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    Home » Seafood

    Sardine Salad

    Published: Jul 22, 2023 · Modified: Sep 6, 2023 by Kathy · This post may contain affiliate links · 4 Comments

    Jump to Recipe Print Recipe

    Bright and flavorful, this Sardine Salad includes capers, parsley, and green onions. Olive oil and a squeeze of lemon brings it all together. Easy to make. Enjoy with crackers, in a sandwich, or toss it with pasta!

    Sardine salad in a bowl, ready to eat.

    We recently joined a monthly sardine club where they mail you a dozen tins of sardines each month heheh ^_^

    The first several months were exciting and then it slowly got overwhelming and now we have a big collection of (wonderful) sardines at home. I put a temporary stop on our sardine club membership, but hope to rejoin in the future! Once we put a dent in this mountain...

    We love to eat them plain for a quick snack. Sometimes l toast baguette, smear on butter and put a sardine on top. I also enjoy them with fried eggs for breakfast. And we always make Sardine Pupu, it's perfect with rice!

    Most recently we've been making sardine salad. This recipe is good for summer and hot days. It's bright and has a ton of flavor (thanks to the green onions, capers and parsley), but is also very light. We use juice from a whole lemon and olive oil to bring everything together.

    It's easy to make! Put everything together in a bowl and mix with a fork. Then eat. You can eat it plain, straight out of a bowl (which I often do). Or serve it with crackers for pupus (appetizer). Spread the sardine salad between toasted it bread for a quick sandwich. Or toss it with pasta!

    Jump to:
    • Ingredients
    • Instructions
    • Substitutions and Variations
    • Equipment
    • Storage
    • Top Tip
    • FAQ
    • Sardine Salad Recipe
    • Sardine Salad
    • Related

    Ingredients

    Here's what you'll need:

    Ingredients for sardine salad laid out on a table (tinned sardines, olive oil, lemon juice, garlic, capers, green onions, and parsley).
    • Sardines, packed in oil
    • Green onions
    • Garlic
    • Capers
    • Parsley
    • Olive oil
    • Lemon

    See recipe card for quantities.

    Instructions

    Let's get cooking!

    Ingredients for sardine salad in a bowl (tinned sardines, olive oil, lemon juice, garlic, capers, green onions, and parsley).

    Place all the ingredients together in a mixing bowl.

    Use two forks to mash, stir, and mix everything together.

    Mixing together sardine salad in a bowl

    Leave the sardine salad more chunky/rough textured if you prefer. Or mix more to get it smoother. There is no right or wrong way to prepare the salad, it's mainly about personal preference.

    Once you're done mixing, it is ready to eat! Serve the sardine salad with crackers (it makes a great party pupu / appetizer). Or use it to make a sandwich.

    Sardine salad on crackers.

    Substitutions and Variations

    Here are a few ideas:

    • Mayo - add a spoonful of mayo to make it extra creamy. We use lemon and olive oil in this recipe, which gives it a sort of creaminess. But if you want a traditional creamy texture, then add mayo.
    • Celery - chop celery into very small pieces and mix it into the sardine salad. One stalk is enough for this recipe.
    • Mustard - mix in a spoonful of dijon mustard.
    • Egg - add a chopped hard boiled egg to the sardine salad. Chop it very fine and mix, mix, mix. I love adding an egg because it feels like you're also getting egg salad, the best of both worlds.
    • More herbs - this recipe uses parsley, but you can add in a bunch of other herbs as well. Dill is the most popular. The more herbs, the merrier!

    There's a ton of different things you can do to make this "your" sardine salad. I don't think there's really a right or wrong, it's just a matter of personal preference and cravings.

    Sardine salad in a bowl, ready to eat.

    Equipment

    All you need is a bowl and two forks to mix everything together.

    Storage

    You can make this sardine salad up to 3 hours ahead of time. Store it in the refrigerator in a sealed container until ready to serve.

    Sardine salad leftovers will keep in the fridge for 1-2 days. Though it's really best served the day of ^_^

    Top Tip

    Aside from tasting really good, versatility is what makes this sardine salad so great. Sometimes I eat it straight from the bowl, plain. I often spread it on crackers, you can even make quick "wraps" with butter lettuce.

    The other morning I made a bagel sandwich with it. Or toast two slices of bread and make a quick sandwich (love it with milk bread). Don't forget to add lettuce and nice tomatoes. You can even use a croissant!

    Toss it with pasta to make an easy sardine pasta salad. The options are endless.

    Sardine salad on crackers.

    FAQ

    What is the best way to eat canned sardines?

    There are many different ways! In addition to sardine salad you can also make Sardine Pupu. It is super delicious.

    If you have very nice, high quality sardines, they are great just straight out of the can. Toast bread, put some butter on it, and top with sardines. Sardine pasta is another good one (recipe coming soon!)

    Do you need to use a certain type of tinned sardines?

    Just make sure that the sardines are packed in oil. Plain olive oil is most ideal, but use what you have on hand.

    We had one plain olive oil tin and another of sardines packed in lemon olive oil (you can see it in the ingredients photo near the top of this post).

    What's good to mix with sardines?

    Whether you follow this recipe exactly or use it as a rough guideline, as long as you know what's good to mix with sardines, then you are fine!

    The general guidelines I stick with: lots of herbs, garlic, lemon, and olive oil. Everything else is just a bonus ^_^

    Sardine Salad Recipe

    Sardine salad in a bowl, ready to eat.

    Sardine Salad

    Bright and flavorful, this sardine salad includes capers, parsley and green onions. Easy to make. Enjoy with crackers on in a sandwich!
    5 from 4 votes
    Print Pin Rate
    Prep Time: 5 minutes minutes
    Cook Time: 5 minutes minutes
    Servings: 4
    Calories: 39kcal

    Ingredients

    • 2 tins sardines, packed in oil
    • 2 stalks green onions, chopped
    • 1 tablespoon garlic minced
    • 1 tablespoon capers
    • ¼ cup parsley, chopped
    • 1 tablespoon olive oil
    • 1 whole lemon, juiced

    Instructions

    • Place all the ingredients together in a mixing bowl.
    • Use two forks to mash, stir, and mix everything together. Leave it more chunky/rough textured if you prefer. Or mix more to get it smoother.
    • It's ready to eat! Serve the sardine salad with crackers (it makes a great party appetizer). Or use it to make a sandwich.

    Notes

    Recipe adapted from Mark Bittman.

    Nutrition

    Calories: 39kcal | Carbohydrates: 1g | Protein: 1g | Fat: 4g | Saturated Fat: 1g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 0.4g | Monounsaturated Fat: 3g | Cholesterol: 1mg | Sodium: 60mg | Potassium: 49mg | Fiber: 0.4g | Sugar: 0.2g | Vitamin A: 379IU | Vitamin C: 7mg | Calcium: 16mg | Iron: 0.4mg

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    Reader Interactions

    Comments

    1. Liz

      June 11, 2025 at 7:22 pm

      5 stars
      It was really good

      Reply
      • Kathy

        June 11, 2025 at 8:43 pm

        Thank you, Liz! ^_^
        - Kathy

        Reply
    2. Bonnie

      September 05, 2023 at 4:45 pm

      I see something white chopped up in the photo, but dont see the ingredient in the list?

      Reply
      • Kathy

        September 06, 2023 at 8:54 pm

        Aloha Bonnie - Thank you so much for catching that! It is minced garlic, I just updated the ingredient list 🙂
        - Kathy

        Reply
    5 from 4 votes (3 ratings without comment)

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    Aloha, I'm Kathy!

    I'm a born and raised Hawaii local who loves everything about Hawaii (especially the food). I’m excited to share recipes from our island home, favorite restaurants, and Hawaii travel tips ^_^

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