Lobster Pasta with Herb Parmesan Sauce

4.49 from 145 votes

Lobster Pasta with Herb Parmesan Sauce

This elegant lobster pasta recipe is bursting with succulent lobster poached in butter in a creamy parmesan sauce with flavorful herbs. It's the perfect recipe to make for your next date night or Valentine's Day.

Prep Time10

Cook Time12

Total Time22

Course: Dinner

Cuisine: American

Servings: main course servings

Calories: 500kcal

Author: Eden Westbrook

Ingredients

12 ounces pasta

Butter Poached Lobster

3 5 ounce lobster tails
1 cup 2 sticks unsalted butter
1 clove garlic peeled and smashed
½ teaspoon kosher salt

Herb Parmesan Sauce

3 cloves garlic minced or pressed
1 teaspoon fresh thyme leaves stripped from stems
2 teaspoon fresh basil torn apart
¼ teaspoon red pepper flakes more if you like spice
Zest of half a medium lemon
½ cup parmesan cheese freshly grated
½ cup reserved pasta water
Fresh basil and parmesan cheese for serving

Instructions

In a dutch oven or large pot, bring about 5 quarts of water to a rolling boil while poaching the lobster. Cook your pasta of choice to al dente according to the package directions.
Butter Poaching Lobster
Use kitchen shears to gently cut the bottom of the shell of the lobster tails from top to the tip of the tail.
Carefully pry out the meat, bonus points if you can get the meat from the flap part of the tail and clean out any veins that weren't taken out with the carapace and pat dry with paper towels and season with the kosher salt.
In a large saucepan, melt the butter over medium heat with the smashed garlic clove.
Add in the lobster tails and cook them in the butter, flipping them after about a minute or two. Cook the lobster until it's opaque, about 4-5 minutes total.
Take them out of the pan and chop them up into large chunks on a cutting board.
Garlic Herb Parmesan Sauce
In the same pan put the minced garlic, thyme, basil, lemon zest and red pepper flakes and cook for about a minute, stirring to make sure nothing burns. We want to cook it just until the garlic is really nice and fragrant but not browned.
Turn off the heat and add the hot cooked pasta into the garlic butter pan along with the reserved pasta water. Throw in all the parmesan cheese and give it a really good toss with tongs to mixed all the ingredients together and melt the parmesan into the water.
Add the chopped lobster meat into the pot and give a gentle toss together to mix the lobster into the dish.
Serve your lobster pasta immediately while still hot, garnish with fresh basil and more parmesan cheese.

Notes

Make Ahead Instructions

Both the sauce and the lobster can be made ahead! Simply reheat them in a large saucepan or skillet over medium low heat just until the lobster meat is warmed through. While this is happening, boil your pasta and toss the pasta in with the parmesan to finish the dish.

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