My fancy sardines on toast recipe with pickled onions, celery and dill makes toasted sourdough fingers, generously spread with crème fraiche, topped with sardines, with a crunchy, sour, salty, and zingy mix of finely diced pickled onions, celery, capers, and dill in extra virgin olive oil spooned onto the sardines. It’s a fantastic snack, breakfast or lunch – or light yet filling finger food if you’re entertaining.
You’ll love this recipe for sardines on toast with zingy pink pickled onions, crunchy diced celery, delightfully fishy capers, and fresh fragrant dill on toasted sourdough fingers, if you love canned fish as much as we do. I’ve been making variations of this sardines on toast recipe for lunch for the last week, but it’s also brilliant finger food for casual get-togethers or festive gatherings.
I’m a big fan of canned fish and tinned seafood recipes, any dishes made with pantry staples, to be honest – always available and brilliant for the budget conscious – from this zingy sardine salad with celery, cos lettuce, capers and mustard dressing to this tuna pasta with scallions and capers and fresh herbs. If you are, too, do try this sardines on toast recipe.
More about my fancy sardines on toast recipe with pickled onions, celery and dill below, and if you’re also a fan of a tinned fish, please do try our recipes for sardine pasta with capers and gremolata, this tuna pasta with scallions and capers and fresh herbs, my Russian mimosa salad, and Terence’s ultimate tuna melt.
If you’re planning gatherings, whether it’s casual get-togethers like backyard barbecues and beachside picnics or an elegant soiree or relaxed evening affair, we have loads of snacky food ideas, from recipes for dips for crackers and crudités, Spanish tapas, Basque pintxos and Mediterranean mezze, to picnic food and pot luck ideas if you’re asked to bring a plate and dishes for feeding a crowd.
Before I tell you all about our sardines on toast recipe, I have a favour to ask. Grantourismo is reader supported. If you’ve cooked and enjoyed our recipes, please consider supporting Grantourismo by supporting our Cambodian cuisine history and cookbook on Patreon; or buying a handcrafted KROK, the best mortar and pestle ever; booking a cooking class or meal with locals on EatWith; or buying something on Amazon, such as these cookbooks for culinary travellers or classic cookbooks for serious cooks.
Looking for more cooking inspiration? We’ve got hundreds of recipes from around the world from places we’ve lived, worked and travelled in our archives, and you can save recipes you like by clicking on the heart on the right of any post to save your favourites in your own private account. Let’s tell you more about this fancy sardines on toast recipe with pickled onions, celery and dill recipe below.
Sardines on Toast Recipe with Pickled Onions, Celery and Fresh Dill
I have to admit that I’m a bit addicted to this new sardines on toast recipe that came together somewhat serendipitously during a break from photographing another canned fish recipe. All I could think of was what was the fastest dish I could make for lunch for mum that wouldn’t pull me away from the shoot for long and I thought ‘sardines on toast’. Easy.
Little did I realise at the time, but I’d created a quick and easy canned fish dish that I would find myself making endless variations of over the last week, as it’s just so fast to assemble, and so incredibly delicious if you’re a sardine lover. What I soon realised was that my fancy sardines on toast recipe was reliant on quality canned sardines.
One lunch time I made my sardines on toast with a can of sardines I’d bought with the intention of using for a tuna melt-style toastie filled with a creamy sardine mixture instead of tuna mixture. It just wasn’t up to the job. So good quality sardines that you could happily eat out of the can on their own are essential to making this fancy sardines on toast recipe.
While the sardines and zingy mix is wonderful piled on toasted sourdough, it’s also fab on focaccia fingers or even homemade croutons. Make sure to serve your sardines on toast the second you’re finished assembling them so the toast doesn’t go soggy.
I also adore the sardines with Turkish bread, which goes a little crunchy on the exterior while remaining soft within after toasting. But it’s not suitable for entertaining if it could be sitting for a while, as the Turkish bread I’ve been buying fell apart in our hands. Just a few tips to making this sardines on toast recipe with pickled onions, celery and dill.
Tips to Making this Sardines on Toast Recipe with Pickled Onions, Celery and Fresh Dill
I only have a few tips to making this sardines on toast recipe with pickled onions, celery and dill, starting with the sardines.
The Sardines
You want a can of good quality sardines for this; the best quality canned sardines you can afford. That 89c can of sardines from Aldi won’t cut it, but the next level will. I prefer sardines in olive oil, as I find sardines in spring water lose their flavour.
You should find that a good quality 125g can of sardines will have around 4 whole sardines per can.
If you’re serving these sardines on toast for a Christmas soiree then you could splurge on some really fancy cans of sardines, such as the Ortiz Portuguese sardines.
If you really want to elevate these sardines on toast for entertaining and you can source fresh sardines: butterfly the sardines, transfer the sardines to a non metallic dish, add a tablespoon or two of extra virgin olive oil, one tablespoon of lemon juice, season with ½ tsp each of salt and pepper, and leave them for 30 minutes or so, then grill them on the barbecue or pan-fry them.
Make the Zingy Topping
To a small bowl, add the finely diced pickled onions (I used the retro shocking pink pickled onions that your parents probably served in the Seventies; they turned red after marinating the mix), a very finely diced celery stalk, mini capers, fresh dill sprigs, extra virgin olive oil, sea salt, cracked black pepper, and stir to combine. Taste and adjust seasoning if needed.
Toast the Sourdough
Sourdough makes a great vehicle for sardines as it’s got weight and body and won’t go soggy, but you definitely want to cut off those crunchy crusts. So toast two sourdough bread slices until golden, generously spread them with good quality butter, trim the crusts, and cut each piece into four toast fingers.
Assemble the Toast Fingers
Spread each toast finger generously with crème fraiche or this homemade dill dip for even more flavour if you’re entertaining. I found a tablespoon across two toast fingers was about right. And carefully lay a whole sardine on each toast finger.
Arrange the sardines on toast fingers on individual plates or one serving plate, then spoon on the mix of pickled onions, celery, capers, and dill along the sardines.
To Serve
If you’re entertaining, you can garnish the serving plate with a little more of the pickle mix and fresh dill sprigs to make it pretty. Enjoy!
Sardines on Toast Recipe with Pickled Onions, Celery and Fresh Dill
Ingredients
- 4 pickled onions - finely diced
- 1 celery stalk - finely diced
- 1 tbsp mini capers
- 2 tbsp fresh dill - sprigs only
- 2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
- ¼ tsp sea salt
- ¼ tsp cracked black pepper
- 2 sourdough bread slices
- 2 tbsp butter
- 4 tbsp dill dip - or crème fraiche
- 8 pieces sardines - around 2 x 125 cans of sardines
Instructions
- To a small bowl, add the finely diced pickled onions, finely diced celery stalk, mini capers, fresh dill sprigs, extra virgin olive oil, sea salt, and cracked black pepper, and stir to combine. Taste and adjust seasoning if needed.
- Toast two sourdough bread slices until golden, generously spread with good quality butter, trim the crusts, and cut each piece into four toast fingers.
- Spread each toast finger generously with crème fraiche (or my dill dip), about a tablespoon across two toast fingers – and carefully lay a whole sardine on each toast finger.
- Arrange the sardines on toast fingers on individual plates or one serving plate, then spoon on the mix of pickled onions, celery, capers, and dill along the sardines.
- If entertaining, garnish the serving plate with a little more of the pickle mix and fresh dill sprigs.
Notes
Nutrition
Please do let us know in the comments section below if you make this fancy sardines on toast recipe with pickled onions, celery and dill, as we love to hear how our recipes turn out for our readers.
