Sardine Salad Recipe (2024)

BY: Courtney PUBLISHED: 11 Comments UPDATED ON:

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Healthy Sardine Salad recipe for crackers or toasted bagelsardine sandwich! Easy healthy fish recipe packed with fresh lemon, peppers and onions.

Sardine Salad Recipe (1)

Growing up I loved eating canned sardines with sliced onions. My daughter now loves eating sardines too! My husband, however, won’t touch them! That was until I started making this sardine salad recipe! I’m going to show you how to eat sardines and love it! Sardines are lower in heavy metals like mercury, so this is a great alternative if you love tuna, but limit it due to heavy metal concerns. (psst, there are brands that have tuna with less mercury!)

Sardine Salad Recipe (2)Crown Prince Natural Skinless & Boneless Sardines in Pure Olive Oil, 3.75-Ounce Cans (Pack of 12)Sardine Salad Recipe (3)

I grew up eating and loving sardines, so it’s only natural that I gave it to my daughter. I wasn’t sure she would like them, but in our house, we always try it, because “we might like it”! My husband who wouldn’t touch a plain sardine was in disbelief. She can eat them plain, without anything. LOVES IT! Gobbles it up with a spoon, ha.

With this sardine salad recipe you won’t see any heavy dressing like mayo, instead I prefer to keep this a light and healthy recipe. I simply use the oil from the canned sardines and a little bit of lemon juice. You could absolutely drain out the oil and use mayo instead if you’d like. I even like to serve this recipe in romaine lettuce leaves, almost like a fish salad taco, so good!

Sardines is one of her favorites and she’ll literally beg me to buy more once we are down to the last can of sardines. It’s always on the shopping list. We ran out once and she wanted it so we ran to the store. Now we have it on auto delivery, no joke!

Since our family eats sardines so often I make sure we buy canned sardines that are in BPA free cans as well!

Sardine Salad Recipe (4)

It’s great to teach kids to learn all about their food, not just eat it.While my husband doesn’t enjoy them plain, doesn’t show her that he doesn’t like sardines that way. Instead, he joins in and cheers her on trying new food. It’s a big deal for our daughter to try new foods. Thankfully she’s great about trying stuff now that we’ve gotten her into a groove and she understands that if she doesn’t like it, we won’t force her to eat it, but she has to at least try it.

Sardine Salad Recipe (5)

I love to serve this healthy sardine salad recipe with crackers or even on a bagel, oh my yum! It’s a great breakfast brunch recipe, and I love serving it when entertaining. People never would guess it’s sardines. They LOVE it. I don’t tell them what it is until they try it. I feel like it’s harder to get an adult to try a new food rather than a child these days. 😉

Try our Healthy Sardine Salad Recipe today!

[adthrive-in-post-video-player video-id=”fNbcoNek” upload-date=”2018-05-24T16:37:34.000Z” name=”Sardine Salad Recipe” description=”Healthy Sardine Salad recipe for crackers or toasted bagel sardine sandwich! Easy healthy fish recipe packed with fresh lemon, peppers and onions.”]

Sardine Salad Recipe (6)

Sardine Salad Recipe

Author: Courtney

Healthy Sardine Salad recipe for crackers or toasted bagelsardine sandwich! Easy healthy fish recipe packed with fresh lemon, peppers and onions.

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Course: Appetizer

Cuisine: American

Prep Time: 5 minutes minutes

Total Time: 5 minutes minutes

Servings: 2

Calories: 28kcal

Ingredients

  • 1 can sardines , boneless, skinless, in oil
  • 1/4 red pepper , chopped
  • 1 tablespoon red onion , chopped
  • 1/8 cup scallions , chopped
  • 1/2 lemon , juiced

Instructions

  • Dump the sardines with oil into a bowl,

  • Add in the remaining ingredients and mix well.

  • Once combined serve with crackers, on a bagel or even with toast.

Nutrition

Calories: 28kcal | Carbohydrates: 4g | Protein: 2g | Cholesterol: 8mg | Sodium: 32mg | Potassium: 92mg | Fiber: 1g | Sugar: 1g | Vitamin A: 530IU | Vitamin C: 34.5mg | Calcium: 30mg | Iron: 0.4mg

The nutritional information is automatically calculated and can vary based ingredients and products used. If the nutrition numbers are important for you we recommend calculating them yourself.

nutrition disclaimer

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Sardine Salad Recipe (11)

About Courtney

Family, Food, and Photography are Courtney's passions and you'll see all of that on this blog. She is happily married to her husband Chris and together they have two amazing kiddos!

Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. Sardine Salad Recipe (12)KR

    Thank you for sharing! So easy to do and looks amazing!

    Reply

    • Sardine Salad Recipe (13)Courtney Lopez

      Thank you so much! I know not everyone loves sardines, but they’re so good and so good for you! 🙂

  2. Sardine Salad Recipe (14)JD SPANN

    You are 100 percent correct It’s great to teach kids to learn all about their food, not just eat it. And force her to eat it, but she has to at least try it. Is a great way for kids to learn what they like. Your Recipe sounds great I am going to try it with lime juice and a dash of sweet chili paste! You are a great mom my wife did the same with our kids who are now grown and have a very wide variety of foods they like good job.

    Reply

  3. Sardine Salad Recipe (15)Kelli Wilson

    This is delicious. I was really surprised how much I enjoyed eating this.

    Reply

    • Sardine Salad Recipe (16)Courtney

      It’s really delicious – glad you enjoyed it! 🙂

  4. Sardine Salad Recipe (17)DAL

    Easy and tastes great. I don’t like sardines but decided to try this…. everyone liked it.

    Reply

    • Sardine Salad Recipe (18)Courtney

      So glad you guys enjoyed! My husband won’t eat them, but loves this recipe! I think all the flavors take over. I can’t eat them plain, but love it with the additions!! 🙂

  5. Sardine Salad Recipe (19)Les

    Never tried sardines, but reading about the nutritional value…Can’t wait to try! Those crackers in the pic look delish, what kind are they?

    Reply

    • Sardine Salad Recipe (20)Courtney

      I hope you give it a try!! So good – and those are Mary’s Gone Crackers in everything 🙂

  6. Sardine Salad Recipe (21)Brian Mantle

    Very nice, with some extra lemon juice & a bit of mayonnaise.
    Thank you, Courtney!

    Reply

  7. Sardine Salad Recipe (22)LD

    This was DELICIOUS! THANK YOU for sharing. We like sardines, but don’t often find good recipes using them.

    Reply

Leave a Reply

Sardine Salad Recipe (2024)

FAQs

What goes well with canned sardines? ›

20 WAYS TO EAT A SARDINE + RECIPES
  • Straight out of the can.
  • On a cracker.
  • Add mustard to that cracker.
  • Mix it with mayo, salt & pepper… ...
  • Sauté in oil, garlic, onions, and tomato with a bit of lemon juice, salt, and pepper. ...
  • Toss a few in a salad.
  • Put a few in a pasta dish.
  • And of course, straight out of the can.

What is the best way to eat canned sardines? ›

For a quick switch, try adding or using sardines in any canned tuna recipe, even tuna salad.
  1. Sardines can be coated in cornmeal and pan-fried for a quick appetizer or light meal.
  2. A quick-to-mix vinaigrette plus some chopped celery come together to create a wonderfully refreshing sardine salad.
Apr 9, 2024

Should you rinse canned sardines? ›

Rinse off excess salt.

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.

Why avoid sardines in oil or sauce? ›

An average 3-ounce can of sardines in water has 200 milligrams of sodium, and sardines in oil have 400 milligrams of sodium. If you have sodium concerns, consider that sardines canned in mustard contain higher amounts of sodium than those canned in water or oil.

How do you jazz up canned sardines? ›

A Few Ideas for Sardines

Squeeze with more lemon or a splash of vinegar, and sprinkle with flaky salt and ground pepper. Eat open-faced, or top with another piece of bread for a sandwich. Heat a few tablespoons of olive oil in a large skillet, and toast garlic until golden brown.

Is it OK to eat a whole can of sardines? ›

The standard serving size of sardines is one can, which is about 3 ounces or 85 grams. Canned sardines can be eaten whole, as the bones are small and soft enough to digest.

How do the French eat canned sardines? ›

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.

How many times a week is it safe to eat canned sardines? ›

While canned sardines are a low-mercury fish choice, Manaker notes, "eating them frequently—as in more than four times a week—may be a concern, since you could potentially be exposed to too much [mercury]." While this shouldn't scare you (especially if you're consuming less than 8 ounces per week), it's important to ...

Should I drain the oil in canned 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.

Are there any negatives to eating sardines? ›

Canned sardines contain a lot of sodium. One can has about 282 milligrams of sodium, which is roughly 12% of the daily recommended value. If you have high blood pressure, you should restrict sodium because it attracts water and adds to the volume of blood in the body.

Are sardines better than tuna? ›

Sardines offer more vitamin E per serving than tuna, and they also contain more calcium. Vitamin E plays a role in healthy blood circulation by promoting new red blood cell development, and its antioxidant function combats tissue damage.

What is the white stuff on canned sardines? ›

These white particles just indicate that the fish is very fat and juicy. Simply heat up the sardines or mackerels and these fats will dissolve into fish oil. Don't need to worry about it anymore, especially now that you know that they are fish oil! WHAT IS FISH OIL?

How to make sardines taste good? ›

Cooked properly so that the flesh has only begun to flake, it's tender and not very fishy at all. If you can get sardines that are very fresh, the easiest thing to do is grill or broil them so the skin chars a little. Sprinkle with salt, freshly ground pepper, and lemon or vinegar.

Why don't people eat sardines? ›

Who Should Limit or Avoid Eating Sardines? People with specific health conditions, including chronic kidney disease, kidney stones, gout or high blood pressure may need to be mindful about eating sardines.

Are sardines bad for cholesterol? ›

Sardines

Similar to shrimp, sardines are a potent seafood source of cholesterol. An ounce of sardines contains as much as 40 milligrams of cholesterol, and it's easy to eat more than an ounce at a time.

What crackers go best with sardines? ›

Besides saltines, rectangular Club Crackers are another go-to. Pretty much all savory crackers are delicious with sardines, so experiment with your favorite crispbreads or flatbreads.

Are canned sardines in tomato sauce good for you? ›

Sardines canned in oil have similar amounts of omega-3 to canned sardines in tomato sauce. Choosing a product with tomato sauce provides the additional heart health benefits of lycopene , a carotenoid present in tomatoes.

How to eat Portuguese canned sardines? ›

Most Portuguese eat canned fish in simple preparations that highlight the rich flavors of the fish and the sauces they are packed in. Canned fish is often served on crusty bread or over a simple salad, mixed with rice or potatoes, or enjoyed straight out of the can for a delicious and healthy snack.

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