Periwinkle recipe is delicious and so easy to make! It only takes about 20 minutes from start to finish and eating periwinkles is fun! Learn how to cook periwinkles in two easy steps. Serve it as a yummy appetizer on a party or as a snack for the whole family.

Who knew my kids would love this sea snails so much? I ended up posting a whole bunch of stories and videos on my social media about how cute they are.

Its nice to have a special tool handy for picking snail meat out of the shell. I don't own one (is there one actually?) so we used a simple wooden toothpick. It worked very well for little kids hands and for me.

I have seen a frozen periwinkle meat in Asian markets before and always wondered how it tastes. Does it taste the same as freshly caught and cooked sea snails? Let me know in the comments if you have an answer for it.

Recipe ingredients

Periwinkles. You can find them at your local fish market or simply at any rocky coasts. It is fun to hunt for sea snails with the kids on the coast.

Italian flat parsley. If you don't have it on hand you can use cilantro.

White wine. Use only that wine that you would drink out of the glass. I like dry white wines like Pinot Grigio and Sauvignon Blanc.

Garlic. Essential in this recipe since we are making garlic periwinkles.

Salt and black pepper. Classic seasoning that is added to almost every recipe on my site. Use freshly ground black pepper if possible.

Bay leaves. Adds lots of flavor to the broth where snails are boiled.

How to cook periwinkles

It might look like a big deal but cooking periwinkles is fun and very easy! We will need to start with washing them really well with cold running water.

I scooped all sea snails into the medium size bowl and pour water on them. Scrubbed them with my hands, frequently changing water, about 5 to 6 times, until clear. Now it's time to make the base of the broth.

Add Italian flat parsley, bay leaves, garlic and other spices. I didn’t peel garlic and left it as is. After all it will give all the aroma and flavor in to the water no matter what.

Fill the pot with water and add splash of wine (optionally). Now put the pot on the burner and bring to a rolling boil. Add periwinkles and set the timer to 7 minutes. Keep it on the rolling boil.

Drain immediately after 7 minutes and let cooked periwinkles to cool off. Now to the fun part! If you have a special tool then use it of course . I don’t own one so I simply used a toothpick to pick those snails out of their shell.

It was a success and surprisingly my kids were very interested in the process and they also love the taste of those sea snails. Do not forget to add a good squeeze of lemon, all kinds of seafood is better with lemon.

Periwinkles were juicy, very tender, mildly flavored with garlic, wine and spices and just delicious. What a treat to every seafood lover.

Frequently asked questions

Side dishes

Since periwinkles are usually eaten as an appetizer its not much you can add to it. Just get a nice juicy lemon and squeeze some right on top of each periwinkle right in the serving plate.

Leftovers

I do not recommend storing cooked periwinkles in the fridge for more than 2 days. They are best when eaten freshly cooked right out of the pot.

More seafood recipes

• Lobster Oreganata
• Rockfish recipe
• Pompano recipe
• Air fryer smelt
• Air fryer frozen coconut shrimp
• Sea bream recipe
• Air fryer frozen tilapia
• Grouper recipe
• Air fryer rainbow trout
• Tilefish recipe

Hope you will like this easy periwinkles recipe as much as we do. Please rate the recipe if you made it and lave a comment below if you have any questions or suggestions.