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.
I Made this and it was AH-MAZING!!!!!!!
… I didn’t get to finish. That recipe had me saute the cleaned lobster shells in olive oil to release the flavor of the lobster. After tgat I followed this recipe to a t. It smells amazing!!
I am making this bisque for a pre-starter to my Christmas dinner. It reads as if its fairly simple. I did buy fresh lobster tails and did those myself. I prepared the tails from another recipe on another cooking site because it was a unique way to prepare the base for the soup. That recipe had me saute the
So so yummy! and quick! I didn’t have quite 12 oz of lobster but i supplemented with crab and it was perfect. Also added half a cup of corn for some more texture. Served with some rustic bread and it was a match made in heaven :)
Will make this again and again!
Sounds delicious!!
I made this last night and my family just loved it. I made a few changes like cooking the lobster meat separately and adding it at the end to get pieces of meat since that is what my family asked. To make the stock I used your suggestion but instead of using shrimp tails I used the uncooked lobster tail shells which in my opinion worked quite well for “seafood” stock. Thank you for sharing your recipes. This is the second recipe my family tries from your site (sister tried your 5 ingredient easy chile) and both have been successful for us.
Thanks for sharing with us, Kely — we’re so happy you end your family enjoyed it!
This recipe doesn’t seem like it would serve 4-6. There will be exactly 4 people eating this tonight. For those who have made it-are the serving counts on this recipe accurate?
Hi Christina! If you’re concerned (and some people might want more), we’d recommend doing 1 1/2 times the recipe. We hope you and your guests enjoy!
I made lobster stock last night. Grilled a lobster, saved the shell and just simmered it in water for 1.5 hours.
Made this bisque tonight and I am shocked at how yummy I can cook :) Mine came out rather thick, but tastes amazing. Didn’t have the cayenne or thyme and still super good. Thank you for this recipe!!
Wow, that stock sounds amazing Liz, and we’re so happy you enjoyed the bisque!
This blog was… how do I say it? Relevant!!
Finally I have found somnething whichh helped me. Kudos!
I am making the lobster bisque a second time in two weeks – it’s fantastic. Thanks.
Hi ,
I would like to try this recipe but want to know …
What brand of seafood stock do you use or where do you get it?
Also what type or name of white wine do you use?
Thank you,
Laurie
Hi Laurie,
I usually use Kitchen Basics or Trader Joe’s seafood stock. And all kinds of white wine — the drier, the better for this one.
~Ali