Best Southern Crispy Fried Oysters

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The best Southern Crispy Fried Oysters recipe features salty, silky, slightly sweet fried oysters encased in a classic, crispy, perfectly seasoned cornmeal crust. With a rich combination of textures and flavors, every bite is pure fried oyster bliss!

Quick and easy to prepare, these versatile, restaurant-quality bivalve mollusks are considered a true delicacy. Like my recipes for Oysters Rockefeller, Buffalo Shrimp, Fried Spanish Mackerel Nuggets, and Fried Crab Claws, they can be served as a tasty appetizer or a delicious dinner entrée.

Fried oysters on a white plate with a cocktail fork and cocktail sauce.

Fried oysters are ideal for a quick weeknight dinner, a beach fish fry, or a Sunday seafood supper and are a must-have ingredient on a fried seafood platter.

No need to spend your hard-earned dollars at a fancy seafood restaurant. I’ve included simple step-by-step instructions with my recipe for making these amazing fried oysters at home. And the best part is that these tasty morsels only take minutes to cook.

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📋 Ingredient Notes:
♨️ How to fry oysters:
🍲 What do fried oysters taste like?
💭 Top tip:
📖 Recipe Variations:
🍽 Where to buy fresh oysters:
🍽 Do oysters need to be rinsed before frying them:
🍽 What sides to serve with this recipe?
🍽 How many varieties of oysters are there?
🍽 How to keep the breading from falling off:
💬 Recipe FAQs:
💭 More tips and tricks:
🦐 More seafood recipes:
📋 Recipe:

📋 Ingredient Notes:

Oysters, cornmeal, buttermilk and oil for frying.

Freshly shucked raw oysters – with their mild fresh sea breeze aroma and natural salinity, are the star of this dish. With modern refrigeration and aquaculture methods, most are farmed, harvested, and available at seafood or grocery stores year-round, shucked or unshucked.
Buttermilk – is an essential ingredient in this recipe. With its pleasant and characteristic tang and rich taste, buttermilk is the perfect consistency to coat the oysters and help the cornmeal breading stick.
Cornmeal – which is made from dried field corn, is another essential ingredient in the breading that adds a distinctive flavor and texture. Cornmeal not only gives the fried oysters a delicious extra-crunchy crust, but it helps them develop a lovely golden brown color. You can use either yellow or white fine cornmeal.
All-purpose flour – combines with cornmeal to create cornmeal breading.
Creole seasoning, along with kosher salt – seasons the cornmeal breading and provides a touch of spice, and enhances all of the flavors. Cajun seasoning may be substituted for Creole. Creole seasoning contains more herbs, while Cajun features a blend of ground peppers, so it has a bit more of a kick.
Peanut oil – is the oil of choice for frying in the South, and for good reason; it has a neutral taste, and you can cook foods at high temperatures without smoking. If you are looking for a good substitute, vegetable oil or canola oil both work too.

♨️ How to fry oysters:

Pour the oysters into a colander or strainer and let them drain. I don’t usually rinse mine, but if you prefer, rinse them with fresh water to wash off any debris or shell fragments.

Pour the buttermilk into a medium-sized bowl and add the drained oysters. Let them marinate for 15 to 20 minutes.

A clear glass bowl full of buttermilk and raw oysters.

Place the cornmeal, flour, creole seasoning, and salt in a shallow bowl or pie plate and whisk to combine.

Cornmeal, flour and seasonings in a bowl.

Remove the oysters from the buttermilk one at a time and dredge them in the cornmeal mixture. Toss gently and make sure they are well coated, then shake off any excess breading.

Using kitchen tongs to dredge an oyster in cornmeal.

Place the coated oysters on a metal cooling rack until they are all coated. Let them sit for a few minutes. This step helps to fuse the breading and buttermilk and keeps the breading from falling off when they are fried.
Place a large stockpot, Dutch oven, or cast iron skillet with high sides over medium-high heat. Add one to two inches of oil.
Use a candy or deep-fry thermometer to test the oil temperature. When it reaches 350 °F, carefully add the oysters one at a time. Depending on the size of your pan, it works best to fry in batches. Only cook six to eight at a time. You do not want to crowd them. (Maintain a consistent heat of 350 °F by increasing or decreasing the heat under the pan.)
Let the oysters fry for about two to three minutes. Stir occasionally or until the breading is light golden brown and the meat is opaque with the edges slightly curled.

Fried oysters draining in a metal kitchen spider.

Use a wire kitchen spider or slotted spoon to remove them from the oil. Place them on a paper towel or wire cooling rack to drain. Repeat until all of the oysters are fried, and serve immediately.

Fried oysters on a plate garnished with lemon slices.

Optional, garnish with fresh lemon or lime slices and serve with your choice of tartar sauce, cocktail sauce, or remoulade.

A plate of fried oysters, coleslaw, and hush puppies.

🍲 What do fried oysters taste like?

Oysters develop their shape, texture, and flavor (merrior) from the waters where they live. Ones that are harvested in the nutrient-rich waters along the Gulf Coast of Florida or Louisiana will taste slightly different from those harvested along the east coast of Maryland, North Carolina, or the Pacific coast.

All wild or farmed varieties will have a silky, meaty texture and a salty-sweet creaminess.

Add in a cornmeal crust, and a fried oyster tastes like sea spray from a crashing wave mixed with an explosion of briny, buttery freshness and delightful crunchiness.

💭 Top tip:

To minimize grease splatter, use a large stock pot or dutch oven with high sides instead of a cast iron skillet. It will make clean-up easier. And, if you have a screen grease splatter guard to cover the pot, that works even better.

📖 Recipe Variations:

While I recommend you make this recipe as written, if you prefer, you can vary or adjust it to your family’s preferences.

Instead of the Creole seasoning, you could substitute Cajun seasoning or Old Bay seasoning.
You can also make fried oysters without cornmeal by substituting panko, breadcrumbs, or cracker crumbs. In addition, you can use flour only.
To give them a spicy kick, add a tablespoon or so of hot sauce to the buttermilk before soaking them. This recipe can also be made without buttermilk by replacing it with an egg wash.

🍽 Where to buy fresh oysters:

Depending on where you live, most seafood markets sell fresh oysters in the shell and shucked. Many oyster farmers sell directly at farmers’ markets and other venues in our area.

If you are in the North Florida area, you can purchase them at Southern Seafood Market or directly from my friend, Oyster Mom, who has an oyster farm in Oyster Bay, south of Tallahassee.

Unless you are an expert at shucking them, I recommend purchasing them already shucked.

Most larger grocery stores with seafood sections, such as Publix, also sell them. Generally, they are packaged and sold by the pint.

🍽 Do oysters need to be rinsed before frying them:

The answer is it depends on who you ask. Most cooks do not rinse them when making dishes such as Oysters Rockefeller or oyster stew because the salty brine or liquor surrounding the oyster is packed with flavor.

However, depending on the skill of the person shucking them, they may contain bits of shell or other debris after being shucked, so if you are worried about that, you might want to rinse them before making this recipe.

I generally do not rinse them.

🍽 What sides to serve with this recipe?

Although fried oysters pair well with most side dishes, they are most often served with either cheese grits or french fries, coleslaw, and hush puppies. I have also served them with my southern potato salad, baked mac and cheese, smoked baked beans, twice-baked potatoes, and Hasselback potatoes.

They are also delicious served instead of shrimp on a New Orleans-style po’ boy sandwich or in a caesar salad, and they are an essential component on a fried seafood platter with fried catfish or fried grouper, fried crab claws, and fried shrimp.

Fried oysters are typically served with either homemade or purchased tartar sauce, remoulade sauce, ketchup, or a seafood cocktail sauce on the side. I have also seen them served with barbecue sauce, melted butter with lemon, and even buffalo sauce.

🍽 How many varieties of oysters are there?

The Eastern Oyster (Crassostrea virginica) is the most common oyster found and harvested in salty brackish water along the Gulf coast and up the Atlantic coastline all the way up to Canada.
The majority of oysters consumed in the US are harvested in oyster farms and beds in the warm waters of the Gulf of Mexico and along the east coast of the southern states.
The size of Eastern oysters depends on their age and where they live. In Florida’s warm waters, they mature in about two years. In the colder waters of the north, they can take longer to mature. They can be anywhere from two to five inches long.
In addition, there are Pacific Oysters (Crassostrea gigas) and Olympia Oysters (Ostrea lurida), both native and farmed, which can be found along the West Coast of the US, and they tend to be larger.

🍽 How to keep the breading from falling off:

To keep the cornmeal breading from falling off when they are fried, be sure to put the coated oysters on a metal cooling rack until they all have been coated. Then, let them sit for a few minutes before frying them so the buttermilk will fuse with the breading.

💬 Recipe FAQs:

How to store fresh oysters?

Freshly shucked oysters should be stored in the coldest part of your refrigerator. They will keep for up to five days from the date you purchase them.

Live oysters still in the shell will keep for up to two weeks in the coldest part of your refrigerator. However, they are best eaten within seven days after they have been harvested. If an oyster is open, it should not be eaten.

When are oysters in season?

In years past, they were only harvested and considered safe to eat in the colder months or months with an “r” in them.

Nowadays, with modern refrigeration and the cultivation of farm-raised oysters, they are considered safe to eat and available for purchase twelve months of the year. Wild oysters are generally harvested in the cooler fall months.

How many oysters to buy?

Generally, most raw oysters are sold shucked and packaged in pint-size containers. Pints average from sixteen to twenty raw, depending on their size.

The number of servings from a pint depends on who will eat them and their appetite. Usually, a pint will feed two adults when you serve them as a dinner entrée.

As an appetizer, a pint will usually feed four adults.

What is the minimum safe internal temperature of a fried oyster?

The minimum safe internal temperature of a fried oyster is 145 °F, as measured by an instant-read meat thermometer.

How to store and reheat leftovers?

Fried oysters are best eaten while they are still hot, right after they have been fried.

If you do have leftovers, you can store them covered in the refrigerator for up to three days. I do not recommend freezing them.

They can be reheated on a wire rack in a 350 °F oven for about five minutes or in an air fryer set at 400 °F for about three minutes.

💭 More tips and tricks:

To minimize the seafood and oil smell in your house, boil equal amounts of vinegar and water for about ten minutes after frying.
Shucking oysters or removing their shell requires a special oyster knife and a certain amount of skill. If you are interested in learning how to shuck them, check out this video by America’s Test Kitchen.
Canned oysters, which can be purchased either fresh or smoked, are already cooked. They are not suitable for use in this recipe.
Try to maintain a consistent temperature when frying. Too low, and your food will be greasy and soggy. If it’s too high, the crust will burn before it is cooked through.
To keep your fried oysters warm while the rest cook, place them on a metal rack over a cookie sheet in a 200 °F oven.