Dinner

Sardine, Fennel and Chilli Pasta

Name: Sardine, Fennel and Chilli Pasta
Prep time: 20 min
Total time: 20 min
Yield: 1 serving
Ingredients: 60 g Pasta; 120 g Sardines in tomato sauce; 100 g Fennel bulb; 50 g Onion; 8 g Pine nuts; 5 g Olive oil; A good pinch Chilli flakes; Of half a lemon Lemon zest; A handful, chopped Fresh parsley

Pasta tossed with tinned sardines broken into their tomato sauce, softened fennel, chilli, pine nuts and lemon zest. 30 g of protein for 522 kcal.

Calories: 522kcal
Protein: 30g
Fat: 22g
Carbs: 50g

Per serving, makes 1. 20 minutes of work. Published 8 September 2026.

Allergens

Gluten
Fish

Pine nuts are seeds and are not on the UK list of tree nuts, though people with nut allergies are often told to avoid them.

Flags follow UK labelling rules and come from the ingredients as listed, not from any particular brand. Check the packet before cooking for somebody with an allergy.

Ingredients

Pasta60 g
Dry weight. Cooked, it is about 2.2 times heavier.
Sardines in tomato sauce120 g
One tin, in tomato sauce, sauce and all. The sauce is most of the sauce for the pasta. Tinned weight including the sauce.
Fennel bulb100 g
Onion50 g
Pine nuts8 g
Olive oil5 g
Chilli flakesA good pinch
Lemon zestOf half a lemon
Fresh parsleyA handful, chopped

Method

Cook the pasta in salted water according to the packet and keep a cup of the water before draining.
Meanwhile, soften the sliced fennel and onion in the oil over a medium heat for ten minutes until golden at the edges. Add the chilli flakes for the last minute.
Toast the pine nuts in a dry pan for two minutes, watching them, until they colour.
Tip the sardines and their sauce into the fennel and break them up with a spoon. Add the pasta and a splash of the cooking water and toss for a minute over the heat.
Finish with the pine nuts, lemon zest and parsley.

Worth knowing

Pasta con le sarde is a Sicilian dish with fresh sardines, wild fennel, raisins and saffron. A tin and a fennel bulb get you most of the way for a fraction of the effort.
The pasta is 60 g dry. Tinned sardines in tomato sauce are 150 kcal per 100 g, so the fish is the larger share of the 522 kcal.

Other dinner recipes that share ingredients with this one, or every dinner between 450 and 600 calories a serving.

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Macros are calculated from the weights listed above using standard food composition values, and will shift with your own brands and measuring. Weigh what you can. This is a recipe, not dietary advice. The full health disclaimer is below.