I tend to binge watch Gordon Ramsay shows including Hell's Kitchen. My husband and I have always loved the look (and tantalizing taste!) of the Lobster Risotto recipe that is frequently featured in episodes!
If you're new to making risotto, be sure to check out the guide to making perfect risotto every time included with my Parmesan Risotto recipe!
The Most Addictive Lobster Risotto
So, what else would a couple of foodies do but try to find and match the particulars of the HK hit dish!! After many attempts, my husband and I have our delightfully tasty lobster risotto perfected!
As with all recipes, I tweak things here and there to our cooking style and liking ( and working around what kids will eat ).
The recipe shared below is indeed very close to the recipe used for the Lobster Risotto seen on the show. Any modifications and/or personal preferences will be noted in parentheses or in the recipe notes section.
If you love this risotto recipe, you should also try my Gordon Ramsay's Mushroom Risotto and Gordon Ramsay Fresh Pea & Mint Risotto Copycat!
One of the most important aspects, in my thinking, to a fabulous Lobster Risotto is using the lobster shells for the stock. Taking the extra time to make your own stock for this risotto dish is so rewarding!
Make A Quick Lobster Stock
- Begin with bringing 6 cups (for this recipe, 4 cups stock to 1 cup Arborio rice in general) of water to a rolling boil, then add the fresh or thawed lobster (thank you Clam Man for our recent batch of fresh, live lobster!) and boil for an additional 4 minutes. The internal temperature of the lobster should be 145 ºF ( 63 ºC ) as recommended by the FDA food safety guidelines.
- Remove the cooked lobster and plunge it into ice water to stop the cooking process. Next, remove the lobster meat, dice the meat, and refrigerate it until ready to add to the risotto.
- Return the lobster shells to the boiling water used for cooking the lobster. Add the vegetables to the boiling water and lobster shells: onion, carrot, celery, tomato, plus the bay leaf, and then salt and pepper.
- Reduce heat, and simmer the broth for 20 minutes, then strain out the lobster shells, vegetables, and bay leaf.
(for the risotto) Return the broth to your saucepan and keep on medium heat to add to the risotto.
How To Make Lobster Risotto
- Bring a large skillet or frying pan to medium heat, add olive oil, minced shallots, and minced garlic and cook for 1-2 minutes until the shallots and garlic are slightly softened. Add the Arborio rice and cook for an additional 1-2 minutes, stirring occasionally, then add the white wine.
- Stir for about a minute, while cooking the wine, then add about one-third to half of the lobster stock to the skillet or frying pan of rice. *The lobster stock links contained in this text will take you to our 'How To Make Lobster Stock' page, which includes video. The quick lobster stock instructions are on this page.
- Stir the rice occasionally, and cook for 3-5 minutes, or until most of the lobster stock has been absorbed. Add the remaining lobster stock in portions ( I use a ladle portion each time ) until your Arborio rice is slightly translucent and still al denté ( firm to the bite ) in texture.
- It takes about 20 minutes once you start adding the lobster stock, and you should still be able to see a bit of the white core of the Arborio rice. Then you have achieved a nice al denté texture to your risotto.
- Once the risotto has reached the right texture, add the diced lobster meat, butter, mascarpone cheese ( or cream cheese ), lemon zest and salt & pepper ( to taste ). Stir the ingredients together vigorously to incorporate them throughout the risotto, until you have a nice creamy lobster risotto.
Serve immediately, garnished with optional Parmigiano and chives ( or parsley ). Enjoy!
Gordon Ramsay Copycat Recipes
- Gordon Ramsay Hell's Kitchen Lobster Risotto Recipe (this page)
- Gordon Ramsay Fresh Pea & Mint Risotto
- Gordon Ramsay's Mushroom Risotto
- Scrambled Eggs Gordon Ramsay Style
- Gordon Ramsay Shepherd's Pie
Can I Use Frozen Lobster For My Lobster Risotto?
Yes! You most certainly can!
Please follow these important guidelines for cooking with frozen lobster:
- Always thaw frozen lobster completely before cooking.
- Lobster (and all seafood) should be thawed in the refrigerator overnight. Do not thaw in a sink of warm water!
- Cook lobster as directed here ( once thawed ), until the internal temperature is 145 degrees F ( 63 degrees C ) as read by a digital meat thermometer. The meat will turn a white opaque color when done.
📋 Recipe
Lobster Risotto
Ingredients
Quick Lobster Stock
Lobster Risotto
- 1 tablespoon olive oil (extra virgin)
- 1 tablespoon shallots (or white onion - minced)
- 2 cloves garlic (minced)
- 1 ½ cups Arborio rice
- ¼ cup white wine (dry white wine - we used more, closer to ⅓ c)
- 4 cups lobster stock (quick lobster stock instructions are above, or visit our 'How To Make Lobster Stock' page - may use up to 6 cups)
- diced lobster meat (reserved from lobster stock)
- 2 tablespoon butter (more, as needed)
- 2 tablespoon mascarpone cheese (I used 4 tablespoons of cream cheese)
- zest of 1 whole lemon
- salt & pepper (to taste)
- 2 tablespoon chives (fresh, chopped)
- parmigiano cheese (shaved)
Instructions
Quick Lobster Stock
- Bring 6 cups of water to a boil, add fresh or thawed lobster and continue to boil for 4 minutes. Remove lobster and plunge into ice water. Remove the lobster meat and dice for the risotto, then refrigerate. Return the shells to the boiling water.
- Add onion, carrot, celery, tomato, bay leaf then add salt & pepper to taste. Simmer the broth for 20 minutes then strain out the lobster shells, vegetables and spices. Reserve broth and keep on medium heat for use in the risotto.
Lobster Risotto
- Bring a large skillet or frying pan to medium heat, add olive oil, shallots and garlic. Cook until softened (1-2 minutes). Add the Arborio rice, cook (stirring occasionally) for 1-2 minutes before adding dry white wine.
- Add wine and cook for a minute, keeping the rice moving (stirring frequently). Add one-third to half of the lobster stock, cook (stirring occasionally) for 3-5 minutes until the rice has absorbed most of the liquid.
- Add the remaining lobster stock in ladled increments, allowing the rice to slowly absorb the liquid until the Arborio rice becomes slightly translucent and is an al dente firmness and the core can still be seen in the center (about 20 minutes total time once broth is added).
- Add the reserved diced lobster meat, butter, mascarpone cheese, lemon zest and salt & pepper (to taste). Stir vigorously until all ingredients are well combined and a thick, creamy risotto is achieved.
- Correct the seasoning (if necessary), serve and garnish with parmigiano and chives (if desired).
Equipment You May Need
Video
Notes
Nutrition
Angela is an at home chef that developed a passion for all things cooking and baking at a young age in her Grandma's kitchen. After many years in the food service industry, she now enjoys sharing all of her family favorite recipes and creating tasty dinner and amazing dessert recipes here at Bake It With Love!
Denita Council says
😋 What made me google recipe, im watching Hell’s Kitchen now!! I will try your recipe!
Dan ABH says
Hey Angela! Very excited to make this. Would you recommend adding crab in addition to the Lobster? And could you use a Dutch Over to make the risotto instead of a frying pan or skillet?
Angela @ BakeItWithLove.com says
Hi Dan, although I have done a crab risotto I have not added crab to this recipe. I do think it would work and taste great. If you were going to use a dutch oven on the stovetop that will also work perfectly! Thanks for the questions!
Jodi in Boston says
Hi, Jodi here again! Okay, I'm getting 6 lobster tails--I just want to be clear that we're talking about UNcooked frozen lobster tails OR live lobsters, yes? We're not talking about pre-cooked lobster. Thanks!!
Angela @ BakeItWithLove.com says
Yes, you'll need uncooked (thawed) lobster tails. Cooked lobster tails work too, but you don't need to cook them - you could still chop up the lobster tail and use the shells for stock. In this case you would skip the first two steps of making the lobster stock. Enjoy!
Jodi in Boston says
Hi - maybe I'm a moron, but I can't find where the recipe says how many lobsters I should buy for this! I will be making it for 8 people. Thanks!
Angela @ BakeItWithLove.com says
Heya Jodi! It's under the lobster stock section "I used 3, 8 oz lobster tails". A bit more or less will still work very well. Enjoy!
Susan says
Made this lobster risotto and everyone raved about it. Will definitely recommend this recipe to everyone.
Shellie says
I'm the type of person that has to follow the recipe! Not great at modifications :). The only thing I would add if you're someone like me; is be careful of the size of your lemon. The first thing my family said was "whoa! Lemon!". It must've been too big. Also, it's better to have too much stock instead of running out. I started added water, more wine, etc. because my rice was still crunchy. I would almost double the amount of stock prep (if you're new to cooking like me). It was still good and I'll try it again!
Jeff says
This is spot a spot on Gordon Ramsay risotto. I am amazed about how good this is and easy to make!
Kathie says
I made this tonight for my family. I used 6 4 oz tails and added just a little extra water for absorption for veggies and added a teaspoon of lobster bouillon as someone else suggested and used mascarpone. This was PERFECT. Easy and amazing. Thanks I will be making this again.
Joe Raymond says
OMG...too delicious to let it sit in the pan! Made it for Valentine's dinner with some grilled Chilean Sea Bass and steamed asparagus...
We "started" with the 6 cups of water...and quickly realized that with boil-off and veggies absorbing it we should add more, so we added another cup of the white wine to the basic stock, When we strained everything out...it was JUST over 6 cups of stock...and we used all but maybe a quarter cup.
We also had a jar of truffle-butter from Williams-Sonoma waiting for an excuse to come from the pantry. It added and entirely different layer of flavor to this dish.
Loved every morsel...well done!
Thomas says
Amazingly good. Made for maine course on New Years. Easy recipe IF you have made risotto before. My personal take was a touch of cayenne pepper to add a touch of heat. Also, we had pre-cocked frozen Lobster that we thawed, and mad stock from the shells. Works just as great as fresh lobster. Will most certainly make this risotto again.
Breanna says
Not nearly enough stock. Luckily I hadn’t tossed the veggies and shells yet so I boiled 3 more cups of water in it for 10 minutes but none the less that was a bit frustrating - especially since I should have known it wouldn’t be enough when I first looked at the recipe. Then, the butter and cream cheese didn’t really make the rice creamy at all. Added more cream cheese and still not really creamy at all. Considered adding some heavy cream but decided against it and took the loss. Ended up cooking the lobster a bit longer too in butter and a very small amount of water at the end as well because it wasn’t soft enough - the actual dish has very very soft lobster. Although it turned out great I had to make a ton of modifications and those made the dinner take wayyy too long.
Angela @ BakeItWithLove.com says
I'm very sorry to hear that you had difficulties, it is a well loved recipe! Your issue with the broth does point out an error on my part (which I will update momentarily) as I use a ratio of 4 cups stock to 1 cup Arborio rice in all of my risottos. Even that general guideline can be off by more or less, too, it will always depend on things based on the rice, temperatures, etc.
Deb Takacs says
Can this be made and frozen? Suggestions on any change to cooking time before freezing and reheating to finish / serve?
Angela @ BakeItWithLove.com says
Risotto loses it's creamy texture when frozen, so it is best to refrigerate leftovers. However, if you do freeze the risotto, prepare it as usual before freezing.To reheat your risotto, add it to a warm pan and add stock to bring it back to serving quality (or as close as it can be to the original texture and creaminess). Stir when reheating only occasionally, and add more stock or wine as needed. Hope that helps, let me know if you have any other questions!
Deb says
Thank You Angela??
Angela @ BakeItWithLove.com says
You're very welcome!!
Cheryl Johnson says
I really loved this. Subbed chives for tarragon. Perfect!
Angela @ BakeItWithLove.com says
So happy to hear that you enjoyed this! We love tarragon and chives, so I'm sure it was delicious!
Rebecca Bryce says
Was looking for something fancy last night, so I made this. It was INCREDIBLE. I ended up running out of stock (and the rice was still crunchy) and having to add about another cup or so of water so it would cook all the way through. This was super decadent and delicious. Definitely a little too expensive for an every day meal, but for a special occasion it was a winner! The lemon gave it a nice subtle touch. A little time-consuming, but overall a great recipe and not incredibly difficult.
Anonymous says
Just made this for Valentines dinner, it was delish. Pressed for time or maybe I was a little lazy but I used veggie stock instead of making my own and still turned out very good. Thanks
Angela @ BakeItWithLove.com says
Absolutely fantastic dish, so glad to hear that you enjoyed it (and that it was a Valentine's meal)!
jay aich says
This is a great recipe. Thanks! I used the marscapone and Parmesan, but I forgot to add the butter (I don't think this rich dish missed it at all). I finished it on the plate with a lemon garlic dill salt I made. Heavenly!
Angela @ BakeItWithLove.com says
We absolutely love this recipe, so glad you enjoyed it!
Erin McCrum says
Hey, I added "Better then Boullion lobster base" when I added the vegetables. Instead of the whole lobster, I used tails. It came out wonderful. Thanks for the recipe!
Angela @ Delectable Cooking and Baking says
Thank you for sharing your modifications Erin! We love this Lobster Risotto, glad you like it too!