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
Wish to learn more about Japanese cooking? Sign up for our free newsletter to receive cooking tips & recipe updates! And stay in touch with me on Facebook, Pinterest, YouTube, and Instagram.
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.
Made this tonight with the pickled cabbage salad, carrot salad, homemade miso soup (no more buying that anymore) and rice. It was really great thank you.
Hi Scott! It sounds like a good meal plan! Thank you very much for trying many recipes. We are glad to hear you enjoyed them!
Thanks for all the tips about the sake and the salt for 20 minutes. Even the frozen mackerel turned out great following all the cooking steps. Thank you.
Hi Selina, We are glad to hear it turned out great! Thank you very much for trying this recipe and for your kind feedback!
Very helpful recipe. I used aji-mirin instead of sake as I didn’t have it on hand, and it worked fine. Eager to try with sake next time. Thank you for all your great recipes.
Hi Ronald,
Thank you for sharing your cooking experience with us. We are so happy to hear it turned out good and you enjoyed it!😊
Thank you very much for your kind feedback!
Hi, i love your blog and has been following. I have learnt to make japanese pancake, tamagoyaki, teriyaki salmon, teriyaki chicken, omurice, sushi rice, homemade teritaki sauce all from your blog. It all turn out great! Love love love your recipes. Thank you for always puttibg in the fine details.
May i know if i want to make the teriyaki version for saba fish, is it the same as how you cook teriyaki salmon? (Adding the sauce last. And how long do i grill the fish over the stove instead of the oven? Do i need to put oil?
Hi Sherilyn,
Thank you very much for trying many of Nami’s recipes and for your kind feedback!
To make Teriyaki Saba, we normally make the same way as teriyaki salmon or yellowtail teriyaki and pan-fry the fish and coat it with teriyaki sauce.
https://www.justonecookbook.com/yellowtail-teriyaki/
We hope this helps!
This came out soooo good! Definitely gonna be a regular meal in my house 🙂
Hi Calvin!
Thank you very much for trying this recipe and for your kind feedback!
We are so happy to hear you enjoyed this dish!☺️
Hi Nami,
The mackerel I bought (in a prepackaged foam plate) says “Salt Mackerel”, does that mean it’s already salted or salty? Should I vary your direction with regards to the marination time with salt?
Thank you. I look forward to trying this recipe … we love it in restaurants.
Tami
Hi Tami! It’s been salted, so you just need to broil/bake. 🙂
I have made this twice and it is delicious:) thank you! I live in singapore and japanese daikon here costs an arm and a leg ($15 for one!) And it also is hardfor me to use up the entire thing. But i would like to make oroshi to go with the saba. May I know if there are any alternative options?
Hi Sharon! There are a lot of daikon recipes in Japanese cooking that you can probably use up the whole thing (https://www.justonecookbook.com/search/?q=daikon). I would say you can skip the grated daikon if you only need it for this recipe. It’s nice to have, but not necessary.
Also you can grate daikon and freeze it in the ice cubes too, in case you end up buying it. 🙂
Oh ok! Freezing sounds like a good idea. Thank you so much! Esp for all your amazing work on this awesome blog! 🙂
Thanks Sharon!
Not sure what I did wrong..mackerel came out super dry
Hi Michael! Thanks for trying this recipe… I am not sure why – such a simple recipe too. Did you use a convection bake (fan)? Unless stated “convection”, most recipes online is regular bake (no fan). If you use a convection oven, it makes sense it could be dry… plus the oven temperature needs to be adjusted by reducing 25 ºF if you use convection oven.
Hi,
Thank you for the recipe. mackerel can be challenging (past experience) so your guidance is very appreciated. I was am curious: can mackerel, similar to salmon, also be salted for 2+ days to purposely firm up the flesh?
Hi Don! Thank you for your kind words! Mackerel is known to go bad fast, which is why we probably don’t cook the same way as salted salmon. Mackerel needs to be cooked or consumed (as sashimi) soon. 🙂
Hi Nami, thank you for your answer, will try it out.
We just love your recipes and use them regularly. Even though it is not that easy to get all the ingredients here in Germany:-)
Hi Sylvia! Thank you so much for using my recipes! I hope some day Japanese ingredients are easier to get. It wasn’t so easy here 20 years ago too (not that it would take 20 years for you….). 🙂
Hi Nami, thank you for sharing and posting this recipe. I bought a very fresh mackerel from the farmer’s market yesterday morning and was so excited to chance upon your recipe. The sake was really helpful in masking the fishy smell of mackarels and I followed the instructions to a T, making sure to even slice my fish in half and placing them skin side down on the parchment paper. My family loved the sweet taste of the fish and I will definitely be making many more mackarels!
Hi Lea! Awesome!! So lucky to get fresh mackerel and I’m jealous! Thanks so much for trying this recipe. So glad you and your family had a wonderful meal. Thank you for your kind feedback. xoxo
Hi Nami, I tried out your recipe. The skin of the mackerel came out flaked and wasn’t at all crispy. I followed the recipe closely… what did I do wrong? It did taste lovely though:-)
Hi Sylvia! Thank you for trying this recipe! Hmm… maybe flip and grill the skin side a bit more might help?
I just bought the saba. May i know what kind of the function(mode) of the oven? Top and bottom heat, top heat with fan? Thanks
Hi Mill! I use conventional (no fan) oven and bake at 400 ºF (200 ºC) for 20 minutes. I believe the heat is both top and bottom. 🙂
hi, i enjoy reading your recipes. May i please ask, how long do I wait after I coat the fish with sake before I pat it dry? thanks
Hi Cheryl! Thank you so much! You just coat and pat dry right away to remove moisture. 🙂
Saba is now a regular on our grocery shopping list – so easy! I use Chinese rice wine as it’s expensive to use sake to marinate, tastes fine.
Hi Claudine! Thank you so much for your kind feedback! I’m so glad to hear you enjoy the recipe. Yes, Chinese rice wine works too! xo