This recipe for Filipino Pancit Canton with sardines gives you a tasty and satisfying plate of noodles that you would never guess there is an instant canned ingredient in it! With this pancit canton recipe, you can use your canned sardines sitting in your pantry and you will have a winning noodle dish that is full of flavor and just straight delicious, guaranteed!
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Hi!
It is very early morning here where I live and I am surprising you with a savory recipe for the first time in a long while! Well, since re-branding  Woman Scribbles to a sweets and pastries blog, I have not posted so many savory recipes because I have been so immersed in baking cakes, pies, and all other sweet stuff. But you know, sometimes we all need a break from all the sweet stuff.
So what I have for you today is definitely non-indulgent and light. We all need something like that before the holiday food storm right? Pancit Canton with sardines is meat-free, tasty and, well, uses canned sardines. It is straight delicious like you spent hours cooking it. I swear!
This pancit canton with sardines is very similar to my pancit sardinas, except this one has thicker noodles all throughout and its sauce is more of the sweet and salty type.
You know I am so fond of making easy variations of pancit (pancit is  a typical Filipino nooodle dish). As you know, the real traditional pancit have tons of many different kinds of vegetables in it. It has meat slices, which are mostly chicken, but sometimes a combination of pork, chicken and even shrimp.
This pancit canton recipe is way simpler, way easier and it is very flavorful.
My nanay makes, hands-down, the meanest pancit of all sorts. It is her forte, her specialty. Her pancit always turns out consistently delicious each and every single time. That is why I don’t even think of going the traditional route or else my pancit will surely eat dust!
This pancit canton recipe is very easy to pull off though. You know, I am good at making shortcut routes when it comes to cooking savory. What, with two young kids and house chores, who would want to chop lots of vegetables? So quick, easy and tasty meals are a winner in my book.
I leave the sardines in chunks here instead of mashing them like what I did with my pancit sardinas. The pieces of sardines, together with the vegetables and fishballs make for a very satisfying spoonful of this dish.
If you do not like fishballs, you can vary it up. Some substitutes are:
- Shrimp
- Squid
- Slices of Fried Fish Fillet
- Crab meat
The nature of pancit canton allows it to be pretty flexible with varying the meats and vegetables. Feel free to add your favorites.
So if you want something different, you have to try this one. The flavor of the tomato sauce based sardines blends perfectly and deliciously with the sauce of pancit canton.
Sweet, salty and tangy with kicks from the bits of sardines, this meatless dish feels very meaty to me! Serve this hot and enjoy lunch with some good company and family today. Nothing beats that!
Filipino Pancit canton with Sardines
Ingredients
- 16 oz pancit canton noodles can be found in the Oriental aisle of supermarket
- 4 cloves garlic minced
- 1 small onion chopped roughly
- 15 pieces fishballs sliced or peeled shrimps ( fishballs can be found frozen in the Oriental supermarkets)
- 2 large carrots sliced into strips
- 1 small head of chinese cabbage cut into 2- 3 inch strips, rinsed and drained
- 1 425 grams canned sardines in tomato sauce or three small cans ( found in the oriental. Asian aisles)
- 3 cups chicken broth
- 2 tbsp. oyster sauce
- 1 tbsp. soy sauce
- pepper to taste
- 3 tbsp. olive oil
Instructions
- Heat the oil in a wide skillet or wok and fry the fishballs ( or shrimp) for about 3-5 minutes until very lightly golden ( shrimps should turn light orange). Remove them to a plate and set aside.
- Saute garlic and onion until soft. Add in the carrots. Toss around all ingredients in the pan and add the chicken broth. Bring the pan to a boil and add the oyster sauce and soy sauce.
- Add the cabbage, then the sardines and stir ingredients around. Cook for two minutes or until the cabbage is slightly soft. Add the noodles in three to four batches, soaking each batch of noodles into the liquid and tossing them around. Toss all noodles and make sure everything is immersed in the liquid. Cook for 7-12 minutes, stirring occasionally until noodles are soft and mostly all liquids are absorbed. Add the fishballs. Season with pepper and toss noodles. Serve.
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