Sprats substitute

Best substitute

Tinned Sardines in Oil

Use the same amount by drained weight, plus ¼ tsp smoked paprika per tin if replacing smoked sprats as the sprats you are replacing

Best for toast and rye bread

Different taste

Tinned sardines in oil are the easiest swap at 1:1, and for smoked sprats add a quarter teaspoon of smoked paprika or two drops of liquid smoke per tin. Smoked herring or kipper fillets match the smoke better, just chop them down to size. For fresh sprats to fry, whitebait or smelt eat almost identically.

Other sprats substitutes

Ranked, with the exact amount to use

2Smoked Herring or Kipper Fillets
Different texture
Use the same amount by weight
Larger smoked fish from the same family, sold as fillets or tinned.
What changes
Best for
rye bread and butter, pate, potato salad, breakfast
The smoke and the salt are right, since these are cured the same way sprats are. The fillets are much bigger and flakier, so cut them into sprat-sized strips if appearance matters, and they are saltier, so hold back on seasoning the dish.
3Tinned Smoked Trout or Smoked Mackerel
Different texture
Use the same amount by weight
Ready-to-eat smoked oily fish in flakes rather than whole small fish.
What changes
Best for
pate, dips, toast, salads
Plenty of smoke and fat, and excellent anywhere the fish gets mashed or flaked. What you lose is the whole-fish shape, so a plate of sprats on buttered rye becomes a pile of flakes instead of a neat row of little fish. Mackerel is closer in intensity, trout is milder and sweeter.
4Anchovies in Oil
Taste and texture differ
About one third the weight
Salt-cured anchovy fillets, far more concentrated than sprats.
What changes
Best for
seasoning a dish, dressings, on toast in small amounts
Use these to season rather than to fill a plate. They are dramatically saltier and more pungent, so the dish will taste of anchovy rather than of smoky oily fish, and a straight swap by weight would be inedible. Roughly a third of the weight, and cut other salt right back.
5Fresh Whitebait, Smelt or Small Herring
Close match
Use the same amount by weight
Small whole fresh fish for flouring and frying.
What changes
Best for
deep-frying whole, pan-frying, serving with lemon and mayonnaise
For fresh sprats rather than tinned, this is a near-perfect swap: same size, same eat-them-whole approach, same 2 to 3 minutes in hot oil. There is no smoke or cure at all, so season them properly with salt before frying and serve with lemon.
6Tinned Smoked Mussels or Oysters
Taste and texture differ
Use the same amount by weight
Smoked tinned shellfish with a similar smoke-and-brine profile.
What changes
Best for
snack boards, crackers, dips
Good on a tinned-fish board where you want another smoky, oily thing to eat on a cracker. The chew is dense and shellfish-like rather than a soft fishy flake, and they are sweeter, so this is a swap of one pleasure for another rather than a like-for-like.

What is Sprats?

Sprats is a small silvery fish of the herring family, about three to five inches long, sold hot-smoked and tinned in oil as Riga sprats or brisling, or fresh for frying whole.

Cooking tips

Eat them whole, bones, tail and often heads included. Smoking and canning soften the skeleton completely, and that faintly crunchy structure is part of what a sprat is. Picking them apart leaves you with very little fish.
Fresh sprats need almost nothing: a dusting of seasoned flour and 2 to 3 minutes in hot oil until the tails are crisp. Gut them if you prefer, though the Baltic habit is to fry them as they come.
The oil in a tin of smoked sprats is heavily flavoured. Use it on the toast or whisk it into the dressing rather than reaching for fresh olive oil, which just dilutes the smoke.
They want blunt, sturdy partners. Dark rye bread, salted butter, boiled egg, raw or pickled onion, dill, mustard and boiled potato all stand up to the smoke; delicate salads and cream sauces get bulldozed by it.
Salt the dish after adding the sprats, never before. Between the brine and the smoke they carry a lot of salt, and it varies wildly between brands.

Frequently asked questions

Are sprats the same as sardines?

No, they are different fish, though both are small and oily and both belong to the herring family. Sprats are smaller and are usually sold hot-smoked. The confusion is real, though, because fish labelled brisling sardines actually are sprats, sold under the sardine name.

Are sprats and brisling the same thing?

Yes. Brisling is the Norwegian name for sprat, and tins labelled brisling or brisling sardines contain the same fish. Riga sprats are the smoked Latvian version, which is the style most recipes have in mind.

Do I eat the bones and heads?

The bones, yes, they are soft and completely edible. Heads are a matter of taste: tinned smoked sprats are often sold headless, and if yours have heads you can pinch them off in a second. There is no need to fillet them.

Can I use fresh sprats where the recipe says smoked?

Only if you add the smoke back, and even then it is a stretch. Fresh sprats are mild and delicate; smoked ones are salty, firm and assertive. If the recipe is smoked sprats on rye, tinned sardines with a pinch of smoked paprika will get you far closer than fresh sprats will.

Can I just leave them out?

If they are a topping on an open sandwich or one item on a snack board, yes, and nothing else needs changing. If they are the salt and smoke in a pate, a potato salad or a pasta sauce, no, because nothing else in the dish is doing that job. Use tinned sardines plus smoked paprika instead.

Related substitutes

More seafood substitutes

Sprats substitute

Other sprats substitutes

2Smoked Herring or Kipper Fillets

3Tinned Smoked Trout or Smoked Mackerel

4Anchovies in Oil

5Fresh Whitebait, Smelt or Small Herring

6Tinned Smoked Mussels or Oysters