Quick Summary: A creamy Christmas Eve oyster stew built on bacon, sherry, and the oysters’ own liquor, finished with heavy cream and almond milk. It works with fresh or canned oysters and stays low carb if you skip the potato. Prep: 30 min | Cook: 1 hr | Serves: 10
Jump to: RECIPE | Why is this for Christmas Eve? | Step by Step Directions | Tips for Success | Fresh vs Canned | Best Dairy to use | Storing & Reheating | FAQ
Oyster stew is a classic Christmas Eve recipe, but it also serves as creamy comfort food that will get you through any cold evening. Fresh oysters are ideal for this soup, but canned oysters can work almost as well if fresh are not available.
This soup/stew recipe is made with a base of bacon and vegetables, slow-cooked with dry sherry and the oysters’ own liquor and then simmered with oysters, heavy whipping cream, and almond milk.
This post may contain affiliate links. As an Amazon Associate, I also earn from qualifying purchases. You can read our disclosure information here–
Why Oyster Stew on Christmas Eve?
Oyster stew is a Christmas Eve tradition across the Midwest and the East Coast, and the story most often told goes back to Irish Catholic immigrants. Christmas Eve was a meatless day, and the dried fish stew they made back home gave way to oysters, which were plentiful and cheap in 1800s America.
Once oysters could be shipped inland by rail, packed in ice, they became a holiday treat even far from the coast. Here in Minnesota where I live, I can only find fresh oysters in the grocery stores in November and December, and I’m sure it is because oyster stew for the holidays is still a strong tradition.
If you keep a meatless Christmas Eve, leave out the bacon and start the onions in 3 tablespoons of butter. For dessert, my steamed persimmon pudding with hard sauce keeps the old-fashioned holiday feel going.
Ingredients
Ingredients for the stew (including one potato):
Illustrated Step by Step
Here are the steps lined out with photos. For the details of the recipe itself, see the recipe card below.
Tips to Perfect Oyster Stew
The secret to good oyster stew is gentle heat, so the cream never boils and curdles. You can buy canned oyster stew in the soup aisle, but homemade isn’t hard, and it’s ten times better.
Tip: The main thing is to not curdle the milk.
Here are some keys to making a perfect stew:
- Use fresh oysters if possible (see below on when and where to get them); if you can’t find fresh, canned oysters are a fine alternative. No smoked oysters though if you want to stick with the traditional creamy stew. Smoked oysters have a pretty strong flavor.
- For a classic oyster stew with potatoes and bacon, add the one potato. It thickens the stew a bit, and even with it the stew stays fairly low carb.
- Be sure and reserve the juice that you drain from the oysters. This is called the oyster liquor and it adds a lot of flavor
- Oyster stew is typically mild in flavor. The herbs and spices you use are what will give it a lot of distinction. We used rosemary and Old Bay seasoning. Some people add some heat with a variety of chile spices and/or garlic.
- The most important thing is to take care not to curdle the dairy you use. We used heavy cream and almond milk and heated it over medium-low. Don’t leave the stove while the dairy is coming up to a simmer. You don’t want to let it boil as it will curdle and/or scorch the milk.
Fresh vs. Canned Oysters for Oyster Stew
Fresh oysters are “typically” best, but good ones can be difficult to find at certain times of the year.
There is an old rule that you should only buy oysters in months with an “R” in the name, which would include September through April.
In Minnesota, where I live, I am only able to find fresh oysters in the grocery stores in November and December. I think that is due to the popularity of oyster stew on Christmas Eve. We never see them outside of these two months.
The rationale behind the “R” month rule is steeped in debate of course. All of the reasons I have read about make some sense, however.
Here are a few of the most often repeated reasons for this rule:
- The origin of the month with the letter R resulted from the lack of adequate refrigeration in earlier times and the cool/cold weather inherent in those months was seen as a safety factor for keeping the oysters from spoilage.
- During warm months, algae blooms such as red tide can carry toxins that oysters absorb, and summer is also when oysters spawn. Red tide is closely monitored now and doesn’t show up every summer.
- A reason given in the Chesapeake Bay area is that the summer months are for crabbing. The same watermen are responsible for both oysters and blue crabs. Although these days many of both are raised in “farms” year-round or harvested from southern states thus blurring the season.
How to Make Oyster Stew with Canned Oysters
Use canned whole oysters packed in water, not smoked oysters. Drain them over a bowl and save all the liquid, since it stands in for the liquor you’d get from fresh oysters. Canned oysters are already cooked, so they only need to warm through in the hot stew at the end. Cooking them longer makes them rubbery.
For this recipe you’ll need about two 16-ounce cans (or 32 ounces total).
For more ways to cook oysters, scallops, and fish all winter, see my fish and seafood recipe collection.
What Milk Is Best for Oyster Stew?
I use a mix of heavy cream and almond milk. Heavy cream gives the stew some body but 6 cups of heavy cream would make the stew richer and thicker than I like, so I use 2 cups of heavy cream and 4 cups of almond milk.
Many types of cream or milk work in making oyster stew. Most of them are a matter of diet or taste preferences but the type of dairy you use may need some modifications to the recipe.
I have read recipes that use coconut milk, half and half, evaporated milk, 2% milk, and low-fat milk. The main thing to be aware of is that exclusively using a low fat dairy product will make for a thin soup.
If you want it thicker and are not on a low-carb diet, don’t boil it longer but rather add potatoes, cornstarch or a flour roux.
Tip: Boiling it longer to try and thicken may end up just curdling or scorching the milk you are using.
Speaking of curdling, make sure and cook the dairy over low heat. Enzymes in the oysters will make milk curdle faster if the temperature is too high.
For a dairy-free oyster stew, use all unsweetened almond milk or coconut milk, and swap the butter for olive oil. Keep the potato in for body, since dairy-free milks make a thinner stew. I haven’t tested this version, so treat it as a starting point.
How to Store and Reheat Oyster Stew
Most soup recipes (including this one) are made in a large pot and there are often leftovers. Just make sure the leftover stew is kept refrigerated and then reheat slowly over medium-low heat and it’s even better the next day. It should last 2-3 days if kept refrigerated.
I wouldn’t freeze oyster stew after it is made, as the milk products would separate.
If you find fresh oysters, however, you can freeze the shucked oysters alone for up to 6 weeks.
I found some great fresh oysters at Costco in November, but they were gone in a flash. Grab some when you find them fresh and at a good price so you can freeze them and enjoy them after Christmas Eve is long gone but the weather is still cold.
Other Great Cold Weather Recipes
Here are a few of my favorite recipes for cold-weather cooking:
- Pork Posole in a Crockpot
- Pheasant Normandy Stew with Apples and Cream
- Moroccan Beef and Sweet Potato Stew
- Low Carb Bouillabaisse
- Low Carb French Bouillabaisse Stew
FAQ
Yes. Use canned whole oysters packed in water, not smoked, and save the liquid when you drain them. Since canned oysters are already cooked, they only need to heat through at the end.
The classic version is just oysters and their liquor, butter, milk or cream, salt, and pepper, served with oyster crackers. Mine builds on that with bacon, onion, celery, carrots, rosemary, Old Bay, and a splash of dry sherry, so it eats more like a chowder.
It’s low carb, at about 11 grams of carbs per serving with the potato [Dorothy: update after the nutrition fix below]. For keto, leave out the potato and cut the carrots in half. Oysters carry a few grams of carbs per serving, more than most seafood, because they store energy as glycogen, so count them in your total.
Not as written. Slow carb rules cut dairy and potatoes, and this stew has cream, butter, and an optional potato. For a slow carb version, use unsweetened almond milk in place of the cream, swap the butter for olive oil, and add a can of drained white beans for body. I haven’t tested that version, so treat it as a starting point. Check my slow carb food list for what’s allowed.
Fresh oysters are done when they plump up and their edges curl, about 5 minutes in the hot stew, or when they reach 145°F. Keep the stew at a gentle simmer, just below a boil, so the oysters cook through without curdling the cream.
Christmas Eve Oyster Stew (Low Carb)
Equipment
- Strainer
- large bowl
Ingredients
- 32 ounces shucked oysters with their liquor fresh or canned, not smoked
- ½ pound bacon diced
- 1 onion chopped
- 2 cloves minced garlic Optional
- 2 -3 sprigs fresh rosemary about 4” sprigs, needles removed from stem and minced
- 1-2 tablespoons Old Bay seasoning
- 3 bay leaves
- 1 large russet potato optional; Scrubbed, and then chopped coarsely with skin on.
- 3-4 stalks celery Diced
- 6 ounces diced baby carrots about 1 1/4 cups
- ½ cup dry sherry extra dry
- ½ cup water
- 1 ½ cups heavy whipping cream
- 2 cups almond milk
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1 teaspoon ground pepper
- 3-5 tablespoons butter
Instructions
- Use a strainer to drain the oyster juice (liquor) into a bowl. Set the oyster liquor aside, cover the remaining oysters and put them in the refrigerator while making the rest of the soup.32 ounces shucked oysters with their liquor
- Dice the bacon and cook in a dutch oven (or large pot) over medium to medium high heat, stirring occasionally. (To dice, lay the half pound of bacon on the cutting board and cut across the grain horizontally in 1/2” dice). If the bacon is partially frozen it is easier to dice.When bacon is crisp, drain the grease leaving 2-3 tablespoons in the pot or skillet.1/2 pound bacon
- Chop the onion and add it to the pot with the bacon. Cook over medium heat for about 5 minutes or until onions are soft and translucent. While onions are cooking chop the scrubbed potatoes, celery and carrots.1 onion
- After the onions are soft, add the garlic, rosemary, bay leaves and Old Bay and stir in for about 1 minute to blend together. Then add the potatoes, celery and carrots to the pot and stir everything together. The most important thing is to take care not to curdle the dairy you use. We used heavy cream and almond milk and heated it over medium low. Don’t leave the stove while the dairy is coming up to a simmer. You don’t want to let it boil as it will curdle and/or scorch the milk.2 cloves minced garlic, 2 -3 sprigs fresh rosemary, 1-2 tablespoons Old Bay seasoning, 3 bay leaves, 1 large russet potato, 3-4 stalks celery, 6 ounces diced baby carrots, 1 teaspoon ground pepper, 1 teaspoon salt
- Add sherry, water and reserved oyster liquid to the pot of vegetables and cook over medium to medium low heat for about 30 minutes1/2 cup dry sherry, 1/2 cup water
- Add oysters and almond milk to pot, stir and bring up to warm temperature. Then add the cream and ~ 3 tablespoons butter stir together gently and heat everything together over low heat.Cook at a gentle simmer until the oysters plump and their edges curl, about 5 minutes (145°F). Remove the bay leaves before serving1 1/2 cups heavy whipping cream, 2 cups almond milk, 3-5 tablespoons butter
- Serve with oyster crackers or some robust bread and enjoy!
Video
Notes
- TIPS:
- Low carb and keto: leave out the potato and cut the carrots in half.
- Swaps: white wine works in place of sherry. Other milks work in place of almond milk, but low-fat milk makes a thinner stew.
- Canned oysters: they’re already cooked, so they only need to heat through.
- Be sure and reserve the juice that you drain from the oysters. This is called the oyster “liqueur” and it adds a lot of flavor
- Oyster stew is typically mild in flavor. The herbs and spices you use are what will give it a lot of distinction. We used rosemary, garlic and Old Bay seasoning. Some people add some heat with a variety of chile spices
- The most important thing is to take care not to curdle the dairy you use. We used heavy cream and almond milk and heated it over medium low. Don’t leave the stove while the dairy is coming up to a simmer. You don’t want to let it boil as it will curdle and/or scorch the milk.
Nutrition
