This recipe for pasta con sarde, which was handed down from Italian family, is incredibly quick and simple to prepare. Even cold, the leftovers are delicious!
| Prep Time: | 10 mins |
| Cook Time: | 15 mins |
| Total Time: | 25 mins |
| Servings: | 4 |
Ingredients
- 1 (16 ounce) package spaghetti
- ¾ cup olive oil, divided
- 6 cloves garlic, minced
- 2 (4 ounce) cans sardines packed in olive oil, drained
- 1 cup seasoned bread crumbs
- ⅓ cup freshly grated Parmesan cheese
- ¼ cup chopped fresh parsley
- 1 teaspoon ground black pepper
- 1 pinch additional Parmesan cheese for serving
Instructions
- Bring a large pot of lightly salted water to a boil. Add spaghetti and cook until al dente, 8 to 10 minutes. Drain and rinse under cold water. Toss with 1/4 cup olive oil; cover and keep warm.
- Place 1/4 cup olive oil in a skillet over medium heat. Stir in garlic; cook just until golden, 2 to 3 minutes. Add sardines; cook 1 minute more. Stir in bread crumbs and 1/3 cup Parmesan cheese. Stir in remaining 1/4 cup olive oil if necessary to give mixture a crumbly texture. Stir in parsley and pepper and remove from heat.
- Serve sardine mixture over spaghetti and garnish with additional Parmesan cheese.
Nutrition Facts
| Calories | 1046 kcal |
| Carbohydrate | 107 g |
| Cholesterol | 87 mg |
| Dietary Fiber | 5 g |
| Protein | 36 g |
| Saturated Fat | 8 g |
| Sodium | 930 mg |
| Sugars | 5 g |
| Fat | 52 g |
| Unsaturated Fat | 0 g |
Reviews
Our whole family enjoys this, including my daughter who was about 8 or 9 when I added it to our menu rotation. I usually make it with rotini, I like the way it sticks to the grooves in the shaped pasta. I use the olive oil the sardines were packed in rather than any additional olive oil.
I used Trader Joe’s canned sardines and I followed the reviews that suggested not adding olive oil – the oil the sardines came in was plenty! And I used panko for the bread crumbs. Really yummy!
Absolutely delicious! Found some sardines in harissa sauce. Added a nice kick to the dish! Reminded me of the dishes my Neapolitan grandpa used to make
I’ve made this a few times. I think the problem where people say it needs more sauce -well when you drain your pasta save that water and add a few ladles to your pan.
No oil outside of sardines in oil, added can of stewed tomatoes & omitted breadcrumbs. Salt & pepper to taste, squirt of lemon. Didn’t measure garlic or parsley but used a lot. Also added 1/4 shallot b/c had it in fridge. Easy, fast & tasty.
Delicious, but I prefer more garlic
Very simple and tasty! I like sardines, but their flavor is a little too strong. This recipe toned them down perfectly. I put quite a bit more fresh parsley in just trying to use it up out of my fridge and it was wonderful. The only criticism I have is that the pasta is a little dry and could do with some cream sauce. Overall, I loved the simplicity and taste!
I thought it wise to add onions with the garlic and some wine and capers a few minutes before your supposed to add the sardines, just to give the dish a little more complexity. I don’t know if it holds up as well without those additions but it turned out great for me. It’s definitely crucial you use decent boneless sardines if you can’t abide fishiness. We ended up eating all the pasta and had some sardine mix leftover. The next day, I mixed the leftovers with mayo to make the best sardine salad sandwich I’ve ever had in my life. I had to come on here and review the recipe just so everyone knew: cold sardine mixture + mayo = great sandwich filling.
Excellent , tasty simple cheap…I used spaghetti De Cecco .
My child and I loved it! I used Barilla gluten free penne and a soy based Parmesan cheese (a little only at the end). I also used dried parsley and added a little oregano at the end. It tasted really good and to say my 4 year old ate it says a lot. I also used Crown Prince Boneless & Skinless Sardines so it wasn’t too fishy for us.
I guess I just don,t like canned sardines. Added a diced roma tomato and 2 tbsp of tomato powder. Added a sauce of 1 c. skim milk and 8 oz neufchatel cheese and made it palitable. Still, the flavor of canned sardines is fishy and no recipe I have ever found negates that.
This dish was delicious! I sometimes purchase Portuguese sardines and put it on bread and eat it just like that, but only because I don’t know what else to do with the sardines. So, I was excited when I saw this recipe. I didn’t have fresh parsley on hand, so used the dried stuff. I also didn’t have seasoned crumbs on hand, so used seasoned croutons instead. I thought the croutons would break down into crumbs during the cooking process, but they didn’t. Next time, I will put the croutons in a blender before using. Even with my changes, it tasted great!! Will definitely make again.
I had already chopped onion and garlic for a pasta sauce when I saw the can of sardines in my cupboard. I always buy Planet Earth sardines and (non-albacore) tuna. I have to be in the mood to eat sardines, though. I looked up the recipe “pasta and sardines” and found this one. Had Panko breadcrumbs on hand, but no parmesan cheese. So that was my change to the recipe. I thought it was very good, and made the sardines actually taste less sardiney. Four stars instead of five because, after all, they are sardines.
Made my own seasoned panko breadcrumbs and added more sardines. Need to use more oil as the sardines were water pack. A big hit at my house!
I probably screwed this up but i thought I followed this recipe to the letter, and it was not a sauce at all. it was basically sardine flavored breadcrumbs over pasta. Tasted okay, but it was just really weird. Is that how its supposed to be? Seems to me WAY to much breadcrumbs and parmesan that soaks up all the olive oil
Love how quick, simple, and delicious this is! I only use 1/4 c bread crumbs to make it a bit healthier. All 4 kids eat this (2 year old LOVES it) and it’s just such a simple way to get some DHA inexpensively. Husband doesn’t like the thought of sardines, but is happy to eat this with red pepper flakes and sriracha. (We have used a variety of sardines and found it good whether they are in oil/water/hot sauce.)
Absolutely amazing. Used garlic in jar, added one tsp of capers, I just smashed up some crackers I had on hand, and I only used 1/2 cup olive oil total, but only lightly drained fish. Try it, I dare you!
Many years ago I was in Sicily and was served this dish. I didn’t know what it was but I loved it. Now I have found it in Allrecipes! They added chopped fennel leaves and pine nuts is what I remember. Anyway, I am so glad I now can make it! I reduced the bread crumbs by half, as well as the olive oil by even more. I also used brown rice fettucini which I much prefer over whole wheat pasta. I used Chicken of the Sea sardines. So delicious!
Really good! I added a little bit of onion and held off on the pepper for my 4-year-old, but this is a really good dish. Be sure to use *seasoned* bread crumbs — I almost switched to some panko I had in the cupboard but I can tell that would have been a mistake. A squeeze of lemon at the very end might not be bad either.
Wow- I can’t believe I just turned a plain old can of sardines into this blissful fishy extravaganza. I did eliminate the extra oil however and just sauteed the garlic in some oil from the can before adding the sardines. It’s still plenty oily and flavorful and will save on a monster amount of fat and calories. Thank you for this!
I made this with a couple of changes…I used 1/2 cup of Parmesan and 1/2 cup of seasoned bread crumbs. I used sardines packed in tomato & wheat pasta shells (because that was what I had in my pantry). It came out great!!! Yes, it is sauce less, but still it is a yummy & inexpensive dish. TY for the recipe.