Q&A for How to Cook Sardines

If you are cooking them whole as in the photo, you do not need to gut them. Just rub off the scales with a cloth or paper towel, then wash and pat dry. If they are not too big, you can eat everything; otherwise, they come off the bone easily once cooked.

You can cook and eat the heads of sardines. There are a number of Chinese recipes that call for fish heads or deep fry them. You can make a fumet or fish stock from the heads and bones. You can feed them to your cats or dogs, or you can throw them out, which would be a waste.

If you are cooking them whole as in the photo, then you do not need to gut them. Just rub off the scales with a cloth or paper towel. Wash and pat dry. If they are not too big, you can eat everything, but otherwise they come off the bone easily once cooked.

Healthier is a relative term. If you're trying to avoid fat, then baking would be healthier. If you're on a paleo or carb-free diet, then deep frying is fine as long as you don't add breading.

The bones are fairly soft as-is, but you could pressure-cook or over-boil them to soften the bones further. However, the method in the article removes the bones before cooking.

Yes, you can.

It depends on the fish itself. Generally, searing or grilling quickly retains the most nutrients.

There is no way to really remove much nutrition from any food except by boiling it out completely. Baked, poached, sautéed, stir fried, grilled or deep fried, sardines are a great source of Vitamins B-12, D, omega-3 fatty acids, protein, and selenium.

Sardines are naturally salty. You can rinse them with water after you de-bone them to rinse away some of the salt, but understand that sardines are a salty fish.

My dad used to do that to shallow fry them, but I would think that the dusting of flour would immediately come off into the fat for deep frying and cause your fat to burn.

No. The canning process cooks the fish safely. You can eat them straight from the can if you want to.