Mussels are a shellfish delicacy! They are less chewy than clams, and are mild enough that they take on the flavors of whatever food you cook them with. So, smoked mussels would be pretty awesome, right? After our first go at smoking mussels, the answer is a definitive yes!
For the Labor Day weekend, we were gifted a huge bag of ultra-fresh mussels. Living here on the west coast, we are lucky to enjoy the freshest seafood year-round. Mussels are one of those popular summertime appetizer dishes that appear on so many restaurant menus. They are great because they are light for hot days, but still loaded with a lot of flavor.
And, they are so quick to prepare!
These mussels were farm-raised and harvested only the day prior. The bag was big enough for a party, so I wanted to come up with several recipes. After cooking up some grilled mussels and mussel fettuccini dishes, we tried a batch in the smoker.
Smoked Mussels
Smoking mussels is not like smoking a brisket. Clearly. This is not an all-day affair. Because the little mollusks are small and delicate, you only need to have them in the smoker for about ten minutes. That’s enough to infuse them with an appropriate amount of smoke without overwhelming the palate.
First, I put them on the stovetop in a flavorful broth for just a few minutes to open them up prior to smoking. I wanted to make sure the smoke would easily reach them once transferred to the smoker.
I used a lidded cast-iron dutch oven similar to this one so that the whole pot could go directly from stovetop to smoker. If you don’t have one, any cast-iron pan with lid would work fine. Just make sure- in advance – that your smoker has room for the handle. Possibly an aluminum pan with a cover would also work; just be careful the bottom is well-supported when transferring it.
Ingredients
- About 1/4 cup olive oil
- 1 cup chicken broth
- Fresh minced garlic
- Half of a lemon
- Fresh parsley from the garden, chopped
- Mussels. We used about a pound for this recipe. This made 4-5 servings, or two heaping bowls of smoked mussels for sharing.
Instructions to make Smoked Mussels
- Preheat the smoker to 225 degrees.
- Rinse the mussels in cold water. The mussels should still be alive. Any open mussel should close once rinsed. Discard any broken mussels and any which do not close when rinsed.
- Warm the olive oil, chicken broth and garlic in the dutch oven right on the stove. Bring to a boil.
- Add the mussels and cover. Allow to boil about 4 minutes, or until most of the mussels are opened.
- Turn off heat. Squeeze the lemon into the pot and toss the whole thing in
- Transfer the unlidded dutch oven to the smoker and smoke for 10 minutes at 225 degrees.
- Remove from smoker and remove any mussels which have not opened.
- Serve with fresh parsley, large garlic croutons or crusty bread.
