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!
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!
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Ingredients
Here's what you'll need:
- Sardines, packed in oil
- Green onions
- Garlic
- Capers
- Parsley
- Olive oil
- Lemon
See recipe card for quantities.
Instructions
Let's get cooking!
Place all the ingredients together in a mixing bowl.
Use two forks to mash, stir, and mix everything together.
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.
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.
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.
FAQ
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!)
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).
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
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
Nutrition
Related
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I see something white chopped up in the photo, but dont see the ingredient in the list?
Aloha Bonnie - Thank you so much for catching that! It is minced garlic, I just updated the ingredient list 🙂
- Kathy