New England Lobster Roll Recipe

Our New England lobster roll recipe is classic.  Sweet, cool, creamy, delicious Maine lobster meat nestled in a split top toasted, buttery bun that melts in your mouth.  If you’ve never had a lobster roll, then try it.  It will become a summertime classic recipe for you and your family.  And not just summertime, winter is actually when they are the heartiest.

A Lobster Roll is so decadent that we all think it must be hard to make.  Quite the opposite.  The lobster meat is the main essence of a lobster roll, only a few choice ingredients get mixed in with our New England Lobster roll recipe.  It’s the best!

How To Make Our New England Lobster Roll Recipe

If you use frozen lobster meat it only takes about 15 minutes to make.  Not including the overnight stay in the refrigerator to defrost. Pat frozen lobster meat dry before blending with the mayonnaise mix.

See our post on How To Cook A Live Lobster if you are using fresh lobster or lobster tails.

Make your mayonnaise mixture by adding chives, lemon juice, hot sauce, salt and pepper to the mayonnaise. Mix your fresh lobster meat or defrosted meat with the mayo mixture.

Butter both of the sides (outside) of the bun and griddle over medium heat until golden.

Fill each warm bun with the cool lobster salad and serve right away.

Do I Have To Buy A Live Lobster To Make A Lobster Roll?

Ideally, yes.  Necessary, no.

I’ll admit, buying a live lobster, cooking it and then getting the meat out can be laborious, not to mention intimidating.  We have lobster for my husband’s birthday every year, and he always gets the job of cooking and cracking the lobsters.  But he doesn’t seem to mind, I think it’s like meditation for him.

When I priced the lobster meat online it looked so expensive, but once we made the lobster rolls from whole lobster here, I realized there really was negligible difference in cost. 

When you are making lobster rolls, lobster salad or serving it cold in any manner, then at least look into buying the frozen lobster.  Sure, live lobster is best, but frozen is easiest, and if serving cold there’s not a huge difference in taste and texture.

Frozen lobster really shouldn’t be reheated.

If you don’t want to use live lobster, there are a few different options:

1. Buy lobster tails at the fish counter.  You don’t get as much meat and it may be a little more expensive than buying a whole lobster.  But when you see lobster tail on sale, which I see Sprouts do fairly often, then the lobster tail may be less expensive and easier to make than a whole lobster. When you live inland like I do in Atlanta, lobster prices can be high, so ordering online may be a good option.  If you live in Maine, well, that’s a different story.
2. Buy frozen lobster meat at the grocery or order online at places like Cameron’s Seafood . The lobster meat is cooked and already shelled, all you have to do is defrost it.
3. Ask your fish monger if they will steam or cook your lobster. They may shell it for you too.  Make sure to ask their price, it may be expensive.  When we bought whole lobster in Florida for my sister-in-laws wedding, the place I bought the lobster from steamed them for free.  Lotsa Lobster is a great place to buy lobster if you happen to be in Siesta Key or Sarasota.

Ingredient Substitutions For Our New England Lobster Roll Recipe

Lobster – Well, obviously lobster is the best choice for our New England lobster roll recipe.  But cost wise and maybe taste wise for some of you, you may want an alternative.

You can replace with shrimp or crab which will make the sandwich more like a New Orleans Po’ Boy.

Or use monkfish which is more economical.

Rolls – traditionally you want top cut hot dog buns with cut sides for easy grilling and browning.  But any soft hot dog bun will do.  See below for more explanation.

Hard rolls tend to squish the fillings out.

Cucumber – diced celery is more classic, but I like the sweeter, more subtle cucumber taste.  I got the idea from Jasper White’s New England Lobster-Roll Recipe.

Lobster Roll Buns

Traditionally you want a New England style bun.  It’s a soft hot dog bun, top cut and has the sides cut off.

For our New England lobster roll recipe you can use any hotdog bun or soft roll if you can’t find New England style. 

What makes the lobster roll buns so special is that they are top cut and they have flat sides. The reason for the flat sides is so that you can butter and grill them.  That way you get a wonderful, buttery taste with every bite.

The closest commercial brand I’ve found is the Pepperidge Farm top cut bunsADDLINK.  You can also buy uncut hotdog buns at a bakery.  That way you can cut the slit on top and slice the buns apart to have the flat sides.  We use Publix bakery for this.

How Long Does Cooked Lobster Last In The Refrigerator?

Cooked, shelled lobster meat can be stored in an airtight container in the refrigerator up to 3-4 days.

How Much Lobster Meat Do I Need For Your New England Lobster Roll Recipe?

You’ll want about 3-4 ounces of meat per roll.

An 8 ounce lobster tail will yield about 3-4 ounces meat.  Make sure you check what size you are buying, as a lot of lobster tails in grocery stores are small.

If using live lobster, then in the winter you’ll need about three 1 ½ pound lobsters to equal one pound of meat.  In the summer when the lobster have shed you’ll need at least 4 of the same size lobsters.

Tips, Techniques & Make Ahead Ideas For Our New England Lobster Roll Recipe

The lobster can be cooked, shelled and stored in the refrigerator for up to 3-4 days.  You can also freeze it up to 3 months or as long as 12 months.  You can freeze longer but the texture and the taste may be affected.

Frozen lobster meat is best served cold, so not as appropriate for a hot Connecticut style lobster roll.

What’s The Difference Between New England Style and Connecticut Style Lobster Rolls?

New England lobster rolls have a bit of mayonnaise to bind the lobster and are served cold.

Connecticut style lobster rolls are served hot and the lobster meat is mixed with some butter.

Both types of lobster rolls are served on a hot, buttered and grilled bun.

Lobster Roll Bites For Appetizers

I made a bunch of these for my sister-in-laws beach wedding.  Oh, I wish I had taken a picture because I really don’t know when I’ll have that many Lobster roll bites again!  They were gorgeous, you’ll just have to take my word for it.

Lobster roll bites are a great way to stretch your rolls.  Meaning you can cut up a full lobster roll into 4 sections for appetizers.  Works great and keeps people from hording them.

Come on, we all do it.  There’s a platter full of delicious food, you feel a little more sheepish about piling on 4 lobster roll bites than 1 lobster roll.  So it lasts longer and for more people.

Lobster Rolls For On-The-Go

Using the FDA website yet again, you don’t want to keep the New England lobster roll recipe out at room temperature for over 2 hours.

If it will be longer, make sure that the lobster rolls are kept cool on ice.  You’ll need some kind of barrier between the ice and the rolls so they don’t get soggy.

If the temperature is over 90 degrees, then the lobster rolls should only be outside for one hour.  A picnic, outdoor gathering or tailgate are good examples when the heat can affect your lobster roll safety.

See How To Wrap A Sandwich for a great way to use parchment paper to keep the lobster roll in tact when moving from place to place.

What To Serve With Our New England Lobster Roll Recipe

Simple sides for a simple meal

Fries or chips

Coleslaw, either creamy Chick-fil-A coleslaw or vinegar based coleslaw

Corn on the cob