Although the dish has saltwater origins, many mountain families have long enjoyed a tradition of serving oyster stew on Christmas Eve, and local stores would have the tasty bivalves then but at no other time. This recipe has been handed down through generations in my husband’s family.
- Fresh oysters
- Milk
- Butter
- Pepper
- Salt
Heat milk and butter until hot but not boiling. Add oysters, a heavy sprinkling of pepper, and salt to taste. Continue to heat, stirring frequently, until the oysters are cooked through.
TIP: Leftovers can be refrigerated and reheated.
TP
—Celebrating Southern Appalachian Food written by Jim Casada and Tipper Pressley
Matt’s father, Papaw Tony, said he couldn’t remember a Christmas Eve that his daddy James didn’t make oyster stew for everyone to enjoy.
Papaw Tony continued the tradition and Matt enjoyed it so much that he has continued it as well.
Every Christmas Eve Matt follows the recipe for oyster stew that has been handed down through his family.
One year I asked Papaw Tony where his father found oysters way back then. He said he wasn’t sure but thought they might have come from a connection the family had with Smathers Grocery in Canton.
Later I asked one Papaw’s older sisters if she remembered.
His sister said “Daddy went and got them out at the coast in the early days. Several of them went and they’d bring back big barrels of oysters. I’ve shucked many a oyster in my younger days. As the years went by you were able to get them closer to home. Momma and Daddy always had oyster stew, it wouldn’t have been Christmas without it.”
You can find our cookbook here.
Last night’s video: A Special Message from Granny & Christmas 2025.
Tipper
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Anybody else eat their oyster stew and salmon stew with soda crackers, ketchup, and pickles? I grew up in upstate SC. My papa taught me this when I was a kid and I’ve done it ever since. My daughter does it now too lol
A little late commenting.
We love oyster stew, at least my husband and I do. The rest of the family not so much.
This is my recipe, which is similar to Matts.
1 pint fresh oysters, if not available I use canned (drained but save the liquid they were in)
1 stick real butter
hot sauce (I use about 8-10 drops, normally Texas Pete or Franks Red hot.
salt, just a little & lots of pepper
Approx. 4 cups milk (I rarely measure)
Cook the oysters, butter, hot sauce, salt & pepper until the oysters curl, add the milk and oyster liquid heat again until hot and enjoy.
We really enjoy watching Celebrating Appalachia. Thanks for all you share.
♥️
Miss Tipper, I’m just wondering about the oyster flavor? Does it seem to have a STRONG medicinal flavor? I’ve tried fried oysters, if they are smaller in size, I like the small ones in gumbo, yummy, but larger oysters seem to have that strong taste. I’m sure it’s me that feels this way, but not a fan of stewed oysters. My husband said he’s a fan. I was surprised when I asked if he’d ever eaten the stewed oysters. I knew His momma made it for his older brother while he was going through cancer treatments, before he passed. Evidently the family was very fond of this stew. She used canned oysters. Anyway, Happy New Year everyone, God bless y’all. Be safe, healthy and happy in the coming year.
Jennifer, the taste is like a oyster with no medicinal flavor 🙂
Got it my friend. I’m thinking I might surprise my guy one day and have a try too. I’m guessing won’t hurt anything. LOL. Tomorrow we have a big day coming, our 59th Wedding Anniversary. We are celebrating today due to how crazy places are on New Year’s Eve. God bless y’all and again Happy New Year. ♥️
Jennifer, 59 years is amazing! Congratulations to you both 🙂
Thank you sweet friend. We are in awe ourselves. Looking forward to the next chapter in our lives together, praying for the best years ahead.
You know you’re in Appalachia when the local stores begin stocking old-fashioned hard candy mix, cream drops, oysters, and salt fish for Christmas.
Meant to say to, Granny your Christmas Sweater is absolutely beautiful. My Aunt Velma taught me how to crochet when I was in my late teens and I have so enjoyed making lap quilts and baby blankets but I’m no way as good as you are. I can make granny squares so maybe there is hope yet for me and some day I might actually put them together in a sweater. Maybe:)
My Mother loved oysters. When our oldest son went down south to help out his Grandparents, he said Gramma always fixed Oysters on Christmas Day. Of course, for New Year’s Day it was Black Eyed Peas with cornbread. Katie’s Family Vlog was precious!! And I so enjoyed all of Paul’s songs and his cousin’s beautiful voice too. Oh how I love coconut cake and Kim’s looks like the one I make and I know how delicious it is. Almost forgot it was a blessing to hear Steve saying the blessing over the food too.
God bless you all!
My grandmother always made oyster stew eyery year I can remember for Christmas. Local grocery would bring in fresh oysters from the coast for the holiday and she would order hers to make this delicious stew. She’d shuck and I munch on those little oyster cracker and we’d talk on and on. I dearly miss her. We still make her oyster stew for Christmas Eve.
Oyster stew is one of my favorites! I usually make it with half-and-half and lots of oysters! So good!
Your Christmas dinner looked wonderful and everyone was having a good time. I felt right at home! My 7 great grands are from 5 to 23 and I miss having the little ones like Ira and Woody. They are so adorable!
Granny looked so pretty and happy. Prayers and love to you and all your family!
Good morning! Although I’ve never had oyster stew we used to make clam chowder all the time. I don’t eat shellfish anymore so it’s been many decades since I’ve had it. Growing up on the west coast (Vancouver Island) there was always an abundance of seafood, but the only one’s I loved having were crabs and scallops. Those I miss! I loved watching your Christmas video, especially Granny’s Xmas wish, she is so precious! My mother has been gone since 2014 and I miss her more and more as the years go by. God bless everyone!
I’m not a fan of oysters, but my father-in-law made this dish several times throughout the year. Sometimes he used salmon instead of oysters along with plenty of butter and cream!
Mom always made oyster stew for Christmas Eve supper but I only likes the soup part of it, not the oyster. I tried one once but never again 🙂 mom was German, dad was Irish so not sure who brought that into the family.
I was born and raised and still live near the same town as Abraham Lincoln‘s birthplace – Hodgenville, Kentucky. My mom would always fix scalloped oysters for Christmas. Like you said, the local groceries always had ‘fresh’ oysters in a can on ice. We lived on a dairy farm so we had lots of sweet cream, butter and crackers to make the oyster casserole for Christmas dinner – always so yummy.
I’ve never tried oyster stew, and am fairly certain that I ever will, after one brief encounter with an oyster around 50 years ago. It wasn’t pretty! It was wonderful to watch you and the girls prepare for your family gathering and the icing on the cake was seeing Granny, looking so festive in her Granny Square Christmas sweater. She is an absolute treasure and I loved hearing her express her gratitude for the cards and prayers. Your changing gears to make the apple stack cake for her, brought tears to my eyes. I did the same thing for my beloved grandpa many years ago. If he asked for a certain meal, I’d move heaven and earth to provide it for his enjoyment. It got to where I’d have to use a food processor to get a consistency he could manage but we’d laugh when I’d say “close your eyes, grandpa and all you’ll taste is roast beef, taters and carrots”!!
I’d also like to see Kim’s coconut cake recipe. Your family meal looked scrumptious! Seeing and hearing those precious little ones playing together was music to my ears♡
I watched Katie’s sweet Christmas video yesterday and felt as if I was right there with you all, opening presents and having your meal with loved ones. After Christmas dinner, I saw the leftovers and thought, I’m right here a few mountain roads away!
If my local Kroger’s has oysters, I’m making me some stew in January because I know it will snow!
Thanks for sharing the video of your beautiful mama.
I was late sending cards; but maybe you two received them before Christmas.
Have a great day!
Enjoyed the video so much last night. I always look forward to seeing Matt make the oyster stew. Daddy made ours the same way. I love it and would make it more but no one in my family likes it but me. It was also wonderful seeing Granny with the family. She is just amazing. A real positive person and a role model for so many going through what she is. Another thing I always enjoy is when your brother, Steve says the blessing. He sounds like a lot like Pap. God bless you all.
My father-in-law was our oyster stew maker. He added crisp bacon crumbles and diced, sauteed potatoes to the basic recipe, using fresh oysters when available, canned when he had to, and made it anytime during cold weather. There was no connection to a family tradition. If someone mentioned oyster stew, he took delight in preparing it.
I enjoy oyster stew. Here the rule was to only by the cans of oysters in the months that end in “er”. (Not sure about fresh oysters). Enjoy your week!
The stew looks wonderful. I love raw oysters and really any seafood. I use to make clam chowder all the time and it would be easy to turn Matt’s wonderful oyster stew into an oyster chowder. The first time I had raw oysters I did it by mistake and when they came on a tray with the raw oyster lying on one half if it’s shell I didn’t really know what to do. I was told to sprinkle a few drops if hit sauce on the raw oyster and then lift the shell and allow the oyster to slip into your mouth. I couldn’t believe how good it tasted. The oyster had the salty taste if the ocean’s waters and the hot sauce enhanced the flavor of this wonderful item. I will try Matt’s recipe first and then add the bacon, onions, and potatoes to make a chowder. Happy New Year!!! It was great to see Granny and hear her Christmas message. Continued prayers for Granny.
Ron, are raw oysters and oysters on the half shell similar? I like oysters cooked in my stew and can’t eat enough of GOOD fried oysters but never had a desire to eat them raw. For some reason I am not real fond of shrimp. Armadillos are beginning to show up in my neck of the woods, us blue blood country boys call them possums on the half shell.
Granny looked great on last nights video. The granny square jacket looked go on her. She wears red well.
Just not sure about the oyster stew.
As always praying for Granny.
We had oyster stew in the wintertime. My Dad made it using can oysters and the same recipe as Matt. Only my Dad would eat the oysters. I’ve tried them but just can’t eat. We crumble up crackers and add ketchup. Unfortunately no one eats them in my family, but there is a local seafood restaurant in town that I can get oyster stew. It’s nice to have family traditions like your family.
I use lots of your recipes and I’m going to try your recipe for orange bread this week. Wish me luck!
Your recipes and I’m going to try
One thing I failed to mention was that the “Special Order” oysters were packed in seawater. If it leaked out for some reason, you couldn’t just run Hickory city water back in them. That would definitely kill them. These were alive, unshucked, still in the shell, oysters. Did Papaw Tony have to shuck them?
Oysters and most other shellfish aren’t gout friendly. So, thanks but no thanks!
Ed, thank you for sharing that history! Sounds like a precarious journey for those oysters 🙂 Papaw never mentioned shucking them that must have happened before he could remember 🙂
It warmed my heart to see Granny’s beautiful face walking in your door. Not to mention her sweet Christmas message. I just love her so much, she is in my prayers daily and I don’t even know her! All of you are. I just have such a family love for each and everyone of you. I truly feel like you are my family.
I rarely comment but always around and I watch every video. I don’t get to post often on the video because I watch on my tv.
Take care and love you all. (I drink out of my mug every day!)
Ditto!!!!
I wonder what oysters taste like. I need to find out! Maybe I will buy some and try oyster stew. We have fresh milk from our cow, so that part would be fresh. The oysters…not so fresh in Kansas. : )
We keep Granny and all in our prayers. Love and strength to you. ❤️
Every year the Meat Department at work would have several large tubs of oysters that were special ordered for Smather’s Market in Canton. Those things had to be handled with kid gloves. It was rumored that they were still alive and that if they died and were eaten raw death could result.
As well as I can remember Smather’s Market was the only customer who got oysters through MDI. I hesitated to say “bought” because a lot of times special orders for one customer weren’t worth the trouble it took to add it to the inventory them take it right back out.
This would have been back in the late 1980s.
Ed, do you remember the country stores having small barrels of salt fish? I think that is what they called them. My family did not eat them.
No, when I was a kid there was only one store in walking distance and they had only the very basics. Daddy would hitchhike to town to a real grocery store to get what we couldn’t grow ourselves. He wouldn’t take us with him because people didn’t like to pick a bunch of kids.
I worked in a store when I was in my late teens and never saw salted fish. In my 20’s I started working for a grocery distributor (MDI in Hickory NC) and worked there for 37½ years and never saw salted fish. I’ve heard about them but have never seen them.
Something I never figured out was that Daddy’s brother ran a taxi service in Bryson City but never brought Daddy home, that I can remember anyway. There’s nobody left to ask.
I have never had Oyster Stew but it sounds good! It’s so nice to have traditions that have been passed down from generation to generation. I was glad to see Granny on your Christmas Video, her Crocheted Sweater was beautiful. I pray for her everyday!
Happy New Year to all of you!
Also tell Granny I just loved the little Angels she made!
Joanna
Oysters or URSTERS as the native Gloucester, VA oyster fishermen I knew called them can be eaten in safety any month containing an “R” according to my deceased mother who loved oysters. They used to come in a can with a see thru top in the refrigerated section in the local grocery. I’d rather chew a live raccoon’s paw still attached than have anything to do with an oyster. I can’t tell you why I don’t like them except they’re slimy and slick and look like nose snot. But if you all like it, I LOVE IT! Lol TO EACH HIS OWN AND POWER TO THE PEOPLE! I will eat FRIED clams when I go to the beach, but other than that, seafood won’t be served at my house ever. Salmon cakes are as close to seafood as I can go. Lol We had a CHRISTMAS HAM I served for days- fried with eggs, ham salad, pawned some off on the animals and finished off in potato soup which is as close to oyster stew as I will ever get. For New Years, I’m making homemade pizza instead of lasagna my usual New Years Dish. You and Matt look as happy as 2 frogs side by side on a nice lily pad!!! You’re a good looking couple, Tipper! Gods blessings to you all as the temperature will drop over 50 degrees today…I’m looking for a blizzard sometime soon since there’s not been one in 25 years… remember I said it…
We grew up eating oyster stew…only the stew with crackers…only my Dad ate the yucky oysters themselves (LOL). The stew was delicious…a feast for us. He made it like y’all, butter, oysters, milk, salt and pepper. So much love to y’all, continuing prayers for sweet Granny. Your friend in SC, Jane♥️
It wouldn’t be a Pressley Christmas without Matt’s Stew. I had never heard of it as a Christmas tradition until I started watching your channel. We had, although not every year, corned beef and cabbage for New Years. I am looking forward to seeing you make Matt’s favorite, Orange bread, for after Christmas .
Growing up the only thing I remember my Dad making was oyster stew. Just like Matt and Pawpaw Tony. He made it in the winter, probably New Years. And whenever my Uncle Tom came to visit. No one else ate it. Many years later we found out he was a very good cook as he took care of Mother after a stroke. And he still made oyster stew. Still tried to get us to share a bowl with him. Prayers for all of you. Thank you for making us a part of your lives and Celebrating Appalachia together.
When we have oyster stew I get all the oysters and my wife has the stew with crackers She won’t even consider eating oysters or any fish unless it’s breaded so she can’t see it. She likes shrimp but they have to be heavily breaded.
Jackie when growing up at home we all liked the to eat the oysters in the stew. After marrying only my son and me ate the oysters, my wife and daughter ate the stew but not the oysters. We used today’s recipe, along with sody (saltine) crackers and NO ketchup.
When I started dating my hubby, I was introduced to having smelts on Christmas Eve. They are a tiny fish that resemble a sardine, and his mother and grandmother always fried a big platter of them on Christmas Eve. His dad dearly loved them. A small local grocer only got them in every year at Christmas time. I believe it is an Italian tradition.
I really enjoyed your Christmas Eve video, and the Pressley girls too. It was so sweet to see and hear your mama. I know it’s kinda weird, but I was so excited to see the Christmas card we sent hanging in your kitchen. After all, you all are like movie stars to me. . .. Have a happy New year!!
Good morning, Tipper. I loved watching your video last night. Brought back many good memories. My family always had oyster stew on Christmas Eve, the same as my Grandparents. Sadly, I have not carried on the tradition. My two daughters never cared for it. Now that they are grown and gone, my husband and I have potato soup with shrimp. ….Not oyster stew, but still sort of the same type of simple Christmas Eve meal. Thank you for all you do to keep the good, solid, simple life alive in our minds. I was born and raised in NC – very similar upbringing. Happy New Year.
PS Have you ever shared Kim’s coconut cake recipe? I see it each time you have a gathering and it looks absolutely delicious!!! I tried to find it on YouTube and also on Blind Pig without success.
Anne, I haven’t ever shared it but will try to 🙂 Thank you so much!!
Thank you!
Anne – if I may chime in, the cake looks as tho it maybe the Coconut Wet Cake. also called coconut poke cake..recipe has been around for years..
Thank you!
I thought it looked like the poke cake, too. Nobody but me likes coconut cake so I only get it sporadically if I’m lucky 🙂
Oyster stew is one of the things that’s shared up and down the east coast of the USA. We had it on Christmas day up here in Massachusetts. I have always loved it. Hugs and love to all.
I live in the Midwest, so I guess I’m too far inland to have had an oyster stew tradition. The only food tradition that I’m aware of at this time of year is having black-eyed peas on New Years day. Isn’t it great to connect with our ancestors through recipes passed down through the generations?
We used the same recipe but used canned oysters . Still do
I googled “why is Oyster Stew a Christmas Eve tradition and the AI have the Irish-American and other information. Then it included your video as further information. That’s cool. Celebrating Appalachia with AI. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3UYYMjTlveg&t=197s
Good Morning Tipper and Matt. I love the idea of Matt’s Oyster Stew on Christmas Eve. I loved hearing Granny on last nights video. She is ever in my prayers. I will make a sweater like hers. What will you do with all the cards after Christmas? Some people give them to school to use in crafts and some to senior cnters for crafts. I keep you all in my prayers. I love y’all.
Barbara, that’s a great idea!
We had oyster stew for our Christmas dinner and it was soooo good! My recipe has the addition of chopped celery and onion and canned cream of mushroom soup is added to thicken it a bit. Most of the time I used canned oysters, but this year and other years I use fresh oysters, either way it’s tastes excellent.
My Daddy used to go out and get oysters, although we grew up on Florida and it was much easier back then. Love the memories.
thank you for the oyster stew recipe, God bless Matt for carrying on tradition ,God bless Granny Wilson, God bless the Pressley and Wilson family
My family has always loved both oyster and salmon stew, but we never ate it at Christmas time. We use the same recipe but most often use canned oysters.