[4] The principal ingredients are olive oil, onions, pasta, and a finely chopped mixture of sardines and anchovy.

Various types of pasta are used for the dish, but bucatini is traditional.

Wild fennel, saffron, pine nuts, raisins, and salt are added to flavor the dish.

Cookbook author Pino Correnti argues that the tomato-less recipe published in 1886 by the folklorist Giuseppe Pitrè is the only authentic version.

[4] In an interview with CNN's Piers Morgan, justice of the Supreme Court of the United States Antonin Scalia stated, in response to his interviewer's query, that pasta con le sarde is his favorite pasta dish.