Lobster Mac and Cheese is a decadent, comforting dinner featuring lots of tender lobster meat mixed with creamy macaroni and cheese! Slightly sweet lobster meat is a perfect compliment to this super cheesy macaroni made with three different types of cheese. It’s all baked together with a buttery Panko bread crumb topping as the best final touch!
If you love mac and cheese, make sure to try my classic and easy stovetop mac and cheese and baked mac and cheese. When you’re feeling adventurous, dig into cauliflower mac and cheese and crab mac and cheese!
There are very few ways to make mac and cheese even better than it already is. I mean, I think mac and cheese is probably recognized as the most universally beloved dish of all time, right?! Well, it turns out that the best way to make this cheesy comfort food even better is by adding lobster meat to it. When you follow my easy steps to cook your lobster meat, you’ll be so pleased at how tender it turns out every time.
Bites of macaroni noodles, decadent cheese sauce (made with three cheeses) and sweet chunks of lobster meat really make for the most incredible bite. Truly, in a perfect world, I’d eat this dinner every single day! There’s something about a comfort food classic like this one that brings everyone pure joy when it’s made just right. Because of the lobster, this cheesy entree is best served in the summer… But let’s be honest. You’ll crave it all year round like I do!
Whether it’s a cold winter evening or a warm summer night, this cheesy, buttery lobster dish will bring you comfort and joy with every bite. Oh, and it’s certainly worth noting that making this rather impressive spin on mac and cheese is actually a whole lot easier than you may think. I’ve included plenty of tips and tricks just below to help you perfectly cook a whole lobster and get the best amount of meat out of it. We do NOT waste lobster here!
Ingredient Notes and Tips
Lobster Meat – You can use a whole cooked lobster, just the tail meat, or loose lobster meat. Scroll down to my FAQs for more info on that!
Pasta – Corkscrew pasta is my pasta of choice, but you can opt for any other short noodle that has a good shape for gripping cheese sauce.
Milk – Whole or 2% milk will yield the creamiest consistency for the cheese sauce.
Seasonings – A medley of ground mustard, garlic powder, paprika, black pepper, and salt create the best flavor for the cheese sauce. For the Panko topping, you’ll just need a simple sprinkle of garlic powder and salt to compliment the rest of the dish.
Cheese – Three different cheeses make this recipe so delicious! You’ll need to grab some Fontina, sharp white cheddar and Monterrey Jack.
Panko Bread Crumbs – These bread crumbs really create the best buttery crunch. I also love using them on my favorite baked scallops!
See recipe card for complete information on ingredients and quantities.
How to Make Lobster Mac and Cheese
Step 1: Cook the lobster. Bring a pot of water to a boil and sprinkle in salt and black peppercorns. Lower the heat to medium, then add the whole lobster and cover with a lid. Cook according to its weight – you can find more info on that in my FAQs!
TIP: If you’d prefer to just use the lobster tail meat, you can butterfly the tails and cook them in the oven. Scroll down to the recipe card for more info!
Step 2: Remove the meat from the lobster tail and claws.
Step 3: Cook the pasta in salted boiling water according to package instructions. While that’s cooking, use that time to grate all of your cheeses!
Step 4: Make a roux. Melt butter in a pot over medium heat and stir in the pressed garlic. Let the garlic simmer before you whisk in the flour.
Step 5: Once the mixture resembles a paste, slowly pour in the milk while whisking gently. Keep whisking until the milk is fully incorporated. Stir in all of the seasonings at this point.
Step 6: Time to make it cheesy! Stir in the cheeses a handful at a time. Continue to add the cheeses and stir until it’s all melted and smooth.
Step 7: Once the cheeses are all melted, stir in the cooked pasta. Take the pot off the heat.
Step 8: Stir in the lobster meat. Make sure it’s all spread evenly throughout the pasta.
Step 9: Preheat the oven to 375°F and grease a 9×13 baking dish. Spread the mac and cheese into an even layer in the baking dish.
Step 10: Mix the bread crumbs with parsley and seasonings. Toss until incorporated then spread the topping all over the macaroni.
Step 11: Bake for 20 minutes. Serve and enjoy!
Recipe FAQs
For this dish, you will need about a pound and a half of lobster meat.
Lobster tails – get about 5 depending on their size.
Whole lobster – you will need 4-5 lbs of whole lobster. That means you need to get two medium or three small lobsters.
Depending on where you live, there are various ways to get your hands on some lobster meat. You can use a whole lobster, lobster tails, or cooked loose lobster meat. Some stores will carry lobster meat either in their seafood department or frozen. Some stores give you live lobsters or fresh lobster tails available at the seafood counter. You also have an option to order lobster meat but that could get a little pricey.
Lobster tails are usually pretty accessible to most so you can always fall back on that if unable to get a whole lobster or frozen lobster meat. If all else fails, you can also use canned lobster meat but note that there is quite a difference in taste and texture between fresh and canned.
It takes about 10 minutes per pound to cook but don’t exceed 25 minutes for 3-5 lb lobsters.
1 to 1 1/4 lb. lobster – cook for 10-12 minutes
1 1/2 to 2 lb. lobster – cook for 15-18 minutes
2 1/2 to 5 lb. lobster – cook for 20-25 minutes.
Simply use gluten-free macaroni, gluten-free all–purpose flour, and gluten-free bread crumbs for topping. I prefer the Tinkyada brand of gluten-free pasta. Its texture is the least crumbly and tastes the most like regular pasta.
To use gluten-free all-purpose flour, simply substitute it for regular flour and mix it with melted butter to make the cheese sauce.
Choose gluten-free bread crumbs that resemble Panko crumbs. They are light, crispy, and white in color.
Many people who are lactose intolerant are actually not aware that they can still have mac and cheese and eat regular cheese. Cheese that is aged 6 months and longer is naturally lactose–free through the aging process. Stay away from soft cheeses like blue cheese, Brie, feta, cream cheese, and a few others that are not lactose-free. Hard and aged cheeses like cheddar, Parmesan, Monterrey Jack cheese, and even some aged Mozzarella are lactose-free.
Many brands will put lactose content right on the label, under the nutritional information. Look for words like “contains 0g of lactose per serving.” If the wording is not there, you can look at sugar content. If sugar is 0g, that will indicate there is very low chance for lactose.
Instead of regular milk, use lactose–free milk. (Tip: Fairlife brand is not as sweet as Lactaid. I recommend that one in savory dishes.) If you want to use milk substitute, oat milk is nice and creamy – just make sure it’s unsweetened.
As far as butter, you can use vegan butter or butter substitute. I use I Can’t Believe It’s Not Butter all the time and it works very well.
Storing and Reheating
Make sure to store leftovers in the refrigerator. You can use the same pan used for baking. Just make sure it’s cooled to room temperature and cover it airtight with a lid or plastic wrap. Properly stored, it should stay fresh for 3-5 days in the refrigerator.
Can I make it ahead?
Yes! You can prepare the whole dish up to the step of adding the Panko topping and baking but instead of baking it, cover airtight and refrigerate. Pull it out of the refrigerator about 30 minutes before you need to bake it and add the bread crumb topping. Pop it into the preheated oven and bake it as according to the recipe.
You can also make just the lobster meat ahead of time. Cook it, pull it out of the shell, and store in the refrigerator in an air-tight container. Make it up to 2 days ahead but no more.
Can I freeze it?
I don’t recommend freezing this dish. Cheese and cream don’t freeze well and the texture is often ruined by freezing. Lobster is way too expensive to sacrifice!
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Lobster Mac and Cheese
Ingredients
- 1-1 1/2 lbs cooked lobster meat*
- 1 lb corkscrew pasta
Cheese Sauce:
- 3 tbsp butter
- 3 garlic cloves pressed
- 3 tbsp all purpose flour
- 2 1/2 cups whole milk or 2%
- 1 tsp ground mustard
- 1 tsp garlic powder
- 1/2 tsp paprika
- 1/2 tsp black pepper
- 1 1/2 tsp salt adjust to taste
- 8 oz Fontina cheese block
- 8 oz sharp white cheddar cheese block
- 6 oz Monterrey Jack cheese block
Topping:
- 3/4 cup Panko bread crumbs
- 1 tbsp minced parsley
- 1/2 tsp garlic powder
- salt to taste
- 2 tbsp butter melted
Instructions
Cooking Whole Lobster:
- Bring a large pot of water to boil. Make sure you will be able to fit the lobsters to be completely covered with water. Season water with about 2 tbsp of coarse salt and 1 tbsp of whole peppercorns. Lower the heat to medium so the water doesn’t boil over.
- Submerge lobster into the water and close the lid. (Leave a crack for steam to escape.) Let lobster cook according to its weight, until it’s bright red. (You will most likely find the cooking time right on the box but if not, it takes about 10 minutes per pound to cook but don’t exceed 25 minutes for 3-5 lb lobsters.)**
- Take lobster out of the water and let it cool down before taking out the meat.
Take Out Lobster Meat:
- Twist off the tail. (You will see not so pleasant content of its stomach but you can simply rinse the edge of the rail off with cold water.) Twist off both claws at the sides of the body. Separate the claw from the knuckle by twisting it off.
- Using kitchen shears, cut the underside of the tail all the way down. Pull it apart and take out the tail meat. Use lobster crackers to crack the tough shell of the knuckles and claws. Carefully pull it apart and take out the claw and knuckle meat. Carefully go through the meat to make sure there is no pieces of shells leftover. Chop all lobster meat into smaller pieces.
Cooking Lobster Tails:
- Preheat the oven to 450° and cover a baking sheet with parchment paper. Melt 2-3 tablespoons of butter and mix it with some salt, squeeze of lemon juice, and 2 pressed garlic cloves.
- Butterfly the lobster shell: Pick up the lobster tail and cut the hard, outer shell down the middle all the way down to where the shell meets the tail. To pull the shell apart, you will need to use some muscle and crack the softer underside with your hands. But be careful not to actually crack the shell apart in two.
- As you pull the shell apart to expose the lobster meat, use your hands to gently separate the meat off the sides of the shell. Don’t pull out lobster meat completely, just separate it off the sides. If you see a dark vein along the lobster tail meat, which is lobster’s intestines, pull it out.
- Place butterflied lobster tails on the prepared baking sheet cut-side up and brush the meat liberally with butter mixture. Bake them for 10 minutes.
- Let lobster tails cool until it can be handled and take the meat out of the shell. Chop it and set aside.
Make Mac and Cheese:
- Cook corkscrew pasta in salted boiling water until al dente. While pasta is cooking, grate all the cheeses.
- Melt butter in a large pot over medium heat and add pressed garlic. Let garlic simmer until fragrant and whisk in flour.
- Once it's combined and looks like paste, start slowly pouring in milk while stirring constantly but gently. Keep whisking until all incorporated.
- Stir in garlic power, ground mustard, paprika, salt, and pepper.
- Add cheeses a handful at a time while slowly stirring. Keep slowly stirring until cheeses are melted and smooth.
- Once all cheese is melted, stir in pasta until completely combined. Take the pot off heat.
- Fold in chopped lobster meat and make sure it's evenly mixed throughout.
- Preheat oven to 375°, grease a 9×13 baking dish, and spread mac and cheese in the baking dish.
- Mix Panko crumbs with parsley, salt, and garlic powder in a bowl and pour in melted but. Toss until completely incorporated and spread the topping evenly over the mac and cheese.
- Bake for about 20 minutes.
Ann marie says
Hi Lyuba can’t afford lobster these days but would love to make this using shrimp how much do you think ? Thanks for the great I have made many and never fail,
LyubaB says
I understand lobster has been going up a lot. One way you can get around it is just using lobster tails they can be a lot more affordable also some stores like whole foods will have frozen lobster meat. If you want to use shrimp because it’s most affordable go with a pound to half a pound depending on how much shrimp you’d like and use uncooked shrimp you can make it the same way I make it in shrimp rolls which will infuse them with flavor. Then chop them up after and add it to the mac and cheese.
Andrea says
This recipe looks great. I plan to make it for a large dinner party using ramekins. How long should I bake individual medium sized ramekins?
LyubaB says
Hi,
I would cook them at the same temperature for 10-15 minutes. Everything is already cooked you just want to heat everything through and brown your bread crumbs.