Ingredients Seafood Shellfish Oysters 25 of Our Favorite Oyster Recipes By Food & Wine Editors Updated on January 5, 2022 Share Tweet Pin Email Trending Videos Photo: Photo by Andrew Bui / Food Styling by Max Rappaport We believe it isn't a celebration without oysters, and these oyster recipes are destined to shine on your table throughout the year—not just in months ending in "r". Oysters are spectacular when served on the half-shell with a squeeze of citrus, but also make the meal when grilled, fried, stirred into soup like this Smoky Oyster Chowder with Bacon, Rosemary and Fennel or even straight from a can, like in these Smoked Oyster Empanadas. We've got loads of ways to cook and serve one of the world's most luxurious delicacies; scroll on to find new oyster recipes to celebrate our favorite mollusk. 01 of 25 Poached Oysters with Pickled Cucumber and Caviar © John Kernick At The Sportsman in England, chef Stephen Harris celebrates the restaurant's close proximity to the beach and some of the best oyster beds in the country. Here he poaches the oysters in their own liquor before putting them back in the shells and topping with creamy beurre blanc, tangy pickled cucumber and briny caviar. Get the Recipe 02 of 25 Oysters Rocafella Mario Carbone tops the oysters with a tangy vinegar-shallot mignonette, plus a Champagne-infused foam and frozen Champagne grapes. Get the Recipe 03 of 25 Oysters on the Half Shell with Rosé Mignonette © Michael Turek Great oysters are delicious "naked," as Island Creek founder Skip Bennett says, but sometimes chef Jeremy Sewall dresses them up with a mignonette (vinegar sauce) like this one, made with sparkling rosé. Get the Recipe 04 of 25 Grilled Oysters with Spicy Tarragon Butter © Ngoc Minh Ngo Bobby Flay tops his oysters with a blend of butter, tarragon and hot sauce, then returns them to the grill so the butter melts into little pools in the shells. Get the Recipe 05 of 25 Light and Creamy Oyster Chowder with Salsify © Maura McEvoy This light but intensely oystery soup was inspired by a recipe from Joanne Hendricks. Salsify is a root vegetable shaped like a skinny parsnip; it has blackish skin with white flesh and tastes a little like artichoke hearts. If you have trouble finding it, you can substitute Jerusalem artichokes (sunchokes) or, as a last resort, the pedestrian potato. Get the Recipe 06 of 25 Shrimp-and-Smoked-Oyster Chowder © John Kernick There are several tricks to this terrific chowder from Linton Hopkins of Holeman and Finch Public House in Asheville. He adds potato chunks to the broth for thickness, then pours in a little naturally low-fat buttermilk for creamy tanginess. And instead of fatty bacon, he uses smoked oysters to give the chowder a slightly woodsy flavor. Get the Recipe 07 of 25 Andouille, Crab and Oyster Gumbo © Con Poulos This sensational seafood-packed gumbo comes from TV personality and F&W contributor Andrew Zimmern. It's terrific in its simplicity, with a foolproof roux (the mix of fat and flour that is the basis for all gumbos) that requires just 15 minutes of stirring instead of the usual hour. Get the Recipe 08 of 25 Grilled Oysters with Chorizo Butter No shucking necessary: Once the oysters open on the grill, simply top them with David Kinch's smoky, tangy butter. Get the Recipe 09 of 25 Oyster & Crab Pan Roast This is Bryant Ng's twist on a classic seafood pan roast. "I thought, Why not do a soup with oysters?" In place of the usual heavy cream, he enriches the broth with fragrant coconut milk. Get the Recipe 10 of 25 Montauk Scallop and Oyster Pan Roast "In larger portions, it's a meal-in-a-bowl dinner that your whole family will love. For parties, I make a large batch and serve it out of coffee mugs."—Andrew Zimmern Get the Recipe 11 of 25 Smoky Oyster Chowder with Bacon, Rosemary and Fennel © MARCUS NILSSON This velvety chowder from chef Dylan Fultineer is thickened with a classic flour-and-butter roux. He packs it with plump oysters and tender fingerling potatoes, and adds a kick of heat from dried red chiles. For extra flavor, he uses bacon from Benton's Smoky Mountain Country Hams in Tennessee, which is famous for its intense smokiness. Get the Recipe 12 of 25 Oyster Tartare Sauce with Potato Chips This ingenious, briny sauce couldn't be simpler: Chef René Redzepi purees raw oysters with a little of their liquor, plus rice vinegar and oil. He adds diced blanched vegetables for texture, then serves the dip with potato chips. Get the Recipe 13 of 25 Clam-and-Oyster Pan Roast © Christina Holmes This brothy, aromatic seafood dish from chef Vivian Howard of Chef & the Farmer in Kinston, North Carolina, weaves steamed clams with traditional New Orleans creamed oysters. It's hearty but not heavy, and the winter greens make it a full meal. Crusty bread is a must for sopping up the coveted broth. Get the Recipe 14 of 25 Lettuce Wraps with Dried Oysters © DL Acken "The Chinese love to play on the sound of the words, and the sound of the word 'oyster' is similar to the term 'good business,'" says cookbook author Kei Lum Chan. "So an oyster dish is popular to start Chinese New Year." Get the Recipe 15 of 25 Grilled Oysters with Bacon Vinaigrette Christopher Testani If you already have your grill heating up for your main course, these oysters are an impressive and super simple starter. Top Chef winner Brooke Williamson cooks the oysters ever so slightly on the grill to give them just a kiss of smoke. "It firms up the flesh just enough so it feels like you're eating shellfish," she says. Get the Recipe 16 of 25 Barbecued Oysters with Smoky Uni Butter Photo by Andrew Bui / Food Styling by Max Rappaport Briny uni and acidic lemon combined with smoky paprika and rich butter make an extraordinary flavored butter to top oysters before roasting. If shucking oysters isn't your thing, ask your fishmonger to do the job for you. Get the Recipe 17 of 25 Oyster Casserole with Cracker Crumbs Photo by Noah Fecks / Food Styling by Drew Aichele / Prop Styling by Ethan Lunkenheimer In this quick, simple recipe from Marion Cunningham's iconic "The Fannie Farmer Cookbook", tender and juicy oysters are drizzled with a bit of cream and hot sauce, then baked under a sumptuous, buttery crumb mixture for a bit of crunch. Serve this dish as an appetizer for a dinner party, or as a side dish with ham or turkey. For individual servings, the mixture can be divided among 4 ramekins instead of a large baking dish. Get the Recipe 18 of 25 Oyster Hush Puppies with Pepper Mojo © Madeleine Hill These briny, salty oyster hush puppies are delicious on their own, but Andrew Zimmern suggests serving them with lemon-herb mayo, hot sauces and a big bowl of pepper mojo for dipping. Get the Recipe 19 of 25 Steak Tartare with Smoked Oyster Aioli Greg DuPree For her Steak Tartare with Smoked Oyster Aioli, Best New Chef Kate Williams of Detroit's Lady of the House uses tender beef scraps rescued from butchering rib eye steaks. Dark green leek tops, often discarded, become the base of her punchy gremolata. The smoked oyster aïoli adds brightness, and just takes a minute to come together in a blender. Tartare calls for the best-quality meat; you'll eat it raw, so go for the good stuff—rib eye or flatiron is a nice way to go. To get a perfectly diced steak for tartare, freeze the beef until it is just firm, about 15 minutes, before cutting. Get the Recipe 20 of 25 Halibut with Smoked Oyster Sauce Paola + Murray At Mister Jiu's in San Francisco, chef Brandon Jew serves this delicate-looking, snow-white halibut in a golden broth. But the dish gets soul-deep funk from kombu, fermented black beans, smoked oysters, and oyster sauce. Get the Recipe 21 of 25 Citrus-Pickled Oysters on Toast © Christina Holmes Chef Dylan Fultineer gently pickles oysters in warm Champagne vinegar and lime and lemon juices, so they're just barely cooked, retaining their creamy texture. He serves them as an appetizer on grilled bread, topped with bitter greens like radicchio. Get the Recipe 22 of 25 Oysters on the Half Shell with Ceviche Topping © Christina Holmes Dylan Fultineer is always dreaming up new ways to show off oysters. This is one of his favorite ways to serve them raw. Serrano chile and lime provide a pop of flavor which allows the vibrant and fresh cucumber, pear and cilantro to shine in the ceviche-inspired topping. Get the Recipe 23 of 25 Barely Grilled Oysters with Sherried Garlic Butter Jennifer Causey F&W's Ann Taylor Pittman prefers grilling oysters just until they are warmed, keeping the texture more in line with the buttery nature of raw oysters. In her kitchen, slathering them with garlic butter is mandatory. She says this version is insanely delicious because the garlic butter includes a good splash of sherry, which imparts nutty depth that takes the oysters over the top. Get the Recipe 24 of 25 Smoked Oyster Empanadas Abby Hocking Smoky, briny and buttery, these Smoked Oyster Empanadas from F&W's Culinary Director at Large Justin Chapple will make you a canned seafood convert. They're delicious straight from the can, but we love them with a dash of hot sauce alongside a flute of champagne. Get the Recipe 25 of 25 Taiwanese Oyster Omelet Antonis Achilleos Ruth Reichl discovered that this wonderful combination of flavors tastes even better made with small, freshly shucked oysters. If you want to save a little time, pick up some sweet chili sauce from your local Asian market. Or, follow her recipe, which makes more than what you need for these omelets, but it keeps for months in the refrigerator. Get the Recipe Was this page helpful? Thanks for your feedback! Tell us why! Other Submit