Recipe byThe ZestyPlate Kitchen
Crisp, golden fried sardines: simply floured and fried until crunchy, served hot or cold with a wedge of lemon. A no-fuss taste of the Croatian coast.
Fried fresh sardines are coastal Croatian cooking at its plainest and best: small fish rolled in flour and fried until they shatter at the bite. There is barely anything to it, and that is the whole idea, since good fresh sardines need very little done to them. Hot or cold with a squeeze of lemon, they taste of the Adriatic.
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Prep 10 min
Cook 10 min
Total 20 min
Easy
Preparation
- Rinse the fish under the cold tap.
- Roll them in the flour and deep-fry in the oil until crisp.
- Lift onto kitchen paper to drain off the excess oil, and serve hot or cold with a slice of lemon.
Tips from the ZestyPlate Kitchen
- Dry the sardines well before flouring so the coating grips and crisps instead of sliding off.
- Get the oil properly hot before the fish go in, which gives you a crisp result rather than a greasy one.
- Don't crowd the pan; fry in batches so the oil stays hot throughout.
- A good squeeze of lemon at the end cuts straight through the richness.
Frequently Asked Questions
With small, very fresh sardines plenty of cooks fry them whole, but gutting and scaling gives a cleaner result. Ask your fishmonger to do it if you would rather not.
Small sardines fried until crisp have soft bones that many people eat happily. With larger fish you may prefer to lift the fillets off.
The fish were probably too wet, or the oil too cool. Pat them dry, flour them just before frying, and make sure the oil is good and hot.
Lemon wedges, and bread, a green salad or boiled potatoes. They also sit well as part of a wider seafood spread.
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