What to Do With Leftover Oysters? – Bunch of Ideas

Do you have some leftover oysters after your guests are gone? So, what to do with leftover oysters? If you’ve raw leftover oysters you can serve them with soy sauce, dill, cocktails, or lemon! For fried or grilled leftovers, serve them with any soup/salad/stew or pair them with any sour cream or hot sauce. For steamed or cooked leftovers, have mashed potatoes or any other vegetables as a side dish. 

You’ve got ideas on things to do with leftover oysters. But that might now enough. Below I’ve discussed the tricks and recipes in detail. So, read on. the topic of what to do with leftover oysters?

Can You Eat Leftover Oysters?

Certainly, you can eat leftover oysters. Oysters are one of the most expensive and mouth-watering seafood. It has a mild salty and metallic taste. It’s said that to get the actual taste of oysters, you shouldn’t chew the flesh, rather shallow it completely!

Now, if we talk about leftovers, you can store your cooked oysters in the refrigerator. However, you can’t freeze it. If you freeze your cooked leftovers, then they’ll harden. Then, after you thaw and heat the leftovers again, they’ll be rubbery and difficult to chew. Therefore, you can store it in the refrigerator for 3 days. Within 3 days, you’ve to complete the leftovers. 

However, if we talk about raw oysters, then be careful to store them in the refrigerator. As they tend to absorb any strong smell or flavors like onion or melon. That’s why while buying oysters make sure that the shells are firmly closed. 

If you want to store raw oysters, don’t freeze the oysters in their shells. Frozen raw oysters can be fresh for three months. However, it’s the best option to eat fresh oysters within 24 hours. 

What to Do With Leftover Oysters?

Now, after your guests are gone, you’ve plenty of leftover oysters. You wonder, What can I do with uneaten oysters? Well, all of your queries about leftover oysters are cleared in this segment! Let’s go-

What to Do With Leftover Baked Oysters? 

If you’ve some baked oysters as leftovers, you can have multiple ways to serve them the next day. Such as-

1. Crispy Baked Potatoes 

Potato wedges or baked potatoes with a crispy texture are a fantastic pair with baked oysters. It can be a very hearty appetizer! 

2. Sauteed Korean Cucumber 

A crunchy texture complimented the very soft and delicate taste. Having sauteed cucumber salad is very common in Korean cuisine and you can serve it with many dishes. Just mix the sauteed cucumber slices and prepare a salad. This combo is a bomb!

3. French Fries

Though it’s not a very usual or common practice. However, delicate oysters can go well with french fries just like potato wedges. 

4. Corn Salad

If you aren’t sure about what to pair with your leftover baked oysters, then you can make this delicious and refreshing corn salad within 10 minutes. The taste will be fabulous too as the crunchy texture of veggies and fruits with the soft texture of oysters. Remember whatever you put in your salad, corn must dominate the taste.

What to Do With Leftover Cooked Oysters?

Here comes the ideas you can serve with your cooked leftover oysters-

1.  Cocktail Sauce

It’s a mixture of hot sauce, ketchup, and horseradish. Most of the time, cooked shrimp and other seafood are served with this sauce. It’ll go well with cooked oysters. 

2. French Fries

As mentioned before, french fries aren’t popular to pair with seafood, rather it’s a meaty dish complimentary. The crunchy texture of french fries and soft interior goes well with oysters. 

3. Hush Puppies

This is one type of cornbread. Surprisingly, it goes well with any kind of seafood including oysters. You can pair hush puppies with boiled or cooked oysters. It’s also a very healthy option!

4. Tartar Sauce

Most of the time, we use tartar sauce with fried dishes. However, it also compliments steamed or cooked oysters. Tartar sauce is a blend of mayonnaise, spices, and pickles. 

What to Do With Leftover Fried Oysters?

Have fried oysters uneaten? Let’s see what is the best pair for fried oysters-

1. Spicy Mayo Sauce

Anything fried goes well with dippings. However, if we talk about dippings for fried oysters, there are various options. You can have tartar sauce, hot sauce, or even spicy mayo sauce. Just mix lemon juice, sweet chili sauce, onion powder, and veganaise.

2. Soup/Salad

For fried oysters, any kind of creamy soup will be a fabulous combination. Creamy chicken soup, potato soup, celery soup, or artichoke soup, all will go very well with fried oysters. Salads with radishes, cucumbers, grapefruit, cabbage, carrots, or other fresh veggies are frequently served with fried oysters. 

3. Roasted Green Beans

Green beans and the leftover oyster is also another way to use them. They are the best way to have a healthy meal in your diet. The crispy texture when roasted and you can add onion rings to it for more flavor.

4. Cornbread 

The sweet flavor of cornbread goes very well with the briny taste of oysters. You can also make cornbread muffins with some cheddar and jalapenos. 

5. Lemon Pasta

It’s a nice and refreshing kick that goes well with oysters. It takes just a couple of minutes to make with the ingredients in your kitchen.

What to Do With Leftover Raw Oysters?

There are multiple ways to serve your leftover raw oysters. Have a look-

1. Salty Crackers

Any salty crackers go well with raw oysters. There’s a tangy kick in the crackers with some spiciness. It goes well with the soft texture of raw oysters. 

2. Kimchi

Kimchi is one of the most popular Korean cuisines. It’s a great complimentary side dish for your raw oysters. You can use napa cabbage for kimchi. The nice and crunchy texture with a spicy and cooling taste.

3. Hot Mignonette

Have some spicy and hot traditional mignonette. It goes well with the raw oysters for the spicy kick! Notes of vinegar, white pepper, lime, and jalapenos will give you a refreshing taste. 

4. Cucumber Mignonette

Mignonette is the crunchy texture of cucumbers. Trust me, one of the best side dishes you’ll love while swallowing your raw oysters.

What to Do With Leftover Grilled Oysters?

Grilled oysters are delicious! Let’s see what to do with the leftovers-

1. Cornbread 

Sometimes simplicity is the best. Though cornbread takes a bit of time to make, however, the sweet flavor of cornbread goes well with the oyster roast. Hush puppies are the most popular pair among cornbread. 

2. Mashed Potatoes 

One of the classic side dishes is mashed potatoes which go well with any kind of dish. Potatoes work well with any kind of meat or seafood dishes. 

3. Hot Sauce 

Hot sauce is a combination of chili flakes, vinegar and salt. This refreshing and tangy spicy flavor goes fantastical with fried or grilled oysters. 

4. Coleslaw

Coleslaw goes very well with any seafood dish. A mixture of cabbage, mayonnaise and vinegar make it an easy and quick side dish. You can add your favorite veggies here if you want. 

If you are having leftover nacho cheese you can also use them in different ways. Check on an article on ideas with leftover nacho cheese.

How Do Asians Use Leftover Oysters?

In Asian cuisine, traditionally oysters are eaten fresh and raw. Fresh oysters are treated as a good gift in Asia. So, if you want easy oyster recipes that Asians use, then you’ll just have to eat raw oysters with some tartar sauce or vinegar or hot sauce. In Japan, oysters are eaten shucked or there’re oyster recipes without shells using just vinegar. Oyster sushi is the most popular in Japan. 

How Long Are Leftover Oysters Good For?

You can keep your leftover cooked oysters fresh for 3-4 days in the refrigerator. Don’t ever freeze them as they’ll be hard to chew and the taste will be gone. So, keep your cooked leftovers of oysters in an air-tight box and consume them within 3 days. 

How to Store Leftover Oysters?

Oysters tend to absorb any strong smell easily even if they’re tightly packed. You should never freeze cooked leftover oysters. Freezing the oysters will harden the flesh and it’ll become rubbery. That’s why in an air-tight container, keep it in the refrigerator for 3 days. 

Conclusion

Oysters are simply wonderful seafood that is easy to prepare and delicious to taste. There’s a variety of matches that goes well with fried, grilled, cooked, or raw oysters. From salads to bread to chowder, oysters can be an appetizer, side dish, or also a full hearty meal. Consider having your leftover oysters with the pair given in this article. Trust me, you won’t be disappointed with your leftover oysters!