Sardine Cakes with Cannellini Beans
Whip up these fast and delicious Sardine Cakes with Cannellini Beans for a nutrient-packed meal. If you’re not sure if you like sardines, I promise you, this recipe is for you!
Servings 4 servings (12 patties)
Calories 353kcal
Ingredients
- 1 clove garlic
- 1 small red onion minced
- 1 ½ cups grated carrots from 2 medium carrots, 7oz
- ¼ cup fresh cilantro
- 15 ounce can cannellini beans drained and rinsed
- 1 can sardines canned in olive oil if available, 4oz/115g
- 1 egg
- ¼ cup almond flour
- ½ teaspoon fine salt
- ½ teaspoon ground black pepper
- 4 Tablespoons olive oil more as needed for frying
For Serving
- lemon wedges
- sauce such as yogurt, sour cream, tzatziki, or tahini sauce
Instructions
- Prepare your vegetables. Mince or grate the garlic, mince the red onion, shred the carrots, and finely chop the fresh cilantro (stems included here!)
- In a large bowl, add the drained and rinsed cannellini beans and the canned sardines.
- Mash together the beans and sardines until a slightly chunky paste is formed, then whisk in the egg.
- Add all the remaining ingredients (except the oil) - the prepared garlic, onion, carrots, cilantro, as well as the chickpea flour, salt, and black pepper.
- Mix this until well combined.
- Form the mixture into 12 patties and set on a plate or tray.
- Bring a skillet to medium-high heat. When hot, add 2-3 Tablespoons of oil. You want enough to fully coat the bottom of the pan. Add 3-4 sardine cakes to the hot oil and cook for 2-3 minutes on each side, or until they’ve developed some nice browning. Continue cooking in batches until you’ve cooked all the sardine cakes! See below for oven instructions.
- Top with a bit of fresh cilantro and serve with a creamy sauce such as yogurt, sour cream, tzatziki, or tahini sauce.
Notes
Sardines: 4oz / 115g of canned sardines should yield about 2.8oz / 81g of solid fish. There are many different sized cans of sardines all over the world. I have used anywhere from 3.75-4.4 oz of sardines with their canned olive oil with good results, just know that nutrient values will be different.
Swap with Salmon: This recipe can be made using canned salmon instead of canned sardines.
Use the Oil: If using sardines canned in olive oil, you can keep the oil. Note that since EPA and DHA are fat soluble, if you drain the oil, you will lose some of the Omega-3 benefits as well. If using those canned in water, I would drain the water. If your sardines are canned in another type of oil, I might drain about half the oil simply because the flavor might be too strong.
Bake Instead of Fry: These can also be cooked in the oven with extremely good results! Preheat the oven to 425ºF. Bake on a rimmed baking sheet for a total of 25 minutes, flipping each patty at about 20 minutes. If you bake these AND use sardines canned in water, I recommend adding 1 Tablespoon of olive oil to the batter both for richness and to ensure you’re able to absorb the fat soluble compounds in this dish!
Swap the Flour: This recipe uses almond flour, but I have also tested it with chickpea flour for a nut-free option - with great results! Feel free to use all purpose flour or arrowroot starch/cornstarch, which should work well here, but I have not tested them.
Nutrition
Calories: 353kcal | Carbohydrates: 25g | Protein: 17g | Fat: 22g | Saturated Fat: 3g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 3g | Monounsaturated Fat: 12g | Trans Fat: 0.01g | Cholesterol: 85mg | Sodium: 666mg | Potassium: 345mg | Fiber: 8g | Sugar: 4g | Vitamin A: 8181IU | Vitamin B1: 0.1mg | Vitamin B2: 0.2mg | Vitamin B3: 2mg | Vitamin B5: 1mg | Vitamin B6: 0.2mg | Vitamin B12: 3µg | Vitamin C: 5mg | Vitamin D: 2µg | Vitamin E: 3mg | Vitamin K: 19µg | Calcium: 230mg | Copper: 0.1mg | Folate: 23µg | Iron: 4mg | Manganese: 0.2mg | Magnesium: 23mg | Phosphorus: 202mg | Selenium: 20µg | Zinc: 1mg | Choline: 62mg