smoked salmon, which I’m sure you’ve guessed by now – is actually smoked – lox and gravlax are covered in salt and other ingredients to preserve it.
However, I’m a sucker for smoked salmon. Which is why in this recipe, I wanted that smokiness to carry through. I used a smoked sea salt, which is a fun ingredient to have on hand for finishing dishes. I highly recommend using smoked sea salt, but you could substitute regular sea salt with liquid smoke added to it as well.
Here are the ingredients you’ll need to make this easy homemade lox:
- Salmon Filet (get the freshest fish you can find!)
- Smoked Sea Salt
- Brown Sugar
- Freshly cracked pepper
Instructions
- Rinse salmon fillet, and pat dry with paper towels.
- Line cookie sheet with plastic wrap. Mix smoked sea salt, brown sugar, and pepper together. Sprinkle 1-2 tablespoons on plastic wrap, placing salmon filet on top. Top with remaining salt mixture, covering filet thoroughly.
- Wrap filet with plastic wrap tightly. Top filet with an additional baking sheet, and weigh down with something heavy, like a cast iron skillet or a few large cans.
- After 2 days, slice a piece off and rinse. Taste to determine if salmon needs additional curing. If it’s already salty enough, you can move on to the next step. If it still needs additional flavor, allow it to continue to cure in the refrigerator for an additional 1-2 days.
- Once salmon is done curing, unwrap and rinse salt and sugar mixture off. Thinly slice salmon and arrange on platter.
How To Arrange A Homemade Lox Platter
This easy homemade lox is best served on a large platter equipped with the ingredients for guests to build their own bagel or toast. Here’s what to include on a lox platter:
- Homemade Lox
- Red Onion
- Sliced Cucumbers
- Capers
- Fresh Dill
- Lemon Wedges
- Cream Cheee (I like adding goat cheese to make the perfect schmear!)
Tools To Make Homemade Lox
- Baking Sheet
- Smoked Sea Salt
- Cast Iron Skillet (or another heavy object to weigh down the salmon as it cures)
- Serving Platter of wooden board
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Homemade Lox Platter
Ingredients
For the lox:
- 2 1/2 lbs fresh salmon fillet
- 1/2 cup smoked sea salt
- 1/3 cup brown sugar
- 1 1/2 tsp freshly cracked pepper
For the goat cheese spread:
- 8 oz cream cheese, room temperature
- 4 oz goat cheese room temperature
- Zest of 1 lemon
To assemble:
- 1 loaf pumpernickel bread
- 1/2 red onion, thinly sliced
- 1 cup cucumber, thinly sliced
- 1/4 cup capers, drained
- fresh dill to serve
- Lemon slices, to serve
Instructions
For the lox:
- Rinse salmon fillet, and pat dry with paper towels.
- Line cookie sheet with plastic wrap. Mix smoked sea salt, brown sugar, and pepper together. Sprinkle 1-2 tablespoons on plastic wrap, placing salmon filet on top. Top with remaining salt mixture, covering filet thoroughly.
- Wrap filet with plastic wrap tightly. Top filet with an additional baking sheet, and weigh down with something heavy, like a cast iron skillet or a few large cans. Place in refrigerator. Over the next 2 days, monitor lox for released liquid. Remove pan from refrigerator to drain liquid and rewrap lox in fresh plastic if needed.
- After 2 days, slice a piece off and rinse. Taste to determine if salmon needs additional curing. If it's already salty enough, you can move on to the next step. If it still needs additional flavor, allow it to continue to cure in the refrigerator for an additional 1-2 days.
- Once salmon is done curing, unwrap and rinse salt and sugar mixture off. Thinly slice salmon and arrange on platter.
For the goat cheese spread:
- Mix cream cheese, goat cheese, and the zest of 1 lemon together thoroughly. Transfer to small bowl to serve.
To assemble platter:
- Arrange lox, sliced pumpernickel, goat cheese spread, cucumbers, red onion, lemon slices, and dill on a large platter for serving. Sprinkle lox with capers.
- To enjoy, spread a piece of pumpernickel with the goat cheese spread, and top with cucumber, red onion, lox, dill, and capers.
I am so crazy ignorant. You see, a few years ago I went up to Thunderbay Canada to visit a friend from Helsinki Finland. (Don’t ask 😉 ) So anyway, she served salt salmon. It was to die for. So my ignorance comes in that I did not know that was lox? Mind blown! This looks so crazy fabulous!
Isn’t it wild how each Scandinavian country has their own twist on the same recipes?! This one turned out absolutely delicious, if I don’t say so myself 🙂