Ever wondered how you could make baked lobster mac and cheese at home? Well, look no further! In this post, I’m going to share with you my home-made baked lobster mac and cheese. It’s so good that you might not order the lobster mac and cheese when you see it on a menu at your favorite restaurant.
I made this in an hour on my Instagram live and the results from my audience that cooked along with me were incredible! I even had to swipe my follower’s love_mkgirl‘s photo as the main photo for the recipe! Her presentation was on point! I was so busy running from my live to the next live with blackgirlswine that I totally forgot to take a photo of my final dish!
Lucky for me, I have amazing followers who are A+ students and follow my instructions to perfection.
I recommend making this recipe for a special occasion, whether it’s for your next holiday gathering with friends and family or for a special date night in. We all know, lobster ain’t cheap…lol so make sure you’re putting it to good use when you make it.
This recipe freezes like a dream. You can make a big batch and free it and warm it up a month from now in the oven on 375 degrees. You can also double the cheese sauce and freeze the extra for another time.
I hope you guys will enjoy this recipe and share it with friends and family.
Baked Lobster Mac & Cheese
Ingredients
- For Lobster:
- 2 6 oz lobster tails
- 2 tbsp of butter
- salt pepper, old bay to taste
- For the cheese sauce:
- 2 cups of noodles your choice: penne, rigatoni, shells or elbow
- 1 cup of heavy cream
- 1 cup of regular milk
- 2 1/2 cups of good quality assorted shredded cheese such as cheddar white cheddar, smoked gouda, fontina, provolone, mozzarella, etc.
- For roux:
- 2 tbsp of butter
- 2 tbsp of flour
- To season cheese sauce:
- 1 tsp smoked paprika
- 1/2 tsp of old bay
- 1 tsp of onion powder
- 1 tsp of garlic powder
- salt + pepper to taste
Instructions
- Heat oven 375 degrees
For lobster:
- In a medium pot bring 4 cups of water to a boil, cook lobster tails for 3-4 minutes (shell on).
- Remove lobster tails from water and allow the lobster to cool.
- Once cooled, remove the lobster meat from the shell by using kitchen scissors to open the shell. Clean and remove the vein and any other impurities from the meat. Then proceed to chop the meat into bite-sized chunks.
- To a pan, melt 2 tbsp of butter and season with old bay.
- Toss the lobster meat in the old bay, butter sauce for 2 minutes, and set aside until you build the cheese sauce.
For pasta:
- To the same water that you boiled the lobster tails, add salt and more water if needed and cook pasta noodles according to package instructions for al dente.
For Cheese Sauce:
- In a medium saucepan, melt butter and add flour 1 tbsp at a time, whisking until flour is dissolved into the butter.
- Cook roux for 2 minutes, until a light blond color.
- To the roux, slowly add milk, whisking constantly.
- Once the milk is added, add in heavy cream, slowly while simultaneously whisking the sauce. You do this so that you don’t have any lumps in your béchamel sauce.
- Once heavy cream is added, allow the sauce to thicken, continue to stir.
- After about 3 minutes, the sauce should begin to thicken. At this point, lower your heat, and add your cheese a handful at a time, allowing each handful to melt into the sauce.
- After you’ve added about a cup and a half of cheese to the sauce, add in your seasoning. Taste the sauce for saltiness and adjust as needed.
- Turn off the heat on the sauce and add in your chopped lobster meat and stir.
Assembly:
- In a baking dish or medium cast-iron skillet, combine the noddles with the cheese sauce by pouring in the sauce slowly. Ensure that the noodles get an even coat of the cheese sauce, you don’t want the noodles swimming in the sauce. If you have too much sauce, save it for another day.
- Stir in another half a cup of shredded cheese.
- Smooth the top of mac and cheese in the dish or pan with a spoon.
- Top the mac and cheese with remaining shredded cheese until you have a full layer of cheese visible.
- Bake at 375 degrees for at least 25-30 minutes, putting a flat baking pan under the mac and cheese to catch any spilling.
- If at this point your mac and cheese could use some more browning on top, crank the heat to a low boil and crack the oven door open and let it cook for 3-5 more minutes.
- Do not take your eyes off it.
- Remove from oven, allow mac and cheese to rest for 10 minutes before serving.
- Top with the empty lobster shell to garnish.
Notes
P.S. Check out my last post here!
