Sardine Toast

The secret to the ultimate sardine toast is a 30-second step that most recipes skip entirely.

I’ll get to that in the next paragraph, but real quick: What’s to love about this recipe? It’s delicious with whatever you’ve got in your fridge! You just need a spread (hummus, pesto, avocado, you name it), one or two toppings, sardines, and crusty bread. The toast in these photos is made with hummus, tomato, red onion, and lemon, but it’s hard to go wrong.

Okay, onto that 30-second step: We must fillet them! Just use your fork to split the sardine in half lengthwise, just like cracking open an English muffin. It’s nothing like filleting a whole raw fish. Filleting creates the perfect shape for laying flat on toast. Sardines that have not been filleted have a tendency to slip and slide away from you with each bite. Filleted sardines stay put (as they should!).

Jump to the recipe to hit the ground running, or read on for a bit more on how/why to fillet them and how to get creative with sardine toast.

Filleting sardines (it’s as easy as opening an English muffin)

How to: You just take the sardine, look for the “seam” on its back, wedge a fork in, and split it in half lengthwise. They split cleanly apart, leaving two perfectly flat halves that lay beautifully on toast. See the video in the recipe card at the end of this post if you’re more of a visual learner.

Why to: Whole sardines are a bit annoying on toast or in a sandwich. They’re just not the right shape to lay flat on bread, which leads to a lack of structural integrity. And you might think that the key to a great sandwich is high-quality ingredients, but it’s actually structural integrity.

Putting a whole sardine on a sandwich is a bit like putting a whole cherry tomato on a sandwich (instead of a sliced one). Good luck getting it to stay where you placed it!

Silvery-side-out or bones-side-out: Filleting creates a fun dilemma: You get to decide whether to display the sardines skin-side-out or bone-side-out. I’m personally a bones-side-out person because I think they look cool. Most people disagree with me, which is why I styled 100% of these photos skin-side out. You can also alternate. You do you!

Getting creative with sardine toast

This recipe is super adaptable. You just need a spread, some bread, a can of sardines, and one or two toppings. In the photos in this post, I used hummus, tomato, red onion, and lemon. That is my favorite way to make sardine toast when I have very little on hand.

The notes at the bottom of the recipe below list a bunch of common ingredients, but you can go even further afield.

Leftover chimichurri from dinner last night? Use it! Got some leftover cucumbers and peppers from making fattoush? Slice them thinly and throw them on there! Call me crazy, but I’ve even made sardine toast with hummus and a tiny bit of lemon curd for some sweet-and-sour flavor. The sky is the limit, and experimenting can only go so wrong here. After all, it’s just a can of sardines. Live a little!

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