Lobster Bisque (Plus Video)
Lobster Bisque delivers a creamy, silky-smooth, and well-seasoned soup with lobster and cream. Perfect for your sweetheart on Valentine’s Day, or any day of the year for that matter. Enjoy an indulgent five-star meal at home for a cozy, romantic dinner date.
I love lobster everything: grilled lobster tail, lobster rolls, you name it. And this classic lobster bisque recipe is as good or better than anything you’d get at a fancy-schmancy restaurant. But without the hefty price tag. 😉
And did I mention that this soup is keto-friendly and gluten-free? Woohoo!
Content…What Is It? |
What Is Lobster Bisque?
First off, cream is what makes it a bisque. Pureeing the ingredients to pure silky goodness is also classic for making a traditional bisque. While most bisques boast shrimp or lobster, you don’t have to use crustaceans. You can use tomatoes, butternut squash, mushrooms, and red peppers for an incredible bisque.
However, for lobster bisque, you obviously need lobster. And you don’t waste anything because the shells make a rich seafood broth (think stock but made with the shells instead of beef or chicken bones). So let’s get to the good stuff.
Recipe Ingredients
- Lobster Tails – Fresh or frozen work fine for this recipe. Of course, you can get live lobsters, too.
- Seasonings – Garlic, onion, celery, fresh thyme, and Creole seasoning deliver the ultimate flavor explosion.
- More Flavor – A dry white wine, Worcestershire sauce, lobster stock, and heavy cream make a decadent creamy soup base.
How to Make Lobster Bisque
Prep Lobster and Stock
- Cook Lobster – Boil the lobster tails for 3-4 minutes (long enough for the shells to turn slightly red). Let them cool. (Photo 1)
- Prep Lobster Meat – Place the tails on their side on your work surface and use both hands to press down until the shell cracks. Hold the tail with your thumbs (with the flippers toward you and the shell facing down) on opposite sides. Pull both sides back to crack open the shell and remove the meat.
- Alternative – Cut down the center of the tail with kitchen shears and remove the meat. (Photo 2)
- Make Stock – Return the lobster shells to the pot, and add 4-5 cups water. Bring to a boil, lower heat to medium-low, and simmer for at least 20-25 minutes (if time permits, simmer for an extra 20 minutes). Strain and discard the shells. (Photo 3)
- Chop the Lobster Meat – Chop the lobster meat into bite-sized pieces while the stock is simmering. Chill until ready to use. (Photo 4)
Make the Bisque
- Saute – Heat olive oil in a medium-sized saucepan over medium-high heat. Then saute onion, garlic, celery, and thyme for 4-5 minutes. (Photo 5)
- Flavor – Slowly add the wine, if using, then stir in the Worcestershire, Creole seasoning, paprika, and white pepper. Cook for about a minute. (Photo 6)
- Simmer – Then stir in the tomato paste and 2-2½ cups of the lobster stock. Simmer for 8-10 minutes. (Photo 7)
- Make it Creamy – Pour in the cream and butter, let the butter melt, then remove from stove. (Photos 8-10)
- Puree – Carefully pour it into a blender and puree in batches to avoid pressure building up. Or use a stick blender in the pot until your bisque is smooth.
- Adjust the seasoning with cayenne and salt to taste.
- Assembly – Heat a saucepan over medium and add a tablespoon of butter, followed by the chopped lobster. Then lightly season with Creole seasoning, and simmer for a minute or two until heated.
- Serve – Divide the bisque into serving bowls, top with lobster, and serve immediately.
Recipe Variations
- Seafood – Clams, shrimp, oysters, crayfish, and crab are popular bisque variations. Try my shrimp bisque for a more economical but just as delicious version. 😉
- Vegetarian – Of course, you can make yummy plant-based bisque like my hearty tomato bisque. Squash, corn, potatoes, carrots, and sweet potatoes also make a bisque base.
Tips and Tricks
- You’ll only need 2½ cups of the stock for your bisque, but you don’t need to waste the extra because it freezes well.
- Omit the cayenne if you prefer a milder bisque.
- Lobster tails are usually in the frozen seafood section at most grocery stores. If you go for fresh lobsters, make sure they’re still alive and keep them alive until the last second.
- Swap white wine with brandy for a sweet aroma and subtler presence. Or replace it with stock for alcohol-free bisque.
- Use a fine-mesh strainer to strain the bisque from the blender for a smoother texture.
Serving and Storage Instructions
Lobster Bisque is best as soon as it’s done and still hot. Yum!
I don’t recommend making it ahead since neither lobster nor heavy cream do well in the freezer. But for leftovers, let them completely cool before refrigerating them in an airtight container for up to two days.
Reheat over low heat on the stovetop, covered, occasionally stirring until hot. Or reheat individual servings in the microwave on medium power in 30-second blasts until hot.
What to Serve With Lobster Bisque
Make it a cozy date-night dinner with good background music, good wine, and amazing side dishes. Garlic bread or potato bread rolls, roasted baby carrots, and sauteed Brussels sprouts will definitely impress your better half.
Wine pairing: A chilled Chardonnay or dry Riesling is perfect with lobster bisque.
More Amazing Soup Recipes to Try
Watch How to Make It
[adthrive-in-post-video-player video-id=”QoIpsNAI” upload-date=”2020-12-26T11:52:57.000Z” name=”Lobster Bisque” description=”Lobster Bisque – a classic creamy and smooth, highly seasoned soup made from lobster and aromatics that is a Valentine’s Day favorite entree or served as a first course. A dreamy indulgence of a five-star dining experience – just in time for a cozy date night at home!” player-type=”collapse” override-embed=”false”]
This blog post was first published in February 2018 and has been updated with additional tips, new photos, and a video
Lobster Bisque
Ingredients
- 2-3 lobster tails (fresh or frozen)
- 2 tablespoons (30ml) extra virgin olive oil
- ½ cup (75g) onion, chopped
- 2 teaspoon (6g) minced garlic
- ¼ cup (25g) diced celery
- 1 teaspoon (1g) fresh thyme
- ½ cup (120ml) dry white wine, or replace with stock
- 2 teaspoons (10ml) Worcestershire sauce
- 1 teaspoon (3g) Creole seasoning
- ½ teaspoon (1g) paprika
- ½-1 teaspoon (1-2g) white pepper
- 1 tablespoon (25g) tomato paste
- 2-2½ cups (473-600ml) lobster stock (adjust to desired thickness)
- 1 cup (240ml) heavy cream
- 2-3 tablespoons (28-44g) butter
- ¼ -½ teaspoon (1-2g) cayenne pepper (optional)
Instructions
- Boil the lobster tails for 3-4 minutes (long enough for the shells to turn slightly red). Let them cool.
- Once cool, remove the lobster tails from the pot and reserve the stock.
- Place the tails on their side on your work surface and use both hands to press down until the shell cracks. Hold the tail with your thumbs (with the flippers toward you and the shell facing down) on opposite sides. Pull both sides back to crack open the shell and remove the meat. Or cut down the center of the tail with kitchen shears and remove the meat.
- Return the lobster shells to the pot, and add 4-5 cups water. Bring to a boil, lower heat to medium-low, and simmer for at least 20-25 minutes (if time permits, simmer for an extra 20 minutes). Strain and discard the shells.
- Reserve 2-2½ cups of the stock for the bisque and save the rest for another recipe.
- Chop the lobster meat into bite-sized pieces while the stock is simmering. Chill until ready to use.
- Heat olive oil in a medium-sized saucepan over medium-high heat. Then saute onion, garlic, celery, and thyme for 4-5 minutes.
- Slowly add the wine, if using, then stir in the Worcestershire, Creole seasoning, paprika, and white pepper. Cook for about a minute.
- Then stir in the tomato paste and the lobster stock. Simmer for 8-10 minutes.
- Pour in the cream and butter, let the butter melt, then remove from the stove.
- Carefully pour it into a blender and puree in batches to avoid pressure building up. Or use a stick blender in the pot until your bisque is smooth.
- Adjust the seasoning with cayenne and salt to taste.
- Heat a saucepan over medium and add a tablespoon of butter, followed by the chopped lobster. Then lightly season with Creole seasoning, and simmer for a minute or two until heated.
- Divide the bisque into serving bowls, top with lobster, and serve immediately.
Tips & Notes:
- Lobster tails are usually in the frozen seafood section at most grocery stores. If you go for fresh lobsters, make sure they’re still alive and keep them alive until the last second.
- Swap white wine with brandy for a sweet aroma and subtler presence. Or replace it with stock for alcohol-free bisque.
- Use a fine-mesh strainer to strain the bisque from the blender for a smoother texture.
- You may swap white wine with brandy – it has a sweet aroma and subtler presence. Or add more stock if you want to exclude alcohol.
- If you don’t mind waiting, you can save some money by going on a lobster hunt right after Valentine’s Day because frozen lobster usually goes on sale around that time.
- Please remember that the nutritional information is a rough estimate and can vary significantly based on the products used in the recipe.
Is it really only 1 tablespoon of tomato paste?
Hi would it be possible to make this ahead of time through step 10?
Yes you sure can.
How do I make the stock with whole lobster?
Hi Julie. In order to make the stock boil the Lobster for about 3-4 minutes, long enough for the shells to turn slightly red. Once cool, remove the lobster from the pot and reserve stock. After taking the meat off the lobster shells, boil the shells again in the stock you reserved. This leads to a more intense flavor. Hope this helps!
Our new Christmases even tradition. This was amazing. I’ve had lobster bisque all over the new England coast and this is as good as any ive had. Thanks so much for sharing. Only change i made was to add some crab meat, 4 oz , at the same time as the lobster was added.
Great bisque!
I will be attending a dinner party and would like to make the Lobster Bisque.
After cooking, can I transport and reheat in a crockpot? I will add the lobster chunks right before serving. Should they be cooked in advance ?
Thanks!
Mary Lou
Yes , Cook it in advance and reheat in crockpot. Sounds like a plan.
This was outstanding. We had lobster bisque at a restaurant in NYC last month and said it was the best we’d ever had. This was very close. As others suggested, I made a roux of butter, flour and a splash of milk before sauteing the onions and garlic. I also used brandy instead of wine as Imma suggested. After blending the mixture, I strained it into a sauce pan which I then put on a warming burner (bisque should be smooth, bot chunky). Will definitely make this again.
I remembered using Brandy in the past as well… how much did you use? I am making this for Christmas Eve as part of the Italian Tradition of Seven Fishes
How much Brandy would you recommend in lieu of the white wine?
I’m about to make this tonight, do you sauté the onions and celery in with the roux? I love the idea of this
Yes you do.
I’m just going to say – I made this for my husband for lunch today and when he took his first bite and I think it reminded him why he was happy he married me. Really good (“I’d pay for soup this good!”) and will definitely be making again! Thank you!
I can’t wait to try this recipe! What can I replace the lobster stock with? I am going to buy lobster pieces from a local seafood store to save time so I won’t have any tails to make the stock. Can I use a different stock? Thanks !
You can vegetable or chicken stock would work as well.
I made this today for the first time. It was awesome. I made the creole seasoning from your recipe. It’s fantastic. Store bought always has so much salt. No salt problems for me. The bisque was thin and fixed it with a little bit of flour. I followed recipe up to the purée. . I put the puréed bisque through a sieve then finished with the rest of the recipe. Bisque was creamy, flavorful and absolutely delicious. (I did not purée any lobster.)
How do I ‘fix it with a little bit of flour’ if I run into this problem?
. Don’t add directly to the bisque ; it will clump. Melt about a tablespoon butter to a small pan ,Thea add a tablespoon flour, slowly stir for about a minute . Add some some liquid( chicken broth) about 2 tablespoons or more. Then slowly whisk in the bisque.
restaurant quality soup I added green shrimp and 10 lobster tails doubled the receipe my family loved it little salty but really good
I made this for my family a few days ago. It was easy to make and was delicious. My sister thought it was a little salty as well. We added a sliced potato and let it simmer in the bisque to absorb the salt, then removed it before serving. I won’t add salt the next time. I think the brand of Cajon seasoning I used had a lot of salt in it.
I made this and it was great! I used the basic recipe but used lobster, scallops, shrimp and fish instead of just the lobster. Everything else was the same. Fabulous.
Thanks for taking time out to share this us . Have a great weekend.
I like your thinking..make it a multi seafood soup..
Made this last night for dinner.. It was perfect! Exactly the taste I’ve been looking for. I used 2 cups of assorted lobster meat, immersion blended half into the broth (made it perfect thickness) and added in nice pieces after it was done.
Thanks for sharing, Kathryn. So happy to know it turned out perfect for you.
I followed your directions and the Bisque is not orange
Why not
Hello,
I can’t say for sure without actually being there. What gives it it’s orange hue is creole seasoning, paprika and tomato paste
Loved the flavor but it was very thin so I added cornstarch/water until it was bisque consistency. Perfect.
Loved this! So much flavor! Will definitely make again! Thank you for the recipe!
I just made this recipe last night! WHOA! I just kept smelling it tasted and smelled soooo good! One of if not the best bisque I have ever had! Thank you so much for this recipe!
I shared leftovers with my father and he loved it as well! We are going to make a much larger batch next week!
I do have a question, if I do not use the wine what do i substitute it with? more lobster broth ?
Thanks John. Yes substitute with more both. Glad to hear it worked out well for you.
Made this bisque for the first time today for my 3rd Annual Pink Peony Ladies Luncheon. Everyone raved! Flavor was superb, I just wish it made more. Personally thought it was a little thin, but it still deserves 5+ Stars. I also added more tomato paste and have left over stock to make pasta sauce. Yummy!
Thanks for taking the time to share your thoughts. I appreciate it.