Steamed Mussels in Tomato Cream Sauce
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Quick to cook, oh-so-perfect mussels in the best cream sauce ever. Serve with a baguette for dipping!
Steamed mussels are so fancy. SO SO FANCY. But they are also incredibly easy and quick to prepare, and you can serve to guests with all the street cred of slaving away in the kitchen. The only hard part is cleaning up the mussels prior to cooking, but don’t worry – with a few steps, that’s really easy too.
You’ll want to run the mussels under cold water first, rinsing and scrubbing away the debris like seaweed and sand, and removing the “beard” as needed. The beard is exactly how it sounds – a thin brown string that can be removed from the hinged end of the shell. You can use your fingers or a knife, working carefully, for those pesky beards.
Once cleaned and debearded, these bad boys are ready to go. Ready to swim in a heavenly garlicky, tomato-based white wine cream sauce. A cream sauce so good we’ll need all the crusty bread for dipping purposes. And I really do mean all the bread (the best part of the dish, really).
tips and tricks for success
- Check over the mussels. Rinse and scrub the mussels, and debeard as needed. Although farm-raised mussels will already come debearded, it’s still a good idea to do a once-over, discarding any mussels that are open or have cracked shells.
- Avoid storing the mussels in water prior to cooking. Uncooked mussels should not be stored in water or in an airtight container as they need to breathe. The uncooked mussels can be placed in a bowl, covered with a damp dishtowel, in the fridge for 1-2 days.
- Choose a wine you will drink. A dry white wine (pinot grigio or sauvignon blanc) is great here – it does not have to be anything fancy or overpriced. Just something you don’t mind sipping on since you will have an open bottle.
- Serve with crusty bread. Serve with all the homemade crusty bread for dipping, sopping and dunking!
what to serve with steamed mussels
Tools For This Recipe
Dutch oven
Steamed Mussels in Tomato Cream Sauce: Frequently Asked Questions
You’ll want to rinse and scrub the mussels from debris under cold running water. This will also give you a chance to check (and discard) mussels that are cracked, feel hollow, or gaping open. All mussels should be tightly closed.
The mussels should already be debarded but if they are not, you can do so by removing the short brown strings that sprouts from the shell with your fingers or tweezers, pulling firmly until detached completely and discarding.
Additional chicken stock can be used for white wine as a non-alcoholic substitute.
Heavy cream (or heavy whipping cream) has one of the highest fat contents with about 36-40% fat. Half and half or whole milk are suitable substitutes, but will yield a lighter result.
Steamed Mussels in Tomato Cream Sauce
Ingredients
- 3 pounds fresh mussels
- 3 tablespoons unsalted butter
- 3 cloves garlic, minced
- 2 shallots, diced
- ½ teaspoon fennel seeds
- ⅛ teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes, optional
- 1 (8-ounce) can tomato sauce
- 1 cup chicken stock
- ⅓ cup dry white wine
- Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste
- ½ cup heavy cream
- ¼ cup basil leaves, torn
- 2 tablespoons chopped fresh parsley leaves
Equipment
Instructions
- Scrub and debeard mussels under cold running water, discarding any mussels that are cracked.
- Melt butter in a large stockpot or Dutch oven over medium heat. Add garlic, shallots, fennel seeds and red pepper flakes, and cook, stirring frequently, until fragrant, about 2 minutes.
- Stir in tomato sauce, stirring constantly, until well combined, about 1-2 minutes.
- Stir in chicken stock and wine. Bring to a boil; reduce heat and simmer until slightly reduced and flavors have blended, about 5 minutes. Season with salt and pepper, to taste.
- Stir in mussels. Cover, with a tight-fitting lid, and cook until the mussels have opened, stirring once, about 5-7 minutes. Discard any unopened mussels.
- Remove from heat; stir in heavy cream, basil and parsley; season with salt and pepper, to taste.
- Serve immediately.
Did you make this recipe?
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I made this last night. It was delicious! Recipe was very easy to follow and made a “scary” seafood ingredient approachable.
So delicious and easy to make! Already planning on making it again soon!
Made this recipe for my 9 year old and my 3 month old. Could have been such a yummy recipe 🙁 Sadly, I do not own a dutch oven, so I tossed them in the oven on a sheet of aluminum at broil, but they were a little too grisly. Also substituted the tomato sauce for chef Boyarde pizza sauce.
Works fine, but the tough meatiness does not go well with chef boyarde .. will be trying again 🙂 this time with a chocelet cake to go with it :))) #momolife
Geez O Pete – I’m praying this was meant as an extremely unfunny joke
So yummy !
Just like always your recipies are always the best. I love them all. Never had a complaint.
Your chicken ones are to die for.
Thanks so much