Best Lobster Roll Recipe: How to Make a Lobster Roll
Master your Lobster 101 skills with our quick guide to cooking, picking, and eating a whole lobster. Or dive right in and make the best lobster roll of your life. When there's lobster in the vicinity, you really can't lose.
Tip
This post will make you a professional-grade lobster picker in no time flat. Or buy cooked lobster meat at the fish market.
Lobster roll is everything
Happy Lobster Day weekend! (Wait.) Here's to the end of a great summer and the beginning of a prosperous new season. The weather here on the Jersey shore is already heading toward stormy as we wait for Hermine to roll up the coast.
But my upcoming months will encompass a few major events, including a 40th birthday and a 15th wedding anniversary. So I'm channeling sunshine regardless.
Of all my favorites in the world, lobster is right up there with family members. I should maybe be more embarrassed to say that than I am. (If that's 40, I'll take it.)
In honor of all that, I'm kicking off the change of season with the best lobster roll recipe I know. Here's how to make a lobster roll at home, a.k.a. how to be a boss lady who brings love and light to everyone you know.
The best lobster roll recipe
Speaking of being a boss. Making lobster rolls is very quick if you start with pre-cooked lobster meat, and that's great. I feel like the Barefoot Contessa would go that route, so in a sense it's unimpeachable.
But by far the raddest way to make a lobster roll at home is to start with a live lobster and pick every morsel of meat from every part of the body. We're not just talking tails and claws, as you may have gathered from my tone.
Check out this post if you could use some help finding the secret nuggets of pure lobster gold that many people unwittingly throw away. It's basically a free MBA.
Best Lobster Roll Recipe
Ingredients
- About a pound of cooked lobster meat (see note)
- 2 tablespoons good mayonnaise
- 1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice
- 1 tablespoon capers (optional)
- 2 teaspoons chopped fresh chives
- Pinch of salt and freshly ground black pepper
- 4 top-split buns (I love to use brioche buns)
- 1 tablespoon good salted butter
Directions
- Cut or tear the lobster meat into bite-sized pieces and place in a medium bowl.
- In a small bowl, whisk together the mayonnaise, lemon juice, capers, chives and salt and pepper. Pour the dressing over the lobster and toss gently to coat all the meat.
- Melt the butter on a skillet over medium-high heat. Set the buns down on the skillet on one of their side edges. Cook for a minute or two until golden brown, then flip and cook the opposite side.
- Divide the lobster meat among the buns and serve immediately.
Notes
I start with one large lobster (about 2 3/4 pounds) and pick every bit of the meat from the tail, claws and knuckles, carcass and legs to get about a pound of cooked lobster meat. Did you know that some of the sweetest, most tender meat is in the interstitial parts of the body? In a larger lobster you can get about a cup of additional meat with a little persistence. I'm lucky to have been trained by an expert. You can learn more about how to pick lobster meat from this post. You can also start with several smaller lobsters or buy cooked lobster meat from the fishmonger.
