Lobster Mac & Cheese
Combine comfort food with the ultimate New England splurge in this rich and flavorful Lobster Mac & Cheese. It’s decadent and delicious!
By Yankee Magazine|Aug 08 2022|
Coffee By Design | Portland, Maine
Photo Credit : Katherine KeenanCombine comfort food with the ultimate New England splurge in this flavorful and award-winning Lobster Mac & Cheese. It’s decadent and delicious!
Adapted from Cal Hancock of the Hancock Gourmet Lobster Company, this recipe beat out Bobby Flay’s version in a 2010 episode of Throwdown!
SEE MORE:
12 Favorite New England Comfort Food Recipes
12 Best Lobster Shacks in New England
Cooking Lobster Tails | Expert Advice
Yield:
6 servingsIngredients
1 pound shaped pasta, such as elbows or shells
8 tablespoons salted butter, divided
1 small yellow onion, diced
1 garlic clove, minced
5 tablespoons all-purpose flour
2 cups light cream
2 cups shredded Gruyere cheese
3 cups shredded cheddar cheese
1/2 cup grated Romano cheese
Kosher or sea salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste
8 ounces cooked lobster meat (from about two 1-1/2-pound lobsters), cut into bite-size pieces
Instructions
Cook pasta according to package instructions. Drain in a colander, set into the sink, and rinse with cold water to cool. Set aside.
Preheat oven to 350°. Melt 3 tablespoons butter in a medium-size saucepan over medium heat. Stir in onion and garlic; cook until onion has softened and turned translucent, about 5 minutes. Transfer to a bowl and set aside.
Melt remaining 5 tablespoons butter in the saucepan. Whisk in flour and stir until mixture is light golden-brown and glossy, 8 to 10 minutes. Gradually whisk cream into flour mixture, increase heat to medium-high, and bring to a simmer. Once simmering, reduce heat to medium-low; cook, stirring, until mixture is thick, creamy, and smooth, 10 to 15 minutes.
Stir onion/garlic mixture and cheeses into cream mixture until melted and smooth. Season to taste with salt and pepper; then gently stir in lobster and reserved pasta. Pour mixture into a 4-quart casserole and smooth the top.
Next, make the topping: In a small saucepan over medium heat, melt 2 tablespoons butter. Add breadcrumbs and parsley; cook, stirring , until lightly toasted. Sprinkle evenly over casserole.
Bake in preheated oven until sauce is bubbly and the top is golden-brown, 10 to 12 minutes.
Good afternoon,
I am going to make your recipe for Lobster mac and cheese this weekend. I will be serving it
to guests, and would like to prepare it before they get here. Would it ruin it if I assemble it and put it in
the refrigerator until they arrive and bake it when we are ready to have dinner?
Thank you,
Carol
Hi Carol. The lobster mac & cheese can be made a day ahead and kept in the refrigerator, covered, until you’re ready to eat. Just be sure to add a little more time in the oven to make up for the chill. We hope that you and your guests enjoy it!
Hi Carol
So how did the mac n cheese come out??
Such a yummy recipe! Although, I have to admit, there was a time cooking with lobster intimidated me! I wasn’t exactly sure how to prepare it, but it’s really not that difficult!
No offense, but you have lobster OR you have mac and cheese but never the twain shall meet! The ingredients sound great but not with lobster (to my mind). The delicate flavor of the lobster meat is overwhelmed by the cheeses (and I love cheese), which is why I will never eat my lobster in any other way than steamed or boiled, with some melted butter, or in a lobster roll (New England style buns of course) with no mayonnaise, just a little melted butter. Lobster is one of God’s most perfect foods and there is no improving on perfection! Naturally, this is just my opinion and there may be many who like the idea; but I am a lobster purist and you know how fanatical we can be! ????
I totally agree Debra! Why would anyone want to mix someething as wonderful as lobster with mac and cheese. It is a combination I simply cannot understand! Lobster Newberg yes, Lobster Thermidor yes…but lobster mac and cheese is totally beyond my understanding. What a waste of good Lobster! Debra…high fives to another Lobster purist.
‘Purists’ are the worst. We would still be living in the 40s if it were up to you lot.
That’s rude. They’re right, you know. The taste of lobster is to be savored unto itself. OK. Maybe a bit of butter. Some people still have taste buds that haven’t been tarnished.
Much like saying “Why ruin a perfectly good tomato sandwich by adding bacon and lettuce?”
Agreed. Not everything we eat has to be “taken up a notch” as the TV chefs like to say. Simple, fresh, high quality ingredients are always the best. Mac and cheese on the side, please. Classic favorites remain so through the decades of pleasurable meals with friends and family because they do not need any tinkering. We look forward to those flavors we have been anticipating and get great satisfaction from the familiar tastes that never disappoint.
Made a substitute of cooked jumbo shrimp (instead of lobster) …… easy and delicious.
Best Mac and cheese I ever had was at The Maine Diner. The best.
You are absolutely right! I tried to make it myself using their recipe, but couldn’t match it. When I’m in Maine, I go to the Diner for it at least one time a visit.
We stop there every time we head to points North. Their mac and cheese is the best! We have spent a week in Maine for the last 29 years.
Where do you lodge for your week up there? Hope to vacation there soon.????????????????
What’s with the purists & snobs. Lobster is to be savored with any creative way one can make it. New Englanders are known for innovation in cooking. The lobster mac at the Dog Watch Café in Stonington, CT is out of this world. Worth the trip there.
There are many places in Main to get great lobster Mac and cheese. The Maine diner is NOT one of them. If you haven’t been there lately, don’t bother. It’s a train wreck and the food is terrible. I will never go there again.
Wow, you people are nasty! Everyone has different tastes. Enjoy life!
I bet those lobster purists have never tasted lobster macaroni and cheese. They might change their minds if they had. It is a fantastic combination and I order it every time I have a chance.
Hi. i have this mac and cheese and lobster and it comes out great. i used large lobster about 1 1/2 pounds. plenty of lobster in every bite.
I make a lobster risotto which is very tasty and light. Pair it with a good white wine and a small green salad. Also, if you like a great pasta dish that again is lighter, make and shape some bow tie pasta that you can stuff with pear and asiago cheese. This is a very tasty primo, and you can enjoy a lobster after, sans anything heavy. When eating mac and cheese lobster, eat it before noon, so your tummy can process it, and you can sleep through the night.
Need to perfect mac and cheese recipe before adding lobster or leftover prime rib
Ina Garten’s lobster mac and cheese is the best evah !!
can this be frozen?
yes I have and it comes our wonderful. Just don’t cook the noodles as much before hand
If you are a wild mushroom enthusiast, try adding a couple of tablespoons of chopped, sautéed black trumpets – then you’ve got something! Same goes for lobster rolls – a few black trumpets sautéed in the melted butter – unbelievable!
I used to feel like the “purists”. Then I tried it. Made it twice. Yummm
Can left over Mac and cheese be frozen
When I do a lobster pie I do it the old-fashioned way with just lobster meet some butter and put the Ritz cracker crumbs on top that are mixed prior to that I mix with a little butter and very little salt I place it on top of the lobster in a baking dish put it under the broiler until golden brown and that’s the end you don’t need sauce is in it you don’t need anything else in it it’s simple and it’s fabulous no Sherry no wine no sauce no flour no nothing just lobster meat butter salt and Ritz cracker crumbs!I place it on top of the lobster in a baking dish put it under the broiler until golden brown and that’s the end you don’t need sauces in it you don’t need anything else in it it’s simple and it’s fabulous no Sherry no wine no sauce no flour no nothing just lobster meat butter salt and Ritz cracker clams
That’s lobster pie. This recipe is lobster mac & cheese,
I have never been a Mac & cheese fan, but had it at a Wedding as an appetizer and it was fabulous. So I will try this recipe. I think everyone is entitled to their opinion but I see no need to be rude about it. Don’t knock it if you haven’t tried it
I want some now!!!
I love lobster ( just made Connecticut style lobster rolls last night for dinner) and a love
Mac’n’Cheese. But to paraphrase Anthony Bourdain (and I can’t actually quote him as the language would likely get me kicked off this site or any site or civility ). Keep your darn lobster out of my mac’n’ cheese. In my book it ruins perfectly good lobster and perfectly good mac’n’cheese