Baked in the oven, this Grilled Mackerel or Saba Shioyaki is the simplest fish recipe you can make on a busy weeknight. Serve steamed rice, miso soup, and a side salad to accompany this flavorful fish!
Grilled Mackerel or Saba Shioyaki (鯖の塩焼き) is a popular seafood dish served as an entree or part of a bento combination in Japanese restaurants in the U.S. What you may not know is how fast and easy it is to make it at home. This is the reason I love making this for my family dinner—it feels special, but is so very simple.
Table of Contents
What Is Saba Shioyaki?
Saba (鯖) is mackerel and shioyaki (塩焼き) means salt (shio) and grilling (yaki). As you can guess, the only seasoning we need for this dish is salt, which brings out the rich flavors of the mackerel. I’ll show you a few tips you can use to make the dish extra delicious!
Ingredients You’ll Need for Saba Shioyaki
- mackerel (saba) fillets
- sake
- kosher salt – I use Diamond Crystal brand
- daikon radish – grated; for serving
- wedge lemon (cut in half)
- soy sauce
2 Tips for Better Grilled Mackerel (Saba Shioyaki)
1. Use of Sake (Japanese Rice Wine)
If you’re familiar with Japanese cooking, you’d notice that the majority of recipes call for sake (Japanese rice wine). There are many benefits of using sake in Japanese cuisine, and this recipe is no exception.
We use sake in this grilled mackerel to:
- add umami
- tenderize the fish
- make the texture more “plump” – fukkura (ふっくら) in Japanese
- remove any fishy odor
If you are not sure what type of sake to buy, read my sake pantry post to learn more.
2. Use of Salt
In this recipe, we use salt to:
- extract water from the fish
- remove any unpleasant odor
- season the fish
Once you sprinkle the mackerel with salt, let it rest for precisely 20 minutes. If doesn’t rest long enough, the fish won’t soak up enough salty flavor and the smell may still linger. If you rest it for too long, the flesh will get too tight and lose its texture.
How to Make Saba Shioyaki
- Sprinkle the mackerel (saba) fillets with sake. Pat dry with paper towels. Transfer to a baking sheet lined with parchment paper.
- Sprinkle both sides of the fish with kosher salt. Let it sit at room temperature for 20 minutes and pat dry the excess moisture.
- Place skin side down on the parchment paper and bake for 15–20 minutes, or until the flesh is golden brown.
- Serve with a wedge of lemon and grated daikon radish drizzled with a few drops of soy sauce.
What to Serve with Grilled Mackerel
Thanks to its light yet flavorful texture, saba shioyaki pairs well with many dishes. Here are my suggestions:
Rice
Soup
2-3 Side Dishes
- Kinpira gobo (stir-fried burdock root and carrot)
- Chikuzenni (Nishime) (simmered chicken and vegetables)
- Spinach gomaae (spinach with sesame sauce)
- Simmered kabocha squash
- Pickled cabbage
More Mackerel Recipes on Just One Cookbook
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Grilled Mackerel (Saba Shioyaki)
Ingredients
- 2 fillets mackerel (saba) (10 oz, 280 g)
- 2 Tbsp sake
- ½ tsp Diamond Crystal kosher salt
For Serving
- 1 inch daikon radish (2.6 oz, 75 g; grated)
- 1 wedge lemon (cut in half)
- 1 tsp soy sauce
Instructions
- Gather all the ingredients. I cut my mackerel fillets in half crosswise for presentation.
- Coat 2 fillets mackerel (saba) with 2 Tbsp sake.
- Pat dry with paper towels (and discard the sake) and transfer the fish to a baking sheet lined with parchment paper.
- Sprinkle both sides of the fish with ½ tsp Diamond Crystal kosher salt.
- Let it sit at room temperature for 20 minutes. During this time, preheat the oven to 425ºF (218ºC) with a rack placed in the middle position. For a convection oven, reduce the cooking temperature by 25ºF (15ºC).
- After 20 minutes, pat dry the excess moisture released from the fish.
- Place the fish skin side down on the parchment paper and bake for 15–20 minutes, or until the flesh is golden brown.
To Serve
- Peel and grate 1 inch daikon radish (I use a ceramic grater) and squeeze out most of the liquid.
- Serve the grilled mackerel on individual plates with the grated daikon and 1 wedge lemon (halved) on the side. Pour a few drops of the 1 tsp soy sauce on the grated daikon and use as a refreshing condiment on the fish. Enjoy!
To Store
- You can keep the leftovers in an airtight container and store in the refrigerator for 2 days.
Nutrition
Editor’s Note: The post was originally published in April 2013. The images and content have been updated in February 2019.
Hi.. can I cook it in a air fryer?
Hello, Mandy! Thank you for testing Nami’s recipe!
We have never attempted this dish in an air fryer, but it should work. Please shorten the cooking time as needed. Hopefully, this helps!
I made this today using previously frozen mackerel from my local Japanese market and it came out great! It was incredibly juicy, perfectly seasoned, and the skin was golden-brown and crisp, just like it looks in the photo. Just another reason why I always come to the JOC site first when I’m looking for a Japanese recipe. The explanations are really helpful and the photography is beautiful. Arigato gozaimasu, Nami-san!
Hello, Catherineap! Thank you for trying Nami’s recipe and providing such great reviews!
It meant a lot to Nami and everyone at JOC. We are grateful for your love and support.🥰🫶🏻💞
Hi Nami, instead if oven, can I grill the fish over a BBQ grill? If yes, how shall I do it? Thank you
Hello, Winnie. Thank you for trying Nami’s recipe.
Yes, you can grill this dish. Make sure the grill is hot, then apply the oil with a paper towel to keep the fish from sticking to the grill. Depending on the thickness, the fish will cook quickly. Each grill will be different, so you will need to check for the exact moment when the fish will release off the grill on its own. The interior temperature should be 145°F. We hope this helps! 🙂
In your sea bream recipe, you used ½ tsp salt per lb of fish, and I think that tastes good. However, this recipe uses nearly double salt. Why is that? Do some kinds of fish need more salt?
Hello, Hans. Thank you for reading Nami’s post and trying out her recipes!
This dish is typically salty, and the amount and timing of salting vary based on the recipe. I hope this helps!🙂
Might it also be because saba is a fattier fish than sea bream so it needs more salt to balance the richness?
Hi Namiko, great recipe I’m sure, but would you kindly refer an online store where the rest of us who don’t live in California or Japan can buy Horse mackerel. What is a fair price for horse mackerel per pound?
Many thanks!
Hi, Rebe! Thank you very much for trying Nami’s recipe!
We have a list of online stores that we have collected from our readers. Hopefully, this helps.
https://www.justonecookbook.com/online-shops-for-asian-ingredients-goods/
I live in CA (Bay Area) and I recently bought some saba (mackerel) at a local Japanese fish market and it was ~$5/lb. But. It is not very common to find fresh caught mackerel, even in CA. Mackerel *is* fished off the coast here, but they tend to be smaller than the mackerel caught in the northern Atlantic and around Japan (and doesn’t sell well). So, what I bought was caught in the northern Atlantic. It was frozen originally, so, I’d be surprised if you couldn’t find some at a specialty market as that’s how it will be delivered pretty much everywhere.
This was so delicious and easy, thank you Nami! Everyone loved it. I used a whole (gutted) saba mackerel
Hello, Anna! Thank you for trying Nami’s recipe!
We’re glad you were able to get saba and that everyone enjoyed the dish.
Happy Cooking!
Delicious saba! I recently bought a bento of Saba with Miso and was shocked at how much I liked it. But making it at home seemed a bit more daunting than I’d prefer for a weeknight so I tried this recipe instead. Super easy, super tasty. Even my toddler loved it. Thank you!
Hi Angie! Aww. We are glad to hear everyone enjoyed Saba.
Thank you for trying Nami’s recipe and for your kind feedback!💞
Hi Nami,
Hoping to try your recipe tomorrow. I have half cut wild caught Norweigian frozen mackerel filets from Costco, on hand. Can I thaw them and follow your recipe just the same?
Thank you, Lynn
Hi Lynn, Thank you so much for trying Nami’s recipe!
Yes. That should work for this recipe. We hope you enjoy!
I’m so glad I found this recipe. There was a Japanese style izakaya that opened near where I live that I used to frequent often that served this. They closed their doors forever in 2020 and I haven’t found another place that served grilled mackerel and I thought you needed a grill which my landlord won’t let me have.
I cannot wait to try this.
Hi Jordan! Thank you so much for reading Nami’s post and trying her recipe!
We hope you enjoy homemade Saba Shioyaki soon. 🤗