Description
Ingredients: Sardines (72%) (Sardina pilchardus), olive oil (21%), cucumber, chili (3%) carrot, salt, cloves, black pepper, and laurel.
See what Matthew Carlson thinks about extra spicy Nuri.
Check out the Mouth Full of Sardines blog post about this tin.
The terms “spiced” and “spicy” are used pretty much interchangeably in the tinned fish world, to mean two different things: with a hot pepper (or hot pepper flavor), and with cloves/bay/carrot/hot pepper. There are many examples of both terms being used to mean both things.
We are so frustrated by how widespread this confusing inconsistent usage is that we’ve gone through our entire product line to correct the incorrect ones such that our description of “spiced” or “spicy” will always indicate which it really is, regardless of the packaging. “Spicy” = with hot pepper flavor. “Spiced” = with the cloves/bay/carrot/hot pepper flavors.
This particular tin is both spiced and spicy, as it has extra piri piri added.
fibersides (verified owner) –
Nuri’s are really popular, and can be quite delicious. Since these cans are hand packed and hand processed, my experience shows the taste can vary greatly from can to can. Heat and salt levels seem to be the flavors in the Nuri Spiced Sardines that varies the most.
I’ve had 2 cans (so far) of the EXTRA SPICY version on this page. The first can, I removed the fish from the tin, and enjoyed them straight off the plate. They were very tasty, but in fact, the flavor was pretty bland, with only the faintest hint of heat coming through. The second can I ate straight from the tin, and this time, they were noticeably spicier than the usual Nuri Spiced Sardines, but not as spicy as Flower Brand.
The were very tasty, great quality fish, there were extra peppers in the can (as described), and in the end your tin may or may not be spicier than the usual Nuri offering. The best advice I can share is to eat them from the tin if you want to maximize the spiciness of the peppers.
Maybe 3 stars is too low, but I’m not a huge Nuri fan to start with, and I would have happily gone 4 or 5 stars if these were more assertive in being “Extra Spicy.” Having said that I’ll bump it up to 4, it was spicier after all….
fibersides (verified owner) –
I ate the third can last night. It’s flavor profile was different from the first two in my review above. The fish in this tin, which I ate from a plate out of the tin, were quite noticibly more spicy than either of the other two tins. There you have it: three Nuri tins; three different tastes.
Jeff (verified owner) –
Nuri spiced sardines are at the top of the list, rightfully so, for many tinned sardine aficionados, including myself. Being a fan of Nuri sardines and a fan of spicy foods, I didn’t hesitate to grab a few tins of this variety.
Upon opening the tin, these look, and smell, just like any other tin of Nuri spiced sardines. Before trying a bite of the plump sardines, I tried a sip of the oil and it definitely had a bit more heat to it than the regular spiced sardines. At first bite, however, I didn’t detect the same increased level of heat.
After finishing off the tin, I can conclude that these are a bit spicier than the standard Nuri spiced sardines, but if you measure heat on a scoville scale and seek an adrenaline rush with each bite, you may be disappointed. You can’t go wrong with Nuri spiced sardines, and if you like a bit of extra heat, these will make a fine meal or snack.
Jason Johnson (verified owner) –
What are we even doing here… eating delicious fish from a can. I ordered these after finding Mathew Carlson on YouTube. Great sardines, will be ordering more!
Hream McDan (verified owner) –
*Definitely* have some extra heat here, a little more than I was expecting. For my palate, it was about as spicy as I’d want out of any can before I would start to enjoy it less.
I really liked -but not quite loved- them straight out of the tin. I had 3 big, big fish with very noticeable heat, great texture, hot oil that had developed *flavor* and not just heat, and some fun carrot / cucumber slices as well. It’s probably not a rebuy for me because it really feels like it needs more than my standard “room temp from the can” approach but boy, was this a fun one to try.
If you’re the type of person who (1) gets sad because most hot sardine tins are absolutely lying about being hot, and (2) loves to eat spicy sardines on rice, noodles, etc then these are absolutely a buy for you.
Ray Chalme (verified owner) –
I like sushi quite a bit but have always disliked the taste of canned tuna/tuna salad I’ve had. I found the r/cannedsardines subreddit a few weeks ago and was intrigued by the reviews and conversations I saw, so I got on the Rainbow Tomatoes Garden train and decided to grab this tin.
I think the big deterrent for me historically has been texture and flavor, so my thought process was to wade in with some flavored options. The spicy oil complemented the fish rather than outright disguising its natural taste, and I found the texture to be less stringy and overcooked than most tuna I’ve had. Overall a pleasant and fatty bite with a bit of kick on the rear – it definitely felt like it was a product that justified its price.
We tried a simple kewpie and Nuri salad, which ROCKED. The perfect amplification of this fish IMO. Tucked into a bit of seasoned sushi rice and wrapped with nori… super satisfying.
twa101 (verified owner) –
Finally, a tin with a little bit of heat! Opened the can to a quick whiff of sardines, Goldilocks in strength, and the sight of three fat fish lounging is a pool of orange, chile hued oil. On the bottom of the tin were the usual slice of carrot and pickle, with the three peppers and a pepper corn and a bit of bit of bay laurel leaf. The taste was very chile forward. I wouldn’t call them hot, but they are spicier than any other tin that I’ve had so far. Just enough to keep your lips and the tip of your tongue tingling for a while. The texture was juicy and soft. The oil was very flavorful, and I would like to drizzle it over some eggs, but I just used the standard bread mopping. Overall, a delicious tin of fish, one that I will be eating again.
gebhard.abby (verified owner) –
4⭐️/5⭐️
Same great taste and quality that one expects from Nuri sardines, just a little spicier! Would definitely re-purchase. 🌶️
Greg Roddy (verified owner) –
So this was only my 2nd tin of sardines ever and I haven’t acquired a taste or feel for the bones yet so I did split these in half and had to remove the spine. That being said these were delicious and am definitely getting again. I love spice and these are not hot but a nice warming feeling and my only change would be to split the peppers to get even more flavor to infuse into oil of which was delicious and I mopped up every single drop of it with bread.