Grilled oysters with garlic butter.

Shucked oysters topped with a garlicky herb butter and served with lemon wedges. This is a savory, briny and insanely delicious appetizer. It’s also a great way to serve oysters to oyster novices as well as those who are not ready to make the jump into the world of raw oysters.

An overhead image of grilled oysters

Grilled oysters are fantastic – smoky, briny and buttery.

Oysters are tasty any way you serve them – raw, roasted, fried – and, the most fun, grilled. We like grilling oysters so much that we bought a pan just for grilling oysters with little individual bowls for the oysters. This pan also makes grilling oysters easier because you don’t need to put them directly on the grill, which sometimes results in some of the oyster liquor to spill out. We got ours on Sur la Table.

If you don’t have a grill pan, you have a few options:

  • place them carefully directly on the grates, cup side down
  • place them in a grill safe cast-iron skillet
  • crumble up a piece of tin-foil, stretch it back out and nestle the oysters into the foil

An overhead image of oysters

INGREDIENTS YOU NEED FOR THESE GRILLED OYSTERS

  • unsalted butter
  • fresh basil
  • fresh parsley
  • garlic
  • dry white wine
  • lemon zest
  • freshly ground black pepper
  • oysters
  • lemon wedges
And if you love these grilled oysters with garlic butter, don’t miss these Surf and Turf Oysters – a fun spin on a classic!

INSTRUCTIONS

  • First, you’ll scrub and shuck a dozen oysters. The oysters pictured here are Wellfleet oysters from Wellfleet, MA on Cape Cod. To scrub an oyster, grab a vegetable brush and scrub the oysters under running water to remove any grime. Don’t know how to shuck an oyster? Watch this short Instagram video tutorial on how to shuck an oyster. Don’t forget, after you remove the top shell, you’ll need to slide your knife underneath the oyster meat to sever the muscle from the bottom shell.

An image of a shucked oyster

An overhead image of shucked oysters in a grill pan

  • Then, you’ll make an easy compound butter with butter, basil, parsley, garlic, white wine, lemon zest and black pepper.

Ingredients for a compound butter

An overhead image of a garlic herb butter for oysters

  • You’ll add about 1/2 teaspoon of garlic butter to each shucked oyster then grill for 6-8 minutes until bubbly and the oysters curl inward. Then, you’ll serve the oysters with lemon wedges.

MORE GREAT GRILLED SEAFOOD RECIPES TO TRY

An overhead image of grilled oysters

Grilled oysters with garlic butter

Jenny Shea Rawn
Shucked oysters topped with a garlicky herb butter and served with lemon wedges. This is a savory, briny and insanely delicious appetizer. It’s also a great way to serve oysters to oyster novices as well as those who are not ready to make the jump into the world of raw oysters.
Total Time 10 minutes
Course Appetizer
Cuisine American
Servings 4
Calories 228 kcal

Ingredients
  

  • 1 stick unsalted butter softened
  • 1/2 cup basil loosely packed, basil leaves, roughly chopped
  • 1/4 cup parsley loosely packed, leaves only, roughly chopped
  • 2 cloves garlic finely minced
  • 1 tablespoon dry white wine
  • 1 lemon zest of
  • 1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
  • 12 oysters scrubbed and shucked

For serving

  • 1 lemon cut into wedges

Instructions
 

  • Preheat grill to high heat. Combine butter, herbs, garlic, wine, lemon zest, black pepper in a small bowl. Add 1/2 tsp garlic butter to each shucked oyster. 
  • Grill (place oysters in an oyster grilling dish OR grill safe cast iron skillet OR directly on grill OR crumble up a piece of tin-foil, stretch it back out and nestle the oysters into the foil) for 6-8 minutes until bubbly and oysters curl inwards. 
  • Remove CAREFULLY from grill using grill or fire safe gloves. Serve with lemon wedges. 
  • Save leftover garlic butter for using on toasted bread from your favorite local bakery.

Nutrition

Calories: 228kcalCarbohydrates: 6gProtein: 1gFat: 23gSaturated Fat: 15gPolyunsaturated Fat: 1gMonounsaturated Fat: 6gTrans Fat: 1gCholesterol: 62mgSodium: 10mgPotassium: 128mgFiber: 2gSugar: 1gVitamin A: 1195IUVitamin C: 35mgCalcium: 37mgIron: 1mg
Keyword Grilled Oysters with Garlic Butter
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 A recipe for grilled oysters with garlic butter