Easy Escargot Appetizer
Snails and garlic butter makes Escargot à la Bourguignonne a special appetizer that is deceptively simple! Dip in French bread to get the extra sauce!
I don’t know why it took me so long to make Escargot in Garlic Butter, aka Escargots à la Bourguignonne. The tasty French appetizer of snails in a garlicky sauce has been a favorite since my youth.
The hesitation, of course, might be because the last classic appetizer I tried–Oysters Rockefeller–turned out to be a lot more work (to shuck the oysters) than I expected. Yes, we decided it was totally worth the $15 you spend dining out.
But Escargot in garlic butter, turned out to be easy–with absolutely delightful results. Even sourcing the snails wasn’t hard and I found them canned, from specialty food vendor Roland, and available at Walmart and Woodman’s in Wisconsin.
Why ever did I wait so long!
Why You’ll Love This!
Flavorful. If you’re a garlic lover, this may be the best recipe EVER to get your fix.
Easy. Just mix up a garlic butter sauce, spread on canned snails and bake. Take a bow.
Impressive. Come on, serving Escargot is going to get you major gourmet cook points. Even if it’s so easy it’s cheating a little.
Step by Step Overview
And it really, truly, is easy. You just cook minced garlic in 2 Tablespoons butter.
Puree sauce ingredients in high speed blender.
Using 4 escargot dishes with 6 wells each (or the equivalent), place a teaspoon sized dollop of butter mixture in each well. Top each dollop with a single snail, then top each snail with a final dollop of butter.
Bake at 400 F for 10-15 minutes until butter is melted, bubbly and just starting to brown. Serve immediately with French bread for dipping.
How to Serve
Usually, escargot are served in special dishes that have a well for each snail (usually six snails per serving). The wells are also handy for holding the copious amounts of tasty butter sauce. When you’ve finished eating the snails, you go back in with slices of French bread to scoop up any remaining juices. So good!
You can get escargot dishes easily online, including used on ebay. I selected the ones I did because they would stack and be easier to store. But the memories from my youth were of the thick deep dishes and I had to think twice before logic prevailed over nostalgia.
If you’re not sure you want to invest in the dishes, however, just use ramekins to start and see what you think.
Shell or No Shell or…
Escargot can be served in or out of their shells. The shells are readily available online, but from the perspective of both simplicity and hygiene, I decided to forgo them.
I have also eaten escargot served in mushroom caps and puff pastry. And I just found a red wine version from a chef friend of my parents, that I’ll be trying to recreate soon.
So many recipes, so little time…
Tips & FAQs
A number of the recipes I consulted didn’t pre-cook the garlic. I skipped that in my first attempt and found that the garlic retained the sharp bite of raw garlic even after 15 minutes in the oven. So, for the best experience I recommend a brief sauté first, which I include in my instructions.
I tried making this recipe with and without a light panko topping. I found that the panko soaked up a lot of the butter and made dipping the bread more difficult, so my final version omits it.
There is a lot of butter in this but some of the water in it evaporates as this cooks. While not an official part of the recipe, for my second photoshoot I poured a little extra butter on top so the snails are positively swimming in butter. I don’t think I’ll be doing this in real life (since there’s already almost 400 calories of butter per serving) but it is how you tend to see it in restaurants. So just a heads up.
The Roland canned snails are precooked so you don’t need to worry about getting them to 165F, just warm/hot.
The cans I opened had a few more than 24 snails, so I baked the extras with parsley garlic butter in a ramekin and gobbled them down before I served to my guests. Shhh.
French Gastronomy Day
- Crème Caramel à l’Orange Fraîche from Karen’s Kitchen Stories
- French Beignets from That Recipe
- French Fondant Potatoes from Jen Around the World
- Mushroom Lentil Bourguignon from A Kitchen Hoor’s Adventures
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Escargot Bourguignonne
Ingredients
- 24 escargots canned
- 1 baguette
Sauce:
- 1 cup salted butter softened to room temperature, divided
- 1 bulb garlic peeled and finely minced
- 1 shallot
- 1/4 cup parsley lightly packed
- 1 Tablespoon white wine. sub lemon juice if needed
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
Instructions
- In a small saucepan, melt 2 Tablespoons butter then add minced garlic (I used a garlic press). Cook until tender but still pale (browned garlic can be bitter), 5-10 minutes.
- In a high-speed blender (this worked better than a food processor), combine the shallot, parsley, wine, salt and garlic butter mixture. Puree until mostly smooth.
- Using 4 escargot dishes with 6 wells each (or the equivalent), place a teaspoon sized dollop of butter mixture in each well. Top each dollop with a single snail, then top each snail with a final dollop of butter.
- Bake at 400 F for 10-15 minutes until butter is melted, bubbly and just starting to brown.
- Serve immediately with French bread for dipping.
This recipe is great. Especially if you leave the snail out and just broil the topping and serve it with the toasted baguette.
Lol. Yes, a nice butter sauce is always good! Thanks for the chuckle!
Delicious! Yet other notions: as the butter and garlic will cook with down with the escargot, the first step can be optional. Keep in mind, the longer garlic cooks the milder it becomes, so if milder is for you, stick with the step. No scallion? That too can be skipped as the garlic, parsley and butter will carry the flavor (but better with). The blender worked but not wonderfully so as I have a deep professional blender with perhaps a higher blade than some. I finished the mix on a cutting board.
The measurements are perfect. Be sure to add salt especially if using unsalted butter. Bread is a must. With a side salad, it makes for a great light meal.
Thanks Sean. And I think we did eat this for dinner when I was testing it (shhhh)!
Love this! Escargot always sounds intimidating to make at home, but you made it look so approachable.
So good!
Of course you know I cannot ever have escargots in public… I would die! But I have always wonder what would happen if I made them with shallots instead of the garlic. What do you think? I have the sweetest cast iron escargot pan in the shape of a bunch of grapes… I need to use it! Let me know your thoughts.
I did think of you when I made this and maybe upping the shallot amount and leaving out the garlic is exactly what came to mind. I think it’s totally worth a try. Can’t let a special pan go to waste! If you try it, let me know how it goes!
I had no idea there are escargot dishes! While I’ve never tried escargot (but your recipe will be the one I do try), this does sound delicious with all of that butter, garlic, and parsley. It’s great that they have escargot in a can!
I was so excited when I realized I didn’t even need to order the snails online! Now I can’t wait to try some of the other versions I remember. I hope you enjoy!