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.
I love this recipe for Saba!
It’s so delicious. It’s the only way I will make it now. Thank you for this. Saba is my favorite .
Hi Greta! I’m so glad! Thanks so much for your kind feedback ❤️
Best recipe for grilled mackerel, I ate two whole fish after cooked them. So good!
Hi Alex! I’m so glad to hear that! Thank you for your kind feedback. 🙂
Delicious recipe. The only challenging part was finding fresh mackerel. Also, I couldn’t seem to get the fish to turn golden brown like in your pictures and others on the web. If I cooked it any longer, it would have dried out. Maybe if I added some mirin, soy sauce, and/or sugar to help it brown?
Hi Michael! I find the most reasonable mackerel I can find (and of course delicious) is Korean grocery stores. They sell frozen one, but I find them pretty good quality. Move the heat source closer. Another option is to broil the fish. 🙂
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[…] follow the same way and usually serve a simple grilled fish such as Grilled Pacific Saury (Sanma), Grilled Mackerel (Saba Shioyaki) or Salted Salmon […]
I just made it and it’s delicious 🙂 The only thing I wish I didn’t do was place the fish with the skin down because it stuck to the parchment paper. I always come back here whenever I feel like preparing Japanese dishes at home. Thank you for sharing your recipes with us!
Hi Leena! Thank you for trying this recipe! Happy to hear you enjoyed this recipe and others on my blog! Thanks for your kind feedback, Leena!
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I hope you are feeling better! Take care of your health! In Japan, are fish dishes usually served with the bones still in the fish or are the bones usually removed during prep time and served boneless? This looks so yummy!!!
Hi Emily! Oh, I’m sorry, you probably saw earlier comments from 2013 when this post was originally published. I’m healthy and doing well! Thanks for your kind thoughts.
Yes, in Japan, it’s common to serve a whole fish without removing bones. You learn how to debone your grilled/simmered fish growing up from early age (elementary school kids can do it). 🙂
Hi Nami–do you have any good resources for how to debone the saba after cooking? Our toddler is afraid of bones and we’d like to learn the proper way of doing it. Thanks so much!!
Hi Dan! Thank you very much for reading Nami’s blog.
We found this video. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UG_38n13mKA
We hope this helps and make it easier to debone fish.🙂
Wow, umai. Thanks so much!
Sentimental to read I was there to comment in 2013! Learned a thing or two I still use ) ! Hope you had a super time skiing: loved the IG post . . .
Hi Eha! We had a great time skiing! And yes, I sometimes see your old comments and made my heart warm… xoxo