Lobster Corn Chowder
Lobster Corn Chowder is the ultimate comfort food that you can serve in the heat of summer or even on the coldest winter nights! Lobster, bacon, sweet corn, and gold potatoes are the ingredients that are featured in this easy recipe. This is a chowder that’s perfect for entertaining since it always impresses!
Lobster Corn Chowder
I’m in love with lobster anything. Lobster rolls, lobster bisque, grilled lobster all by itself with butter on the side… You get the idea. I don’t think I can ever turn down a lobster entree, and I know most people agree with me! Since lobster is such a treat, I love using it to entertain with.
This Lobster Corn Chowder is a little deceptive, because having lobster in it at all makes it seem a touch fancier than it is. It’s similar to my favorite Corn Chowder but leveled up a little bit.
Here’s the deal – I don’t mind cooking live lobsters. I know it may seem barbaric to some, but freshly cooked lobster meat always tastes better to me than frozen or reheated lobster!
With that being said, you can easily use precooked lobster meat from the seafood department to speed things up and save you from any potential pinches. Yes, those claws can hurt, but they taste so good in this chowder!
Lobster meat may be the key ingredient in this chowder, but it’s not the only noteworthy element in the mix. There’s also plenty of bacon, sautéed veggies, sweet corn, tender gold potatoes, wine, and bold seasonings to make the entire chowder downright delicious!
I love that Lobster Corn Chowder is comforting and warm, but so full of fresh flavors that it can easily be served in both winter and summer.
How to Make Lobster Corn Chowder
- Cook the lobster. Bring water to a boil in a large stock pot. Add the lobster to the boiling water and cover the pot. Cook for about 15 minutes. Let the lobsters cool completely, then remove the meat and chop it into bite sized pieces. Remember to reserve the water it was cooked in – you’ll need it later.
- Cook the bacon and veggies. Cook the bacon until crisp, then remove it from the pan. In the reserved fat, cook the onion, celery, and carrots until softened. Toss in the garlic. Then, add the corn and potatoes.
- Bring it to a boil. Stir in about 4 cups of the reserved lobster water and the half and half. Bring the mixture to a boil, then reduce the heat to low.
- Add the remaining ingredients. Stir in the wine, seasonings, and lobster.
- Enjoy! Serve the chowder immediately with the crispy bacon on top and enjoy!
Variations to Try
- Use store-bought lobster. If the thought of cooking a live lobster scares you, no worries! You can use cooked lobster tail instead. Just stir it into the chowder as you would meat you cooked on your own. Since you won’t have the water you cooked the lobster in (lobster stock), try to use store-bought seafood stock. If you can’t find any, you can use vegetable stock instead.
- Change the wine. Can’t find any marsala wine? Swap it for a dry white wine like Sauvignon Blanc instead. Just stay away from sweeter white wines like Riesling!
How to Shell a Lobster
When it comes to shelling lobsters, there are so many different videos on the internet that all show different, but similar trusty methods. While I enjoy watching them, here’s how I’ve always done it.
- Use crackers to crack open those claws. The meat should all come out of there pretty easily.
- If you have any clean scissors, use them to cut right down the center of the tail. After the top of the shell is cut all the way down the center, you can bend and break the shell with ease to get all of that meat out.
Make sure the lobster has totally cooled before you start trying to remove the meat! A hot lobster isn’t fun to handle!
Let’s get cracking with more of the BEST lobster recipes!
- Classic Lobster Thermidor
- Easy Lobster Bisque
- Lobster Risotto
- Lobster Rolls
- Lobster Pasta Salad
- The Best Lobster Mac and Cheese
For more easy lobster recipes, follow us on Instagram and Facebook!
Get the Recipe: Lobster Corn Chowder Recipe
Ingredients
- 2 – 1 1/2 pound live lobsters
- 3 strips bacon, chopped
- 1 large vidalia onion, diced (approximately 1 1/2 cups)
- 3 large celery stalks, diced (approximately 1 cup)
- 1 cup finely diced carrot
- 3 garlic cloves
- 1 1/2 cups fresh sweet corn
- 2 cups baby yukon gold potatoes, sliced in half
- 2 cups half and half
- 1/4 cup marsala wine
- 1 teaspoon smoked paprika
- 1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper
- 1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
- kosher salt and fresh ground pepper
- fresh chopped chives
Equipment
- 1 stock pot
Instructions
- Bring a large stock pot filled with approximately 4 quarts of water to a boil. Add the lobster to the pot and cover. Cook the lobsters for 15 minutes or until cooked through.
- Remove the lobsters from the pot and allow to cool completely. Reserve the cooking liquid.
- Twist off the tails and crack the claws. Remove the meat from the shells and roughly chop the meat into bite sized pieces. Set aside.
- In a separate pot, cook the bacon over medium heat until crisp.
- Remove the bacon from the pot with a slotted spoon and drain off all but 2 tablespoons of fat.
- Add the onion, celery and carrot to the pot and cook until softened, approximately 5 minutes.
- Stir in the garlic and cook for one minute.
- Add the corn and potato to the onion mixture. Cook for an additional 3-4 minutes.
- Stir in 4 cups of the reserved liquid from the lobster pot and the half and half.
- Bring the mixture to a boil and turn the heat to low.
- Stir in the wine, paprika, cayenne, nutmeg and lobster. Season with salt and pepper, to taste.
- Sprinkle with chopped chives and reserved bacon. Serve immediately.
7 Comments on “Lobster Corn Chowder”
Not afraid of lobsters, just hate killing poor lovely lobster. Adore eating lobster, though, so glad of your addendum on how to handle recipe using store bought already cooked lobster! Guess I’m a hypocrite. Thanks. Going to find ingredients and prepare it for Thanksgiving or Christmas celebrations. (I don’t like black pepper, so hope leaving it out won’t ruin the dish). Looks delicious.
Hi Virginia! I completely agree. While I will cook a live lobster, I try to avoid it at all cost. :-). You don’t need to add pepper if you don’t like it, the chowder will still taste amazing.
I’m drooling. I want to dive into a pot of this and eat the whole thing. This dish screams coastal New England easy elegance and your photos are scrumptious!
Positively gorgeous! My kind of soup!
Two of my favorite things got married!?! How did I miss the invitation? I NEED to make this, STAT!! OMG!
You made this look so easy, I am tempted to try! Beautiful photos 🙂
Oh my goodness, this sounds so delicious! These photos are gorgeous!