Rich and flavorful Lobster Bisque is an easy recipe to make at home. Succulent tender pieces of meat cooked in a lobster stock are served in a delicious puréed cream base soup.
Why this recipe works:
If you want to feel like you're eating in a fancy restaurant while enjoying all the perks of a homemade meal, this Lobster Bisque will blow your mind.
- Flavorful lobster stock: The broth in this delicious soup is a combination of seafood stock with a rich broth made from the lobster shells and herbs.
- Fantastic texture: The combination of small tender pieces of lobster with the pureed bisque that is finished with cream creates the most wonderful combination.
- Easy to make: You will be shocked at how quick and easy this fancy soup is to make! It's the kind of recipe that will impress and delight all who enjoy it.
Ingredients used to make this recipe:
- Lobster: I used wild caught lobster tails, but you can also use langostino or shrimp to make this bisque with some additional steps in order to create the stock.
- Seafood stock: I use one can in addition to water, Herbes de Provence, and salt (not pictured) to make the flavorful lobster stock.
- Mirepoix: Equal parts of carrot, onion, and celery are cooked in butter. Garlic and tomato paste are then added, thickened with some flour, and deglazed with white wine.
- Heavy cream: This is what really turns the blended lobster bisque into a rich and creamy meal.
How to make Lobster Bisque:
This recipe has two main components: the lobster stock and the bisque.
How to make lobster stock:
- Remove the meat: The first step is to remove the lobster meat from the shells. The shells are then added to a pot with the seafood stock, water, herbs and salt.
- Simmer the stock: The stock is cooked over low heat, uncovered, for about 15 minutes.
- Cook the lobster meat: Once the flavors of the stock develop, the lobster meat is added and cooked just until it starts to firm and is no longer opaque.
- Chop the lobster meat: The lobster is removed from the stock and chopped into bite sized pieces. It will be added to the soup just before serving.
separate meat from shells simmer shells in seafood stock and water with herbs cook meat in lobster stock remove meat from broth and chop
Make the lobster bisque:
The bisque can be made while the stock is cooking, thus decreasing the overall time it takes to make this recipe.
- Mirepoix: The mirepoix is cooked in butter until the vegetables are tender and slightly browned. The garlic is then added followed by the tomato paste.
- Add flour: All-purpose flour is added to this mixture and allowed to cook for a bit. This is what will help thicken the lobster bisque.
- Deglaze: Once the flour is mixed in, the ingredients will really begin to stick to the bottom of the pan. The white wine is added for flavor but also to deglaze the pan. It will immediately thicken.
- Add lobster stock: Using a fine mesh strainer, add all of the lobster stock to the bisque while straining the shells.
- Puree: Using a counter top blender or an immersion blender, puree the soup.
- Add cream: At the very end, stir in the heavy cream along with the cooked lobster meat and cook just until heated through.
sauté mirepoix and add tomato paste add flour and cook deglaze with white wine add strained lobster stock blend bisque stir in heavy cream
Recipe tips for perfect results:
- Seafood variations: I highly recommend using real lobster for this recipe in order to get a true lobster bisque. Pro tip: you can sometimes find lobster on sale the week after Valentine's Day. Alternatively, you can use langostino, shrimp, or a seafood mixture, however without the shells you will need to use all seafood stock and not water.
- Small batch recipe: This recipe makes about four servings. You can easily increase this by moving the slider in the recipe card below and it will scale the recipe to your desired number of servings.
- Freezing and storage: Due to the tender delicate nature of the lobster meat as well as the cream in this soup, I feel like it is best enjoyed immediately or within a few days, if refrigerated. I do think lobster bisque can be frozen, but my preference is to enjoy fresh.
- Reheating: Lobster bisque should be reheated gently. Either reheat in a pot on the stove over low heat or in the microwave at 50% power until heated through.
Other great lobster recipes:
- Lobster Mac and Cheese
- Crawfish Étouffée
- Broiled Lobster Tails
- Brown Butter Lobster Rolls
- Lobster Ravioli
If you’ve made this or any other recipe on my site, let me know in the comment section how it turned out. I love hearing from my readers!
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Lobster Bisque
Rich and flavorful Lobster Bisque is an easy recipe to make at home. Succulent tender pieces of meat served in a puréed cream base soup.
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Scale: servings
Ingredients
LOBSTER STOCK:
- 16 ounces lobster tails (I used four 4-oz sized tails)
- 15 ounces seafood stock (okay to use water instead)
- 4 cups water ((I just filled the 15-oz can twice))
- 1 teaspoon Herbes de Provence ((aromatic blend of dried herbs including rosemary, oregano, thyme, basil, savory, sage and lavender))
- 1 teaspoon salt
BISQUE:
- 4 tablespoons butter
- 1 cup yellow onion (finely chopped (1 medium sized onion))
- 1 cup carrots (peeled and finely chopped (3 medium sized))
- 1 cup celery (finely chopped (4 medium sized stalks))
- 4 cloves garlic (minced)
- 2 tablespoons tomato paste
- 3 tablespoons all-purpose flour
- 1 ½ cups dry white wine
- lobster stock (strain and use all of it)
- 1 cup heavy cream
- salt and pepper (to taste)
Instructions
LOBSTER STOCK:
- Split lobster tails lengthwise with sharp kitchen shears. Remove meat and set aside. Add empty shells to stockpot or 4-qt sauce pan. Cover with seafood stock and water. Add Herbes de Provence and salt. Bring to a boil over high heat, then reduce heat as low as you can while still maintaining a simmer. Allow to simmer, uncovered, for about 15 minutes.
- Add the lobster meat, cover with lid, and let simmer for 5 minutes. Remove when meat is bright red and white. If any part is still translucent, continue to simmer until cooked. Remove meat from pot and transfer to a cutting board. Cut into small pieces and refrigerate until ready to add to bisque.
BISQUE:
- While the lobster stock is cooking, you can begin to make the bisque at the same time.
- Heat butter over medium high heat in a large pot. Add the onions, carrots, and celery. Stir to coat in butter and cook until soft, about 5-10 minutes, stirring occasionally to prevent burning.
- When vegetables are just about done and begin to stick to the bottom of the pan, add garlic, stir to combine, and allow to cook for 1-2 minutes.
- Add tomato paste, stir well to coat vegetables, and cook for 1-2 minutes.
- Reduce heat to medium. Sprinkle over flour over mixture, stir well to combine, and cook while stirring frequently to prevent burning for an additional 2 minutes. The mixture should really start sticking to the bottom of the pan and turning brown. Do not allow it to burn.
- Add wine to deglaze pan. Stir well with a flat bottom wooden spoon, scraping the bottom of the pan. Allow in wine to simmer for several minutes. The liquid will reduce and the mixture will become thick.
- Set a fine mesh sieve or strainer over your pot and pour the lobster stock through the strainer into your pot. Discard shells. Stir broth into bisque base until well combined. Reduce heat to lowest setting to maintain a gentle simmer and allow to cook for about 30 minutes to allow flavors to develop. Stir occasionally during this time.
- Remove bisque from heat. Use an immersion blender to purée the soup right in the pot. Alternatively, transfer to a blender to purée and then return bisque to pot.
- Add heavy cream and chopped cooked lobster pieces to bisque and stir well. Heat over medium-low heat until bisque is heated through. Season with salt and pepper, as desired. Serve hot with crusty bread on the side.
NUTRITION INFORMATION
Calories: 486kcal | Carbohydrates: 19g | Protein: 11g | Fat: 35g | Saturated Fat: 21g | Cholesterol: 152mg | Sodium: 1300mg | Potassium: 583mg | Fiber: 3g | Sugar: 6g | Vitamin A: 6806IU | Vitamin C: 9mg | Calcium: 159mg | Iron: 2mg
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Jocelyn
Delicious. Yes, it is a bit thin in consistency, but not thin in taste! I used old lobster shells I had frozen from Christmas to make the broth. The broth was so rich and delicious. I used 1/2 lb of lobster meat that I bought pre-packaged. Otherwise I followed your recipe to the T, and it was delicious. Warmed us up on a gloomy day. Thank you for your recipe, a classic.
Ashley
Wow! This recipe was excellent! I made some substitutions since I’m a vegetarian but even so it was amazing. Thank you so much for sharing!
Joe
We only came here for the ingredients and how to make it. None of the other crap needs to be in this recipe! Stop posting recipes like this! EVERYONE HATES IT!
Krissy
I'm sorry you feel that way. You are more than welcome to purchase a cookbook that contains only the written recipe and a photo. I would much rather do that as well, however no one would ever be able to find the recipe if I did that due to search engine algorithms. Also, if you're bothered by the ads, you might want to ask yourself why I would take the time away from my family to develop, test, cook, photograph, and share recipes for free? I do apologize that you are annoyed by everything you see on my site, but this is actually how I earn a living and provide for my family. Are you this demanding with all businesses?
sk
haha! You tell'em!
Just made the bisque. Fantastic!
Lexxus
Joe, sounds like you could use a coke and smile, and ST*U!!! If you only want ingredients and directions, Pinterest ain't the place for you! Stop coming here if you're going to be a whole Karen (Ken)!!!
Sarah
I beg to differ. As a visual learner, I NEED to have photos of the steps to make recipes.
My mother uses a screen-reader and NEEDS to have the image with text describing what is on the screen because she can't see it. Self Proclaimed Foodie is one of her favorite sites because of how they format their recipes so she can use her screen reader to read the recipes.
Also I am not sure what you mean by 'crap'. Crap is slang for excrement. There is no excrement on this page. Just beautiful photos and instructions on how to make an amazing lobster bisque.
So you are wrong. Not EVERYONE HATES IT as you screamed through your computer.
Rhonda
I'm a visual learner also, and I'm so grateful for this type of recipe. They are also great for beginners.
Teri
Marked with a large down arrow, there is a button you press at the top of the page "Jump to recipe" that will scroll your page directly to the recipe. One-click and done-easy.
Kelli
Joe - is your real name Karen? It is isn’t it? I bet you make this soup with krab too.
Cheers!
Amber
Joe, would you walk into any small business local to you and demand they provide you product for free? No? Then don't do it here, in Krissy's space.
It took her time, effort, ingredients and more to create the recipe on your screen. If you don't want to read her post full of helpful information to make the dish successful, she provides a handy "jump to recipe" button.
Don't you dare tell her how she should run her website. After all, she doesn't stand over you at your job and tell you that you could and should be replaced by machines. Buy a cookbook if it bothers you that much.
And guess what? YOU'RE PAYING DOLLARS EITHER WAY. Just one of them is actually free to you, the end user. I know which one I'd choose.
Natasha
Hey Joe... how do you get through life if you go on a rant about minor inconveniences like this? I guess supporting women-owned small businesses just isn't on your radar. I pity people who have to deal with your anger in person.
Erin
Hi Joe! Welcome to the internet! If you don’t like how food blogs are written you need to talk to Google about that. If you know of any food blogs that just have the recipe and instructions, why are you here on this page?
Amber B.
Oh Joe! I’m sorry you felt the need to share your negative “feedback” on such a beautiful site, with quality recipes and amazing pictures. Sorry you were “forced” to scroll a bit longer to find what you needed. Must be a huge inconvenience for you. Next time you can find a “crappy” site that shows ingredients only, and then you’ll find out those recipes are actually the crappy ones.
Deedee
Oh my goodness this is so good! I doubled the recipe and going to serve it tomorrow for thanks giving. Thank you for the detailed instructions/ pictures. Thank you for the delicious recipe!
sk
Anyway, there's always a link to skip to the recipe
Rachel
Joe, okay Boomer. Lol Who hurt you? This recipe is spot on.
Nate
What an amazing recipe, made it exactly as written but added a little paprika for a little kick.
Jeannie
Can I make this ahead of time like in the afternoon for a dinner party and let it just simmer on the stove until ready to eat? What do you suggest? Thanks!
Krissy
Sorry for the late reply. Yes- that should work. I would keep it on the lowest heat possible to maintain a warm-hot temp without continuing to cook it.
Michelle J
Planning to make a mixed seafood version tomorrow with crab, lobster, shrimp & langostine . I have shrimp and crab shells for the stock and fresh homegrown tomatoes for the tomato paste.
Jennifer
What is the green garnish you have pictured in the final soup photo? I will be making this soon. I’m a soup snob and I can see this recipe looks very good so I will make it 😊
Krissy
Those are chives!
KMac
mine was too thin, I followed exact instructions...any tips? otherwise great! THANKS
Krissy
It's pretty thin, even though it's creamy.
Melinda
Hi! I have langostino that I would like to use in this recipe. Could you tell me what to use in place of the “stock” in this recipe since I don’t have any shells. Do I simply increase the amount of canned seafood stock? Does it need to be diluted with water?
Thanks so much!
Krissy
Yep! Just replace with equal amounts of canned seafood stock. Enjoy!
Bruce
This is one of the best lobster bisque recipes I’ve found.
I’ve made it 3 times:
1. Exactly as written - excellent
2. Added a leek to the mixture of vegetable and 50% more tomato paste - still excellent—-seemed even richer.
3. Made a gluten free version using same amount of oat flour instead of regular flour——still excellent.
Lastly, I’ve drizzled a little high quality sherry after the soup is in the bowl and that creates a slightly different but still excellent bisque.
Thanks for posting this recipe.
Julie
Been looking for a great lobster bisque recipe forever. BEST hands down! I can’t keep my spoon out if the pot !
John G
Excellent recipe, I quadrupled the base to create enough for 8 guys going on a fly in fishing trip at the end of September this year. I ended up with 6 large mason jars full. I held out the cream and lobster as it took a day to get to the lake. On the second evening of the trip, I gently warmed the bisque added the cream then added freshly cooked walleye. It was enjoyed by all. Thank you so much for the detailed directions.
Krissy
Oh man, that sounds like heaven! I hope your fishing trip was a success! I sure bet they loved having you there. 🙂
Theda
Can this recipe be made without the alcohol?
Krissy
Yep! You can always replace wine with broth.
Pauline
Made for a Quarantine Valentine's Day for my family - everyone LOVED IT!
Thanks for an easy, delicious, and impressive recipe 🙂
Jennifer
Absolutely delicious! The step by step instructions were perfect and very easy to follow. I did have to change some things due to state of the world and what was in my freezer. I had no onions, used diced shallots which gave a lighter sweeter flavor than onions. I didn’t have lobster but I did have Alaskan king crab, so I picked all the meat from the body and claws and saved it in the fridge as the recipe stated. Due to using crab meat and boiling those shells which tend to become into smaller shards than lobster I did strain it with coffee filters. The end result was fabulous and devoured. Thank you! Loved it.
Krissy
Sounds fabulous! Thanks for letting me know how it turned out!
Traci
A true classic! So rich and creamy and flavorful...nobody ever turns down lobster bisque. Thanks for sharing! 🙂
Kushigalu
Love how creamy and delicious this is. Great recipe. Thanks for sharing.
Toni
Everyone at my house really loved it! It is full of flavors! Yum!
Julie
Wow! This lobster bisque looks incredibly delicious. I love all the hearty meat you use and the flavor is just spot on.
Deanne
This lobster bisque looks dreamy! Thanks for the step by step instructions so I can make it at home!