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The effect of dietary digestible protein/digestible energy (DP/DE) ratios and feeding level on growth, feed efficiency, nutrient and energy usage by Atlantic salmon (Salmo salar; initial body weight, 7.0 g/fish) at 15°C was investigated in a 16‐week feeding trial. Three diets, differing in their DP and DE contents, namely 37/18 (regular diet, RD), 37/21 (high fat diet, HF) and 44/ 22 (high nutrient‐dense diet, HND) g/MJ of dry feed were formulated. DP/DE ratios were 20, 18 and 20 g/MJ for the RD, HF and HND diets, respectively. Salmon were hand‐fed three times a day at either 100% or 85% of the feed requirement estimated by a bioenergetics model. At each feeding level, DE intake (kJ/fish) was similar for all three diets. Diet composition did not affect growth rate. However, increasing the digestible energy density from 18 to 22 MJ/kg of dry feed resulted in a significant increase (P < 0.05) in feed efficiency. Restricting feed intake significantly decreased live body weight gains for all diets. However, feed efficiency was not affected by feeding level. Diet composition and feeding level did not affect carcass composition and nutrient and energy usage, with the exception of a higher (P < 0.05) carcass lipid of fish fed the HF100 diet compared with the fish fed the RD and HND diets and a higher (P < 0.05) lipid gain (g/fish) of fish fed the HF100 diet compared with fish fed all the diets at the restricted feeding level. Restricting feeding resulted in significantly lower (P < 0.05) energy gain (kJ/fish) compared with fish fed at 100%. Increasing the DE and nutrient density of the diet had no effect on growth but improved feed efficiency and lowered solid wastes (g of solid wastes per kg of fish produced) while dissolved wastes were not affected by dietary ormulation.