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 one of the popular seafood dishes served as an entree or part of a bento combination in Japanese restaurants in the U.S. You may already know this, but what you may not know is how fast and easy it is to make this grilled fish at home. This is the reason I love making this for my family dinner — it feels special, but is so very simple.
What Does Saba Shioyaki Mean?
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 mackerel. Anyone can just season with salt and cook, and call it a recipe; however, I’ll show you a few tips you can use to make the dish extra delicious!
2 Tips to Make Delicious Grilled Mackerel (Saba Shioyaki)
1. The Use of Sake
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 you can buy, read this post on my blog.
2. The Use of Salt
Salt is used not only to season the fish, but it also extracts water from the fish and eliminates any unpleasant smell. Once you sprinkle the mackerel with salt, let it rest for 20 minutes. Do not let it sit anytime shorter or longer. If it is rested too short a time, the fish does not soak up enough salty flavor and the smell may still linger. On the other hand, if you rest it for too long, the smell may be gone but the flesh will get too tight and lose its texture.
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 Sides
- 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.
[…] tried making a Japanese dinner the other night. Did not go well. The salt-seasoned fish (Dover sole instead of the called-for mackerel)was too salty, and the home-made miso was […]
Thank you for the additional sides recommendations. It helps making dinner for a large hungry family easier. 🙂
You’re very welcome Emmy! A lot of requested the pairing dishes so I wanted to be more helpful. 🙂
Hi Nami, the mackerels I buy are frozen and lightly salted. Do I still salt them? Thanks!
Hi Kerry! No, you don’t need to salt. Enjoy! 🙂
Nami-san,
Do you keep mackerel in you freezer? If so, how do you thaw and cook it for Saba Shioyaki?
Thanks!
Hi Aya! I do if they are frozen when I purchased. And I let it thaw in the fridge. 🙂
So is it a half tsp of salt per piece, or for the whole recipe?
Hi Cush! For this recipe. It’s basically a whole fish (2 fillets). The Japanese grocery store sells one fillet in a package and they cut in the middle to fit in the package (that’s why it’s cut). 🙂
All the best Nami – get well and be well
John B in Canada
Thank you John!
I know this is an old post but I wanted to say I love this recipe because its so simple, and I eat it all the time because saba is always on sale at my local market! Love it with rice and an ume!
Hi Brent! Aww thank you! I’m so happy you tried this old recipe. I will need to bring back older posts to life since there are so many easy and simple recipes that people can make. Thank you for “digging” to my old recipe archives. xoxo 😀
The sake really balances out the fishiness while it’s baking and while your eating it. I will forever dunk mackarel in sake. Thank you very much for this awesome recipe.
Hi Pauline! Happy to hear you liked the recipe! Thank you for your kind words. 🙂
Hi Nami
I just tried the grilled saba it was delicious! However my fish didn’t have the golden brown skin like yours. Do I neex to flip the fish ? I baked for 25 minutes. I was afraid over baking may cause the fish to turn dry. Nevertheless my family still thoroughly enjoyed it!
Hi Minn! Thanks so much for trying this recipe! I use a toaster oven, which heat source is pretty close to the fish compared to the oven. Maybe that’s why? Did you use a toaster oven too? If you use an oven, maybe use “broil” setting and give some distance (not too close so it doesn’t burn). 🙂 Hope this helps!
Hi Nami, I would love to try this recipe but the only mackerels I find at the market are from China. Where can I find mackerels from other countries? Thank you!
Hi Ann! Hmmm I haven’t bought mackerels for a while so I didn’t pay attention to the source. Try other supermarket with great seafood selection. And maybe a store that cares about quality and source?
Thank you for your prompt reply Nami!
Hi , thank you for the recipe. May I know why you put the fish skin side down on the baking sheet? I thought if the skin is up, it will keep the fish moist & the skin will be crispy.
If the heat sauce is up (top), we usually cook the flesh side first (to firm up the flesh). In Japan we have a saying 魚身鶏皮 (Fish, Flesh, Chicken, Skin), meaning you cook flesh first for the fish, and skin first for chicken. When you cook skin first, the skin shrinks, cracks, and fish loses the flavors. But it’s up to you. 🙂
Dear Nami, I am going to bake the saba in my oven, what is the temperature I should set it at?
Hi Hwei! Step 5: Preheat the oven to 400 ºF (200 ºC).
I will surely try this menu.
Hi Shari! Hope you enjoy! 🙂
Thanks for publishing this recipe!
Usually my partner cooks Saba and I do prep. like grating daikon but I wanted to suprize her.. Turned out very nice.Best Wishes
Hi Mingus! You’re very welcome! I’m so happy to hear your partner enjoyed this dish! Thanks so much for your feedback! 🙂
i have a cheap toaster oven that doesn’t have a preheat option, do I still need to preheat it? Any idea how long that would take? I tried broiling once it didn’t come out well (no browning). But I would love to make this in a toaster oven instead of heating up the whole kitchen. Thanks. This looks like a tasty simple dinner.
Hi Evie! My toaster oven doesn’t have pre-heat either, but if you can leave it on for a few minutes ahead of time, that’s considered pre-heat. To be honest, I sometimes skip preheating and just start cooking. The cooking time is a bit longer than I specified but total cooking is about 25 minutes or so at 400F (200C). Now I’m not sure how big your oven toaster is and how close your heat source is, but if you have a typical small toaster oven, it should have enough heat and time to cook the fish with nice char. Hope this helps! 🙂
Besides mackerel and salmon what other type of fish is nice when you grill with salt seasoning? Will snapper taste as good?
Hi Seny! We grill many kinds of fish including snapper. There are many kinds of snappers, and for some, we use soy sauce based sauce to simmer, etc. I prefer simmer in soy sauce for snapper similar to this:
https://www.justonecookbook.com/recipes/kinmedai-nitsuke/
Hope that helps!
Hi Nami san, I chance upon this webpage when I’m trying to find the Saba shio receipe. I have tried to cook and the skin always stick to the aluminum foil. Can I check if I can bake the fish with the skin facing up instead of skin facing down?
Thanks so much!
Hi Serene! Spray or brush the oil on aluminum foil would help. You can also put on wire rack too, if it’s available. But sure, you can cook skin facing up – make sure you don’t burn the skin. 🙂
Hi Nami-San,
Many thanks for your reply.
I have tried using oil but the skin got stuck onto the foil as well. Guess I am just bad at cooking. Maybe I should use parchment paper instead. Do you think this is a better choice then aluminum foil?
Serene, no no, you are doing fine. It easily sticks to the foil even you oil it. Parchment paper works too, but make sure there is no extra paper close to the heat sauce because it can be burned and dangerous (especially toaster oven is so small). Hope that helps! 🙂