Smoked Mackerel substitute

Best substitute

Hot-Smoked Trout

Use the same amount by weight as the smoked mackerel you are replacing

Best for pate

Different taste

Hot-smoked trout or hot-smoked salmon is the best all-round swap at 1:1, though it is milder and less oily, so add extra lemon, a pinch of salt and a quarter teaspoon of smoked paprika. Smoked herring or kipper fillets are the closest in oiliness and punch. Tinned mackerel in oil also works if you add smoke: half a teaspoon of smoked paprika per 200g.

Other smoked mackerel substitutes

Ranked, with the exact amount to use

2Kipper Fillets or Smoked Herring
Close match
Use the same amount by weight
Brined, smoked herring, sold whole, as fillets, or tinned in oil.
What changes
Best for
pate, kedgeree, fishcakes, toast
The closest match for oiliness and sheer assertiveness, since herring and mackerel are both strongly flavoured oily fish. Kippers are saltier and more sharply smoky, and bonier, so run your fingers down the fillet and pull the pin bones before flaking. Cold-smoked kippers need a couple of minutes of gentle cooking first; hot-smoked herring does not.
3Tinned Mackerel in Oil, Plus Smoke
Taste and texture differ
Use the same amount by drained weight, plus ¼ to ½ tsp smoked paprika per 200g
The same fish, cooked in the tin rather than smoked.
What changes
Best for
pate, fishcakes, pasta, salads
Gets the oil and the mackerel flavour exactly right and misses only the smoke, which smoked paprika or two drops of liquid smoke restores convincingly. The flesh is much softer and wetter, so drain it hard and add an extra tablespoon of breadcrumb or mashed potato to a fishcake mix or it will not hold together.
4Tinned Sardines in Oil
Taste and texture differ
Use the same amount by drained weight
Small oily fish, soft-boned and packed in oil.
What changes
Best for
pate, toast, pasta, fishcakes
Similar oiliness and the same family of flavours, but no smoke and a more mineral, faintly bitter edge. Mash the soft bones in rather than picking them out, add smoked paprika for the smoke, and lean on lemon and black pepper to keep it from tasting muddy.
5Smoked Oysters or Smoked Mussels (Tinned)
Taste and texture differ
Half the weight, made up with cream cheese or smoked trout
Intensely smoky tinned shellfish packed in oil.
What changes
Best for
pate, dips, canapes
Very strong on both smoke and brine, which is exactly what a mackerel pate needs, but the chew is dense and shellfish-like rather than flaky. Use about half the quantity so it does not dominate, and make the volume up with cream cheese or a milder smoked fish.
6Cold-Smoked Salmon (Lox)
Taste and texture differ
Use the same amount by weight, blended only
Salt-cured, cold-smoked salmon in silky raw-textured slices.
What changes
Best for
smooth blended dips, canapes
The wrong texture and worth saying so. It will never flake, so a rustic pate or a fishcake made with it turns pasty. In a food processor with cream cheese it makes a perfectly good smooth spread, just a sweeter, saltier and much less smoky one than mackerel gives you.

What is Smoked Mackerel?

Smoked Mackerel is An oily fish fillet that has been brined and hot-smoked until fully cooked, sold ready to eat in vacuum packs and often crusted with cracked black pepper as peppered mackerel.

Cooking tips

Peel the skin off before flaking. On hot-smoked mackerel it slides away in one piece if you start at the tail end, and it is the part that carries the strongest, most tarry smoke flavour.
Run a thumb down the centre line of the fillet and pull out the row of fine pin bones. Smoked mackerel is sold with them in more often than not, and one in a pate ruins the whole bowl.
It is already fully cooked, so treat it as a finishing ingredient. Stir it into kedgeree, pasta or a warm potato salad off the heat at the last moment; anything more than a minute of real cooking dries it out and pushes the smoke from pleasant to acrid.
It needs acid and dairy to be palatable in quantity. A standard pate is roughly equal weights of flaked fish and cream cheese or creme fraiche, plus lemon juice, black pepper and a teaspoon of horseradish or a spoon of chopped capers. Without the acid it tastes oily and flat.
To tone it down, soak the flaked fish in a little milk for 10 minutes and drain. It pulls out some of the salt and smoke, which is useful if you have peppered mackerel and the recipe wanted plain.

Frequently asked questions

Is smoked mackerel already cooked?

Almost always, yes. The vacuum-packed fillets sold in supermarkets are hot-smoked, which cooks the fish through, so they are ready to eat cold straight from the pack. Cold-smoked fish, which is cured but not cooked, is much less common for mackerel than it is for salmon or kippers.

Can I use tinned mackerel instead of smoked mackerel?

Yes, with one addition. Drain it well and use the same weight, then add a quarter to half a teaspoon of smoked paprika or a couple of drops of liquid smoke per 200g to replace the smoke. The texture is softer and wetter, so fishcakes will need a little more binder.

Can I just leave it out?

Not from a pate, a smoked mackerel salad or a kedgeree, because the fish is supplying the smoke, the salt and the fat that make the dish taste of anything. If you genuinely have no smoked fish, do not try to fake it with plain white fish: cook something else, or make the pate with tinned sardines plus smoked paprika, which is a real and good dish.

What is the difference between peppered mackerel and plain smoked mackerel?

Only the coating of cracked black pepper on the skin side, added after smoking. It is interchangeable in recipes, but it is spicier and saltier, so scrape some of the crust off if the dish is delicate, and hold back on any pepper the recipe calls for.

How do I stop smoked mackerel dominating a dish?

Cut the quantity by a third and fill the gap with a milder smoked fish or with potato, egg or cream cheese, and always add acid. Lemon juice, capers, cornichons, pickled onion or a spoon of horseradish all pull the oiliness into balance far more effectively than adding more salt or herbs.

Related substitutes

More seafood substitutes

Smoked Mackerel substitute

Other smoked mackerel substitutes

2Kipper Fillets or Smoked Herring

3Tinned Mackerel in Oil, Plus Smoke

4Tinned Sardines in Oil

5Smoked Oysters or Smoked Mussels (Tinned)

6Cold-Smoked Salmon (Lox)