Oyster Stew Recipe
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This delicious fresh Oyster Stew recipe is full of flavor and an easy recipe to make! It’s a family favorite that is ready in minutes!
This oyster stew recipe is a family classic. My granddaddy loved it more than any other dish on a cold winter day.
I always looked forward to the days my grandmother would make her recipe because it was a favorite of mine, too. I would watch as she prepared the stew. She always made cooking look so easy! And this oyster stew is definitely a simple recipe my family has enjoyed for years.
Oyster Stew Recipe
This recipe makes the best oyster stew I’ve ever had. And I love that this is so easy to make on any cold night when the craving hits! There’s nothing like the deliciously rich seafood flavor of the oysters and the creaminess of the onions and milk from this stew! It is so comforting, satisfying and is ready in minutes.
The best oysters for this oyster stew are fresh. As in, the fresher, the better. But, if I have a craving for this stew and am nowhere near fresh oysters, I have found that the seafood section of my grocery store usually has a very good selection of oysters that work perfectly.
How to Make Fresh Oyster Stew
Ingredients
Be sure to see the recipe card below for the full listing of ingredients, instructions, notes, and estimated nutritional information.
- fresh oysters – pint packed in their juice
- butter
- yellow onion – chopped
- whole milk
- half-and-half
- salt and pepper – use to taste
Step by Step Instructions
Prep. Drain juice from the pint of fresh oysters into a small bowl and set aside for later use. Do not discard the juice, or “oyster liquor”.
Melt butter. Add butter to a large saucepan and melt over medium-low heat until completely melted.
Cook onion. Add chopped onions to melted butter and cook until translucent and tender, about 8-10 minutes.
Cook liquids. Stir in your reserved juices, or oyster liquor, and cook until reduced mostly reduced, about 10 minutes. Then add in the milk and half-and-half and heat to simmer. Do not let the liquids reach a boil as this will cause your milk to curdle.
Add oysters. Now stir in the fresh oysters and allow to simmer until the edges of the oysters begin to curl, about 8 minutes.
Remove from heat. Once edges of oysters have started to curl, removed the oyster stew from the heat. Allow to cool slightly.
Season and serve. Then, stir in salt and pepper to taste and serve with crackers.
Other Favorite Stews and Soups
There’s nothing like a delicious soup or stew when you want a comfort food, especially on a chilly day! Here are a few more of our family favorites you may want to try as well.
Southern Chicken and Dumplings
Here’s my Grandmother’s Oyster Stew Recipe. Hope you like it as much my Granddaddy and I always have.
Oyster Stew Recipe
Ingredients
- 1 pint oysters,, fresh, packed in their juice
- 3 tablespoons butter
- 1 sweet onion, chopped
- 3 cups whole milk
- 1 cup half-and-half
- salt and pepper, to taste
Instructions
- Drain juice from oysters into small bowl. Set aside.
- Add butter to large saucepan. Heat on medium-low heat until melted.
- Add chopped onions and cook until translucent and tender, about 8 to 10 minutes.
- Add oyster liquor and cook until mostly reduced, about 10 minutes.
- Stir in milk and half-and-half and heat to simmer. Do not allow to boil as it will cause your milk to curdle.
- Add oysters and continue on simmer until outer edges of oysters curl, about 8 minutes.
- Remove from the heat, allow to cool slightly, and add salt and black pepper, to taste.
- Serve with mini saltines or oyster crackers.
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
Enjoy!
Robyn xo
Super easy, and delicious! Thank you!
You gal’s have whipped up an absolute winner here! 🏆 Added a bit of locally made clam paste stock for extra ocean salination and can’t keep my spoon out of the pot. (live alone) I have achieved absolute Oyster Stew Glory!!
That is awesome, Elizabeth!
Robyn, I wanted to add, that your recipe and my Mom’s were almost exact except for the roux….Thanks so much for sharing it with everyone….You sound like an amazing cook and I will be checking out your other recipes…Pat : )
I hope you find many recipes on here that you love. You may even find more like your mother or grandmother made.
This was so good, but I combined it with the recipe my Mom always used…We are Southern and in our neck of the woods…we melted the butter, added the diced onions, sauteed them for a few minutes, then added about 2 tablespoons of flour to them to create a roux….stirring until the flour was golden, add salt and pepper, sprinkle of paprika, touch of cayenne, stir…then add 2 cups milk and 1 cup heavy cream…..or half and half, and the oyster liquid…Stir everything together and bring that to almost steaming then add the oysters. Cook until oysters begin to curl…. The roux adds a little body to the stew, and it is amazing! My Mom has been gone several years, and each time I make this stew….I can feel her presence. Enjoy!
Thanks for the tip. Making our mother’s recipes always brings back such sweet memories, doesn’t it?
I’m planning to cook oyster stew for the first time because my late mother loved it so much, as did I.
You’re recipe looks more practical for my taste, leaving out the celery because I don’t like celery except plain with ranch dip.
So this recipe is the one I’ll choose as I attempt to cook this delicious winter soup. Wish me luck!
I am going to short cut this a bit by using dehydrated minced onions. I’ll rehydrate in the oyster liquor, then drain reserving the juice, add to the butter for a couple of minutes and then proceed. Don’t have anything close to minced fresh onion here, and I don’t want to run out on Black Friday to get one. Our anniversary today, and husband loves this, so that will be our first course.
Happy Anniversary, Marilyn!
If using canned oysters,do you use the juice in the can?
Rhonda, I reserve the liquid in the can and then add at the same time as listed in the recipe. Hope you enjoy!
Excellence on the cheap .I even used canned oysters
Yup, it appears canned oysters are almost as good as fresh.
My mother used whole milk and the oysters had small crabs in the quart of oysters, plenty small new .
I made this for Memorial weekend Sunday Brunch today and it was wonderful. Followed your recipe exactly and glad I did. My husband and I loved the softness of the oysters and the very tasty onions. Thanks for sharing your technique of reserving the oyster liquid and sautéing the onions it in. I had always just dumped the whole container of oysters in the soup at once and our oysters always seem tougher because of it.
I’m so happy you and your husband loved the oyster stew, Margaret. This has been a family favorite for years.
I can’t find “pints” of fresh oysters anywhere. Can I use fresh oysters on the half shell? Will I miss out on the juices?
Kristen Ann, save all the juice out of the fresh oysters on the half shell and use that in this recipe.