Anchovies are salty because they’re preserved in massive amounts of salt, not because the fish itself is naturally high in sodium. A raw anchovy contains only 104 mg of sodium per 100 grams, which is comparable to most fresh fish. The tiny, intensely flavored fillets you find draped over pizza or packed in tins have been cured in salt for weeks or months, transforming them into something entirely different from the fresh fish.
Fresh Anchovies Aren’t Very Salty at All
This surprises most people. A fresh anchovy straight from the ocean has a rich, subtle flavor and soft texture. At 104 mg of sodium per 100-gram serving, it’s mild by any standard. The reason you’ve probably never tasted one this way is that anchovies are tiny, extremely perishable, and spoil within hours of being caught. Salting them was originally a practical solution to keep them edible during long transport from fishing boats to markets, and the method stuck because it also created an incredibly concentrated, savory flavor that became a staple of Mediterranean cooking.
How Salt Transforms the Fish
The curing process uses a startling amount of salt. Commercial producers typically pack anchovies in layers of coarse crystal salt at a ratio of about 10 to 20 percent salt by weight of the fish. In some traditional methods, the ratio reaches as high as one part salt to four parts fish. The packed fish are then pressed under heavy weights for a day and a half or longer, which forces liquid out of the flesh.
What happens next is straightforward physics. The high salt concentration triggers osmosis: water moves out of the fish tissue while salt moves in. This moisture removal is the key to preservation, because bacteria and the enzymes that cause spoilage need water to function. As the flesh dries and absorbs salt, it becomes inhospitable to the microorganisms that would otherwise break it down. The result is a fillet that’s essentially saturated with salt at a cellular level.
After pressing, the anchovies continue to age in their salt-packed barrels, sometimes for six months or more. During this ripening period, enzymes naturally present in the fish slowly break down proteins into smaller compounds, including amino acids that create a deep, savory taste. This protein breakdown is why salted anchovies don’t just taste salty. They taste intensely savory, with a complexity that goes well beyond what salt alone provides. The process is essentially controlled decomposition, guided by salt and time.
Why They’re So Much Saltier Than Other Canned Fish
A 100-gram serving of canned anchovies packed in oil delivers roughly 153 percent of your recommended daily sodium intake. That’s an enormous amount of salt in a small package, and it dwarfs what you’d get from canned sardines or tuna, which go through much lighter processing. The difference comes down to method: sardines and tuna are cooked and sealed in cans with relatively little added salt, while anchovies are defined by their salt cure. The salt isn’t a seasoning. It’s the entire preservation technique.
This is also why a single anchovy fillet can season an entire pot of pasta sauce. You’re not just adding fish flavor. You’re adding concentrated salt along with the savory amino acids created during months of enzymatic ripening. Those compounds dissolve into whatever you’re cooking, boosting the overall depth of flavor in a way that plain table salt can’t replicate.
Reducing the Saltiness
If you find anchovies too salty to eat straight, soaking them in cold water or milk for 15 to 30 minutes pulls out a significant portion of the surface salt without stripping the underlying flavor. Milk works particularly well because its fat and proteins mellow the sharpness while leaving the savory character intact. Many Italian cooks routinely rinse salt-packed anchovies before using them, treating the initial saltiness as a preservative to be partially washed away rather than a final seasoning.
Oil-packed anchovies from a tin tend to be somewhat less salty than the salt-packed variety sold in larger containers, because they’ve already been rinsed and filleted before packing. If you’re new to cooking with anchovies, oil-packed fillets are the more approachable starting point. Either way, a little goes a long way. One or two fillets, chopped and melted into a warm pan of olive oil, can transform a simple vegetable dish without making it taste fishy or overwhelmingly salty.