I've lived near the coast of Portugal for over five years, and it somehow took me this long to put the country's most famous fish in its most famous garlic sauce. These Portuguese garlic sardines borrow the garlic, wine, and smoked paprika sauce from Portugal's favorite smoky garlic shrimp dish, and the two turn out to be made for each other. I've never once seen this on a menu here. After one bite, I don't know why everyone's not already making it!
The sardines come straight from the tin, and the whole dish takes a total of 15 minutes. These saucy 'dines land on the table still sizzling in the skillet, with toasted baguette for dragging through the sauce. I used Nuri spicy sardines in olive oil (a Portuguese classic!), and each tin came with a whole piri piri pepper tucked in with the fish. It went straight into the sauce.
If tinned fish is your love language, don't miss my octopus pasta, a silky tinned octopus ragu with pappardelle, and my take on the Italian classic - Sardines in Purgatory.
Ingredients for this Canned Sardine Recipe
Tinned sardines. Packed in olive oil, spicy or plain. I used Nuri spicy sardines, a Portuguese brand, and each tin had a whole piri piri pepper inside, which goes into the sauce. Two tins give you 6 to 10 fish.
Sweet smoked paprika. Stick with sweet. The hot versions can carry a bitter edge.
White wine. Just a small amount, but it adds balancing acidity.
Cilantro. In Portugal it’s coentros, and it’s the fresh, green finish this sauce needs. Substitute flat leaf parsley or chives, if you prefer.
Why This Recipe Works
Sauce first, fish last. The whole sauce gets built before the sardines ever touch the pan. What comes out of the tin isn’t just oil. It’s oil mixed with the fish’s own juices, and the collagen in those juices helps the oil and wine emulsify into something glossy instead of greasy. Then the sardines, already cooked, go in just long enough to warm through and get basted.
A bright finish. Cilantro and a squeeze of lemon over the top cut through all that garlicky oil, so the last bite tastes as fresh as the first.
How to Make Portuguese Garlic Sardines
1. Bloom the garlic
Warm the tin oil, topped up with olive oil, and cook the garlic gently until tender and just barely golden.
2. Toast the spices
Add the paprika, pepper flakes, and the piri piri from the tin, if you have one.
3. Add the wine
Turn up the heat, add the wine, and let it reduce a bit until the sauce looks glossy.
4. Warm the sardines
Lower the heat, nestle in the sardines in a single layer, and spoon the sauce over them until they’re heated through.
5. Finish and serve
Scatter the cilantro, season, add a squeeze of lemon, and bring the pan to the table still sizzling.
Is this a traditional Portuguese sardine recipe?
No, and I'm hoping to change that! The most popular Portuguese sardine dish is fresh sardines grilled whole over charcoal, especially in June, when the smell takes over Lisbon during the city’s festival season. This one is my own pairing: the garlic sauce from Portugal’s favorite shrimp dish, made with the country’s other great sardine tradition, the tin.
Can you eat the bones in canned sardines?
Yes. The spines in tinned sardines are soft, crumbly and completely edible. If you’d rather not, they lift out easily using the tip of a knife. Or you can grab boneless fillets in a tin. I often serve tinned mackerel (boneless) as an alternative.
Can I serve garlic sardines over rice?
Yes, and it makes this a full dinner. Spoon the sardines and every bit of the sauce over plain white rice.
What else should I serve with them?
As an appetizer, toasted baguette is all you need. Brush the slices with olive oil and grill them until golden. For dinner for two, add a simple Portuguese-style tossed salad.
Portuguese Garlic Sardines (Canned Sardines Recipe)
- Total Time: 15 minutes
- Yield: 1-2 1x
- Diet: Pescatarian
Description
Tinned sardines warmed in a sizzling garlic, white wine, and smoked paprika sauce, built on the oil from the tins. Fifteen minutes, one small skillet, and bread for every last drop.
Ingredients
- ¼ cup ;olive oil (use the reserved oil from the sardine tins, topped up with extra-virgin olive oil)
- 6 large garlic cloves, thinly sliced
- ¼ teaspoon red pepper flakes (less if you’re sensitive to heat)
- ½ teaspoon sweet smoked paprika
- ¼ cup ;dry white wine
- 2 tins spicy sardines in olive oil (6 to 10 fish), drained with the oil reserved
- 2 tablespoons cilantro, diced
- ½ teaspoon coarse kosher salt
- 1 lemon, for squeezing over finished dish, wedges for serving
- Toasted baguette slices, for serving
Instructions
- Combine the reserved tin oil with enough olive oil to make ¼ cup and warm it in a small skillet over medium heat.
- Add the garlic and cook 2 to 3 minutes, until tender and barely golden, watching closely so the thin slices don’t burn.
- Add the red pepper flakes, smoked paprika, and the whole piri piri if your tins came with one, and cook 1 minute.
- Raise the heat to medium-high and add the wine, scraping up anything stuck to the pan. Swirl, tilting the pan to work the wine into the oil, and simmer about 2 minutes, until the wine has reduced a bit and the sauce looks glossy.
- Reduce the heat to low and nestle the sardines into the sauce in a single layer. Spoon the sauce over them for about 2 minutes, just until heated through.
- Remove from the heat, scatter the cilantro, season with the salt, and squeeze a bit of lemon over the sardines. Taste and adjust. Serve in the pan, still sizzling, with toasted bread and lemon wedges.
Notes
Taste a bit of a sardine first. Tins vary in heat, so use it to decide how much of the pepper flakes to add.
Spoon, don’t stir. Basting coats the sardines just as well and keeps them whole. Even a gentle stir will break them.
Use a small skillet, just big enough to hold the sardines in one layer. Any wider and the oil spreads too thin to baste with or dip bread into.
Leftovers keep 2 to 3 days in the fridge. Reheat gently in a skillet over low.
- Prep Time: 5
- Cook Time: 10
- Category: Main Dishes
- Method: Stove Top
- Cuisine: Portuguese
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