Butter-Fried Oysters Recipe (2024)

Made June 3, 2016 with half live oil and half butter in the pan. Tasted fab as an open face po'boy on ciabatta with watercress and horseradish dressing.

Clarified butter is wonderful thing to have on hand in a jar in the refrigerator next to the duck fat, leaf lard, and bacon drippings. It will keep the longest if you are careful to skim the foam from the top and steadily pour the clear fat from the milky juices and solids at the bottom.

These fried oysters are magnificent. To save time, buy ghee (clarified butter) at a natural foods store.

I suppose this is better with bread crumbs, but I use panco instead. Delicious!

This is one of my favorite ways to do oysters. This is how we did them on the open kitchen line at Pacific Cafe in San Fran many years ago, except in a shallow 10 inch carbon steel pan with about a 1/2 inch of olive oil. Yummy!

There are two potential shortcuts: ghee vs. clarified butter and panko vs. the French breadcrumbs. Having tried taken both shortcuts and one and the other vs following the recipe exactly; the recipe as written is the best. To split the difference, I’d say the clarified butter is more important to retain. The panko yields a different mouth feel and chew than the French bread breadcrumbs, but is almost as good. An aioli with finely chopped capers, some lemon and crushed Aleppo chili is nice.

You can buy clarified butter or ghee at specialty stores (Trader Joe's) or markets with good international sections. It actually stores without refrigeration.

Great recipe! They had a perfect texture and crunch, thanks to the French bread crumbs. I added a good sprinkle of Espelette to the flour for some gentle heat. Was in a hurry and had no time to clarify butter, so used half olive oil and half unsalted butter instead. Just barely halfway up the oysters while frying. This will go into my rotation.

Thank you for sharing this outstanding recipe! Made our own clarified butter (leftover is always good to have handy). Much better, richer flavor with the butter fry vs olive or other oil. We added a T. Semolina to the flour in one batch and cornmeal to the flour in another. Cornmeal resulted in lighter color and crisped up more. Both were fantastic atop Caesar salad with a chilled bottle of Chateneauf du Pape Blanc.

Thank you T from Boston!! It’s always helpful to see folks that change and those that follow the recipe .. different perspectives..but having both is the best of all worlds!

Made these as po’boys for lunch today. If the sandwich was not already sublime, about 4 bites in I found a little pearl!

Fabulous. Minor changes included crisp frying shallot slices in the butter first to add some flavor. Used garlic powder in flour mixture. Served on top of chopped salad, with squeeze of lemon.

There are two potential shortcuts: ghee vs. clarified butter and panko vs. the French breadcrumbs. Having tried taken both shortcuts and one and the other vs following the recipe exactly; the recipe as written is the best. To split the difference, I’d say the clarified butter is more important to retain. The panko yields a different mouth feel and chew than the French bread breadcrumbs, but is almost as good. An aioli with finely chopped capers, some lemon and crushed Aleppo chili is nice.

I mixed standard flour with 1/4 amount of cornflour. I would just buy ghee. I dried oysters on paper towels. Leave oyster in egg to coat well. I used good quality Panko breadcrumbs rather than making my own. Let the floured oI refrigerated the prepared oysters for a bit before cooking. I started cooking once it reached (and exceeded 350F a bit). I kept the temperature about that by adding more oysters and rotating out cooked oysters.

The best, with ghee or your own clarified butter. Toss dried oysters with highly seasoned flour in a paper bag, coat in egg, lay them on fresh breadcrumbs, sprinkle more crumbs on top, then fry. Yes, preparing the ingredients is essential, but easy, peasy. We've never had better or richer tasting oysters. Good with homemade tartare and co*cktail sauces too. We also made a version with gluten-free flour and panko in canola oil for someone with gluten and dairy allergies. Delish!

Used fresh breadcrumbs made in the food processor with wegman's Tuscan garlic bread - fresh is a must! Sauteed in butter and avocado oil - perfect! Seasoned the eggs with old bay. The fresh breadcrumbs prevent overcooking the oysters, 'cause they brown up nicely. Served with herb salad with my dressing - shallots, balsamic, huckleberry syrup, dijon, and olive oil, s&p. Perfect dinner.

I made these, but used ghee instead of clarifying my own butter and used Old-Bay seasoned panko bread crumbs. They turned out delicious, especially with a little lemon squeezed over them!

This is one of my favorite ways to do oysters. This is how we did them on the open kitchen line at Pacific Cafe in San Fran many years ago, except in a shallow 10 inch carbon steel pan with about a 1/2 inch of olive oil. Yummy!

The fried oysters were a big hit! I ran out of bread, so I used panko to save time. I served my fried oysters with a mixer of 3 Tbs mayo and 1 Tbs chipotle aioli. Keeping this in my recipe box for future reference.

Used Ghee because I had on hand before reading any of the notes. The oysters were perfection. Couldn’t have been happier.

That's a lot of clarified butter left in the pan. Can it be strained and reused like other cooking oils?

Thanks Sam for putting this in your suggestions! I’d forgotten about how really incredibly good these are! Thank goodness our fish store is still operating!