Lobster Mac and Cheese Recipe (2024)

Many people test the recipes, and have for more than 40 years. I'm curious what happened in your case. With two cups of milk, a cup of cottage cheese, a pound of cheese, some butter and reserved lobster juice in the recipe, "dry rather than creamy" is not a complaint we've heard, and it's not a result we've experienced.

Just a note from a Mainer, a 1.5 lb lobster will not yield 1.5 lbs of lobster, there are allot of shells and liquid. I'd probably use 2-3 lobsters. I may make it for Thanksgiving this year!

Made this as written and it came out great. Given all the testing that goes into all these recipes I am skeptical about feedback from people who either don't read and/or follow directions or cannot help themselves from inserting their own special, and often weird, revisions. It's not all about you.

To Sam: Whenever I see your name I immediately trust that the recipe will be sane and truly delicious. I think you are a modern day male version of Marion Barros -- a friend in the kitchen, a lover of great food and an interesting writer. I love you, Sam Sifton in a far off kind of way becasue I don't know you..until I begin to follow one of your recipes or read one of your stories and then you seem very close and full of affection...thank you

Yum, my only change is to substitute SHRIMP for Lobster. And I delay adding the shrimp until the last 5 minutes or less of oven time as the shrimp continue to cook after removing from the oven. Deelish

I use store-bought lobster bisque as the base for my cheese sauce, Gruyere instead of cottage cheese, and 1.5 lbs of lobster meat (24 oz), not a chicken lobster. I also top with buttered bread crumbs mixed with grated Parmesan cheese. And since the pasta's already cooked, the whole thing only needs to bake for 30 minutes.

A 1-1/2 lb lobster = 6 ounces of meat. At today's price, that's $15, or $40/lb for the meat. I love the concept of using lobster in a pasta dish, but not where it's buried under a ton of cheese. Better to let it shine as the star of the dish. Wouldn't waste my time or effort on this. And the recipe for the mac and cheese on its own just sounds boring. I always use a variety of cheeses (cheddar, Asiago, Romano) and top it with a crunchy panko and butter crust.

A whole pound of cheddar is far too much for 1/2 pound of pasta. I would reduce it to 1/3 pound along with the cottage cheese (or ricotta - my preference).

I don't think he means for the recipe to have 1.5 lbs of lobster meat. That would be an awful lot of lobster meat for this kind of recipe. Which is why the's saying the meat from a 1.5 lb lobster. If you want more meat maybe a 2 lb'er.

Flyover country means I use 3-4 lobster tails for this and it works beautifully. Fresh lobster would undoubtedly be an improvement, but it's a great way to make a lobster dish for a crowd without having to spend a fortune. My family loves both version of this mac and cheese, with and without lobster. Husband was leery the first time I tried it, because he thought it was a strange combination, but it was one of his first requests for Thanksgiving this year.

Hula, you are right on target. I have made hundreds of dishes using dozens of Times recipes. I have never, repeat NEVER had a failure unless I messed with the ingredients or procedures. I haven't always liked the finished dishes but they came out as published. The people who amuse me are the ones who say, "I cut the sugar in half, used 1% milk instead of heavy cream, and margarine instead of butter. Didn't have much flavor. Sorry, Times, this one is a loser."

We liked this a lot. Reminded us of the Lobster Mac & Cheese at the Bedford Springs Tavern, where we first had this dish. At Santa Fe's 7,000 ft altitude, ours came out a bit dry, which was a surprise. Making it again tonight and will add some extra liquid. Used cheddar (an essential flavor), gruyere and mascarpone. Great flavors. To those who say the cheese overwhelms the lobster, bear in mind that this is hearty Mac N Cheese with Lobster, not Lobster with a delicate cheese sauce.

There's so much moisture in the 2c of milk that using uncooked macaroni works beautifully because it absolutely cooks al dente.

Expect a 1-1/2-pound lobster to yield about 6-8 ounces of meat. In a pinch I had success using a 12-oz bag of frozen langostino tails, and that felt like the right amount. Easy Tuesday night dinner for me and my wife, while the little ones enjoyed boxed mac and cheese. A live lobster certainly would have elevated it, but that's for another day.

I adapted this recipe for Spiny Lobster and it is great! Using spiny lobster, I remove the meat from the lobster shells while the meat is semi-frozen or at least very cold. Then I dice up or roughly chop the lobster meat. After 30 minutes, I add the raw lobster meat and recover the pan to keep the lobster juices in the mac and cheese while the lobster cooks. I uncover the pan after 15 minutes and leave it in the oven uncovered for another 15. It is delicious!

Wow! Made it last night with what I had on hand to substitute for what I didn't. Used 6 x 4 oz freshwater lobster tails, 8 oz cream cheese instead of the cottage variety, 1.5 cups heavy cream with .5 cup 1% milk, heavier on the cayenne, and the rest of the recipe the same. The 13x9 inch casserole was correct for me, smaller surely disaster. Decadent-delicious!! Not the mac and chez I would make every time, but definitely like dessert for dinner and perfect for the right occasion like New Year!

Did this last night (again) for Christmas Eve dinner, but had no cayenne so substituted Truff brand truffled hot sauce. Gave it a few liberal dashes from the bottle. No heat but everyone agreed, best ever — took it to a whole new level!

Has Cantonese this with fresh macaroni? Just bought some today at my farmers market to make this dish Christmas Eve! Guessing I adjust the cooking time and skip most the liquid but would appreciate any suggestions!

I made this recipe for thanksgiving. I doubled the amount of elbow macaroni that I used. Everyone loved it but my mom said it was too salty. This is because I used two heaping tablespoons of the salted lobster water on the noodles before baking. So if you’re watching your salt intake don’t salt the lobster water. Also I used a cooked lobster and raw lobster tails.

I used two very large tails per each pan as I needed two. I used a pound of curly elbows for each and it was perfect. I found the cheese milk sauce to be a bit watery but I trusted. I would add more cheese next time. I topped with parmigiana and panko flakes. It was a huge hit!

Three tails, white cheddar, cavatappi, 9x9 dish.Otherwise made as directed. Just make sure to watch the top in the second baking - mine got a little browner than I’d like.Turned out great, partner loved it, will make again!

Cheated and used surimi lobster tails. Still as good and cheaper too! I also used less cheese than stated, probably two thirds and it was fine. I think anymore and it could get greasy.It also cooks quicker than stated.

Followed to the letter, and the flavor was good, but cheese was a bit clumpy. Definitely not a smoothly sauced dish like I get when I make a roux and melt cheese into it. Lobster flavor was there, but not as prominent as I would like.

I just made this for NYE dinner, I followed the recipe to the absolute letter and it was a disaster. It separated, was oily, not creamy at all. I should have stuck to a more classic creamy mac and cheese and folded the lobster in at the end, because 30 minutes in the oven overcooked the lobster and made it tough. Massive diappointmet.

This dinner was a hit with my mother-in-law, who loves lobster and mac and cheese. So easy, and the leftovers reheated well.

An easy and delicious New Year's Day treat. Lobster is crazy expensive right now, even in New England, but worth it for this dish.

Made this following the recipe EXCEPT substituted shrimp for lobster. Used 1lb medium shrimp cooked separately first, then stirred shrimp in after the first 30 minutes of baking and baked uncovered for 30 more minutes. Considered adding the shrimp raw but was not sure how this might affect the liquid levels of the dish so went with the cooked. This was really delicious with shrimp and, served with a Caesar salad, a great tree-decorating meal!

This is very rich and curdled a bit on me. Otherwise it worked. Maybe less cheddar and a more 'melty' cheese like Monterey Jack next time.