Ever wondered how to cook lobster tail right on the stove? Our Butter Seared Lobster Tails recipe is a hit! With a touch of lemon, garlic, butter and oil, you’re minutes away from perfect, juicy, flavourful seared lobster tails.
Forget boiling or steaming. There’s something about searing seafood in buttery grease (like this incredible Shrimp Scampi) that provides a depth flavour no other cooking method can beat. Now, you can add juicy lobster to that list!
SEARED LOBSTER TAILS
What can be mistaken for as complicated or stressful is actually quite the opposite! If you don’t have a grill or barbecue, OR you don’t necessarily want to use your oven, the easiest way to get delicious, crispy and charred lobster meat is straight in the pan.
You’ll love our seared lobster!
FRESH OR FROZEN LOBSTER TAILS?
For the best seared lobster results, we buy fresh lobster the morning of cooking and store them in the refrigerator.
You can also buy frozen and thaw them in the refrigerator overnight. If you’re in a hurry and need to thaw them faster, place them in a pot filled with cold water for about half an hour, then thoroughly pat them dry with paper towel before cooking.
Please don’t be tempted to microwave them or put them in hot water to quicken the thawing process. Slow thawing is best when it comes to seafood.
HOW DO YOU OPEN A LOBSTER TAIL?
- Hold a lobster tail in one hand, or place it on a bench top supporting it with your hand. With the shell facing up, cut down through the centre of the back to the end of the tail, leaving tail fan intact.
- With your thumbs, open the shell to loosen it from the meat, opening the meat away from the shell side walls.
- Carefully pull the meat up from the bottom of the shell to seperate the shell from the meat underneath it and place the meat on top.
HOW TO COOK LOBSTER TAIL
Seared lobster tails are so easy!
For our seared lobster recipe, we start off by using a combination of both butter and oil. Why? Because butter provides incredible flavour to your lobster meat while oil allows you to sear at higher temperatures as it has a higher smoke point.
When mixing the two together, the oil hinders the butter from burning as fast as it normally as butter burns much quicker than oil. This is crucial to getting a perfect sear without burning your pan or your grease, ruining an expensive meal!
- Once you have your oil and butter hot in the pan, squeeze some lemon juice into your grease and place your lobster tails flesh side down in the pan.
- Let your lobster sear for 2 minutes until the edges are beautifully crisp and golden.
- Next, flip them and cover the pan with a lid to let them cook for a couple more minutes, or until shells are nice and pink and the meat has just cooked through (opaque).
- Please be careful not to overcook! You don’t want tough or rubbery lobster. You want soft and melt-in-your-mouth seared lobster meat.
TIP: If the shells have not changed colour and are still green or their raw colour, simply use tongs to rotate the lobster in the hot pan juices until shells have changed colour.
WHAT DOES SEARED LOBSTER GO WITH?
Mashed cauliflower, mashed potatoes, cheesy garlic roasted asparagus, roasted brussels sprouts, herb potato salad, parmesan roasted carrots, corn on the cob, creamy parmesan mac and cheese or garlic mushrooms!
LOVE SEAFOOD? TRY THESE RECIPES!
Seared Salmon with Avocado Tomato Salsa
Lobster Tails with Honey Garlic Butter White Wine Sauce
Garlic Butter Grilled Steak & Shrimp
Butter Seared Lobster Tails
Ingredients
- 4 lobster tails
- 1 teaspoon salt or to taste
- 1 pinch cracked pepper to taste
- 2 tablespoons cooking oil
- ½ cup unsalted butter divided
- 2 tablespoons lemon juice fresh, adjust to your taste
- 4 cloves garlic large, crushed
- 3 lemon slices to serve
- 1 tablespoon fresh parsley chopped to garnish
Instructions
- Thaw out lobster tails, if frozen, in a pot of cold water for 30 minutes or more, until fully thawed. Rinse and pat dry with paper towels.
- Using sharp kitchen shears, cut the top shell down the centre of the back to the end of the tail, leaving tail fan intact. Remove vein or shell shards, if any. Run your finger between the meat and the shell to loosen it. Spread the meat slightly open. Pull and lift the lobster meat off of the bottom of the shell, being careful not to pull the tail out completely.
- Season lobster tails generously with salt and pepper.
- Heat 2 tablespoons butter and oil in a pan or skillet over medium-high heat. Swirl in 1 tablespoon of lemon juice and sear lobster, flesh side down on the pan, for 2 minutes until edges are crisp and golden.
- Flip all tails, cover pan and let cook for a further 1-2 minutes, or until shells are pink and meat has just cooked through (opaque) -- be careful not to overcook!(TIP: If shells have not completely changed colour, simply use tongs to rotate the lobster in the hot pan juices until shells have changed colour.)
- Melt the remaining butter in the centre of the pan; sauté the garlic until fragrant (about 1 minute). Squeeze in remaining lemon juice and spoon pan juices over the lobster meat.
- Take off heat immediately and garnish with parsleyServe with remaining pan sauce and lemon slices.
Ben says
The family loved it and it’s easy to make. We serve s it up on a spaghetti recipe that includes white wine and sun dried tomatoes. It’s was beautiful.
Shiona says
Made this tonight as part of ‘surf and Turf’.. was so yum!!!
Nancy DeBellis says
Outstanding idea. Just got done with butter seared lobster on sweet potato mash with mushrooms, asparagus and garlic. Rock on!
Al says
Thank you!
Josef says
I just cooked 6 smaller lobster tails in my large sauce pan and it came out amazing!!! Followed everything to accept I added a little pizazz and butter basted the tails while cooking each side. So good thanks for the hot tips!!!!
Karina says
Hi Josef, I’m thrilled to hear that the lobster tails turned out amazing for you! Adding a little pizazz with butter basting sounds like a delicious touch. Thank you for trying the recipe and for sharing your hot tips! If you ever explore more recipes or have questions, feel free to reach out. Happy cooking!
Sandy McClary says
The lobster recipe looks wonderful, can’t wait to try it.
Ron Lavarnway says
Excellent recipe! I will use it again will share it with others.
Thank you
Ron Lavarnway
Judy B says
Thank you for this recipe! I made this tonight and it turned out fantastic. I like to buy lobster tails occasionally when they are on sale and this will be my new go to for how to prepare them. So delicious! I really appreciated the tips you gave so they are not overcooked, something I have done at times in the past. Tonight it was perfect! Loosening them from the shell before cooking worked so well and made it so much easier to get the meat out after they were cooked without any of it sticking to the shell.
Don Schuldes says
I’m making this for my husband right now just to show him how much I appreciate him wish me luck
Karina says
How did it turn out?
Merryn Galluccio says
What a wonderful idea for lobster tails as they can so easily overcook and become tough. Thanks for your recipe, I will try this next time I see lobster tails for sale.
denise says
Very good : ) first time making lobster tails, shells were very brittle and left tiny bits of shell on the flesh when I cut them so I ended up rinsing them about thee times. (absolutely hate grit in my food) My tails were soooo tiny, about 3.5 ounces each so of course I over cooked them, however, I enjoyed the flavor of your recipe as well as many other recipes on your site. Thank you for all your hard work ; ) you do what I do, research a bunch of recipes for the same dish, compare & create, rock on honey! : )
Robert Smith says
Love this recipe but recommend using medium heat instead of medium high. Also recommend adding lemon juice after pan has cooked a bit with burner is turned off to prevent oil from splattering.