Last Updated on 31st January 2023 by
Have you ever tried to cook sous vide lobster tail at home? While many people are wary of cooking sous vide, it’s actually one of the easiest ways to cook delicious meals.
We’re going to cook lobster sous vide step by step and show you one of the tastiest sous vide lobster recipes you’ll ever come across. The key is in their simplicity and the result is perfection.
Let’s get started!
The Best-Ever Sous Vide Butter-Poached Lobster Tail Recipe
The word ‘sous vide’ (pronounced soo veed) is French. It means ‘under vacuum,’ which can be a confusing name that gives it a bad reputation. People usually hear ‘sous vide’ and suddenly get the wrong impression that it’s too complicated.
The truth is, sous vide is a pretty simple and straightforward technique. We’ll talk about the tools you need below, but let’s start with the ingredients.
The Best-Ever Sous Vide Butter-Poached Lobster Tail Recipe
Ingredients
- 4 lobster tails with their shells still intact
- 2 crushed garlic cloves
- 8 tbsp unsalted butter
- Salt and pepper to taste
- Chopped parsley (optional)
- Lemon juice or lemon wedges
Instructions
- Preheat the sous vide water temperature to 133℉ and set the timer for 20 minutes.
- Lay the lobster tails flat on the counter. Then, insert two wooden skewers from the top end. Drive them slowly through until they come out at the tail end. Try to keep them as close to the shell as you can.
- Fill a second pot with water and bring to a boil.
- Submerge the lobster tails in the boiling water, and then remove the pot from the heat.
- As you let the lobster tails rest in the hot water for at least 2 minutes, prepare an ice bath. You can do this either by placing ice in a large bowl or adding cold water.
- After 2 minutes, take out the lobster tails from the hot water and place them in the ice bath.
- Pull out the skewers, then gently remove the shells using kitchen shears.
- Mix 4 tablespoons of butter with all the garlic, salt, and pepper in a skillet over medium heat.
- Keep stirring for a couple of minutes or until the butter turns brown. Now move to a small bowl.
- Place each lobster tail in a vacuum-seal bag. Divide the butter mixture among all 4 bags.
- Submerge the 4 bags in the sous vide water bath and leave to cook for 20 minutes.
- Take the remaining 4 tablespoons of butter and brown them in a skillet over medium heat. This should be done a few minutes before the lobster tails are done.
- Once cooking time is up, open each bag and pour out the liquid contents only into the skillet and stir to combine.
- Transfer the mixture to a sauceboat or a bowl.
- Carefully take out the lobster tails from the bags. Place each one on a serving plate and pour the butter sauce to cover it.
You can garnish with some chopped parsley. Another delicious addition is to drizzle some lemon juice or just serve the tails alongside a couple of lemon wedges.
Lobster Tail Sous Vide Serving Suggestions
Below, you’ll find some tasty side dishes that would go great with your butter-poached lobster sous vide.
- Mashed potatoes
- Green beans
- Steamed broccoli
- Sauteed garlic dill carrots
Lobster Sous Vide Cooking Tips
Here are a few tips to help you perfect your sous vide butter-poached lobster tails.
Cooking Temperature
Using an immersion circulator, set the temperature between 130℉ and 133℉ to ensure the lobster meat remains moist. Yet, you can always vary things a bit to reach different textures.
- 120℉: soft, but translucent
- 130℉: tender and juicy
- 140℉: tender without any chewiness
- 150℉: tender and firm
Cooking Time
In our recipe, we gave the lobster tails a quick boil before putting them in their sous vide bath. This cut the cooking time down to 20 minutes.
You can also try raw lobster tails sous vide, where cooking time will take anywhere from 45 minutes to a full hour.
Cooking Variations
One variation is to sous vide lobster tails in their shells. Cut the shell lengthwise and peel back the shell.
Another fun way is to make juicy and tender sous vide lobster rolls. These rolls are basically sous vide lobster in a top-split hot dog bun. The trick is to toast the buns in butter to give them that crispy finish.
Sous Vide Frozen Lobster Tails
It’s easy to make this sous vide lobster recipe with frozen lobster tails. First, make sure the shells are removed. If the tails are frozen with the shells, you’ll need to thaw them first.
If you’re going to cook the tails when they’re still frozen, add 20 minutes to the cooking time. Then, follow our sous vide lobster tail recipe.
Cooking in Plastic
We’ve always been told heating plastic is bad. Now, we’re cooking in it!
It’s hard to wrap your head around it, but trust us, it’s completely safe. Sous vide bags are 100% food-safe.
And since the regular Ziploc bags are BPA-free, you can also use them if you have them on hand.
Another point to consider is that with sous vide, the water never reaches the boiling point. So, you don’t have to worry about any plastic contaminants leaking into your food.
Full Submersion
For food to cook properly, the plastic bag must remain submerged throughout the entire cooking time. One way to do this is to tie binder clips to the bags. Then, for added weight, slip a spoon into the clips’ silver frames.
Vacuum-Seal
You don’t need an expensive vacuum sealer for sous vide. You can use the quick-and-easy water displacement method.
Place the food inside the bag. Seal it but keep about an inch open to let the air out. Then, lower the bag slowly into a pot of water. Water pressure will do all the work for you by pushing the air out of the bag. Once all the air has left the bag, seal it fully. Finally, remove the bag from the water.
Final Thoughts
Anything cooked sous vide is much better than baking or steaming. It’s easy, straightforward, and it guarantees a perfect meal each time.
Our sous vide lobster tail recipe is one of the easiest and most delicious ways to create restaurant-quality sous vide lobster tail at home. It’s a fool-proof, no-fail recipe that will wow your friends and family.
I'm Pauline, a mother of four grown children, my passion for cooking stemmed from the joy i get cooking for my family. I love to try new dishes, especially when dining out but creating and sharing my own recipes is my favourite thing to do!
