Want to eat sardines without msg and preservatives? Try this one!
My father used to cook this back home. He cooks sardines in tomato style. I revised this a bit and choose to cook sardines the spanish style. (whatever that means) 
Homemade Spanish Sardines
What you need:
1/2 k. sardines (cleaned, scaled, cut its head and tail off, and rolled in salt)
1 pc. carrot (cut thickly)
3 pcs. pickled cucumber (cut thickly)
2 pcs. bay leaf
ground pepper
salt
1/2 cup olive oil (or any other healthy alternative)
1/2 cup water
fish sauce (to taste)
siling labuyo (if you like it hot)
How to:
Put sardines together with carrots, pickled cucumber, bay leaf, ground pepper, siling labuyo, olive oil, water and fish sauce inside the pressure cooker. Amount of water and oil should be just enough to cover all the ingredients. Cook sardines for 30-45 minutes. serve hot with rice.
Bon appétit!
November 6, 2006 at 9:29 am
after rolling it with salt, youll just have to leave the salt from sticking to the sardines? or youll have to rinse it with water?
November 7, 2006 at 6:12 pm
hi earl!
do not rinse the sardines w/ water. leave the salt but make sure that it’s not too much.
tnx for visiting my food blog. i’m stuck w/ work, it has been several months now since i last updated my blog. keep on visiting my blog. i have tons of proven recipes to add.
ellee ;-D
December 8, 2006 at 2:14 pm
Is it possible to preserve? what i mean is keep in a jar and eat after sometimes.
December 17, 2006 at 1:28 pm
hi junic,
yap it’s possible but you have to add certain chemicals to do so. (i don’t like having to eat so many chemicals actually
)
so it’s best pa din if you can eat straight away.
June 6, 2007 at 3:59 am
CAn you also share to me the sardines in tomato sauce recipe? I like eating sardines but i dont like chemicals… this recipe is really good
thanks…
June 25, 2007 at 6:14 am
hi ellee,
can i used pressure cooker or regular pot? if i use pressure cooker how long do i need to cook it?
June 25, 2007 at 9:25 am
hello alex,
yes you can also cook sardines in tomato sauce. simply eliminate carrots & pickled cucumber and exchange it with 1 can tomato sauce, mix with 2 cups water palitan natin ng 2 cups ung 1/2 c water (or depende sa dami ng fish mo, dapat madami or lubog ang isda sa sabaw para di ito matuyuan) then timplahan mo ng soy sauce and konting ground black pepper. then ihalo mo yung iba pang ingredients then cook it the same as the spanish sardines.
June 25, 2007 at 9:26 am
hi emy,
pls. use pressure cooker para maging tender pati fish bone.
July 12, 2007 at 3:10 am
hi Junic,
you can surely put the sardines in the bottles and store for future use, NO NEED FOR CHEMICALS. get bottles that you can sterilize. put the sardines and other ingredients inside except the water then put the cap but donot lock. Put a rack inside the pressure cooker, arrange the bottles w/cap still loose. pour water about an inch deep around the bottle. cover the pressure cooker. When the pressure cooker reached the boiling point lower the heat and cook for an hour.
When everything is cooled lock and invert the bottles then seal and wash them. Now you’ve made your own spanish sardines in bottle that can last for months.
July 12, 2007 at 3:16 am
BTW Junic,
you can leave the scales so the fish will not look soggy afterwards and use whole pepper. don’t use too much salt. add salt to taste only.
August 6, 2007 at 4:09 am
ellee,
This is really great!, i’m looking forward to try this out by myself. Your instruction was very straightforward IMHO.
Just my $.2
August 7, 2007 at 9:58 pm
Hey
I was surfing the web and i saw this site, pretty cool.
Currently im running and adult site:Wellness
k, just want to say hi
Can i link you from my site? im looking for quality content like yours. If no let me know if i can add u in exchange for a montly fee or something.
September 12, 2007 at 3:58 am
have you heard or even tried zaragoza portuguese sardines in corn oil? can you possibly give me the ingredients and procedure on how to make one?
December 12, 2007 at 10:52 am
hello! how many months will the sardines be preserved? thanks
March 12, 2008 at 11:03 pm
I rather use crock pot(very slow cooker that looks like a rice cooker) and leave it for four to six hours. Using ample of corn oil, and no fish sauce, this will taste even better and has a better storage life than the one that is posted here.
March 27, 2008 at 9:49 pm
Hi!This recipe looks great and easy to follow however I don’t have a pressure cooker at home. Could I use just a regular pot? Thanks and hope to hear from you soon.
March 28, 2008 at 5:09 am
ronald – thanks!
wellness – sure!
elm – sorry haven’t tried it yet.
salet – i haven’t tried preserving sardines yet. only cook this for my family.
philip – yes you can also do that. but if you’re conserving energy, i prefer using the pressure cooker.
JC – yes it’s possible. use a regular pot just make sure that you cook it in low fire(gas stove) or heat(electric).
May 11, 2008 at 1:50 pm
hi. your recipe seems to be th most straightforward and flexible. i’m really glad i found your blog. Spanish sardines made from the phils cost 3 dollars a bottle in the asian supermarket and that’s not even the Zaragoza brand. My kids and I love eating it with baguette/french bread. The oil soaks into the bread and its really good. My question is, is it also good to use another type of fish like mackerel or asuhos? I don’t know if i’ll find the exact same fish that’s being used in the bottle. Thanks
May 11, 2008 at 9:45 pm
hi bambi, that is so true! a lot of filipino products sold abroad cost a fortune
that’s why i do not buy them i make them myself. some of the things i make are the salted eggs & atsarang papaya(pickled papaya). 
yes you can use other fish aside from sardines. i did try making spanish sardines out of yellowfin tuna, mackerel & bangus (milkfish). and they all tasted great! i am not sure about asuhos, i think the meat’s too soft and not that firm.
July 6, 2008 at 8:44 am
Hi! I tried to cook spanish style with the recipe that my mother’s friend told me just this morning. I never thought of searching through the net. And now i compared her recipe and to my surprise vinegar is not a part of your recipe. Well it still did taste good but not with what ive expected it to be. thank you so much.. I really like this food. I’ll try this next time. But for now I have to eat the whole 1 kilo of sardines..
with my family..
July 8, 2008 at 12:46 pm
Hi. i was forever looking for this recipe because my mother and i are planning on putting up a small business making homemade stuff..so thanks sooo much for this! is it alright to ask though do you know where i can buy sterilized jar? also if its not asking too much maybe you could post a recipe for peanut butter here so that we can add it to our products..thanks again.!
July 27, 2008 at 6:53 pm
Dear Ellee,Thank you so much for sharing this recipe. I have been surfing the web searching for this recipe because my parents used to cook it back home over 35 years ago. My husband goes fishing and it is sardine season now. I want my children to experience this delicious recipe.I am going to cook it tonight when he gets back from the coast.I basically remembered some of the ingredients and whoa there it was! Thanks
July 27, 2008 at 6:55 pm
What other recipes are you sharing and where can I find them? Specially the Filipino food you mentioned…homemade.
July 29, 2008 at 7:57 am
pwd ba bangus na mailiit ang gamitin???
October 13, 2008 at 2:40 pm
safddsf
November 19, 2008 at 7:57 am
is there any recipe for homemade sardine which does not require the use of pressure cooker? will it affects the shelf life of the products? thank you.
November 19, 2008 at 7:58 am
is there any recipe for homemade sardine which does not require the use of pressure cooker? will it affect the shelf life of the products? thank you.
November 29, 2008 at 4:00 am
What other fish besides sardines can we use? Can we use galunggong? If we use milk fish, do we need to slice the fish into pieces before cooking?
March 5, 2009 at 6:22 am
Hi. Your recipe reminds me a lot of my mom’s. Its exactly the same except for the water and oil proportion.
For your 1/2 kilo sardines , half cup of oil and half cup of water , would this not dry up the fish?
March 14, 2009 at 7:20 pm
Hi!thanks for the recipe. I want to try this but i think i’ll have to put some of it in the bottle.
so, to put it in the bottle, all i need to do is sterilize it first?that’s it?
thanks so much..I’m looking forward to your answer so I should try this asap.=)
thank you thank you thank you!=)
May 30, 2009 at 8:33 pm
Hi,
would cooking direct in bottles inside the pressure cooker not break the bottles?
May 31, 2009 at 9:22 am
thanks for the recipe. I just arrived from Palawan and got ammazed by the price of galunggung (1O pesos per kilo) So i got 2 kilos and thought of MAKING ITO SPANISH SARDINES. So I searched the net and found your site. Am so glad I found it.
July 14, 2009 at 8:46 am
I would like to ask if how much would be the amount of water inside the pressure cooker? Would it be enough to cover the glass bottle?
July 15, 2009 at 12:24 am
I just want to thank you for posting this recipe to your blog. I have been making this for the nth time because my husband just loves it so much!
he used to buy lots of bottled spanish sardines from the Phils when he goes home. Now we don’t have to because we can make it on our own and we are sure we are eating healthy.
I do not have pressure cooker. So what I did was submerged the fish in water, add 1/2 cup olive oil, or depending on the quantity of the fish, then boil it on very very low fire until the water evaporates and only the olive oil is left.
September 14, 2009 at 3:46 am
hello, tnx for your recipe. I want to know what is the name of the fish being used to make spanish sardines?
September 14, 2009 at 3:36 pm
Thank you for the recipe. I’ll try it next time.
September 25, 2009 at 1:52 am
thank you so much for sharing your recipe.wud’nt the bottle break inside the pressure cooker.will the size of the pressure cooker make a difference?even caps will be left inside the cooker?thank you so much again and will await ur reply.
September 25, 2009 at 1:54 am
forgot to ask..what is the ratio of water to salt against the fish?kindly expound on the bottles w fish cooked inside pressure cooker..thank you again
October 6, 2009 at 10:56 am
well i love eating sardines and im so thankful to found a recipe for this
October 12, 2009 at 4:31 pm
pwede ba casserole with cover na lng ang gamit sa sardinas at anuh gagawin sa sardinas bah ? tatangalin ang ulo at yung tail ni lang ohhh sasabayin pati yung buto niya sa loob at yung scale bah itatabgal bah ??? kasi gagawin namin sa skul ehh
November 11, 2009 at 10:59 am
@ Victoria:the ratio of the salt to water is 1:4…sa labas b ng mga bote ilalagay ang tubig sa pressure cooker?tnx
January 7, 2010 at 12:38 pm
How long do you think is the shelf life for this? I know that salt and probably the oil are natural preservatives (even siling labuyo is a natural preservative since no bacteria will grow in a spicy environment) so no need to add those “chemical” preservatives?
January 23, 2010 at 11:09 am
Thanks for the info. Ive been wanting to make spanish sardines because i just love eating eat for breakfast,lunch dinner kung tinatamad na akong magluto. Its so expensive here in Ilocos. I used to buy in bulk when i chance to travel to Dipolog where its so cheap compared to the groceries here.
January 27, 2010 at 2:48 pm
hello…just wanna ask if what kind of chemical must be put in order to preserve the sardines..uhmm..another one is…how can i fit the sardine in a jar if ang jar is too small?? can i cut the sardine in half so it can fit in? and else is..must i remove the head?? i need to know,,i need to know bec. we’re to make some for the school..HRM po kc aq eh…
January 27, 2010 at 2:50 pm
sorry bout that..i mean…”we’re going to make some for the school..” pardon my mis grammar btw^^
January 27, 2010 at 2:52 pm
about the bangus..we also need to make some with it..can you tell me what are the procedure for the bangus?? i bougfht a small kind bec. im not yet that sure how to make it..and so..i told the “tindera” to clean everything including the scale..tam a ba ginawa ko?
May 18, 2010 at 1:37 am
trysha…usually i leave the scale. but if you don’t want eating it you can just take it out. about sa chemical na pang preserve sorry pero i don’t put any chemicals on my sardines kaya hindi ko sya alam.
June 6, 2010 at 11:49 am
whats bay leaf in bisaya or tagalog
June 7, 2010 at 2:00 am
to ayin…ang alam ko dahon ng laurel sya sa tagalog. pag sa tindahan sa kanto at palengke ko sya binibili noon sa Pinas yan ang tawag nila sa bay leaf.
June 15, 2010 at 8:56 am
hi
just ran across your site 
hope you’ll still be posting new recipes soon. planning to do this one tonight! 
August 11, 2010 at 2:05 am
hi… can i use yellow fin tuna panga or fin?
September 23, 2010 at 11:21 pm
hi…^_^ i want to ask f how long would the spanish sardines spoil w/o using preservatives
October 9, 2010 at 4:35 pm
@ manny of cdo…yes you can. i find yellow fin tuna sardines very delicious. i like it better than bangus sardines.
@ helen…that i don’t know. i never tried it using preservatives.
March 12, 2011 at 9:39 am
The recipe, as posted, will even taste better if gata (coconut milk – canned or fresh) is added.
July 11, 2011 at 2:59 am
Hi,
Can I cook the spanish sardines in a slow cooker instead of a pressure cooker, if so, for how long? Thnx.
Day:)
October 1, 2011 at 10:39 pm
Oh, how Iove spanish sardines…I’ll try to cook this recipe…thank you for sharing this. But … is sardines the name of the fish?
thanks
October 15, 2011 at 4:18 am
Nice Amazing thanks for the idea….
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February 3, 2012 at 7:04 pm
I’m trying it tonight. I will update everybody soon. However my ingredients is not complete. I was not able to buy pickled cucumber, in Saudi Arabia the pickles here are salty unlike in philippines. I used black pepper powder instead of peppercorn and I added black beans to taste. I sprinkled it with monosodium glutamate.
I read d blogs here and it seems they are asking same questions. Sterilisation is killing all microorganism including the spores. Spores are the protective part of bacteria, looks like capsule that can’t be destroyed easily. U can destroy it by using pressure cooker 121 degrees centigrade for 15 mins. Boiling point of water is 100 deg. Cen. If u want to boil the glass container it must be with in 30 minutes or more to kill the heat resistant microorganism. Home-made sardines must be refrigerated to prevent bacterial growth. But if u keep it in room temperature it would be risky since organisms grows favourably in this temperature. Spoiling of food can be observed by growth of molds and it’s smell. Discard if you see this sign.
Happy eating safe food.
February 24, 2012 at 1:00 pm
nice