Five High-Protein Weeknight Dinners
Canned sardines are whole small fish, cooked once and packed in oil, which makes them a finished protein you can build dinner around without turning on the stove. One tin runs 20 grams of protein and five ingredients. BELA has been hand-packing them at a family-run cannery in Olhão since 1997.
The tin is the easy part. Knowing what to do with it on a Tuesday is where people stall. Five answers, all of them on the site already, most of them faster than delivery.
1. Piri Piri Sardines Crispy Rice Bowl
Press rice into a thin layer and crisp it hard, then break it into shards. Sardines go on top with a spoonful of the tin oil, then quick-pickled cucumber to cool the heat. The whole thing runs on contrast: hot and cold, crunchy and tender, rich and bright.
It also scales without effort. One bowl for yourself, or crispy rice on a platter and everything else in bowls if there are more of you.
Tin:Sardines in EVOO with Piri Piri
2. Lemon Sardines Pasta Salad
Herby, briny, and nowhere near a heavy sauce. The lemon tin lifts the fish instead of shouting over it, which is the difference between a real lemon and lemon flavoring. Pasta, herbs, the sardines, and the oil they came in.
Good warm and better cold the next day, which makes it one of the few pasta salads worth making on purpose.
Tin:Sardines in EVOO with Lemon and Smoke
3. Classic EVOO Sardines and White Bean Spread
Creamy beans give it body, the sardines bring the briny richness, and the olive oil from the tin ties it together. Break the fish into chunky flakes and fold gently, because you want pieces throughout rather than a blended paste.
Lime to sharpen, herbs and chili flakes to finish. Toast, crackers, or both. Dinner that requires no heat at all.
Tin:Sardines in Organic Extra Virgin Olive Oil
4. The BELA Bowl Pizza
Caramelized onion, melted mozzarella, and sardines in olive oil on a single pan. Sweet onion against salty fish is the oldest trick on the Portuguese coast, and it holds up under cheese.One pan, one tin, and it disappears faster than any pizza has a right to.
Get the full recipe
5. Joshua's Famous Sardine Salad
BELA's founder has been making this one for family, friends, and customers for nearly thirty years. The sardines go in with all their olive oil, which does the job mayonnaise usually does, then diced carrot, celery, shallot, and hard-boiled egg.
Fold with a fork so the fish stays in pieces about the size of the vegetables. Parsley on top. Serve on crackers or open-faced on bread points.
Tin:Sardines in Organic Extra Virgin Olive Oil
How much protein is in a can of sardines? Open Close
A tin of BELA sardines has 20 grams of protein. No prep, no cooking, five ingredients on the label.
Do you drain canned sardines? Open Close
Don't. The olive oil is organic extra virgin from a fifth-generation family farm in Talhas, and it has spent months taking on the flavor of the fish. Use it on toast, in a vinaigrette, over warm potatoes, or folded into whatever you're already cooking. Pouring it out is the most common mistake people make.
Are canned sardines already cooked? Open Close
Yes. Every tin is fully cooked and ready to eat the moment you open it.
Can you eat the bones? Open Close
You can, and they're the point. The bones soften completely during canning until you won't notice them, and they carry most of the calcium. Nothing to pick out.
How long do canned sardines keep once opened? Open Close
Move whatever's left into a sealed container, oil and all, and refrigerate. Three to four days, and the flavor holds up well.
