Lobster Bisque recipe made easy with big chunks of garlic butter lobster tails in every bite and a quick homemade stock!
Smooth and creamy, our Lobster Bisque is always a crowd pleaser and has never been easier! Using lobster tails guarantees a rich and decadent bisque that cooks in under one hour.
Enjoy as a starter or a main, you’ll love the flavours in this so much you’ll be licking the bowl clean!
LOBSTER BISQUE
Traditionally, lobster bisque is made with a stock made of whole lobster shells. Our version is much easier and just as robust, with a simple stock, aromatics, spices and simple ingredients!
HOW TO MAKE LOBSTER BISQUE
The secret is to build those flavours slowly, starting with a homemade lobster stock.
BOIL lobster tails — shells and meat — in salted water for only 5 minutes. This way, we pre-cook the meat and get as much lobster flavours as we can.
COOL SLIGHTLY AND REMOVE meat out of the shells using either of the two methods below:
- Place lobster tail on your counter with the back facing up. Using sharp kitchen shears, cut down through the centre of the back to the end of the tail. With your thumbs and fingers, open the shell to loosen it from the meat, opening the meat away from the shell side walls. Pull the meat up from the bottom of the shell to seperate the shell from the meat underneath it.
- Alternatively, use both hands to press down on tail to crack shell. Hold tail, shell facing down, and pull back on both sides of shell to crack open and remove meat.
CHOP into bite-sized pieces and refrigerate while boiling the empty shells for a further 15 minutes. Keep that stock to add into the bisque later.
WHAT IS LOBSTER BISQUE MADE OF?
Once you have your quick stock, start making the base for the soup with a beautiful mirepoix — onion, carrot, and celery.
You’ll see a mirepoix in most of our recipes, like Chicken Noodle Soup, Homemade Sausage Rolls and Creamy Ham Potato Soup, for maximum flavour benefits.
Sauté with fresh herbs in a blend of oil and butter to sweat and release their flavours before adding garlic, cayenne pepper (for an optional bit of heat) and the rest of your ingredients.
HOW DO YOU THICKEN LOBSTER BISQUE?
Tomato paste and hint of flour help to thicken your soup. Cook the flour for a couple of minutes first before adding liquids.
WHAT ALCOHOL IS IN LOBSTER BISQUE?
The pot gets deglazed with a dry white wine. Use a good quality Pinot Grigio, Sauv Blanc or Chardonnay, one that you would drink! If you can’t drink it, you shouldn’t cook with it.
You can replace the wine with sherry if you prefer! Sherry is a fortified wine that adds a delicious, savoury kick to your soup, similar to our Creamy Chicken Marsala.
Let reduce to half, then stir in your pre-made lobster stock and let simmer until liquid has thickened. It only takes about 30 minutes to get those delicious flavours to marry into each other.
BLEND
Puree right in the pot with an immersion blender OR pour into a blender. If using a blender, you may need to blend in batches of two or three to prevent pressure from building up inside the jug from the heat. Make sure you take the centre piece out of the lid to let the steam escape.
You want your bisque to be nice and smooth. Then, pour it back into your pot, stir in the heavy cream and chunks of lobster. Garnish with fresh tarragon, chives or sliced green onions.
LOBSTER MEAT
To add even more flavour, melt butter a skillet over medium heat and sauté garlic until fragrant. Add in chopped lobster meat, season with salt, pepper and cayenne to taste. Lightly sauté until lobster meat is just warmed through, then add into your bisque!
LOBSTER BISQUE OPTIONS
You can change up our lobster bisque recipe based on what you already have on hand:
- BROTH: Use a low-sodium lobster broth or seafood broth/stock.
- LOBSTER MEAT: Frozen or canned lobster meat can be used BUT fresh is best. I cannot guarantee the flavour in your bisque will turn out the same.
- CLAMS OR SHRIMP: Both options are a great substitution for this recipe.
Serve with crusty bread for an epic meal!
HOW LONG DOES LOBSTER BISQUE LAST IN THE FRIDGE?
Refrigerate soup in airtight containers for up to 2 days only! You don’t want to keep your lobster bisque refrigerated very long, as with most seafood.
Reheat on low-medium heat.
CAN YOU FREEZE HOMEMADE BISQUE?
We don’t recommend freezing lobster bisque.
MORE LOBSTER RECIPES
Lobster Tails with Bacon Cream Sauce
Grilled Lobster Tails with Garlic Butter
Lobster Bisque
Ingredients
BISQUE
- 4 lobster tails
- 2 tablespoons butter
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- 1 onion finely chopped
- 2 carrots peeled and finely chopped
- 2 stalks celery finely chopped
- 1 teaspoon fresh thyme chopped
- 1 teaspoon fresh tarragon chopped, plus more to serve
- 1 teaspoon chicken bouillon powder
- ½ teaspoon salt
- ¼ teaspoon cracked pepper
- ½ teaspoon cayenne pepper
- 4 cloves garlic minced
- 2 tablespoons tomato paste
- 3 tablespoons all-purpose flour or plain flour
- 1 ¼ cup dry white wine or sherry
- 4 cups lobster stock or seafood or fish stock
- ¾ - 1 cup heavy cream
GARLIC BUTTER LOBSTER MEAT
- 2 tablespoons butter
- 2 cloves garlic minced
- 1 pinch salt to taste
- 1 pinch pepper to taste
- 1 pinch cayenne to taste
Instructions
LOBSTER STOCK
- Fill a large pot with 5 cups of water. Stir in 1 teaspoon sea salt and bring to a boil.
- Add the lobster tails, cover with lid and let boil for 5 minutes, or until bright red.
- Remove lobster tails, reserving the liquid stock. When the lobsters have cooled slightly, remove the meat from the shells, reserving the meat and any liquid that comes out of the shells.
- Return lobster shells back to the water in the pot. Bring to a boil, reduce heat to medium-low and let simmer for a further 15 minutes to draw as much flavour out of the shells as possible.
- While stock is simmering, chop the meat into bite-sized pieces and refrigerate.
BISQUE
- Heat butter and oil in a large, heavy-based pot over medium heat, Sweat the onions, carrots, celery and fresh herbs. Cook until soft, about 5 minutes. Season with the bouillon powder, salt and pepper/s. Stir in 4 cloves of minced garlic and cook until fragrant, about 1 minute.
- Mix in tomato paste, cook for a further minute to coat vegetables. Sprinkle over flour and cook, while stirring occasionally for a further 2 minutes.
- Pour in wine, simmer and let reduce to half. Stir in lobster stock, reduce heat and gently simmer while stirring occasionally, until liquid has thickened slightly and flavours have blended, about 30 minutes.
- Take off the heat, transfer mixture to a blender and blend until smooth. Alternatively, purée with an immersion blender until very smooth. Return to medium-low heat and stir in heavy cream.
GARLIC BUTTER LOBSTER MEAT
- Melt butter a skillet pan over medium heat. Sauté garlic for 30 seconds, until fragrant. Add in chopped lobster meat, season with salt, pepper and cayenne to taste. Lightly sauté for 1 minute while stirring occasionally, until lobster meat is just warmed through.
TO SERVE LOBSTER BISQUE
- Mix ¾ of the lobster meat into the bisque. Pour into individual serving bowls. Top each bowl with remaining lobster meat and extra tarragon.
Notes
TO REMOVE LOBSTER MEAT:
- Place lobster tail on your counter with the back of the tail facing up. Use sharp kitchen shears to cut down through the centre to the end of the tail. With your thumbs and fingers, open the shell to loosen it from the meat, opening the meat away from the shell side walls. Pull the meat up from the bottom of the shell to seperate the shell from the meat underneath it.
- Alternatively, use both hands to press down on tail to crack shell. Hold tail, shell facing down, and pull back on both sides of shell to crack open and remove meat.
TO BLEND:
Puree right in the pot with an immersion blender OR pour into a blender. If using a blender, you may need to blend in batches of two or three to prevent pressure from building up inside the jug from the heat. Make sure you take the centre piece out of the lid to let the steam escape.Nutrition
SA says
How big is each serving? 8 oz?
Tom Mozgala says
Hi Sa,
The lobster bisque recipe you provided should yield approximately 4 to 6 servings, depending on portion sizes. The total volume will also depend on how much volume the ingredients reduce during cooking and how much heavy cream you add, but you can generally expect around 6 to 8 cups of bisque once finished.
For more specific servings, it’s common to serve about 1 to 1.5 cups per person. Enjoy your cooking! If you have any more questions or need additional tips, feel free to ask!
Robin says
This was a huge hit at my house. My husband is picky and rarely gives me a good review. He couldn’t stop complimenting this bisque. Thank you so much for sharing this recipe.
Christine says
Born and raised in Baltimore MD so, I would say I am a connoisseur of seafood. This recipe is the BEST lobster bisque soup that I have ever eaten. The lobster bisque flavor was amazing, and I only used lobster claws. Thank you for posting this recipe it will go into my best of the best file and will be used frequently.
Karla says
Amazing recipe, made 2 adjustments no cayenne and oregano instead of tarragon and came out spectacular. Thank you so much for this amazing and easy recipe =)