Lobster Bisque is not just a soup or bisque, it’s a luscious, rich and silky seafood delight. When you make lobster bisque at home, you’ll never order it at restaurants anymore, it’s absolutely easy and tastes so delicious! Succulent Buttered Lobster in a creamy Bisque made using lobster stock–such a DREAM!
Today’s recipe is pure lush. Rich and flavorful lobster bisque is the ultimate gourmet soup to make. It tastes like a creamy tomato based lobster stock with all the aromatics, and chunks of butter lobster. How can you even resist that?!
If you love lobster like we do, you’ll absolutely need to watch this full tutorial on How To Cook Lobster Tail. It’s the most fool proof way to guaranteed succulent meat, every single time.
Now use that meat and make our popular Lobster Roll or Lobster Pasta with spinach and sun dried tomatoes. An Italian inspired pasta dream! And today we’re adding lobster bisque to our fool proof tasty seafood recipes you can’t miss!
Why You’ll LOVE this Recipe
- The Buttered Lobster is cooked perfectly and has an utterly delicious buttery flavor and succulent texture.
- Our bisque is made with lobster stock, which is what we do with leftover lobster shells from any of our recipes. So it has a deep rich flavor you can’t beat!
- The base is plenty of aromatics like onions, garlic, tomatoes and a simple roux.
- We finish with cream for a silky finish.
- Super quick bisque recipe that feels like a whole meal, and it is a whole nutritious meal.
- You’ll love the contrast in texture between the silky smooth bisque and the buttery succulent chunks of lobster meat.
- This recipe is very straightforward with no fussy tools or techniques. Just one pot and you’re ready to go!
Ingredients You Need
- Buttered Lobster Meat. You need lobster tail meat for this recipe. You can have it Butter Poached, or Cooked tail meat in the oven. Our least favorite is boiled tail meat as it really lacks flavor compared to other ways of cooking.
- Lobster Stock. Our easy homemade lobster stock is BEST. And it genuinely takes no time or effort to make. In fact we just put the pot on the stove and forget about it, then later store it however we want.
- Mirepoix. A classic with all soups. This basically means the aromatics here which include onions, carrots and celery finely diced. We add in minced garlic because we love it here too.
- Crushed Tomatoes. Just a hint of tomato is much needed in the bisque recipe. It’s not overpowering and it’s definitely not a tomato based soup. you can use crushed canned tomatoes, fresh if it’s seasonal or even a hint of tomato paste.
- Fresh herbs. Our faborites here are fresh oregano and fresh thyme.
- Butter. Any type of butter is great, and it’s the perfect fat to compliment the lobster bisque. We use the most flavorful butter for this recipe–leftover butter from the Butter Poached Lobster! OMG no words can describe how flavforul that butter is! We keeo extra of it for pastas, bisque, risotto, you name it!
- Flour. This thickens the bisque along with the butter.
- Cream. That silky final finish is only achieved by adding cream. You can add as little or as much as you like.
- Seasoning. With all the amazing aromatics, herbs, flavored butter, we just use salt and pepper here. Nothing more is needed.
How to Make Lobster Bisque
Mirepoix Base
- Start with the mirepoix. We add a good dab of our flavored butter as a base and then we sauté the diced onions, carrots and celery.
- You don’t want to ever rush this process! A good bisque or any soup as a matter of fact needs enough time for the mirepoix to cook until soft and golden. This is how you develop a rich taste to any recipe.
- When ready you’ll add in the garlic and sauté that for just a minute or so. Be careful ot to let it burn or turn golden. You need a fragrant opaque garlic, not a golden one.
Thickening the Bisque : Roux
- Now you’ll add in the flour to begin thickening the soup, or making the roux.
- Again this step should not be rushed. You need the flour to be slightly toasted, so cook it for 2 minutes or so. This also removes any raw flour taste from your lobster bisque. Feel free to add a teaspoon or two of extra butter here to achieve a nice toasted flour base if the mixture feels too dry.
- Now add in the tomatoes and cook some more. Allow the tomatoes to release their juices (if using fresh, and allow the juice to evaporate if using fresh or canned. You’ll have a paste looking like that when you’re ready for the next step.
Lobster Stock
- Next step is to add the lobster stock.
- The lobster stock will infuse your soup with so much flavor and taste. Bring the mixture to a boil and then drop the heat to medium low. Cover the pot and let your bisque simmer for all the flavors to blend in.
Blend
- 30 minutes later and your bisque looks ready to blend. While you can use a high speed heat proof blender, we prefer a good old immersion blender for this.
- Just blend the soup until nice and silky. You’ll notice the color will change into a light orange tone as all the ingredients blend together, and the bisque will feel so silky already.
- At that point you’re ready to serve or you can add in that splash of table cream as we did. Cream adds an impeccably silky smooth and rich finish to the soup.
- And now you’re ready to plate!
Add Lobster and Serve
- We love to plate our lobster bisque by topping it with plenty and plenty of butter poached lobster chunks.
- Finish and garnish with some fresh oregano, a splash of cracked black pepper and a lemon slice or lemon wedge.
How to Serve Lobster Bisque
It’s a perfect meal on its own. We serve it with our crazy easy and tasty Air Fryer Garlic Bread! Like if you haven’t made this yet–hello! You’re missing out!
Tips to Make the Best Lobster Bisque
- Use cold water lobster when possible. It has a favorable taste and higher quality meat. You can read more about the difference between lobsters here.
- We use lobster tail for this recipe as it has more meat.
- You can precook your lobster tail either in a butter bath or in the oven. Keep that excess butter, as we will need it here as well.
- Make your own lobster stock using the shells from either of the recipes above. It only takes 30-40 minutes and you can store it for use anytime. You can’t have a rich tasty lobster bisque without using lobster stock. Like you just can’t.
- This is a one pot meal, so use a 5-6 quart pot.
- Make sure to wait on the mirepoix until they’re golden and have cooked well. Rushing this step will have your bisque tasting like raw onions and celery which can overpower the delicate lobster flavor.
- Similarly, avoid over rushing the roux –toasting the flour phase. The flour helps thicken your bisque, and in order to avoid raw tasting flour, it needs to be sautéed for about 2 minutes.
- If you need to add 1-2 teaspoons of extra butter to the roux phase for the flour to sauté , do so.
- When the bisque comes to a boil, you need to trun down the heat to medium low or low. This helps the flavors infuse so gently without burning.
- Blend the soup in a blender or using an immersion blender directly into the pot.
- Adding the cream is optional, but so very recommended for that silky rich velvety smooth lobster bisque. You can add half n half, or table cream 18% or heavy cream 35%.
- Heat up your lobster chunks before adding them on top of the soup, when ready to serve.
Lobster Bisque Substitutions
We’d rather NOT substitute any of our ingredients since they’re simple and basic for the recipe. However, using these substitutes will still offer you a tasty bisque:
- Use crab instead of lobster. Preferably use fresh crab meat instead of imitation crab. If you can’t find it, use imitation crab.
- Shrimp is another great substitute here. Use our Shrimp Scampi or Grilled Shrimp recipes for the meat.
- Try using quality seafood stock to make the bisque for a seafood flavor.
- When it comes to lobster, our ultimate favorite is cold water lobster. Frozen lobster can be used.
- Use coconut cream instead of heavy cream for a twist on the flavors.
How do You thicken the Bisque?
The flour or roux here is the main thickener in the recipe. Sprinkle it over the cooked mirepoix and toast it for two minutes before adding the stock. As it boils, the flour will thicken the bisque beautifully. Make sure you toast the flour for 2 minutes in butter to prevent a raw flour taste in your soup.
How to Store, Freeze and Reheat Lobster Bisque?
- Store leftovers in a sealed container in the fridge for 3 days.
- To make ahead, prepare the bisque and avoid adding in the lobster. Store the soup in the fridge for up to 5 days, and add in the lobster when serving.
- To freeze, as with most recipes, it’s best to freeze without the cream. Just prepare the bisque, blend it and freeze it air tight for 3 months.
- To Reheat, add the bisque in a pot, warm it up on medium low heat, and add the cream at the final stage.
Can I double the Recipe
You can absolutely double and triple the recipe and store it for later use. Make sure to follow the freezing instructions above.
Lobster Recipes
Butter Poached Lobster
Lobster Stock
How To Cook Lobster Tail
Lobster Pasta
Best Lobster Roll
Lobster Bisque
Lobster Bisque is not just a soup or bisque, it’s a luscious, rich and silky seafood delight. When you make lobster bisque at home, you’ll never order it at restaurants anymore, it’s absolutely easy and tastes so delicious! Succulent Buttered Lobster in a creamy Bisque made using lobster stock–such a DREAM!
Ingredients
-
4
Tablespoons
Butter
from the buttered lobster, or salted butter, herb butter -
1
onion
diced -
1
cup
celery
diced -
1
cup
carrots
diced -
3
garlic cloves
minced -
2
oregano
and thyme stalks -
2
Tablespoons
Flour
all purpose -
1/3
cup
crushed tomatoes
or 1 cup fresh, minced -
4
cups
lobster stock -
1/2 – 1
cup
cream
18% or 35% or half n half -
1
teaspoon
salt and pepper -
2
cups
Lobster Meat
cooked in butter or in the oven -
lemon wedges
for serving
Instructions
-
Start with the mirepoix. We add a good dab of our flavored butter as a base and then we sauté the diced onions, carrots and celery.
-
You don’t want to ever rush this process! A good bisque or any soup as a matter of fact needs enough time for the mirepoix to cook until soft and golden. This is how you develop a rich taste to any recipe.
-
When ready you’ll add in the garlic and sauté that for just a minute or so. Be careful ot to let it burn or turn golden. You need a fragrant opaque garlic, not a golden one.
-
Now you’ll add in the flour to begin thickening the soup, or making the roux.
-
Again this step should not be rushed. You need the flour to be slightly toasted, so cook it for 2 minutes or so. This also removes any raw flour taste from your lobster bisque. Feel free to add a teaspoon or two of extra butter here to achieve a nice toasted flour base if the mixture feels too dry.
-
Now add in the tomatoes and cook some more. Allow the tomatoes to release their juices (if using fresh, and allow the juice to evaporate if using fresh or canned. You’ll have a paste looking like that when you’re ready for the next step.
-
Next step is to add the lobster stock.
-
The lobster stock will infuse your soup with so much flavor and taste. Bring the mixture to a boil and then drop the heat to medium low. Cover the pot and let your bisque simmer for all the flavors to blend in.
-
30 minutes later and your bisque looks ready to blend. While you can use a high speed heat proof blender, we prefer a good old immersion blender for this.
-
Just blend the soup until nice and silky. You’ll notice the color will change into a light orange tone as all the ingredients blend together, and the bisque will feel so silky already.
-
At that point you’re ready to serve or you can add in that splash of table cream as we did. Cream adds an impeccably silky smooth and rich finish to the soup.
-
And now you’re ready to plate!
-
We love to plate our lobster bisque by topping it with plenty and plenty of butter poached lobster chunks.
-
Finish and garnish with some fresh oregano, a splash of cracked black pepper and a lemon slice or lemon wedge.
Recipe Notes
Tips to Make the Best Lobster Bisque
- Use cold water lobster when possible. It has a favorable taste and higher quality meat. You can read more about the difference between lobsters here.
- We use lobster tail for this recipe as it has more meat.
- You can precook your lobster tail either in a butter bath or in the oven. Keep that excess butter, as we will need it here as well.
- Make your own lobster stock using the shells from either of the recipes above. It only takes 30-40 minutes and you can store it for use anytime. You can’t have a rich tasty lobster bisque without using lobster stock. Like you just can’t.
- This is a one pot meal, so use a 5-6 quart pot.
- Make sure to wait on the mirepoix until they’re golden and have cooked well. Rushing this step will have your bisque tasting like raw onions and celery which can overpower the delicate lobster flavor.
- Similarly, avoid over rushing the roux –toasting the flour phase. The flour helps thicken your bisque, and in order to avoid raw tasting flour, it needs to be sautéed for about 2 minutes.
- If you need to add 1-2 teaspoons of extra butter to the roux phase for the flour to sauté , do so.
- When the bisque comes to a boil, you need to trun down the heat to medium low or low. This helps the flavors infuse so gently without burning.
- Blend the soup in a blender or using an immersion blender directly into the pot.
- Adding the cream is optional, but so very recommended for that silky rich velvety smooth lobster bisque. You can add half n half, or table cream 18% or heavy cream 35%.
- Heat up your lobster chunks before adding them on top of the soup, when ready to serve.
Lobster Bisque Substitutions
We’d rather NOT substitute any of our ingredients since they’re simple and basic for the recipe. However, using these substitutes will still offer you a tasty bisque:
- Use crab instead of lobster. Preferably use fresh crab meat instead of imitation crab. If you can’t find it, use imitation crab.
- Shrimp is another great substitute here. Use our Shrimp Scampi or Grilled Shrimp recipes for the meat.
- Try using quality seafood stock to make the bisque for a seafood flavor.
- When it comes to lobster, our ultimate favorite is cold water lobster. Frozen lobster can be used.
- Use coconut cream instead of heavy cream for a twist on the flavors.
How do You thicken the Bisque?
The flour or roux here is the main thickener in the recipe. Sprinkle it over the cooked mirepoix and toast it for two minutes before adding the stock. As it boils, the flour will thicken the bisque beautifully. Make sure you toast the flour for 2 minutes in butter to prevent a raw flour taste in your soup.
How to Store, Freeze and Reheat Lobster Bisque?
- Store leftovers in a sealed container in the fridge for 3 days.
- To make ahead, prepare the bisque and avoid adding in the lobster. Store the soup in the fridge for up to 5 days, and add in the lobster when serving.
- To freeze, as with most recipes, it’s best to freeze without the cream. Just prepare the bisque, blend it and freeze it air tight for 3 months.
- To Reheat, add the bisque in a pot, warm it up on medium low heat, and add the cream at the final stage.
Can I double the Recipe
You can absolutely double and triple the recipe and store it for later use. Make sure to follow the freezing instructions above.
How to Serve Lobster Bisque
It’s a perfect meal on its own. We serve it with our crazy easy and tasty Air Fryer Garlic Bread! Like if you haven’t made this yet–hello! You’re missing out!
Nutrition Facts
Lobster Bisque
Amount Per Serving
Calories 384
Calories from Fat 225
% Daily Value*
Fat 25g38%
Saturated Fat 15g94%
Trans Fat 0.5g
Polyunsaturated Fat 2g
Monounsaturated Fat 6g
Cholesterol 214mg71%
Sodium 2026mg88%
Potassium 765mg22%
Carbohydrates 14g5%
Fiber 3g13%
Sugar 5g6%
Protein 27g54%
Vitamin A 6314IU126%
Vitamin C 7mg8%
Calcium 242mg24%
Iron 2mg11%
* Percent Daily Values are based on a 2000 calorie diet.