Easy Pan Fried Sardine Salad Recipe | Wicked Spatula (2024)

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Easy Pan Fried Sardine Salad Recipe | Wicked Spatula? ›

Sauté in oil, garlic, onions, and tomato with a bit of lemon juice, salt, and pepper. Gets rid of fishy smell and taste, and eat with a bowl of rice! Make a dip: Mash together sardines, mayo, chopped parsley, capers, lemon zest, lemon juice, salt and pepper to taste. Serve with crackers and chips.

Sauté in oil, garlic, onions, and tomato with a bit of lemon juice, salt, and pepper. Gets rid of fishy smell and taste, and eat with a bowl of rice! Make a dip: Mash together sardines, mayo, chopped parsley, capers, lemon zest, lemon juice, salt and pepper to taste. Serve with crackers and chips.

Rub the lemon and oil mixture all over the sardines, rubbing well into the slits and body cavity. Cook the sardines on a preheated barbecue (or over a medium-high heat in a griddle pan) for 3 minutes each side, until cooked through and the flesh flakes away easily from the bone.

Sardines, very oily little fish, really love a lot of acid. It is hard to beat fresh lemon juice squeezed over them, but a vinegar — white wine, rice wine or white distilled — is also good. To give you a sense of how much to use, I often douse them in my choice of acid, almost as if I were treating them like escabeche.

You can eat them right out of the can, top them with onions or peppers, or add condiments such as mustard, mayo, or hot sauce. Usually, the heads have been removed, but you'll be eating the skin and bones. In fact, that's where some health benefits lie.

For extra flavor, try adding lemon juice or mayonnaise and for a quick and delicious snack. On a cracker: Sardines are fantastic on crackers with garnishes like mustard. You could also try adding lemon juice to enhance the flavor of the sardines. On toast: Take your toast to another level by topping it with sardines.

To cook sardines, start by getting fresh sardines that smell clean and don't look damaged. Rinse the sardines by holding them under running water and rubbing your fingers back and forth across their skin to remove their scales. You should also remove the guts and backbone with a pair of kitchen shears or a sharp knife.

Under gently running cold water, rinse the sardines. Using the cutting edge on an open pair of kitchen scissors, gently clean away the scales, scraping from the tail up towards the head. Take care here, because too much pressure can tear the skin.

However, when it comes to choosing whether the sardine is canned in olive oil or water, that is a personal preference. Canned sardines in oil will provide a bit more total fat and calories but can also offer more flavor.

It's natural to avoid consuming fish bones, after all, they aren't edible in most cases. However, when it comes to canned sardines, don't let the presence of bones stop you -- you can totally eat them.

Should I drain the olive oil from sardines? ›

The oil in a can of tuna, salmon, or sardines will taste like tuna, salmon, or sardines, respectively. Strain the oil from these canned fish into a separate jar for storage in the fridge, or use it right away. Just don't pour it down the drain -– not when you could be making even better food instead.

Canned sardines ARE NOT RAW. They've been cooked to death. That's why they fall apart when you touch them. No Parasites.

Sardines are such a versatile food — as long as you know how to use them. Here are 8 sardine recipes to try right now. Crunchy veggies, canned sardines, and a spicy mayo combine to create a cheap, fast, and protein-packed lunch that takes just 10 minutes to make.

Sardines' fatty acids are best known for boosting heart health, but they could also be considered “brain food.” Some research suggests that people who consume more omega-3s may have a lower risk of developing dementia or Alzheimer's disease.

The oil in a can of tuna, salmon, or sardines will taste like tuna, salmon, or sardines, respectively. Strain the oil from these canned fish into a separate jar for storage in the fridge, or use it right away. Just don't pour it down the drain -– not when you could be making even better food instead.

If you can't find a brand that has a “No Salt Added” version, look for sardines that are packed in spring water. Then, rinsing the sardines may help to reduce some of the salt content. Just empty the can into a colander and rinse with cold water, shaking it and turning the sardines as you rinse.

Other things you could throw into the marinade: a splash of vinegar, lemon, lemongrass, chile peppers, shallots, and garlic. The marinade not only brines and preserves the fish, it acts as a palliative for the worst of the fishiness. I would even serve this to a sworn sardine-hater.

And as with all things culinary, the French really do them right. Whether they be grilled then bathed in extra-virgin olive oil before being tinned, or combined with a bit of gentle pepper, or layered with sliced lemon, or just simply put in the tin, they're delicious.