🥗 STARTER
Oysters Kilpatrick
Freshly opened oysters on the half shell, splashed with Worcestershire sauce, topped with finely diced bacon and grilled until the bacon crisps, served hot with lemon.
Australian · easy · serves 4
prep 15 min · cook 8 min
~106 cal · 3g protein · 2g carbs · 10g fat · 1g fiber · 1g sugars · 3g sat fat (estimated, per serving)
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Oysters Kilpatrick are one of the great Australian pub, club and seafood-restaurant starters, found on menus all over the country and especially loved in summer. A dozen or half a dozen arrive hot from the grill on a bed of rock salt, each oyster crowned with crisp bacon and a dark, savoury, faintly sweet sauce.
The dish has an American ancestor. Oysters Kirkpatrick were created at the Palace Hotel in San Francisco and named after Colonel John C. Kirkpatrick, who managed the hotel from 1894 to 1914. The Australian version took a slightly different name and a simpler form: Worcestershire sauce, often stretched with tomato ketchup and sharpened with a few drops of Tabasco, and diced bacon, flashed under a hot grill.
It takes minutes. Open the oysters or buy them freshly shucked, spoon on the sauce, scatter over the bacon and grill until the bacon is golden and the oysters are just warmed through. Lemon wedges and a little parsley finish them.
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Make it yours
✓ Naturally dairy-, nut- and egg-free. No swaps needed.
Toggle a diet and the ingredients rewrite themselves with regional substitutes.
🥕 Vegetarian
🌱 Vegan
🌾 Gluten-Free
🥛 Dairy-Free
🥜 Nut-Free
🥚 Egg-Free
🐖 Pork-Free
Dietary labels are a cooking guide, not allergen-safety advice. We track dairy, egg, gluten, tree nuts and peanuts (we count coconut as a tree nut, following FDA labeling), fish, and shellfish; we do not screen for sesame, soy, mustard, celery, or sulphites. If you have a food allergy, read the label on every product you use, and note that a kitchen can cross-contaminate in ways a recipe cannot control.
Ingredients
US
Metric
Serves 4
- 24 fresh oysters, opened, on the half shell
- enough to cover the tray rock salt, for the tray
- 3 tbsp Worcestershire sauce
- 2 tbsp tomato ketchup
- a few drops Tabasco sauce, optional
- 3 rashers (about 100 g) streaky bacon, finely diced
- 1 tbsp flat-leaf parsley, finely chopped
- 1 lemon, cut into wedges
Instructions
- 1Heat the grill (broiler) to high. Spread a thick layer of rock salt over a baking tray and nestle the oysters in their half shells into it so they sit level.✎ Chef’s noteThe salt holds the shells steady so the juices stay in. Crumpled foil does the same job.
- 2Stir the Worcestershire sauce, ketchup and Tabasco together. Spoon about 1/2 teaspoon over each oyster, then top each one with a little of the diced bacon.
- 3Grill close to the heat for 6 to 8 minutes, until the bacon is golden and starting to crisp and the oysters are hot and just firming at the edges.✎ Chef’s noteDo not overcook them. The oysters should stay plump and juicy; it is the bacon that needs the heat.
- 4Sprinkle with parsley and serve at once on the salt, with lemon wedges.
Australian seafood-restaurant tradition.
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🌏 While it simmers, know your destination
📍
New South Wales (Sydney). The meat pie is a working object. Short pastry underneath, puff on top, minced beef and gravy inside, sold hot in a paper bag and eaten one-handed, with the sauce squeezed into the hole in the lid rather than over it. Stadiums and service stations are where the argument about the best one takes place.
🗺️
Australia. Australian cooking changed shape with its migration policy. Post-war Italian and Greek arrivals brought espresso machines and the cafe habit that later produced the country's coffee culture; Vietnamese, Lebanese and Chinese communities that followed reshaped what an ordinary weeknight dinner looks like, which is why fish sauce and tahini sit in suburban cupboards.
🌍
Oceania. Oceania spans Australia, New Zealand, and thousands of Pacific islands, where the ocean and the coconut palm define the pantry. Traditional Polynesian and Melanesian cooking centers on root crops, taro, yam, cassava, and sweet potato, slow-cooked in earth ovens (the umu or mumu) alongside fresh reef fish and rich coconut cream. Modern Australian and Māori kitchens blend these deep roots with waves of Asian and European influence.
The story behind this dish is up top, worth a read while the pot works.
More from Australia
Anzac BiscuitsGolden oat-and-coconut biscuits bound with golden syrup, chewy or snappy, a national argument.
Queensland Pumpkin SconesGolden, pillowy scones enriched with mashed pumpkin, a Queensland institution served warm with butter.
Aussie Meat PieA hand-sized pie of rich, gravy-thick minced beef in flaky pastry, the sauce-topped icon of every footy match and servo.
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Good to know
You’ll need: Oven, Grill or barbecue.
Storing it: Best straight off the heat. Leftovers keep 2 to 3 days refrigerated and reheat well in a hot oven rather than the microwave.
Make it an Australia meal
Lemon, Lime and BittersDrink
Anzac BiscuitsDessert
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Cuisine
Diet
Frequently asked questions
What is Oysters Kilpatrick?
Freshly opened oysters on the half shell, splashed with Worcestershire sauce, topped with finely diced bacon and grilled until the bacon crisps, served hot with lemon.
Where does Oysters Kilpatrick come from?
Oysters Kilpatrick is an Australian dish from New South Wales (Sydney), Australia.
Can Oysters Kilpatrick be made vegan, gluten-free, or dairy-free?
This Oysters Kilpatrick recipe includes substitution suggestions for vegetarian, vegan, gluten-free, dairy-free, nut-free, egg-free, and pork-free versions. Treat the substitutions as a starting guide rather than a guarantee, and see the allergen note below.
Is Oysters Kilpatrick safe for people with food allergies?
Our dietary labels and substitutions are a cooking guide, not medical or allergen-safety advice. We track dairy, egg, gluten, tree nuts and peanuts (we still count coconut as a tree nut to be cautious, although the FDA stopped listing it as one in 2025), fish, and shellfish, but we do not screen for sesame, soy, mustard, celery, or sulphites. If you have a food allergy, always read the label on every product you use, and remember a home or commercial kitchen can cross-contaminate ingredients in ways a recipe cannot control.
How long does Oysters Kilpatrick take to make?
About 23 minutes total (15 minutes prep, 8 minutes cooking), serving 4.
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