Don’t Knock It ‘Til You Try It: Sardine Avocado Toast
Perhaps not the most aesthetically pleasing food but don’t judge a book by it's cover as they say.
Sooo…I know this is a controversial opinion but I love sardines. Seriously. I have been know to buy 24 cans of sardines at Costco when they are on sale!
Now wait, before you x out of this page and write me off as some weirdo (which is probably true haha), give these salty lil fish a chance.
This simple recipe only takes 5 mins to make and is a great snack or light meal.
No one wants to read paragraphs before a recipe so here ya go. But keep reading past the recipe if you want more detail on the nutritional punch sardines give.
The Recipe
Ingredients:
Bread of your choice (I prefer sourdough)
Avocado
Can of Sardines
Garlic Salt (OR Salt and Granulated Garlic)
Lime (optional)
Instructions:
Toast your bread to desired toastiness.
While the bread is toasting, mash up an avocado.
Sprinkle garlic salt and fresh lime juice (amount to taste) on the avocado and mix together.
Omit the lime juice if you don’t have it but it adds a great zing!
Feel free to play around with other spices you like too.
Your bread is probably toasted by now so spread the mashed avocado on the bread.
Open the can of sardines and spread them over the avocado.
Enjoy :)
Nutritional Benefits
Sardines may be an acquired taste but I’m glad the thought of tinned fish didn’t scare you off! Besides the taste, convenience, and relative low cost of canned sardines, there are many nutritional benefits to these fish.
Provide protein, potassium, magnesium, zinc, iron, phosphorus, and selenium.
A great source of Vit B12 and Vitamin D.
Provide Calcium.
100g of sardines contain 38% of the recommended amount of calcium per day.
Potent Source of Omega-3 fatty acids.
Increased intake of Omega-3 fatty acids is associated with a decreased risk of cardiovascular disease, high blood pressure, type 2 diabetes, fatty liver disease, and improved brain health just to name a few.
Low in Mercury.
Unfortunately, mercury contamination in water is ubiquitous.
Mercury pollution in water is bioaccumulative, meaning as one animal eats another animal with mercury in their body, the animal higher up the food chain will retain the mercury from the animal it ate.
Sardines are low in the fish food chain, thus they have low levels of mercury, making them safer to eat more often than fish such as tuna or king mackerel which have more mercury accumulation in them.
While the pairing of sardines and avocado toast may be unconventional, this combination quickly became one of my favorite go-to easy meals.
What is your favoirte canned fish recipe?
Sources
Marengo, K. & Richards, L. (2023, June 26). Are sardines good for you? Medical News Today. https://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/are-sardines-good-for-you
Santos, H. O., May, T. L., & Bueno, A. A. (2023). Eating more sardines instead of fish oil supplementation: Beyond omega-3 polyunsaturated fatty acids, a matrix of nutrients with cardiovascular benefits. Frontiers in Nutrition, 10. https://doi.org/10.3389/fnut.2023.1107475
U.S. Food and Drug Administration. (2022, September 28). Advice about eating fish. https://www.fda.gov/food/consumers/advice-about-eating-fish
