30-Minute Mediterranean Canned Mackerel Pasta
This quick and easy canned mackerel pasta recipe is packed with heart-healthy fats, omega-3s, protein, and micronutrients! Delicious and ready in 30-minutes.
I couldn’t even tell you the number of times I’ve devoured this Mediterranean Canned Mackerel Pasta in the last month – it’s so good!
Canned mackerel is a new staple in my pantry, and I’m so happy to have discovered it over the past few months. At first I was hesitant and not sure what to do with it, or how it would taste.
For some reason I thought mackerel would be really fishy, but it’s not at all! Canned mackerel that’s packed in olive oil is smooth, flavourful, and delicious.
So far, my favourite way to use canned mackerel is thrown into pasta. It’s so easy to just add the canned mackerel to a pan of sautéed veggies, mix in your fave pasta, and you’ve got a nutritionally-balanced meal in under 30 minutes.
This recipe has been my favourite flavour combination thus far, and I can’t wait to share it with you. It’s packed with nutritious ingredients like red peppers, tomatoes, olives, parsley, and olive oil – simple and delicious.
If you’ve never tried canned mackerel before, I hope this post gives you some inspiration to do so!
Want more pasta recipe inspiration? Check out my roundup of 20+ easy, healthy pasta recipes for more ideas!
How To Make Canned Mackerel Pasta
To make this canned mackerel recipe, start by bringing a pot of water to a boil (for the pasta). While the water boils, mince the garlic cloves and chop the bell peppers, tomatoes, olives, and parsley.
Once the water has boiled, add the spaghetti and cook according to package directions.
Meanwhile, bring a large pan over medium-high heat. Add the canned mackerel to the pan, WITH the olive oil that it comes in. If you can’t find mackerel packed in olive oil, simply use some olive oil of your own here.
Sauté the minced garlic in the pan, along with the chopped bell peppers, tomatoes, and olives. Continue to cook for about 10 minutes, or until the veggies are tender.
Once the pasta is cooked, remove from heat and drain. Add the drained pasta to the pan and cook with the veggies/mackerel for about 1 minute. Remove from heat and stir in the chopped parsley.
Serve this canned mackerel pasta with some freshly grated parmesan, a sprinkle of red chilli flakes, and/or a squeeze of lemon juice (as desired). Adjust salt and pepper as needed. Enjoy hot!
Storage & Reheating Notes
Leftovers of this canned mackerel recipe can be kept in an airtight container in the fridge for 3-4 days. It will reheat well in either the microwave or on the stovetop.
Possible Recipe Variations
Do note that this recipe can be easily adaptable to different dietary needs.
If you’re gluten-free, simply swap out regular spaghetti for a gluten-free alternative.
Dairy-free? Omit the sprinkle of parmesan on top and swap with nutritional yeast (or enjoy on it’s own).
Canned Mackerel Nutrition Benefits
Not only is canned mackerel flavourful, affordable, and convenient, it’s also jam-packed with nutrition!
Mackerel is an oily fish that is rich in heart-healthy unsaturated fatty acids, like omega-3s. In fact, mackerel has some of the highest omega-3 content of any fish.
Omega-3s play a crucial role in cardiovascular and neurological health, while also helping to lower inflammation throughout the body.
Mackerel is also a great source of complete protein and many micronutrients, including vitamins B12, B6, selenium, iron, and magnesium.
Nutrient-dense and delicious? Yes, please!
More Easy Canned Seafood Recipe Ideas
- 20-Minute Healthy Tuna Pasta Salad
- Easy Canned Mackerel Pasta Salad
- Healthy Canned Salmon Potato Salad
- Canned Salmon Quinoa Burgers
- No-Mayo, High Protein Tuna Salad
Did you give this Mediterranean Canned Mackerel Pasta a try? Let me know by leaving a comment and recipe rating below!
If you do make this recipe, don’t forget to tag me on Instagram or Pinterest – seeing your creations always makes my day. You can also subscribe to my email list to never miss a new recipe or nutrition education post!
Get the Recipe: 30-Minute Mediterranean Canned Mackerel Pasta Recipe
Ingredients
- Approx. 150 grams spaghetti (~4 ounces. Enough for 2 people)
- Approx. 230 grams mackerel, in olive oil (~8 oz. including olive oil)
- 1-2 cloves garlic
- 1 large red bell pepper (or 2 medium-sized)
- 2 large handfuls grape or cherry tomatoes (vine-ripened if possible)
- Approx. 10 green olives, pitted
- 1 handful parsley
- Salt and pepper (to taste)
- Optional toppings: freshly grated parmigianno regianno, crushed red chilli peppers, freshly squeezed lemon
Instructions
- Heat a pot of water to boil (for pasta).
- Mince garlic. Chop bell pepper, tomatoes, olives, and parsley. Set aside.
- Once water has boiled, add spaghetti and cook according to package directions.
- Heat a large pan over medium-high heat. Add cans of mackerel, WITH the olive oil that comes in the can. Add garlic and sauté for a couple minutes.
- Next, add chopped bell peppers, tomatoes, and olives. Sauté for approx. 10 minutes until veggies are tender, adding salt and pepper for taste.
- Once pasta is done, remove from heat and drain. Add drained pasta to the pan of veggies and cook for about 1 minute. Remove pan from heat and stir in chopped parsley.
- Serve pasta and top with freshly grated parm, a sprinkle of red chilli flakes, and/or a squeeze of lemon. Adjust salt/pepper as needed. Enjoy hot!
Notes
Did you make this recipe?
Let me know by leaving a recipe rating below, or by tagging @walderwellness on Instagram. I love seeing your beautiful creations!
Pin it for later:
50 Comments on “30-Minute Mediterranean Canned Mackerel Pasta”
What size are the cans of MACKEREl you’re using?
Hi Vivian,
Great question! I used mackerel that was canned in olive oil (from a brand called Gold Seal). Cans were 115 g (4 oz.) including the olive oil (which I used in the recipe). Drained, the mackerel is only 80g (2.8 oz). Will update the recipe to reflect the size 🙂
Simple, perfect and flavorful! Not overly fishy as you said. Such an easy weeknight meal. My husband asked for more which is always a good sign!
Thanks so much Liane!! So happy you guys enjoyed it. I’ve made this pasta in a pinch multiple times and it’s one of my faves 🙂
Very tasty end easy to prepare! I had fresh basil on hand so I added a few leaves during cooking and some more as garnish with the parmesan and a little lemon juice. Perfect shelter-in-place meal!
Thanks so much for sharing, Charles!! So happy to hear you enjoyed it. I’ve remade this during quarantine as well :). Take care!
My husband and I went fishing a few weeks back and had a last portion of mackerel to cook before moving houses and I found this little gem.
Absolutely wonderful! Very comforting and flavourful. I added some chilli flakes and it was beautiful.
My husband had it with parmesan and I had it with lime, but it is amazing just by itself too. Very versatile! We’ll be repeating it for sure 🙂
Hi Valentina,
I’m so happy you found this recipe to use with your mackerel – that’s so awesome you caught it yourself!! So glad you enjoyed it and I love the additions you made. Thank you so much for sharing your experience :). Hope you have a safe move!
Super easy + quick. Can Sub any canned fish but the Mackerel really gives it more zest.
Even the kids like it… and now they know what a Mackerel looks like. Education and nutrition lol.
Thanks so much for sharing, Daniel! I’m so happy to hear you’ve been enjoying it. Great idea to use different canned fish, too!
This was so delicious and easy to make! The whole family including a 6 year old loved it. I didn’t have green olives so I opened a can of black ones and sprinkled them with lemon juice before cooking. I also used a rotini type pasta. Got a 6 pack of Canned mackerel at Costco (Season brand) and used 3 (approx 4 oz each) cans for this. Thank you for a great and healthy recipe!
Hi YT! Aw thank you so much for this kind comment!! So happy to hear you and the whole family enjoyed it – love when healthy recipes are kid approved :). Thanks for sharing your experience!!
Thank you for this great recipe! I made it and my 18 yr old grandson had 2 helpings! We really enjoyed this tasty and wholesome dish!
Hi Jan!
I’m so happy to hear both you and your grandson loved it!! It’s always so nice to hear when a recipe is popular with the whole family. Thank you so much for sharing and for the kind words 🙂
Oh” Thank you so much for this recipe. THANK you
You are so welcome, Theresa! I. hope you enjoyed it 🙂
Absolutely delicious! We are trying to add more fish to our diet and this may become a weekly staple. We like hot and spicy, so I added some of my fresh grown dried oregano, basil, and pepper flakes to the saute. Also threw in some chopped swiss chard, just for fun and health. Didn’t have cherry tomatoes, but used chunked fresh garden tomatoes. I only had a large can of mackeral packed in water, so I just added olive oil to the pan. Topped off with parmesean and lemon juice. It was amazing, flavorful, and not fishy at all!
Hi Sally! Ah thank you so much for the kind comment – I’m so happy you enjoyed this recipe and I LOVE all those yummy additions you made!!
If you’re looking for more easy fish recipes, I’ve got a bunch more here: https://www.walderwellness.com/recipes/?fwp_topics=fish – I’d love to know if you end up trying another!!
I also recently decided to change the way I eat and wanted to add more fish into diet.I do not enjoy salmon,so was looking for alternative..This is exactly what I was looking for!!! NOT too fishy, not too salty, nutricious and well balanced, cheap and quick!! 5 stars meal.
Hi Lenka! Thank you so much for your kind comment!! I’m so happy to hear that this was the kind of meal you were looking for. I think it’s awesome you’re looking to add more fish into your diet. I’d love to know if you end up trying any of my other seafood recipes, too! There’s a bunch there that aren’t salmon 🙂
Wishing you a wonderful start to the new year!
One word. Yummy !
Thanks Amanda!! So happy to hear that!!
What a super supper, could make it to order for the pair of us, with hot chillies for him and mild chillies for me, delicious
Hi Fran! I’m so happy you both enjoyed this recipe!! Love that you were able to modify to your desired spiciness, too. Thanks so much for sharing your experience 🙂
Great recipe – it’s become a regular in our house. We always add a generous splash of Balsamic Vinegar at the end too.
Hi Rich! Amazing – I’m so happy to hear it’s a regular recipe for you! A splash of balsamic sounds so good – I’ll have to try that next time. Thanks so much for sharing 🙂
I’m a huge fan of Mediterranean cuisine and wow, this recipe is soo tasty, healthy and quick. Thank you so much!!! 5 stars!
Hi Dev! Amazing I’m so happy to hear you enjoyed this one!! Mediterranean is my favourite cuisine too! Thanks so much for sharing your experience 🙂
An inpiring eye opener. 125g tin of makerel in sunflower oil. 100g wholewheat pasta.
Used 80g finely chopped onions as the veg. Oiled the pan with a dash of oil from the makerel, sauteed with 35ml dry white wine along with 5 cloves of minced garlic, dash of cayanne, low sodium salt and white pepper. 5mins. Allowed to reduce at bit then added mackrel and olives. Heat to reduce further 5mins. Added cooked wholewheat pasta and 35ml of pasta water and 5 complete stalks of dill finely choped. Tossed the whole lot together for 3 minutes before serving hot. Grated hard cheese, a twist of black pepper and of rock salt.
Garnish with a dill fron. Oops forgot the lemon juice. That’ll be next time.
Thank you,…I really must buy some veg.
Hi Jacob! YUM!! All your additions to this recipe sound absolutely delicious. I love your take on it!! Thanks so much for sharing your experience, I’m sure others will find inspiration from your comment. I hope you enjoyed it 🙂
As a Registered Dietitian whose clients need fast, affordable, and delicious meal ideas, I have been searching for a good canned mackerel recipe for a while now. This was SO YUM and so easy to make!
I added in onion, capers, some white wine, and did Kalamata olives instead of green to fit my tastes. Highly recommend!
Hi Jessica! Always so nice to meet a fellow RD on here :). I’m so happy to hear you enjoyed this one, and I hope your clients do too! Love all the additions you made – thank you so much for sharing!!
I came home late on a Friday night after work looking for something quick and easy to make for dinner with something already in my pantry. This recipe pulled up and it was PERFECT! I cut it in half – it was ready in about 15 minutes – and it really hit the spot. This is a keeper! Thank you!
Hi Ethel! Thank you so much for sharing your experience! I’m so happy to hear that you stumbled upon this recipe for your easy Friday night pantry dinner :). So glad to hear you enjoyed it!!
Hi Carrie,
We made this recipe for dinner tonight and it was absolutely extraordinary! We are a family of pescatorians ( we eat dairy except for cow’s milk, lots of fish, veggies, nuts, seeds, fruit, and whole grains) and eat fish as a main meal very frequently. Mackerel is incredibly high in omega 3’s and a fish we have been wanting to eat more of but unfortunately our experience with eating mackerel has not been the best. It is a very strong, oily, and rich- tasting fish. Carrie, you totally made it sing! ❤️ The Italian flavors and the noodles stood up to the strong, rich, and oily fish and the flavors you chose were absolutely amazing! 🤗 I also tried mine over mashed potatoes instead of the noodles and that was also equally as delicious! Thank you so much for creating this wonderful recipe using a fish that can be intimidating to extract flavor out of. You made this recipe easy and most of all, very enjoyable! We will be making this recipe as a go-to every week! 🙂 Jordanna
Hi Jordana!
Thank you SO much for this lovely review. It totally brought a smile to my face :). I’m so happy to hear that you and your family enjoyed this one, and that you finally found a way to enjoy mackerel! I know it can be a bit of an intimidating fish, but done right I find it tastes absolutely delicious. I also love that you tried the combination over mashed potatoes too – that sounds amazing and I’ll need to give that a try myself!!
Thanks so much again for the kind words. I look forward to hearing if you give any other recipes a try 🙂
Love this recipe! I now keep canned mackerel in my pantry!!! Hubby likes it too!
Thank you so much for sharing that, JoAn!! I’m so happy to hear you and your husband enjoyed this one. Yay for a new pantry staple!! 🙂
Mixed up the vegetables (used onions and mushrooms), which I lightly sweated in a small bit of olive oil before adding the mackerel. Also added a bit of white wine and spinach at the end. Absolutely phenomenal flavor, will be keeping canned mackerel as a staple in my pantry to recreate this recipe with whatever veggies I have lying around.
Hi Akash! Thanks so much for sharing your experience. I’m so happy to hear you enjoyed this one and I absolutely love the way you experimented with it. It all sounds so tasty! And YES to keeping a can of mackerel around to make a quick pasta like this – I do the same 🙂
This was very good!
Thank you so much, Rachel! So happy to hear you enjoyed it 🙂
stunning. i used whole wheat rotini and added some baby spinach & kale to the saute along with soe red pepper flakes. i’ve never used canned mackerel before–i thought it would be overly fishy, too. this is now a weekly staple for me. thank you!
Hi John! Thanks so much for taking the time to leave this kind review. So happy to hear you enjoyed this one and love all the additions you made. Isn’t canned mackerel actually so good?! I was so impressed the first time I tried it too 🙂
I love how this recipe smooths out the strongish flavour of the Mackerel. For a next twist I’d like to experiment with any ways that can put a little more green veggie into it – I saw reviews about spinach & kale. Any thoughts Carrie?
We had a nice glass of Chardonnay and some crusty bread with the dish: cut back on some spaghetti to compensate for the calories. They worked well 🙂
Now wondering about a dessert to finish this delight?
Hi Ian! Thanks so much for sharing this kind review. So happy to hear you enjoyed it! That glass of Chardonnay and crusty bread sounds like the perfect pairing 🙂
As for adding more greens – I’d say this recipe is pretty flexible! Kale and spinach are easy choices. You could also add some chopped zucchini or broccoli/broccolini to this!! Would be a great way to use up any extra veggies in the fridge.
Absolutely delicious, fantastic, and damn I’ll make it again and again! I’m half Italian and love Mediterranean recipes. This one did NOT disappoint!
Thank you so much for the kind comment, Mary Sue!! I’m so happy to hear that you enjoyed this one – so appreciated 🙂
I loved this recipe. We are (gradually) changing to the Mediterranean “diet” and I am always looking for recipes that incorporate whole grains and fish. This was delicious and I followed the recipe exactly, including adding the parmagiano-reggiano, red pepper flakes, and some fresh lemon juice right before serving. My husband and I both said it reminded us of some of the meals we ate last summer in Italy! The left-overs were even better I thought! Thank you for this recipe-hope to find more like it.
Hi Laurie,
Thank you SO much for this lovely review. To be compared to meals you ate last summer in Italy is SUCH a complement (the food there is just the BEST) :)). I’m so happy to hear that you and your husband enjoyed this one!!
If you’re looking for more easy and healthy seafood recipes, please feel free to explore the fish section of my recipe index HERE. I’d love to know if you try any others! Thank you again 🙂