Creamy risotto with chunks of buttery lobster is a restaurant quality meal that you can prepare at home. Whether making the risotto for a romantic dinner with your significant other or serving it as a starter at a dinner party, it’s a delicious recipe everyone will love.
In Italy, risotto is a first course dish of rice that is cooked in broth with butter and onions. As the rice is stirred, starches are released creating a very creamy consistency. The creamy risotto is the perfect match for sweet and tender chunks of buttery lobster meat that makes for a special evening meal. While lobster is not an everyday ingredient, this recipe only uses about a cup of lobster meat. That means that the lobster risotto can be prepared at home for a fraction of the price you would have to pay if your ordered this dish in a nice restaurant. Risotto is easier to make than most people think so this recipe is one that you absolutely must make when you want something elegant to serve at an evening meal.

Lobster Risotto
Serves 4 as a starter or 2 as a generous main course
- 4 c. lobster stock (see recipe below), store bought seafood stock or clam juice diluted with water
- 1 Tbsp. extra virgin olive oi
- 1/2 c. diced onion
- 1 small garlic clove, minced
- 1/2 c. dry white wine
- 1 c. Arborio rice (1/3 c. per person for starter, 1/2 c. per person to main course)
- 3 Tbsp. butter
- cooked meat from a 1 and 1/2 lb. lobster, cut into small bites (see kitchen notes)
- salt and pepper to taste
- 1 Tbsp. finely minced parsley, optional garnish
Bring stock to a simmer in a saucepan and keep warm. Heat oil in a large sauté pan over medium heat. Add the onion, sauté until translucent then add garlic and cook 1 minute. Add rice, stir to coat and cook 2 – 3 minutes. Add wine and simmer until almost completely absorbed. Add a ladle of stock, enough to cover the rice, and simmer, stirring often. Continue adding stock, a ladle at a time, simmering until the liquid is almost absorbed before adding the next ladleful. Cook until tender and slightly al dente, about 15 to 20 minutes.
While the risotto is simmering, melt the butter in a small sauce pan over low heat. Add the lobster meat, gently stir until coated and just warm. (You do not want to cook the lobster any more, just heated through.
When the risotto is finished cooking, remove from the heat. Stir well to make the risotto creamy. Add the lobster and melted butter and stir gently. Season with salt and pepper and taste. Stir in an additional tablespoon of cold butter for a silky finish, if you wish. Divide the risotto into bowls, top with a piece of lobster and sprinkle with parsley, then serve immediately.
Lobster Stock: To make lobster stock, break the lobster carcass into several pieces and place in a pot. Cover with 6 cups of water. Season with salt and black pepper. Add any aromatics that you wish (see kitchen notes). Bring to a boil, reduce heat and simmer covered for 30 minutes. Remove cover and simmer until reduced to 4 cups. Strain stock and keep warm.
Ask your fish market to steam the lobster if you don’t want to do it at home. You can also buy cooked and picked lobster meat, fresh or frozen, but it is usually more expensive.
A one and one half pound lobster yields approximately 1 1/3 cups of cooked lobster meat or use two 8 oz. lobster tails when making this recipe.
Lobster shells make a wonderful stock to use to flavor risottos and other seafood dishes such as bisques, soups and stews.
When preparing stock, you can add aromatics such as a small onion, fennel bulb, a stalk of celery or sprigs of parsley for added flavor.
Arborio rice is a short grain rice from Italy. It’s high starch content gives risotto its creamy texture. Do not use regular long grain rice.
While cheese is often used in risottos, Italians usually don’t mix cheese with seafood.
Notes From The Kitchen
****
This creamy risotto filled with tender, buttery lobster uses very few ingredients, about a cup of lobster meat, olive oil, butter, onion garlic, rice, white wine and stock, which can be either homemade or store bought. With everything prepped, it only takes about 30 minutes of cooking to have an incredibly delicious starter or main course that will surely impress those who you share the dish with. While lobster can be an expensive ingredient, you can sometimes find it at a good price during different times of the year, ask your market if they ever put lobster on sale. I used the lobster shell to make stock, making good use of every part of the lobster. If lobster is hard to find in your area, shrimp, prawns or langoustine have similar flavors, and will be just as elegant.
Really good
Such a great recipe! I haven’t made risotto in forever, and I’ve never made lobster risotto. I should — as you just demonstrated, it’s an easy dish to make. Lovely post — thanks.
This looks like the ultimate comfort food. So buttery and full of flavors. 🙂
A lobster risotto is one of my all-time favorite dishes, and yours looks divine! Now I need to make some!
This looks incredibly delicious and full of flavours!
angiesrecipes
http://angiesrecipes.blogspot.com
mmmm! mmmm! this looks amazing! Comfort with a capital C!
Wow – an elegant and first-class risotto. Looks fabulous.
My kind of meal, Karen. Unfortunately Hubby doesn’t like shellfish, so I only get to eat it i restaurants.
What a wonderful recipe, Karen. That would be a real treat!
Delicious! What a treat!
That’s my kind of risotto! Fresh seafood like lobster is hard to find here in NM but I’m thinking I might find it around the holidays. I think it would be a fantastic starter for a holiday meal. Thanks Karen!
This is a magnificent dish, Karen. I think I’d try it here with a Moreton Bay bug or perhaps a Mud crab. Both have exquisite white firm sweet flesh.
Wow. I wish I had that now. I wish I had some lobster now too!
I would certainly enjoy this dish. Thanks for sharing Karen.
What a beautiful, rich risotto, Karen. There is a definite “wow” factor to this one, I truly believe!
This is to die for and I know exactly what to drink with it! I was at a trade drinks show, several years ago where a chef had created a lobster infused gin to go with his Michelin starred seafood dishes – it sounds mad, but tastes fantastic!
https://www.thedrinksbusiness.com/2015/04/michelin-chef-releases-lobster-infused-gin/
My husband loves risotto, Whole Food has lobster tails, maybe I have time to make this wonderful recipe before I leave for Germany on Wednesday.
What a feast!
Amalia
xo
this looks so very delicious karen. sadly hubby doesn’t eat seafood:( and i think the price of lobsters here would have me in the poorhouse but ‘a cat can look at a king’, as they say …
This is one delicious looking recipe, but what’s not to love when you have lobster and risotto. 🙂 Great recipe, thanks for sharing.
I am a fan of risotto and prepare it often. This looks delicious. Thanks for the recipe, Karen!
Looks delicious Karen and makes we want to whip up a batch.
Oh Karen, this sounds like heaven! Thanks for all the tips too, yum!
Jenna
We make risotto quite often — but we’ve never done it with lobster and that sounds divine. Thanks for the recipes and especially for the helpful details.
I was just talking about making risotto. Good recipe! 🌸
That looks amazing!!
My mouth is watering while reading this, Karen! And, while risotto is actually simple, for some reason many of us think it’s complicated. But, I definitely don’t make it often enough! This dish sounds absolutely sublime.
OMG, I am coming over now! that thing looks delicious
What a lovely, upscale dish, perfect for a dinner party. I have some lobster stock in my freezer so I’ll just need to get some lobster.
This buttery lobster risotto does indeed look…buttery, rich, and so comforting. I want to reach through my screen, grab a spoon, and help myself 🙂
This really sounds good, it is a long time since I have had a lobster. Hope all is well, cheers Diane
Lobster is massively expensive here so putting in something (other than a dip in some garlic butter) would be almost sinful for me. 🙂 However, if it were plentiful and less expensive, this risotto would be awesome to try.
Looks great! I agree wholy with you. Yes it looks like restaurant quality meal. Also presentation is perfect.
Oh, yum!
Oh, would I love a bowl of this for dinner! I miss lobster (and I know you can make substitutions but, really, there is no substitute…) — we used to have it often in Maine.
Wow, this is so decadent and dreamy. I adore risotto. I tend to only make every blue moon, making it even more special. And the lobster! Oh my! 🙂 ~Valentina
This is one of the best uses of lobster and much easier to eat! Lobster risotto is a staple for family and friends who visit.