{ "slug": "sarde-in-saor", "url": "https://nonnario.com/recipes/sarde-in-saor/", "name": "Sarde in saor", "english": "Fried sardines marinated in sweet-and-sour onions, Venetian style", "aka": [ "sardee in saor", "sarde in saòr", "sardines in saor", "Venetian sweet-and-sour sardines", "sweet and sour sardines" ], "summary": "Fresh sardines opened like a book, floured and fried, then left overnight in the fridge under onions cooked very slowly in olive oil and finished with vinegar, pine nuts and raisins: a Venetian dish on the Veneto's list of traditional products.", "essentials": [ "Fresh sardines, scaled and opened like a book, with the head, guts and backbone removed and the two fillets left joined at the back.", "Floured and fried for 1 minute in plenty of peanut oil at 175 °C–180 °C, then drained and lightly salted.", "Onions sliced thin and cooked very gently in olive oil for about 20 minutes, until very soft but never coloured.", "The onions finished with white wine vinegar, pine nuts and soaked raisins, then spread hot over the fried sardines.", "Rested, covered, in the fridge for at least a night; taken out 30 minutes before serving, and out of the fridge 2 hours at most." ], "diet": [], "region": { "slug": "veneto", "name": "Veneto", "url": "https://nonnario.com/regions/veneto/" }, "place": "Venezia", "coords": [ 45.438, 12.336 ], "course": { "id": "antipasti", "it": "Antipasti", "en": "Starters" }, "level": { "id": "tradition", "name": "Documented tradition", "it": "Tradizione documentata", "description": "A regional tradition documented in cookbooks and local practice, with no single official text.", "url": "https://nonnario.com/method/#level-tradition" }, "status": "checked", "published": "2026-11-02", "checked": "2026-11-02", "cooked": null, "pending": null, "provenance": { "by": "Venetian tradition", "reference": "Compared across 6 sources, listed below; this page publishes the most widely recognised version.", "year": null }, "sources": [ { "label": "La Cucina Italiana: sarde in saor, a Venetian antipasto, for 6–8 (Italian)", "url": "https://www.lacucinaitaliana.it/ricetta/antipasti/sarde-in-saor/" }, { "label": "Accademia Italiana della Cucina: sarde in saor, a Venetian antipasto from its recipe collection, with a note on the older version (Italian)", "url": "https://accademia1953.it/it/ricette/ricetta/sarde-saor" }, { "label": "Accademia Italiana della Cucina: sarde in saòr, with sultanas and pine nuts, from its recipe collection (Italian)", "url": "https://accademia1953.it/it/ricette/ricetta/sarde-saor-0" }, { "label": "Gambero Rosso: the Festa del Redentore and the history of sarde in saor, with a recipe, 14 July 2022 (Italian; archived copy)", "url": "https://web.archive.org/web/20241011114328/https://www.gamberorosso.it/notizie/storie/festa-del-redentore-a-venezia-si-festeggia-con-le-sarde-in-saor/" }, { "label": "Regione del Veneto: Economia & Gastronomia, a booklet on fishing and aquaculture in the Veneto, with a recipe for sardee in saor (Italian)", "url": "https://www.regione.veneto.it/static/www/agricoltura-e-foreste/PescagastronomicaITA.pdf" }, { "label": "Regione del Veneto: list of the traditional agri-food products of the Veneto, updated 24 July 2026 (Italian)", "url": "https://sharing.regione.veneto.it/index.php/s/fDr7Ad54AwE9DiC" } ], "story": [ "Sarde in saor is a dish of Venice: fried sardines kept under a marinade, the saor, of onions cooked in oil and vinegar. It is remembered as food of the Venetian fleet, whose galleys had no means of keeping fish cold, and the marinade let it last; by one account the first written traces go back to the fourteenth century. Accounts differ on the raisins and pine nuts: one says they came later, when the dish found favour at court; another that the oldest version already had them. The same treatment is given to other fried fish, such as small sole. Today it is a starter and one of the cicchetti, the small bites served with a glass of wine in Venice's bacari, and it is the dish of the Festa del Redentore in July, which recalls the end of the plague of 1575–1577. The Region of Veneto lists sarde in saor among the traditional agri-food products of the Veneto.", "There is no official recipe. We compared six serious sources and publish the most widely recognised version: large sardines floured and fried briefly in hot peanut oil, and an equal weight of onions softened for about twenty minutes in olive oil, finished with white wine vinegar, a little sugar, bay leaves, pine nuts and raisins, then a night in the fridge. Most of them agree on what matters: the sardines cleaned, floured and fried; onions softened slowly in oil and then sharpened with vinegar; fish and onions left together for a night or more before eating. Most add raisins and pine nuts, and one version without them says the oldest recipe had them. They differ on how much onion and vinegar, whether the onions colour, and on spices. Ours are the fridge rules and the checks: the dish is a cold marinade of cooked fish, so it rests and keeps in the fridge, and is eaten within three days, following food-safety guidance." ], "serves": 6, "makes": null, "minutes": { "handsOn": 82, "cooking": 20, "resting": 750, "days": 2 }, "plan": "Make it the day before: about 1¾ hours of work, then at least a night in the fridge. It serves 6–8 as a starter. Slice the onions before you start frying, so the saor is ready soon after the sardines and the dish goes into the fridge within 2 hours of frying. On the day, take it out of the fridge 30 minutes before serving; it may be out of the fridge for 2 hours at most. It keeps in the fridge for up to 3 days from the day it is made.", "equipment": [ "A small sharp knife and kitchen scissors, for scaling and opening the sardines", "Kitchen paper", "A deep, heavy pan about 24 cm–26 cm across and at least 8 cm deep, or a deep fryer, with a lid that fits kept within reach, and a kitchen thermometer that reads up to 200 °C", "A slotted spoon or a spider, for lifting the sardines out of the oil", "A wide casserole, about 28 cm across, for the onions", "A deep serving dish of glass or ceramic, about 30 cm across, and cling film or a lid" ], "ingredients": [ { "group": "For the sardines", "items": [ { "quantity": 1, "unit": "kg", "item": "large fresh sardines", "note": "whole; or ask the fishmonger to scale them and open them like a book", "text": "1 kg large fresh sardines (whole; or ask the fishmonger to scale them and open them like a book)", "recipe": null }, { "quantity": null, "unit": null, "item": "00 flour", "note": "for flouring the sardines", "text": "00 flour (for flouring the sardines)", "recipe": null }, { "quantity": null, "unit": null, "item": "peanut oil, for frying", "note": "plenty: at least 3 cm deep, about 1.5 l in a pan 24 cm–26 cm across", "text": "peanut oil, for frying (plenty: at least 3 cm deep, about 1.5 l in a pan 24 cm–26 cm across)", "recipe": null }, { "quantity": null, "unit": null, "item": "salt", "note": null, "text": "salt", "recipe": null } ] }, { "group": "For the saor", "items": [ { "quantity": 1, "unit": "kg", "item": "golden onions", "note": null, "text": "1 kg golden onions", "recipe": null }, { "quantity": null, "unit": null, "item": "extra virgin olive oil", "note": "4–5 tablespoons", "text": "extra virgin olive oil (4–5 tablespoons)", "recipe": null }, { "quantity": 120, "unit": "g", "item": "white wine vinegar", "note": null, "text": "120 g white wine vinegar", "recipe": null }, { "quantity": 40, "unit": "g", "item": "pine nuts", "note": null, "text": "40 g pine nuts", "recipe": null }, { "quantity": 40, "unit": "g", "item": "raisins", "note": "soaked in warm water", "text": "40 g raisins (soaked in warm water)", "recipe": null }, { "quantity": 20, "unit": "g", "item": "sugar", "note": null, "text": "20 g sugar", "recipe": null }, { "quantity": 4, "unit": "pc", "item": "bay leaves", "note": null, "text": "4 bay leaves", "recipe": null }, { "quantity": null, "unit": null, "item": "salt", "note": null, "text": "salt", "recipe": null }, { "quantity": null, "unit": null, "item": "black pepper", "note": null, "text": "black pepper", "recipe": null } ] }, { "group": "To serve", "items": [ { "quantity": null, "unit": null, "item": "slices of bread or white polenta, toasted", "note": "optional", "text": "slices of bread or white polenta, toasted (optional)", "recipe": null } ] } ], "method": [ { "phase": "The day before: cleaning the sardines and slicing the onions", "intro": "The quantities and the method follow one recipe whole; the sizes, heat levels, checks and tips marked ‘Our guide’ are ours.", "steps": [ { "n": 1, "url": "https://nonnario.com/recipes/sarde-in-saor/#step-1", "title": "Scale the sardines", "text": "Scale the 1 kg of sardines.", "kind": "active", "minutes": [ 8, 10 ], "celsius": null, "heat": null, "official": false, "check": "Run a finger from tail to head along each fish: no loose scales come away.", "tips": [ "Our guide: work under a thin stream of cold water and scrape from the tail towards the head with the back of a small knife, so the scales do not fly about the kitchen." ] }, { "n": 2, "url": "https://nonnario.com/recipes/sarde-in-saor/#step-2", "title": "Open them like a book", "text": "Open each sardine like a book: take out the head, the guts and the backbone, leaving the two fillets joined along the back.", "kind": "active", "minutes": [ 20, 25 ], "celsius": null, "heat": null, "official": false, "check": "Each sardine lies flat in one piece, the two fillets joined at the back, with no backbone and nothing dark left inside.", "tips": [ "Our guide: pull the head forward between two fingers and the guts come away with it. Slit the belly open to the tail with your thumb or the scissors and press the fish flat, skin side up, along the backbone; turn it over, lift the backbone from the head end towards the tail and snip it off just before the tail.", "Our guide: keep the cleaned sardines in the fridge, covered, while you finish the rest." ] }, { "n": 3, "url": "https://nonnario.com/recipes/sarde-in-saor/#step-3", "title": "Rinse and dry", "text": "Rinse the sardines quickly and pat them dry with kitchen paper.", "kind": "active", "minutes": 5, "celsius": null, "heat": null, "official": false, "check": "The sardines are dry to the touch on both sides.", "tips": [ "Our guide: dry them well: wet fish spits in the hot oil and the flour turns to paste." ] }, { "n": 4, "url": "https://nonnario.com/recipes/sarde-in-saor/#step-4", "title": "Slice the onions", "text": "Peel the 1 kg of onions and slice them thinly.", "kind": "active", "minutes": [ 10, 12 ], "celsius": null, "heat": null, "official": false, "check": "Thin, even slices, about 3 mm.", "tips": [ "Our guide: slice them now, before you heat the oil, so the saor is ready soon after the sardines are fried and the dish reaches the fridge within 2 hours of frying." ] } ] }, { "phase": "Frying the sardines", "intro": null, "steps": [ { "n": 5, "url": "https://nonnario.com/recipes/sarde-in-saor/#step-5", "title": "Heat the frying oil", "text": "Heat plenty of peanut oil to 175 °C–180 °C.", "kind": "active", "minutes": [ 8, 10 ], "celsius": 175, "heat": "medium-high", "official": false, "check": "The thermometer reads 175 °C–180 °C; a pinch of flour dropped in sizzles at once.", "tips": [ "Our guide: use a deep, heavy pan, the oil at least 3 cm deep and the pan no more than half full; a kitchen thermometer in the oil keeps the temperature honest.", "Our guide: never leave hot oil unattended, and keep the lid within reach. If the oil starts to smoke, take the pan off the heat. Never put water on hot or burning oil: if it catches fire, turn off the heat and slide the lid over the pan. Let the oil cool completely before you move the pan." ] }, { "n": 6, "url": "https://nonnario.com/recipes/sarde-in-saor/#step-6", "title": "Flour and fry for 1 minute", "text": "Flour the sardines and fry them for 1 minute.", "kind": "active", "minutes": [ 10, 15 ], "celsius": 175, "heat": "medium-high", "official": false, "check": "The coating is crisp and pale gold and the flesh is white and opaque right through.", "tips": [ "Our guide: flour them just before they go in, shaking off the excess, and fry 5 or 6 at a time so the oil stays at 175 °C–180 °C; let it come back to temperature before the next batch.", "Our guide: lower them in gently, away from you, with a slotted spoon, and lift them out the same way." ] }, { "n": 7, "url": "https://nonnario.com/recipes/sarde-in-saor/#step-7", "title": "Drain, salt and lay in the dish", "text": "Drain the sardines on kitchen paper, salt them lightly and lay them in a deep serving dish.", "kind": "active", "minutes": 5, "celsius": null, "heat": null, "official": false, "check": "The sardines are no longer shiny with oil and lie open in the dish.", "tips": [ "Our guide: a dish of glass or ceramic, about 30 cm across: the vinegar can react with bare metal. If they do not fit in one layer, lay half now and keep the rest for the second layer." ] } ] }, { "phase": "The saor", "intro": null, "steps": [ { "n": 8, "url": "https://nonnario.com/recipes/sarde-in-saor/#step-8", "title": "Soften the onions", "text": "Heat 4–5 tablespoons of olive oil in a wide casserole, add the onions and let them soften over a low heat, seasoning with salt and pepper.", "kind": "active", "minutes": [ 5, 10 ], "celsius": null, "heat": "low", "official": false, "check": "The onions have wilted and begun to turn translucent, with no colour.", "tips": [ "Our guide: a casserole about 28 cm across; stir often at this stage, while the onions are still releasing their water." ] }, { "n": 9, "url": "https://nonnario.com/recipes/sarde-in-saor/#step-9", "title": "Cook them very gently: the first 10 minutes", "text": "Turn the heat down to the lowest and carry on cooking the onions, uncovered, for 10 minutes: over about 20 minutes in all they must become very soft without taking any colour.", "kind": "passive", "minutes": 10, "celsius": null, "heat": "very low", "official": false, "check": "The onions are soft and still pale, and nothing is sticking to the bottom.", "tips": [ "Our guide: stir every few minutes. If they start to catch on the bottom, add a spoonful of water." ] }, { "n": 10, "url": "https://nonnario.com/recipes/sarde-in-saor/#step-10", "title": "Soak the raisins; 10 minutes more for the onions", "text": "Put the 40 g of raisins to soak in warm water for 10 minutes, while the onions cook for about 10 minutes more over the lowest heat.", "kind": "passive", "minutes": 10, "celsius": null, "heat": "very low", "official": false, "check": "A slice of onion crushes to a paste between two fingers and is still pale, with no golden edges; the raisins are plump and soft.", "tips": [ "Our guide: keep stirring the onions every few minutes. Drain the raisins and squeeze them gently just before they go in." ] }, { "n": 11, "url": "https://nonnario.com/recipes/sarde-in-saor/#step-11", "title": "Vinegar, bay, sugar, pine nuts and raisins", "text": "Pour in the 120 g of vinegar and let it bubble briefly, then add the 4 bay leaves, the 20 g of sugar, the 40 g of pine nuts and the drained raisins. Stir until the sugar dissolves, then turn off the heat.", "kind": "active", "minutes": 3, "celsius": null, "heat": "medium", "official": false, "check": "The sugar has dissolved, the sharpest smell of vinegar has eased and the onions are glossy and loose.", "tips": [ "Our guide: turn the heat up to medium for the vinegar and let it bubble for about 1 minute, stirring, before the rest goes in." ] } ] }, { "phase": "Into the fridge", "intro": null, "steps": [ { "n": 12, "url": "https://nonnario.com/recipes/sarde-in-saor/#step-12", "title": "Spread the hot saor over the sardines", "text": "Spread the hot saor over the sardines, with all its liquid.", "kind": "active", "minutes": 3, "celsius": null, "heat": null, "official": false, "check": "Every sardine is covered with onions and the liquid lies around them; less than 2 hours have passed since the first sardines came out of the oil.", "tips": [ "Our guide: if you kept half the sardines back, spread half the saor, lay the rest of the sardines on top and finish with the other half of the saor." ] }, { "n": 13, "url": "https://nonnario.com/recipes/sarde-in-saor/#step-13", "title": "Cover and put it in the fridge at once, for a night", "text": "Cover the dish and put it in the fridge straight away, while it is still hot, and leave it there for a night. It must be in the fridge within 2 hours of frying.", "kind": "rest", "minutes": 720, "celsius": null, "heat": null, "official": false, "check": "The dish is in the fridge, at 4 °C or below, within 2 hours of frying; after the night the onions are cold and set around the sardines.", "tips": [ "Our guide: count at least 12 hours. Hot food can go straight into the fridge, and a wide, shallow dish cools quickly.", "Our guide: never leave it to marinate at room temperature: it is cooked fish in a cold marinade and rests only in the fridge." ] }, { "n": 14, "url": "https://nonnario.com/recipes/sarde-in-saor/#step-14", "title": "Out of the fridge 30 minutes before serving", "text": "Take the sardines out of the fridge 30 minutes before serving.", "kind": "rest", "minutes": 30, "celsius": null, "heat": null, "official": false, "check": "The dish is cool rather than cold, and the olive oil in the saor has turned liquid again.", "tips": [ "Our guide: take out only what you will serve. From the moment it leaves the fridge it may stay out for 2 hours at most, these 30 minutes included (1 hour on a day above 32 °C): then put what is left straight back in the fridge, or throw it away, and do not set it out again.", "Our guide: eat it within 3 days of making it." ] }, { "n": 15, "url": "https://nonnario.com/recipes/sarde-in-saor/#step-15", "title": "Serve", "text": "Serve the sardines with their onions, with slices of toasted bread or white polenta if you like.", "kind": "active", "minutes": 5, "celsius": null, "heat": null, "official": false, "check": "Each portion has whole sardines with onions, pine nuts and raisins spooned over.", "tips": [ "Our guide: lift the sardines with a wide spoon or a fish slice so they stay whole, and leave the bay leaves in the dish." ] } ] } ], "quick": [ "Scale the sardines, open them like a book, take out the head, guts and backbone, leaving the fillets joined at the back; rinse quickly and pat dry.", "Heat plenty of peanut oil to 175–180 °C, flour the sardines and fry them for 1 minute; drain on kitchen paper, salt lightly and lay them in a deep serving dish.", "Soften the thinly sliced onions in 4–5 tablespoons of olive oil over a low heat with salt and pepper, then cook them on the lowest heat for about 20 minutes, until very soft and uncoloured.", "Pour in the vinegar, add the bay leaves, sugar, pine nuts and the raisins, soaked for 10 minutes in warm water, and turn off the heat.", "Spread the hot saor over the sardines, cover the dish and leave it in the fridge for a night.", "Take it out of the fridge 30 minutes before serving, with toasted bread or white polenta if you like." ], "when": { "text": "In Venice it is the dish of the Festa del Redentore, held over the weekend leading up to the third Sunday of July; an old saying runs ‘Al Redentor prepara il saor’, for the Redentore, make the saor.", "source": { "label": "Gambero Rosso: the Festa del Redentore and the history of sarde in saor, with a recipe, 14 July 2022 (Italian; archived copy)", "url": "https://web.archive.org/web/20241011114328/https://www.gamberorosso.it/notizie/storie/festa-del-redentore-a-venezia-si-festeggia-con-le-sarde-in-saor/" } }, "keeps": { "text": "It rests at least a night in the fridge before serving. Keep it covered in the fridge at 4 °C or below and eat it within 3 days of making it. On the day, take out only what you will serve, 30 minutes ahead: once out of the fridge it may stay out for 2 hours at most, then what is left goes straight back in the fridge, or is thrown away, and is not set out again.", "source": { "label": "La Cucina Italiana: sarde in saor, a Venetian antipasto, for 6–8 (Italian)", "url": "https://www.lacucinaitaliana.it/ricetta/antipasti/sarde-in-saor/" } }, "variants": [ { "name": "Without raisins or pine nuts", "text": "The sardines fried in plenty of very hot oil a few at a time, the onions softened for ten minutes in part of the frying oil, then vinegar and salt brought back to the boil; sardines and onions in alternate layers, covered with the vinegar, and rested at least a couple of days. The oldest version adds soaked raisins and pine nuts; pepper, cloves, bay and grated lemon zest are optional.", "source": { "label": "Accademia Italiana della Cucina: sarde in saor, a Venetian antipasto from its recipe collection, with a note on the older version (Italian)", "url": "https://accademia1953.it/it/ricette/ricetta/sarde-saor" }, "recipe": null }, { "name": "With spices", "text": "The onions softened until translucent, then boiled for two or three minutes with the vinegar, peppercorns, coriander seeds and cloves; the raisins soaked in white wine; sardines, onions, pine nuts and raisins in layers in a small terrine, ending with onions, and rested at least 24 hours.", "source": { "label": "Gambero Rosso: the Festa del Redentore and the history of sarde in saor, with a recipe, 14 July 2022 (Italian; archived copy)", "url": "https://web.archive.org/web/20241011114328/https://www.gamberorosso.it/notizie/storie/festa-del-redentore-a-venezia-si-festeggia-con-le-sarde-in-saor/" }, "recipe": null }, { "name": "With less onion", "text": "Onion half the weight of the fish, sliced very fine and softened in olive oil until pale gold, moistened now and then with fish broth or water; layered with the fish in an earthenware terrine, with pine nuts and raisins soaked in wine, and eaten at least two days later.", "source": { "label": "Regione del Veneto: Economia & Gastronomia, a booklet on fishing and aquaculture in the Veneto, with a recipe for sardee in saor (Italian)", "url": "https://www.regione.veneto.it/static/www/agricoltura-e-foreste/PescagastronomicaITA.pdf" }, "recipe": null }, { "name": "Sole or eel in saor", "text": "The same saor suits small sole and eels.", "source": { "label": "La Cucina Italiana: sarde in saor, a Venetian antipasto, for 6–8 (Italian)", "url": "https://www.lacucinaitaliana.it/ricetta/antipasti/sarde-in-saor/" }, "recipe": null } ], "variantOf": [], "usedIn": [], "mistakes": [ "Letting the onions colour: they cook very gently for about 20 minutes and must stay pale and very soft.", "Frying in oil that is not hot enough, or too many at once: keep it at 175 °C–180 °C, or the sardines soak up oil.", "Leaving the backbone in: it comes out when the sardines are opened like a book.", "Leaving it out of the fridge: it goes in within 2 hours of frying, rests and keeps there, and on the day is out for 2 hours at most.", "Serving it at once: it needs at least a night in the fridge first." ], "abroad": [ "Sardines are the European pilchard, Sardina pilchardus; buy them fresh and whole, or ask the fishmonger to open them.", "00 flour is a fine soft-wheat flour; plain flour will do.", "Peanut oil is groundnut oil; some cooks fry the sardines in olive oil instead.", "Golden onions are ordinary yellow onions; white onions are also used for this dish." ], "image": "https://nonnario.com/assets/img/sarde-in-saor.jpg", "video": "https://nonnario.com/assets/video/sarde-in-saor.mp4?v=22e7a6371c", "versions": { "page": "https://nonnario.com/recipes/sarde-in-saor/", "markdown": "https://nonnario.com/recipes/sarde-in-saor.md", "json": "https://nonnario.com/recipes/sarde-in-saor.json" }, "cite": "Cite the recipe's page and the month its sources were checked; for the official text itself, cite the document listed under its sources.", "license": { "name": "CC BY-NC 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/" } }