Description
Ingredients: Sardines (Sardina pilchardus), Tomato Sauce (homemade secret recipe including tomato pulp, olive oil, cloves, black pepper, and bay), cucumber, chili, carrot, salt.
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.
Jeff (verified owner) –
I have to admit that prior to trying a tin of these I thought that the idea of sardines in tomato sauce seemed a bit wrong.
I bought a few tins of these because I absolutely love Nuri spiced sardines (and you probably do too, else you haven’t tried them yet) so I felt a duty to try them.
I heard these benefit from being heated up a bit so I warmed the tin up in a bit of water before cracking them open while getting a slice of sourdough bread toasted. The spiced tomato sauce that these are in is fairly thin – for some reason I thought it would be thicker and with more texture – not that thin is wrong. I plucked out a sardine and dropped it onto a piece of toast and found my way to my first blissful bite.
These have a flavor that I wouldn’t have conceived of, and even if I had, I’m not sure I would have understood it to be the right combination of flavors, but… tomato, spice, sardines…. it’s perfect. Nuri spiced sardines are the spiced sardines by which all others are judged for me. The same is now true for spiced sardines in tomato sauce.
I eat sardines and other tinned fish on a fairly regular basis. I don’t always want a tomato-based tinned fish meal, but when I do, these hit the mark every time, perfectly.
Hream McDan (verified owner) –
5 out of 5. I *totally* get the Nuri cult following now, I really really get it. I’ve been searching for a great ‘sardines in tomato sauce’ tin for years and years, and barely found one that was even decent. These Nuri? Absolutely bonkers. The tomato sauce is clearly NOT an afterthought here, it’s NOT ketchup and NOT tomato paste … it’s actually delicious tomato sauce that perfectly compliments the sardines. You’ll want to lick the tin clean. And the spice on these?!? Wonderful. Maybe you’d call it a medium heat, as it’s enough to notice but not overwhelming in any way.
Had this over some kelp noodles for an absolutely perfect and super healthy lunch. I can’t wait to have it again and again and again, wish I’d tried these so long ago. A new staple in my pantry.
Greg L (verified owner) –
I’m torn on this review. We need some background. A friend sent me a tin of these, then I purchased my own tin. Both were wildly different, in terms of taste and quality.
The first tin was perfection. I have a very high tolerance for spicy food, I just love it. Often things that are marketed as “spicy” I will not be able to taste any spiciness at all. To the point where my wife has to taste-test spiciness for our kids because I’ll miss when something is quite spicy for them. The tin had a pleasant level of spice and the tomato sauce was delicious. The fish were whole with bright, shiny skin and incredibly moist. They held up well when extracted from the tin with chopsticks. 4-5 little peppers in the sauce. A sure 5/5 stars.
The second tin, however, was a far cry from the first. Upon opening the tin, there wasn’t a single whole sardine to be found. I was met with broken chunks of fish in the sauce. No spiciness detected at all. I even double-checked the wrapping to make sure I was eating the right thing. The tomato sauce was good, but there was only 1 pepper in the entire tin. The sardines tasted decent, but this was more like a 3/5 dragged down to 2/5 due to the messiness inside the tin.
I’m hoping the second tin was a fluke. I want to believe these are as good my first try. My rating is based mostly on the first tin, with one star deducted in hope that I just ran into some bad quality control on the second tin.
Gabriel Siciliano (verified owner) –
A wonderful, new-to-me preparation of sardines in tomato sauce. the sauce tastes closer to a homemade passata than I’ve had from other sardines in tomato, and the subtle spice adds a welcome kick. The carrots and cucumber contribute a nice textural element. The fish themselves were cooked to perfection, and flaked apart with just a bit of pressure. firm and meaty, their flavor was excellent. I plan on making this tin one of my mainstays for lunch!
rmm59 (verified owner) –
I have been a fan of sardines for a while and have tried many different brands, but Nuri’s Spiced Sardines in Tomato Sauce is one of the best I’ve had. The tomato sauce is incredibly flavor, and really brings out the natural flavors from the sardines. The sardines are also incredibly fresh and have a great texture. They are easy to add to pasta, sandwiches, or even just eat them straight out of the can. Highly recommend these, and I personally enjoyed these more than the olive oil variant.
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Fisheye (verified owner) –
Four plump sardines came bathed in a wonderful tomato sauce with a pepper, a carrot, and a cucumber slice. I ate a small piece and confirmed that the texture was good – not too firm, not too mushy. All four went into a sandwich of toasted multi-grain bread, lots on red onions, lettuce, and tomato. I dumped the entire tin of sauce in it for good measure, and it was worth the mess. My bread fell apart and I was picking up the fish and other stuff with my fingers.
I see many more tomato sardine sandwiches in my future.