14 Ways To Upgrade Canned Sardines

Tinned fish have come out of the cupboard and into the spotlight. The last few years have seen this staple of Iberian cuisine take root with food lovers everywhere — in part thanks to TikTok trends, in part because it's relatively affordable yet has a sophisticated, worldly flair. Among the many varieties of fish you can find preserved in cans are sardines. These little, oily fish (named after the Mediterranean island of Sardinia) can be found in abundance in oceans and seas around the globe. 

There are many different types of sardines, but what they all have in common is they're meaty, full of flavor, and take well to being canned. While these seafood morsels can be enjoyed right out of the tin, there are many ways to upgrade them so you can enjoy them to the fullest. It can be as simple as adding a single ingredient or as complex as crafting a completely new dish. Canned sardines are both nutritious and economical and their versatility and long shelf-life makes them fantastic items to keep stocked in your pantry.

One thing about canned fish, as opposed to fresh seafood, is that it doesn't have that just-caught flavor. One of the easiest ways to give a canned sardine a touch of that vibrancy is to grab some leafy green herbs, chop them up as finely or coarsely as you like, and sprinkle them on top. Plenty of different types of herbs will work well with sardines, but there are some that particularly complement the fish.

Dill and seafood go hand-in-hand, and a generous dusting of the herb's feathery fronds is right at home atop canned sardines; bringing a light, grassy taste to the meaty fish. Parsley is another winning pairing for sardines, offering a similarly fresh, bright character as dill, but with a heartier, leafy texture. While you can experiment with any single herb or a combination of your favorites, sticking with fresh green herbs on the lighter, brighter side will really make your canned sardines sparkle.

Adding acidity enhances and brightens any dish. Particularly with foods like tinned sardines, it works to refresh flavors that may have been dimmed or muted from the canning process. Acidity comes in many culinary forms and any of them can be added to canned sardines to create this brightening effect — vinegar, wine, fresh tomatoes, and pickles, to name just a few. There is one category that has a particular affinity with seafood, though, and that's citrus.

There's a reason lemon wedges typically come on the side with fish. Not only does the bright acid pep up the taste and make your mouth water, it also balances out any overtly fishy flavors which can err on the unpleasant side. While lemon may be the most common citrus fruit paired with seafood, you could opt for lime if you crave more tartness or grapefruit if you like a bitter note. Oranges and Meyer lemons bring sweetness along with acidity. It only takes a little spritz of citrus juice to bring balance and zip to canned sardines.

Pâté, rillettes, mousse — these spreads may have an air of French culinary fanciness, but they have a pragmatic origin. Originally created as a way to preserve perishable proteins in the days before refrigeration, these dishes were more common among peasants than society's elite. While pâtés, rillettes, and mousses have different textures and are crafted using different techniques, what these tasty spreads have in common is they can be made from just about anything. Rich animal proteins, such as chicken liver and foie gras, may be the most common bases, but seafood versions can be made as well and canned sardines are excellent candidates for a spread.

Since canned fish don't need to be cooked, turning them into one of these spreads is fairly simple. Pâtés can vary widely in style, with some being more rustic and chunky while others are smoother and creamier. Prepare the sardines to achieve whatever texture you like, then mix in the fat — think butter, cream cheese, mayonnaise, or olive oil — and seasonings of your choice. Rillettes are typically coarser in texture, so all you need to do is shred the filets and mix in the rest of your ingredients. Mousses take more work in order to achieve their light, silky texture which comes from the addition of dairy or egg whites. Spread on toast points or crackers — sardine spreads make excellent snacks.

Sardines are a fairly mild-tasting fish, which makes them incredibly versatile. It can also make them seem a bit lackluster in the flavor department, especially if you're someone who craves intensity in your food. If herbs, acid, and fat aren't quite enough to satiate your palate, it might be time to reach for some heat. Some versions of canned sardines already come packed with spice. But if yours aren't, there are countless ways to raise the fire alarm level to maximum.

Throwing on a few dashes of your favorite hot sauce is a quick and easy way to get the job done. You could also sprinkle on some red chili flakes, cayenne powder, or another dried spice for a simple and quick addition of heat. If you don't mind doing a bit more culinary prep work, chop some chilies like jalapeños or habaneros to instill your sardines with a bright, vegetal heat.

Allium is a catch-all term for all the varieties of garlic and onions, some of the most versatile flavor boosters on the planet. There's hardly a food that exists in any cuisine that won't benefit from the addition of one or more of these fragrant bulbs and stalks, and canned sardines are no different. Onions and garlic are also typically economical, so you can add a big punch of flavor to your fish for next to nothing.

Fresh, dried, ground, pickled, raw, or cooked, you have nearly infinite choices when it comes to alliums. Sprinkle on dehydrated onion or garlic powder for a quick and easy boost, for example. Chives have a delicately herbaceous, oniony flavor for when you want freshness and subtlety. Shallots take well to being pickled, and have a sharp tang if you want more intensity. Fresh, raw garlic has quite a kick that may be too much for most palates, but toast it in a pan for a few moments and you'll have a softer, nuttier garlic flavor to enhance your fish. 

One of the best flavor weapons you can have in your kitchen arsenal is compound butter (which is just a fancy name for butter with stuff in it). That stuff can be anything — citrus zest, herbs and spices, nuts and seeds, vegetables, and yes, canned sardines. Sardine butter can be spread on toast, melted on top of a filet of meat or fish, tossed with rice or pasta, or whatever else you can imagine to cook with it. Any food that can benefit from a rich and briny flavor pop can be improved with a dab of sardine compound butter.

Make sure the butter is softened and the sardines are drained, then all you have to do is mix them together. You can use a food processor or just a fork, if you want to get a workout. Salted or unsalted butter are both fine as long as you make sure to taste it for seasoning before you add any additional salt. Keep the sardine butter close at hand and add it to any dish that needs a salty, fatty shot in the arm.

Avocado toast may have become a punchline as an overpriced, hipster millennial snack, but quality, toasted bread with gourmet toppings is timeless. Bruschetta (which was originally created as a way to use stale bread) has been around forever and open-faced sandwiches have been a thing since at least the middle ages. To elevate toast from something banal to a truly filling, lavish dish, you need great bread, of course, and you also need flavorful, balanced toppings. With their mellow yet unmistakable, briny flavor and meaty richness, canned sardines make a fantastic toast topper.

Whether you mash them up or leave them whole, sardines are right at home atop a golden-brown slice of toast, drizzled with oil or smeared with butter, or left plain to soak up the fishes' naturally rich juices. Any other savory toppings you can think of are fair game to add, depending on how complex you want your toast to be — go bright and zesty with tomatoes and herbs, add some snap with cucumbers and radish, or make it Mediterranean with hummus and olives.

Adding tinned fish into salads is nothing new. Anchovies have been a part of the famous Caesar salad since its invention over 100 years ago — although the story goes that the original recipe only included anchovies in the form of Worcestershire sauce; actual fish was added as an ingredient later. Meaty, salty little fish like anchovies and sardines are a great way to add briny flavor, seasoning, and protein to any green salad, not just a Caesar.

The crunch of lettuces like romaine or iceberg add a crisp, fresh contrast to soft canned sardines, while tender greens like watercress and baby spinach are more of a texture match. Any citrus-based dressing is going to make a sardine salad sing, but don't be afraid of creamy dressings, either. After all, the silky emulsified Caesar dressing, which includes egg and grated cheese, is a classic match with fish. 

Seafood and pasta are a natural duo. Think about it — Italy, the world's pasta capital, is almost entirely surrounded by water, so it just makes sense that noodles and fish would be thrown together. Japan, another nation known for its noodles, is all about seafood, too. No matter what the cuisine, pasta and seafood make a classic combination. Canned sardines, with their economy and versatility, can be utilized in countless ways with all kinds of pasta to delicious results.

If you love sardines and want to make them the centerpiece of your dish, you can simply drain the can, chop the fish, and toss them with noodles, perhaps adding some butter or oil as well as salt and pepper. Sardines are also excellent when used in tomato sauces, like the Italian classic puttanesca, as their brininess matches up well with the sharp tang of capers and olives. Throw some sardines in your next bowl of ramen — they'll soak up the flavor of the broth while adding a salty, meaty punch of their own.

When you look at a tuna and a sardine side by side, the two fish couldn't be more different. Even the smallest breed of tuna is several feet long and hefty in weight, while the largest sardine may grow to be only a foot long — and most are much smaller. While you'll certainly never fool someone who wants a seared tuna steak with a tiny sardine, in one of tuna's most well-known preparations, you can easily swap it out for sardines. Who knows, you may find it to be a major upgrade.

Making sardine salad instead of tuna salad elevates not just the flavor of the dish (of course, preference for either sardine or tuna is completely subjective, so this may not be the case for you), but also its nutrition. Small fish like sardines tend to have less mercury and other toxic substances compared to larger fish like tuna. The little swimmers are also jam-packed with omega-3 fatty acids and additional nutrients like calcium thanks to their soft, edible bones. Sardines' similar flavor and texture to canned tuna means you can swap them into your favorite tuna salad recipe without making any adjustments.

You probably think of anchovies as the tinned fish that belong on pizza, and they've certainly been the go-to for a very long time. Naples, where pizza was born, sits right on the edge of the Mediterranean and is known for its bountiful seafood, so it makes sense that an abundant and inexpensive fish like the anchovy would make its way onto a pie. As Italians immigrated around the world, they took this combination with them. Sardines were cheap and plentiful, too, but for whatever reason, the anchovy became the pizza fish of choice.

Perhaps you're an anchovy-on-pizza hater — if so, you're certainly not alone. Most Americans polled consider anchovies the worst pizza topping. Canned anchovies tend to be very intense in flavor and incredibly salty, so they're not everyone's cup of tea. Canned sardines, however, typically have a milder flavor, so why not try them instead? Their mellow meatiness is not as overwhelming as anchovies' powerful punch. So even if you're a fish-on-pizza skeptic, they may win you over.

There are plenty of reasons that rice bowls are popular meals these days. They're simple, easily customizable, and can be made as healthy as you like (or not). Using rice as a versatile, starchy base, you can add proteins, veggies, dressings, sauces, fruits, and nuts; all adding up to a complete, convenient meal. Whether your rice bowl is inspired by donburi, bibimbap, burrito bowls, or poké, canned sardines make a great savory addition.

Canned sardines' briny fish flavor and rich, fatty texture make them a tasty and filling protein to throw on rice, whether you heat them up or serve them straight from the can. They go well with citrus, heat, herbs, allium, greens, and all kinds of vegetables, so you don't need to pigeonhole your rice bowl into a specific style or cuisine. Not only are rice bowls simple to prepare and nutritious, they're also a feast for the eyes. Even with ingredients that aren't naturally photogenic (like canned sardines), you can make your rice bowl beautiful with some thoughtful arranging.

Out of the can, sardines are fairly soft with tender but meaty flesh. If you prefer your fish to have more structure and crunch, there are plenty of ways to make these morsels crispy. You can then add these crackling fish to many of the preparations listed here or snack on them solo, perhaps dipped in a condiment or sauce.

For simple, crispy sardines, you can sear them as-is in a hot pan with some oil for just a few minutes per side. A more involved preparation (but one that results in a lot more crunch) is to bread them first and then fry them — shallow frying, deep frying, and air frying are all valid options. Crispy sardines are fantastic atop salads or as a garnish on top of any savory dish that could use a pop of salty, ocean flavor and a satisfying crunch. You can also use canned sardines to make flavorful fish tacos.

With both charcuterie boards and tinned fish being all the rage in recent years, it was only a matter of time before the two merged. Behold the "seacuterie" board: An arrangement of canned fish and other seafood snacks served with crackers or bread as well as complementary accoutrements like pickles, nuts, and fruit. If you're feeling really adventurous, you can even include cheese in your tinned fish fiesta.

Sardines are a solid choice to feature on these boards as their flavor isn't as off-putting as some stronger-tasting fish. That being said, they still pack a decent punch for people who don't shy away from fishiness. Because they're fairly meaty and oily, they have a filling texture that won't get lost when combined with other ingredients from the board. For your seacuterie board, sardines can be left in the can to keep things simple. For fancier presentations, you can plate the fish and arrange herbs, spices, and other seasonings around them. There are no rules when it comes to creating a seacuterie board, but you should always make sure canned sardines are part of the spread.