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Italian

Pasta con le sarde

Non-vegetarian

Palermo's sweet-savoury pasta of fresh sardines, wild fennel, saffron, raisins and pine nuts over bucatini, finished with crunchy toasted breadcrumbs.

Pasta con le sarde is an Italian pasta dish from Italy, ready in about 1 hour and made with dried pasta, fresh sardines and fennel bulb. It serves 4 and is rated intermediate to cook.

Start cooking
Plate of pasta con le sarde with sardines and wild fennel
Photo: Adriao / Wikimedia Commons · CC-BY-3.0
Prep
30 min
Cook
30 min
Total
1 h
Serves
4
Level
Intermediate
Calories
866

Ingredients

4 servings

Equipment

Method

  1. Step 1

    Bring a large pot of salted water to the boil. Chop the fennel (opens in a new tab) fronds and bulb, add them to the water and simmer for 8–10 minutes until tender. Lift them out with a slotted spoon (opens in a new tab), squeeze lightly and chop finely; keep the green water for the pasta (opens in a new tab).

    Pasta boiling in a pot of water
    How it looks · Photo: Gianpiero Ferraro on Pexels

  2. Step 2

    Toast the breadcrumbs (opens in a new tab) in 1 tbsp oil in a dry pan, stirring, until golden. Set aside.

  3. Step 3

    In the same pan, cook the onion (opens in a new tab) in the remaining oil over medium-low heat for 8 minutes until soft. Add the anchovies (opens in a new tab) and fennel seeds (opens in a new tab) and stir until the anchovies dissolve.

    • 9 min
    • medium-low heat
    Onions frying golden in a pan
    How it looks · Photo: Magda Ehlers on Pexels

  4. Step 4

    Add the sardines, breaking them up gently, with the drained raisins (opens in a new tab), pine nuts (opens in a new tab), saffron (opens in a new tab) and its water and the chopped fennel (opens in a new tab). Cook for 5 minutes until the fish is opaque, adding a ladle of fennel water to make a loose sauce.

    • 5 min
    • medium heat

  5. Step 5

    Cook the bucatini in the fennel (opens in a new tab) water until al dente, drain, and toss with the sauce. Serve topped with the toasted breadcrumbs (opens in a new tab) — the Sicilian 'poor man's Parmesan'.

    • 11 min
    • high heat

    Food safety: Drain boiling pasta water away from you and keep children clear of the stove.

About this dish

Origin
Sicily (Palermo), Italy · Well documentedMore food from Italy
Dish
Lunch · Dinner · Pasta · Main courses
Cooking method
Boiled, Sautéed
Taste
sweet & savoury, aromatic / warmly spiced, umami
Diet
Pescatarian · Dairy-free · High-protein
All labelsPescatarian · Non-vegetarian · Dairy-free · Egg-free · No added sugar · Alcohol-free · Pork-free · Beef-free · High-protein
Worked out from the ingredients. How labels work
Cook more with
Dried pasta · Fresh sardines · Fennel bulb · Saffron · Fennel seeds · Onion
Techniques
Toasting · Sautéing · Boiling · Simmering

Allergens

  • May contain: Milkfrom breadcrumbs
  • May contain: Eggsfrom dried pasta
  • Contains: Fishfrom fresh sardines, anchovies
  • Contains: Tree nutsfrom pine nuts
  • Contains: Wheatfrom dried pasta, breadcrumbs
  • Contains: Glutenfrom dried pasta, breadcrumbs
  • May contain: Soyfrom breadcrumbs
  • May contain: Sesamefrom breadcrumbs
  • May contain: Sulphitesfrom raisins

Based on typical versions of these ingredients and not verified allergen-free. Brands differ and cross-contact happens, so always check labels. For severe allergies, follow your clinician’s advice.

Nutrition

866 kcal per serving

Estimated

1 serving ≈ 336 g · recipe makes 4

Where the energy comes from

  • Protein 17%
  • Carbohydrate 45%
  • Fat 38%
Nutrition per serving and per 100 g
NutrientPer servingPer 100 g*
Energy866 kcal258 kcal
Protein35.9 g10.7 g
Carbohydrate97.5 g29 g
Net carbohydrate90.8 g27 g
Sugars12 g3.6 g
Added sugars0 g0 g
Fibre6.7 g2 g
Fat37 g11 g
Saturated fat5.8 g1.7 g
Trans fat——
Cholesterol63 mg19 mg
Sodium——
Salt equivalent——
Vitamins & minerals per serving
Potassium
974 mg
Calcium
151 mg
Iron
6.3 mg
Magnesium
127 mg
Vitamin A (RAE)
56 µg
Vitamin C
10 mg
Vitamin D
4.3 µg
Vitamin B12
13.7 µg
Folate (DFE)
446 µg

How these numbers were made

  • Calculated from USDA FoodData Central (SR Legacy) per-100 g values and the listed quantities.
  • *Per 100 g of combined raw ingredients; the cooked dish may weigh more or less.
  • Not counted (tiny amounts or “to taste”): salt — so sodium is shown as unknown.
  • Fresh sardines: Raw Atlantic herring used as a stand-in; USDA SR Legacy has no raw sardine entry and both are small oily fish of similar composition.
  • “—” means the value isn’t known for enough of the ingredients; it is never zero by default.
  • Values are estimates for guidance, not for medical dosing. U.S. Department of Agriculture, Agricultural Research Service. FoodData Central, 2019. fdc.nal.usda.gov.

Good to know

Tips

  • Cooking the pasta in the fennel water gives the whole dish its green, anise flavour.

Common mistakes

  • Adding cheese — Sicilians use toasted breadcrumbs with fish pasta.

Food safety

  • Use very fresh sardines, cooked through until opaque.

Storage

  • Best eaten fresh. Some Palermitans bake leftovers as pasta con le sarde al forno.

Original editorial recipe · FriendsPantry editorial · Not yet independently reviewed · Added · Updated

Recipe DNA

How this dish is built

Grouped by each ingredient’s role in the dish. Each band’s width is its share of the dish by weight. Choose a component to see what it does.

What the dish is built around

Main ingredient

Used in steps 1, 2, 3, 4, 5

Reviews & corrections

Reviews come from signed-in cooks and appear after a moderator checks them. We never show made-up ratings.

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