While we love boutique cans and jars of tuna imported from Italy, Spain and Portugal, their prohibitive pricing makes them feel like a real splurge. This Pacific albacore tuna is caught and canned often within the span of a day, so its freshness rivals the European quality but at a much lower price point. Unlike supermarket tuna, which can be mealy or soggy, CS Fishery's product is wonderfully dense and flaky—you can tell this is tuna meat. The fresh, mild and meaty fish is packed in olive oil and seasoned with Jacobsen sea salt, made from the same waters from which the fish are caught. This is premium American tuna—with a clear supply chain—at a reasonable price.

Olasagasti catches their yellowfin tuna in the Cantabrian Sea, the abundant cold waters off the north coast of Spain. Fresh-tasting and lightly salted, this oil-packed tuna is a far cry from your average mealy supermarket canned tuna. These cans include only the prized ventresca, or tuna belly—an extremely moist and flavorful cut that’s tender with just the right amount of fat. In fact, our kitchen team found the texture of this canned tuna one of the best they’ve tried. Try it in our Niçoise-Style Tuna Sandwiches; Spanish-Style Tuna Salad; Deviled Eggs with Tuna, Olives and Capers; or Snap Pea and Radish Salad with Olive Oil Tuna.

These spicy anchovies from Italy match a deep umami and oceanic tang with a bright chili finish. We melt them into our favorite marinara sauce, whisk them into dressings for broccoli, cauliflower or Brussels sprouts and blend them with tomatoes, herbs and extra-virgin olive oil for a quick bruschetta topping. Try smashing into softened butter with fresh thyme to put on salmon or our favorite combo, lamb chops.

This tinned tuna is nearly a meal in itself. Packed fresh in molho cru sauce, a mizture of onion, garlic, pepper and herbs that is reminiscent of chimichurri, these solid skipjack tuna fillets are bursting with flavor. All of Santa Catarina’s award-winning tuna is sustainably pole- and line-caught off the Azores island of São Jorge, part of a carefully Portuguese archipelago in the North Atlantic. Smooth-tasting, light and well seasoned, this tuna is far more elevated than anything you’ll find in the grocery store. You may even want to reserve any leftover sauce to use for other dishes. Add tuna to bread, crackers or a salad. Or simply enjoy it straight from the can.

Sustainably line-caught in the wild, this salmon is much more deeply flavored that farm-raised Atlantic salmon. Coho is known for its richness and drier texture, which holds up well during the canning process unlike others that go mealy. Plus, it’s much less fishy than other grocery store brands we’ve tried. The taste is delicate—complimented by seasonings like garlic, onion and white pepper that don’t overwhelm the salmon, but rather coax out its natural flavor. A nice kick of salt makes it tasty enough to stand alone atop a cracker, while the succulent chunks of fish can stand up to being incorporated into various dishes as well.

Also known as “red salmon,” sockeye is much more dense that typical Atlantic salmon, with a richer, deeper salmon flavor. It also has the firmest texture of all Pacific salmon, so it can stand up to use in any dish. We especially love this smoked one, which is sustainably-line caught in the wild waters of Alaska. Packed in thick, coral-red strips, its texture is immaculate—not mushy like other canned fish—and its taste is a blend of the rich fish, a good hit of brine and a sweet, pronounced touch of smoke from a natural wood-smoking process.

While tinned fish isn’t hard to come by, tinned scallops aren’t often found in the grocery store—let alone high-quality ones. So we were excited to taste Ramón Peña’s small scallops packed in a traditional Galician sauce, which our kitchen team described as the “gnocchi of the sea” based on their pillowy and tender texture. They’re caught in the Atlantic off the northwest coast of Spain and packed by hand. With a clean flavor, they’re enveloped in a bold, tomatoey sauce made with wine and spices. Add to salads, soups, pastas or just eat them on their own for complex, clean flavor and incomparable texture.

Even skeptics of tinned fish won’t be able to resist this fish: Caught fresh in the Northeast Atlantic, Jose Gourmet’s cod is prepared simply with only high-quality olive oil and garlic. With a clean, lightly salty cod flavor, buttery from the olive oil, not too fishy and just a hint acidic, this firmly textured fish is by far the mildest we’ve tried. Snack on it plain, eat it with crackers, use it to top our Pour-in-the-Pan-Pizza, mix it into our Greens with Walnuts, Parmesan and Pancetta Vinaigrette, toss it into our Fennel, Tomato and Parsley Salad or add it to our Pasta with Artichokes and Olives.

Line caught around the Azores, a carefully managed group of Portuguese islands in the North Atlantic, Tenorio’s Tuna Fillets in Olive Oil are nothing like the canned tuna you’re used to. Tender and moist, this tuna is cut into large pieces before being packed in buttery extra virgin olive oil. Lightly salted with a briny, clean fish flavor, each tender cut is just as good on its own as it is added to a salad or sandwich. Established in 1880, Tenorio sustainably fishes all of their skipjack tuna and is committed to maintaining a healthy ocean wildlife population.

Owned by one of the oldest fish canning companies in Portugal, the Minerva brand has been around since 1942. The company uses only fresh sardines, caught daily on the Portuguese coast, for their Skinless and Boneless Sardines in Olive Oil. Steamed before being packed in extra virgin olive oil, these sardines are mild in flavor with none of the harsh fishiness or oiliness that other brands usually have. But what really sets them apart—besides fresh, clean flavor—is the fact that they’re boneless and skinless. They’re great for cooks in need of convenient protein in the pantry—and their lack of bones and skin make them much more approachable to those less adventurous about tinned fish.

Though sardines are often overly fishy and salty, we loved the bold but not abrasive flavor of Jose Gourmet’s Sardines in Tomato Sauce, which are well balanced by a slightly sweet, slightly acidic tomato sauce. Caught and packed fresh from the North Atlantic and the Mediterranean, they are a sustainable and quick way to add some extra protein into your meal. Add them to pasta and salads (plus a little of their sauce), or grill or fry them up with a squeeze of lemon or clove of garlic for a delicious briny bite.

Prepared with wild mackerel caught fresh daily off the Portuguese coast, Conservas Santos’ Mackerel Fillets in Mustard Sauce are a tangy twist on a favorite tinned fish. Each beautiful fillet is perfectly preserved, moist and sweet, in part thanks to the tangy and slightly acidic mustard sauce that balances the richness of the fish. Plus, it’s made without dyes or preservatives. Eat it straight out of the tin for a quick snack or add to a crostini for an easy and satisfying appetizer.

The cleaner, Scandinavian answer to sardines, these brisling are exceptional and a great addition to any pantry. They’re sustainably caught, lightly salted and then packed in a pleasant neutral oil—yielding a balanced taste. We found the fish supremely firm and flavorful. A light blend of allspice and cloves offers a layer of aromatic complexity.

The cleaner, Scandinavian answer to sardines, these brisling are exceptional and a great addition to any pantry. They’re sustainably caught, lightly salted and then packed in a pleasant neutral oil—yielding a balanced taste. We found the fish supremely firm and flavorful. A light smoky flavor comes through, but does not overwhelm.