Skip the reservations and bring a restaurant-worthy experience to the comfort of your own home with this decadent, luxurious, easy lobster pasta recipe. Using the freshest Maine Grade A lobster with a quick and easy white wine sauce, this rich yet bright lobster dish will turn any night into a true occasion.
Lobster pasta dishes are always a popular choice on any menu. They combine total comfort with elevated luxury ingredients like chopped lobster. With the right ingredients and a few simple steps, you can easily create a dish to wow your family and friends. This dish is easy to entertain with as it stretches out an ingredient like lobster, but it’s also a pasta recipe that requires minimal ingredients and time.
Why This Recipe Works
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- Simple but high-quality ingredients: When you start with a beautiful ingredient like hardshell cold-water Maine lobster tails or even live lobsters, it doesn’t take much to make them shine.
- Minimal steps: Unlike some pasta recipes that call for a long cooking time, this sauce comes together in less than 30 minutes. If you use already-cooked lobster meat, it comes together even faster!
- Customizable: Feel free to add additional ingredients like canned tomatoes or make this spicy with Calabrian chilies. You can easily make this recipe your own.
Ingredients
- Lobster: Any part of the lobster can be used to create this lobster pasta recipe. Whole live lobsters are a great option because you can use the shells to make an infused seafood stock to add to the pasta sauce. Lobster tails are the most common and popular. Jumbo lobster tails and colossal lobster tails are great options, as they will give you plenty of luxurious meat.
- Pasta: The most popular choice is a longer, thin noodle. Pick a pasta like linguine, fettuccini, or spaghetti. Lobster bucatini is another popular choice. This spaghetti-like pasta is hollow and ridged, allowing the sauce to cling to it.
- Aromatics: Shallots and garlic will add a savory yet delicate flavor.
- Butter/Olive Oil
- Acid: White wine is the base of the sauce. Pick a dry white wine you enjoy drinking. As the wine cooks down, the flavor will concentrate. A squeeze of lemon at the end wakes up all of the flavors.
- Seasonings: When you start with beautiful lobster, you don’t want to overpower that delicate, sweet flavor. All you need is a little salt, pepper, and if you like a kick crushed red pepper flakes.
- Basil: Adds a little freshness at the end and a sweet note that pairs well with lobster.
How to Make Lobster Pasta
- Cook your lobster. Make sure to check out our guides for how to steam lobster, and how to boil lobster. Both of these are excellent methods for achieving that pure, undiluted lobster flavor to add to your pasta. The cooking times will vary by the size of your lobsters.
- To steam your lobster tails, bring 1-2 inches of water to a boil in a stockpot and add a pinch of salt. Next, insert your steamer basket. Carefully place your lobster tails in a single layer, top of the shell down. Cover the pot and allow the lobster tails to steam for 6-8 minutes for 6-7 oz. lobster tails. You’ll want to add a minute per each additional ounce. Remove the steamer basket from the pot. The shells will be red, and the meat should be around 135 degrees. Give it a quick rinse in cold water to stop the cooking process.
- To boil your lobster tails, bring a large stockpot of water to a boil, and add salt. Carefully lower the tails into the boiling water and close the lid. Allow the lobsters to boil for 5-6 minutes for 6-7 oz. lobster tails. Remove them from the hot water and place them in a bowl of ice water to stop the cooking.
- Remove the lobster meat from the shell. Remove and discard the vein running down the center. Chop the lobster meat into bite-sized pieces and set aside.
Boil the Pasta
- Bring a pot of water to a boil. Once boiling, add a generous pinch of kosher or sea salt and allow it to dissolve. Carefully add your pasta and cook it according to the package directions for al dente pasta. Be careful not to overcook the pasta! If using fresh pasta, it will take less time to cook than dried pasta.
- Drain the pasta, but reserve 1 cup of the starchy, salted cooking water. You will need this for the sauce.
Make the Sauce for the Lobster Pasta
- Heat a large skillet over medium heat and add the olive oil. Add the shallots and garlic along with salt, pepper, and crushed red pepper flakes if using. Cook until fragrant, and the shallots are translucent.
- Add the white wine and bring it to a simmer. Cook until it has reduced by half, about 8-10 minutes.
- Squeeze in the lemon juice, add the lemon zest.
- Add the pasta, lobster, half of the pasta water, and the cold butter. Keep tossing until the butter has emulsified into the sauce. If you want it a little saucier, add a little more pasta water.
- Fold in the basil.
- Garnish with freshly grated Parmigiano-Reggiano if desired.
Serving Suggestions for Lobster Pasta
- When plating your linguine lobster pasta, garnish with the ingredients you used in the dish, such as additional lemon zest and basil.
- Save larger pieces of the lobster, such as the claws, to place on top. You can even leave the shell partially on for a fine-dining presentation.
- You might be wondering what goes with lobster pasta. This is a rich and decadent dish. Serve your lobster meal with roasted or grilled vegetables, a simple green salad with a light vinaigrette, and, of course, crusty bread to sop up any leftover lobster butter sauce.
- For a true lobster celebration, start your meal with lobster bisque or New England clam chowder.
Nutritional Information
- This recipe can easily be made gluten-free. Because it is a pan sauce, there is no need to make a roux, meaning there is no flour. Simply replace the pasta in this recipe with your favorite gluten-free variety.
- You can make this wheat-free by replacing the butter in this recipe with the same amount of your favorite plant-based butter.
- While this is a decadent dish because of the pasta, the sauce itself is light and bright and doesn’t contain any heavy cream. The relatively small amount of cold butter at the end, along with the pasta water, gives it that silky finish. It has fewer calories than other types of sauces, such as an alfredo sauce.
- Lobster is naturally a lean, low-calorie source of protein. The nutritional benefits of lobster make it a great choice for part of a balanced, healthy diet.
Cooking Techniques and Equipment
- For the best texture and flavor, we recommend either steaming or boiling the lobster. This will preserve the pure, sweet flavor of the lobster without diluting it or masking it with additional seasonings.
- If you steam your lobster, you will need a large pot with a steamer basket. If you boil your lobster, you’ll need a stock pot that will accommodate the water and lobster without the water overflowing.
- An instant-read digital thermometer is your best friend. Take out the guesswork and temperature-check your lobster. Always measure from the thickest part of the tail meat, making sure not to touch the shell. Because the lobster meat will continue to cook in the pasta, you will want to pull it at 130-135 degrees.
- To make the pasta, you’ll need a stock pot and strainer, a large skillet, and either a spoon or tongs.
Variations and Customizations
- Tomatoes add an acidic sweetness to this lobster pasta. You can use either fresh cherry or grape tomatoes or canned tomatoes. For the fresh tomatoes, add them at the same time as the shallots and garlic. Allow them to cook down until slumped and juicy. You can add up to a pint.
- After your wine reduces, stir in up to a cup of heavy cream to make this a creamy lemon sauce.
- Like things spicy? Sauté a diced Fresno pepper with the shallots and garlic.
- Cheese makes everything better. When adding your pasta water and butter, add half a cup of freshly grated Parmigiano-Reggiano. Keep tossing until everything is melted and saucy.
- Not a fan of basil? Swap it out for another soft herb like chives or Italian parsley.
- Make this recipe even easier by using already-cooked lobster meat or lobster tail meat.
Frequently Asked Questions
Always use the freshest Maine Grade A hardshell lobster for the purest, sweetest flavor. Lobster tails are the most common part of the lobster to use, but using whole lobster will give you the most meat as well as the ability to use the shell for even more lobster flavor.
Because the lobster will continue cooking in the sauce, you want to pull it out between 130 and 135 degrees. The shells will be bright red, and the meat will be white and opaque. A digital thermometer is your best friend.
Easy Lobster Pasta Recipe
Skip the reservations and bring a restaurant worthy experience to the comfort of your own home with this decadent, luxurious easy lobster pasta recipe.
- Total Time: 35 minutes
- Yield: 4 1x
Ingredients
- One live lobster or two 6-7 oz. lobster tails, cooked, meat cut into cubes, you’ll need 1 lbs. of meat
- 1 lbs. linguine or fettucine
- 1/4 cup olive oil
- One large shallot, diced
- Two garlic cloves, minced
- 1/2 tsp. kosher salt
- Freshly cracked black pepper
- 1/4 tsp. crushed red pepper flakes, optional
- 3/4 cup dry white wine such as Pinot Grigio
- 4 Tbsp. unsalted butter, cold, cut into cubes
- Juice of 1/2 lemon
- 1 tsp. lemon zest
- 1/4 cup fresh basil, chiffonade
- Freshly grated Parmigiano-Reggiano for serving, optional
Instructions
- Steam or boil your lobster tail. Remove them from the shell and remove the vein. Dice them into chunks and set them aside.
- Bring a pot of water to a boil and salt it. Add the pasta and cook it according to the package directions for al dente. Drain the pasta, reserving 1 cup of the starchy pasta water.
- Heat a large skillet over medium heat and add the olive oil. Add the shallots, garlic, salt, pepper, and crushed red pepper flakes if using. Stir and sauté until fragrant and the shallots are translucent, 2-3 minutes.
- Pour in the wine and bring to a simmer. Allow the wine to cook until reduced by half, 8-10 minutes.
- Add the pasta, lobster, butter, lemon juice, lemon zest, and 1/2 cup of the pasta water. Lightly toss until the butter is emulsified and the lobster is evenly distributed.
- If you want it saucier, add a little more pasta water.
- Stir in the basil. Taste and add additional salt if needed.
- Garnish with fresh basil and parmesan cheese if desired.
Notes
Any type of lobster meat will work for this recipe. You can use whole lobster, cooked, or lobster tail meat. You will need 1 pound.
- Prep Time: 20
- Cook Time: 15
- Category: Entree
- Method: Sauteing
- Cuisine: American