Today I made one of my favorites for a special treat — classic lobster bisque.
I have a long list of restaurants I whose lobster bisques I adore, but for some reason I had never before tried making it at home. (Somehow lobster tails don’t seem to make it into my budget too often!) But my recent discovery of a bag of frozen chopped lobster meat from Trader Joe’s inspired me to give it a try. And I’m pretty sure now that this soup may make it into “the rotation” (as my friend Christin calls it) of favorites from now on.
Oh my heavens. This soup was wonderful.
It was everything I love about lobster bisque — the warm spiced seafood broth, the thick puree of vegetables and lobster, and of course, the rich cream that pulls it all together. Although making it at home, I enjoyed being able to control the cream a bit more than I suspect they do at most restaurants. (You can adjust the amount of cream to your taste, or even substitute some half and half to make this a bit “lighter”.) Served with a side of rustic bread, this soup was everything I love about comfort food.
Mmmm, I already cannot wait to make this one again.
Lobster Bisque
- Prep Time: 5 minutes
- Cook Time: 35 minutes
- Total Time: 40 minutes
- Yield: 4-6 servings 1x
Description
A simple and delicious recipe for classic lobster bisque.
Ingredients
- 3 Tbsp. butter
- 1 cup chopped white or yellow onions
- 1/2 cup chopped carrots
- 1/2 cup chopped celery
- 3 garlic cloves, minced
- 3 Tbsp. tomato paste
- 3 Tbsp. flour
- 2 cups seafood stock
- 1 cup white wine
- 1/4 cup cognac or brandy (optional)
- 12 oz (or more) chopped lobster meat
- 1 tsp. smoked paprika
- 1 bay leaf
- 1 sprig fresh thyme (or 1/2 tsp. dried thyme)
- 1/4 tsp. cayenne
- 1/2 cup (or more) heavy cream
- salt and freshly-ground black pepper
Instructions
- In a large stockpot, melt the butter over medium-high heat. Add the onions, carrots, celery, garlic and tomato paste, and saute for 5 minutes or until the onions are cooked and translucent. Sprinkle the mixture with flour, and stir to be sure that it evenly coats the veggies. Saute for 1 minute.
- Add the seafood stock, white wine, cognac, lobster meat, paprika, bay leaf, thyme and cayenne, and stir to combine. Cook for 30 minutes over medium-low heat, stirring occasionally to prevent the bottom from burning.
- Remove the bay leaf and sprig of thyme. Stir in heavy cream, and season if needed with extra salt and pepper.
- Then puree the soup using an immersion blender. Or you can transfer the soup in small batches into a traditional blender and blending until smooth. (Always be careful not to fill a blender too full with hot liquids.)
- Serve immediately.
For some reason mine came out incredibly spicy. My kids couldn’t even eat it.
Thanks for a superb lobstah bisque recipe!! I live in New England, and have been searching for an authentic and tasty bisque recipe for these chilly N.E. nights. The only change was that I used Better Than Bouillon’s lobster base because its what I have on hand, and omit the added salt. This is the 2nd time I’ve used this recipe, and the first time I found that after using the immersion blender, the lobster became grainy. This time, I blended, then added the lobster at the end. Perfect for my taste and texture! Thank you for sharing your wonderful recipe! The only down side is that now I have had many requests to make it for others. ;-)
Wonderful lobster bisque, i love to cook and especially create dishes. One of my specialties is pasta sauces. I am very willing to share my secret recipies. people want to buy them but id rather do a show….
this was really lovely!! it’s the lightest bisque i’ve ever had. they are usually very thick and leave me feeling fat haha i added a can of crab meat and used a pound langostinos in place of the lobster. the brandy and white wine gave it a really nice flavor.
just an awesome soup!
Do you think this would still be good without the white wine/ brandy? If I leave them out should I add more broth? I’ve never cooked with alcohol and have none in the house, and being preggo I have nothing else to use them for so I wouldn’t want them to go to waste!
What did you use for seafood stock? Homemade or store bought, and if bought, what kind?
Hi Karen,
I made my own using shrimp peels. Storebought stock can also be great though! Kitchen Basics makes a good one.
Thanks,
Ali
made this today for mothers day, fantastic……..!
So good! The more lobster, the better in my book :)
Beautiful soup, it looks so thick and creamy!
I’ve only had lobster bique once or twice before and I absolutely loved it, although it cost a bit too much for us. I can’t wait to recreate this at home and save hundreds and hundreds of dollars :)