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Fish Paste

Fish paste is finely ground or pounded fish used as a spread, seasoning, filling, or base for molded seafood products.

Fish Paste — illustrative ingredient image

About Fish Paste

Fish paste is a smooth or coarse preparation made by grinding, pounding, or otherwise mincing fish. It may contain salt, seasonings, water, starch, oil, or other recipe-specific ingredients, and can be made from raw, cooked, dried, or fermented fish. It is used as a spread, seasoning, filling, stuffing, soup base, or mixture for molded seafood products.

Flavour and texture depend on the fish, formulation, and processing. The paste may be creamy, sticky, fibrous, or elastic, with a character ranging from relatively mild to more pronounced according to seasoning, drying, cooking, or fermentation. No single flavour or texture is implied by the general name.

Fish paste ranges from pale to darker tones and may be sold fresh, chilled, frozen, jarred, or packaged for further cooking. Some versions are shaped and cooked after mixing, while others are used directly as a condiment or cooking ingredient; preparation can change the paste’s firmness and texture.

Ingredient type
compound ingredient

Forms & related ingredients

  • Fishcontains · Fish Paste → Fish
  • Saltcontains · Fish Paste → Salt
  • Watercontains · Fish Paste → Water

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Where fish paste appears

3 linked foods

Find foods to recognise by country and type. Recipes and products vary; these are recorded ingredient connections.

Showing 1–3 of 3

Main dishes

Street food

Ingredient connections awaiting review · Coverage is still growing, including packaged snacks.

Name examples awaiting language review. Confirm the specific food or product.

Local names for fish paste

Names and romanised forms to recognise on menus and labels.

English

Fish Paste

English

fish paste (fried)

Search alias · Not a confirmed translation

English

fish paste (salted)

Search alias · Not a confirmed translation

English

fish paste (smoked)

Search alias · Not a confirmed translation

Available names only. Languages may be spoken in other countries; a name alone does not identify every ingredient in a dish.

Fish Paste nutrition & diet

Fish Paste nutritional value

Reference: Fish paste

Per 100 g of the edible portion of the stated reference food.

Calories
170kcal
Protein
15.3g
Carbs
3.7g
Fat
10.5g

Reference example for the named food and preparation, per 100 g edible portion. This is not a universal value for every recipe or brand; packaged products should be compared with their own label. CoFID 2021 food code 16-450. Carbohydrate follows the dataset’s available-carbohydrate convention. Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0: https://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/doc/open-government-licence/version/3/.

Portions & preparation

Identify the fish species, degree of grinding, salt or fermentation, and whether the paste is raw, cooked, dried, spreadable, or formed into another product. Match the paste itself rather than a finished fish ball, filling, sauce, or seasoned dish.

Compare the right form: Match the specified species and paste form—fresh, seasoned, fermented, dried, or cooked—with recipe additions and intended edible portion documented.

Diet considerations

Fish paste is animal-derived, but processing and recipe composition determine compatibility. Salt, starch, cereal ingredients, egg, dairy, meat, sugar, and frying may be added. A plain paste differs from molded products, spreads, fillings, or sauces, whose portion-dependent carbohydrate pattern comes from the complete recipe.

AI-authored reading notes · Awaiting editorial review. Measured values, where available, have a separate source above.

Dietary compatibility

  • Vegan
    Typically incompatible
  • Vegetarian
    Typically incompatible
  • Pescatarian
    May be compatible
  • Keto
    Not established
  • Paleo
    Not established
  • Low-carb
    Not established
  • Halal
    Not established
  • Kosher
    Not established
What these diet assessments mean
Vegan · Typically incompatible
Recorded common ingredients: Fish. The ingredient profile identifies an animal-derived food or derivative. Recipes and products can differ.
Vegetarian · Typically incompatible
Recorded common ingredients: Fish. The profile identifies animal flesh, seafood or a derivative excluded by a vegetarian diet. Recipes and products can differ.
Pescatarian · May be compatible
The recorded ingredients may fit this pattern. This is not a complete recipe or manufacturing specification; check additions and preparation.
Keto · Not established
A defined serving and sourced carbohydrate data are needed before assessing this dietary pattern.
Paleo · Not established
The ingredient form and processing have not been assessed against this dietary pattern.
Low-carb · Not established
A defined serving and sourced carbohydrate data are needed before assessing this dietary pattern.
Halal · Not established
Sourcing, processing and any applicable certification have not been verified. A food name alone does not establish halal status.
Kosher · Not established
Sourcing, processing and any applicable certification have not been verified. A food name alone does not establish kosher status.

For the plain ingredient · Awaiting review. Diet compatibility is not allergy suitability or halal/kosher certification. Keto and low-carb depend on the portion.

Reviewed ingredient entryIngredient reference · Preparations vary

AI-generated illustration for visual context. It does not identify a particular product or establish allergen content.

Sources & review

Nutrition reference: UK Composition of Foods Integrated Dataset (CoFID), 2021 — Fish paste ↗. Values are scaled from 100 g of the recorded edible form. Individual portions have no assumed fixed weight.

Expanded overview, name examples and nutrition notes are database drafts awaiting editorial review. Numeric nutrition values, where shown, have their own source and food-form reference.

The ingredient description and dish connections come from the draft catalogue and may change after review.

Last recorded verification: .