How to Shuck Fresh Oysters

The following tutorial, video and photography were provided by our partner, Chef Billy Parisi.

Shucking fresh oysters from Heinen’s Seafood Department isn’t intimidating or difficult with the proper tools and techniques. Let’s go over all of the basic tricks of the trade!

How to Fresh Shuck Oysters

1. Open the oyster with an oyster shucking knife. Look for the end of the oyster, which is usually marked by a small crack or crevice. Insert the knife into the crevice and give the knife a quarter turn, or move it up and down like a lever. As a safety precaution, hold the oyster in a kitchen towel or wear a protective glove. Simply scrape the top of the oyster shell to get all of the delicious oyster meat off of it. You now have a perfectly shucked oyster!
2. Remove any excess debris. Sometimes there may be sand or a little shell in the oyster. If this is the case, simply run a little cold water over the shucked oyster to clean it.
3. Serve. If you are serving oysters on the half shell, place them directly on a bed of crushed ice with mignonette or cocktail sauce and lemon wedges.

Shucking oysters does take a little practice, but once you get the hang of the technique, you can have perfectly shucked oysters anytime you please!