How To Cook Mussels With Garlic White Wine Sauce

And there’s something so impressive about placing a giant bowl of mussels on the table for family and friends to get stuck into with their hands. No cutlery around these parts – just lots of napkins!

How to cook mussels

This recipe I’m sharing today is a very classic way to cook mussels – steamed in a garlic butter white wine broth. It’s very quick and easy, and really makes the most of mussels:

Yes you can! It’s an old wives tale that mussels that don’t open are off. The only reason to not eat mussels that don’t open are if they are too hard to pry open!! Easy – the smell. When raw, mussels smell fresh, like the ocean. Off mussels smell very unpleasant. Just trust me when I say you will KNOW if they are off!

What you need for steamed mussels

Fundamentally, the only ingredients you need to make really tasty mussels is garlic, white wine and butter or olive oil. Everything else you see below are extras that add an extra element of flavour, but they aren’t mandatory. White wine really is the ingredient that makes all the difference here. Wine adds complexity and flavour to the sauce of an otherwise very simple recipe. Non alcoholic sub – low sodium chicken broth/stock.

The best part is the SAUCE!

It might be totally inappropriate to say this, but for me, the best part of every mussel recipe I’ve every tried or ordered is the SAUCE. As the mussels cook, they drop an astonishing amount of liquid which is essentially real (and free) seafood stock. The BEST stock one could ever ask for! So when the mussel juices mingles with everything else in the pot, you end up with the most outrageously tasty sauce to dunk bread into!! – Nagi x

More mussel recipes

Spanish Paella Mussel pasta – cook mussels per this recipe, remove meat from mussels, leaving some in shell for presentation. Cook pasta, then toss pasta into skillet with the sauce from these mussels, then toss in mussels, lemon juice, season to taste! Seafood Marinara Pasta – cook mussels per recipe, remove meat from mussels and use in the Marinara Pasta recipe. Add the cooking broth from this recipe into the tomato sauce in the Marinara Pasta recipe and cook down to reduce. AMAZING!??

Watch how to make it

Watch how to cook mussels in garlic white wine butter sauce!

Originally published May 2014. Updated July 2019 with brand new photos, new video and new writing! Recipe got a refresh too but the core of the recipe is the sam.