Background As time progresses, people’s demand for healthy food continues to rise. Anchovy, a nutritious and high-yield fish, shows great potential for being processed into healthy, low-oil snack foods.

Objective In this paper, a healthy and less oily anchovy marinated food was developed by using the production process of brining first and air fried instead of traditional frying, and also for the anchovy processing industry to provide a new parameter

Methods The basic nutrient composition and amino acid content of anchovy were analyzed. A single-factor experiment and an orthogonal test were conducted to optimize the processing techniques for brining and air-frying anchovy, aiming to develop low-oil snack food products. Sensory evaluation was used as an indicator to assess the texture of the products.

Results The results indicated that anchovy is a type of fish characterized by high protein content and low fat, abundant in essential amino acids (EAAs) and featuring a high concentration of fresh, sweet amino acids. This makes it a raw material of significant nutritional and processing value. The optimal processing formulation was determined through single-factor experiments and orthogonal tests: the liquid-to-material ratio was set at 1∶6, the cooking time was 5 minutes, the air frying temperature was 190 °C, and the frying duration was 11 minutes. Under these conditions, the sensory score of the low-oil snack food reached 90.33, with a hardness value of 694.29 g, elasticity of 0.83, masticity of 278.63 g, and shear force of 1 618.53 g. This results in a nutritious and delicious chewy low-oil snack food.

Conclusion The research provides technical support for anchovy processing and development of high quality aquatic products.