Dear Reader, allow us to change your mind about sardines with this zesty tasty and easy sardine pasta! You will ABSOLUTELY not believe how good it is until you make it–I’ve heard this from so many people who tried it! Pasta with sardines may sound odd to us, but it’s an Italian staple al the way from Sicily!
If you haven’t tried pasta with sardines before, you’re completely missing out. While we used canned sardines for this recipe, you can absolutely make it using our guide to cooking fresh Sardines. My grandpa, who is the genius cook behind some of our most viral recipes made sardines every week.
Some of my grandpa’s popular recipes include his Mediterranean Baked Fish, Hot Pepper Sauce, Olive Oil Cake, Pan Fried Potatoes and Fried Eggplant Salad.
Today’s sardine pasta was inspired by our many trips to Italy and it’s gorgeous cuisine! While pasta with sardines is classically a Sicilian recipe and would include olives, we have twisted it to a more Turkish Mediterranean recipe. Of course, inspired by the original Italian one.
Why You’ll LOVE Sardine Pasta
- You WON’T taste the sardines like you expect to! This is especially important for those who aren’t super friendly with the fish. It’s rather a mild seafood flavor blended with lemon, garlic, olive oil, capers and sweet tomatoes. HEAVENLY!
- The pasta recipe comes together in 10 minutes start to finish.
- The quality of sardines is KEY. We love using MINA Sardines as they’re wild caught, boneless, skinless and packed in quality olive oil. It tastes and smells like the Mediterranean 💛
- Likewise we love using MINA olive oil and capers for this recipe, their products are all phenomenal!
- Makes a weeknight dinner wonder!
- As quick and simple as this recipe is, it’s also super nutritious.
- This pasta with sardines requires super simple basic ingredients, and it’s super versatile.
- All you need is one pan for this recipe, no fuss and no mess!
- Other amazing seafood pasta recipes include: Lobster Pasta, Mussels Marinara & Shrimp Pasta.
Ingredients To Make It
- Sardines. While you can use fresh Sardines and cook it with our guide, we have loved MINA canned sardines! They are wild caught, skinless, boneless sardines packed in quality extra virgin olive oil. They genuinely taste and smell like the Mediterranean! SO CLEAN. Quality canned sardines are KEY to this recipe.
- Olive oil. Since this recipes uses minimal ingredients, quality olive oil is also KEY to the recipe. We’ve found MINA to have the highest quality single source olive oil there is.
- Garlic. While you can substitute shallots, we have loved garlic for this recipe.
- Capers. The salty taste ad chewy texture makes capers one of the main flavors here–we use MINA capers as well.
- Tomatoes. Fresh seasonal sweet cherry tomatoes are our favorite to use here.
- Lemon. Lemon and seafood work wonderfully together, so we use the zest here and some slices to finish off the pasta.
- Basil. While you can use any fresh herb like oregano or parsley, we’re sticking with the Italian classic : basil.
- Spaghetti. This is completely a taste thing, so feel free to use your favorite.
- Seasoning. A simple salt, pepper and chilli flakes is all you need.
How to Make Sardine Pasta
- To make pasta with sardines, you’ll start with one skillet. A sauce pan or 10 inch skillet is what you need for the sauce and you’ll begin with lots of quality olive oil. The first layer of flavor is garlic and lots of seasonal sweet cherry tomatoes.
- When the tomatoes have burst slightly and released their juices, you’ll add in the sardines. make sure you’re using the boneless type. It’s super tricky to eat pasta when there are tiny bones that can be a choking hazard.
3. Then you’ll add in the capers to the sauce and gently saute that with the sauce. 
- Finish off with plenty of fresh herbs which add so much brightness to the pasta. We love a combo of fresh oregano and fresh basil. We love a seasoning of salt, pepper and lots of chilli flakes –but that’s completely up to you.
- During the time when you’re making this sauce, it would be the time to cook the pasta simultaneously. We love a spaghetti or linguine for this sardine pasta recipe, however any shape of your choice would work.
- For a luscious and saucy pasta with sardines, we use our favorite trick–pasta water! Simply reserve a cup or so of the pasta water when draining it. That water is added in slow amounts to the sardine pasta as you toss the spaghetti in. You’ll notice the sauce becomes creamy and luscious.
- The final touch and the MOST important one! The sardine pasta is enriched with a hefty drizzle of quality extra virgin olive oil. Use quality olive oil here–you want to taste it! This will not cook, it’s a topping 🙂
- Serve right away and enjoy!
Sardine Pasta Recipe Tips:
- We recommended boneless skinless sardines. Quality, wild caught fish that’s packed in EVOO is a game changer, specially the MINA brand.
- Since this recipe has minimal and simple ingredients, make sure you use quality tasting ingredients.
- You can use other veggies like shallots, onions, bell peppers and more. Make sure to customize it to your taste.
- It’s best to make and enjoy this dish right away.
- Try canned salmon for a variety of seafood.
- Avoid over mixing the sardines in the skillet as you don’t want them to mush, they should be chunks.
- The pasta water is for creating a saucy sauce for the pasta, you can however skip it if you prefer a dryer pasta.
- A finish of EVOO drizzled on top along with lemon zest is the perfect finish to the taste, and you’ll be tasting the brightness of both. We highly recommend this step!
- Avoid using lemon juice as it will make your pasta soggy. The zest is all you need for a perfect lemon flavor without the liquid.
How to Store Leftovers?
The dish can be stored in the fridge in an airtight container for up to 2 days, although we recommend enjoying it all the same day. To reheat the pasta, you can so in the microwave, or in a skillet with some water to loosen up the sauce. Freezing this sauce is not our choice as the texture changes.
Can you use fresh Sardines to make this pasta with sardine recipe?
While you can absolutely use freshly cooked Sardines following this tutorial, we prefer canned. Since the fish has tiny fish bones which could be challenging to remove , we recommend boneless canned fish for this recipe. It is however your choice.
What to Serve with Sardine Pasta
Garlic Bread , Fougasse or a bright Peach Burrata Salad, Panzanella Salad would work great. Likewise, you can dollop some Basil Pesto or Sun Dried Tomato Pesto too.
Pasta Recipes
Mussels Marinara
Burrata Pasta
Pasta Primavera
Pesto Pasta with Pistachio Pesto
Baked Ziti Recipe
Shrimp Pasta
Lobster Pasta
Spaghetti aglio e olio – Olive oil Pasta
Sardine Pasta
Ingredients
Sardine Pasta
- 2 teaspoons olive oil MINA brand is our fave!
- 3-4 garlic cloves minced
- 1 cup cherry tomatoes
- 2 cans sardines MINA is our favorite brand
- 1 1/2 Tablespoons capers Likewise, MINA is our favorite
- 1/4 cup Herbs fresh basil and fresh oregano leaves
- 1/4 teaspoon salt and pepper
- 1 box spaghetti cooked
- 1/2 cup Pasta water to make a sauce
Serving
- 1/4 cup olive oil MINA is our favorite
- 1 lemon zested
- 1/2 teaspoons chilli flakes optional
Instructions
-
To make pasta with sardines, you'll start with one skillet. A sauce pan or 10 inch skillet is what you need for the sauce and you'll begin with lots of quality olive oil. The first layer of flavor is garlic and lots of seasonal sweet cherry tomatoes.
-
When the tomatoes have burst slightly and released their juices, you'll add in the sardines. make sure you're using the boneless type. It's super tricky to eat pasta when there are tiny bones that can be a choking hazard.
-
Then you'll add in the capers to the sauce and gently saute that with the sauce.
-
Finish off with plenty of fresh herbs which add so much brightness to the pasta. We love a combo of fresh oregano and fresh basil. We love a seasoning of salt, pepper and lots of chilli flakes --but that's completely up to you.
-
During the time when you're making this sauce, it would be the time to cook the pasta simultaneously. We love a spaghetti or linguine for this sardine pasta recipe, however any shape of your choice would work.
-
For a luscious and saucy pasta with sardines, we use our favorite trick--pasta water! Simply reserve a cup or so of the pasta water when draining it. That water is added in slow amounts to the sardine pasta as you toss the spaghetti in. You'll notice the sauce becomes creamy and luscious.
-
The final touch and the MOST important one! The sardine pasta is enriched with a hefty drizzle of quality extra virgin olive oil. Use quality olive oil here--you want to taste it! This will not cook, it's a topping 🙂
-
Serve right away and enjoy!
Recipe Video
Recipe Notes
Sardine Pasta Recipe Tips:
- We recommended boneless skinless sardines. Quality, wild caught fish that's packed in EVOO is a game changer, specially the MINA brand.
- Since this recipe has minimal and simple ingredients, make sure you use quality tasting ingredients.
- You can use other veggies like shallots, onions, bell peppers and more. Make sure to customize it to your taste.
- It's best to make and enjoy this dish right away.
- Try canned salmon for a variety of seafood.
- Avoid over mixing the sardines in the skillet as you don't want them to mush, they should be chunks.
- The pasta water is for creating a saucy sauce for the pasta, you can however skip it if you prefer a dryer pasta.
- A finish of EVOO drizzled on top along with lemon zest is the perfect finish to the taste, and you'll be tasting the brightness of both. We highly recommend this step!
- Avoid using lemon juice as it will make your pasta soggy. The zest is all you need for a perfect lemon flavor without the liquid.
How to Store Leftovers?
The dish can be stored in the fridge in an airtight container for up to 2 days, although we recommend enjoying it all the same day. To reheat the pasta, you can so in the microwave, or in a skillet with some water to loosen up the sauce. Freezing this sauce is not our choice as the texture changes.
Can you use fresh Sardines to make this pasta with sardine recipe?
While you can absolutely use freshly cooked Sardines following this tutorial, we prefer canned. Since the fish has tiny fish bones which could be challenging to remove , we recommend boneless canned fish for this recipe. It is however your choice.
What to Serve with Sardine Pasta
Garlic Bread , Fougasse or a bright Peach Burrata Salad, Panzanella Salad would work great. Likewise, you can dollop some Basil Pesto or Sun Dried Tomato Pesto too.
Consider our minds changed! This pasta dish was so full of flavour and I particularly liked the way the capers complimented the sardines. We’ll be making this again!
Made this recipe yesterday and this is delicious, thanks for sharing this recipe. I am saving this recipe for my family to try!
You have changed my mind about sardines! I was a little skeptical about adding them to pasta, but am so happy that I gave it a go – it was delicious!
We loved this sardine pasta recipe! It was a great way to use up extra sardines and tasted amazing.
Excellent Pasta, Thank you for sharing.
I love this recipe, gonna try this soon. Thanks for sharing
Drooling over this pasta. So delicious. Can’t wait to try this recipe.
Who knew sardines could be so delicious in pasta? This recipe is a game-changer! I took your advice and served with garlic bread. Delicious!
A delicious summer pasta and perfect for sardine lovers.
Made a bit of modification because I used my favorite sardines, but this turned out delicious! Thank you very much!
The zesty salty flavor is real! Sharing with a friend who absolutely loves sardines!
We loved this flavorful pasta recipe. The addition of sardines was just magnificent.
I am saving this to make when my sardine-loving family is home for a visit. I know they are going to love it. And your photos look so appetizing!
My husband loves sardines but never really made much with them so I gave this recipe a try. He loved it! It definitely opened up his mind to trying them in some different ways – thanks!