Best Lobster Mac and Cheese

Mac and Cheese is great. Find someone out there who disagrees with me and I’ll fight them (okay, I actually know a surprising number of acquaintances who don’t like cheese.. but.. notice how I called them acquaintances instead of friends? We’ll leave it at that.)

Now that I’ve (just barely) graduated past the phase of heating up a box of Kraft Mac, I’m all about adding things that make my cheesy dinner even better. Chorizo? Let’s do it. Dredge a ball of macaroni in a ball and fry it? (@foodsofjane did it best) YEP. But something I’ve never attempted until recently is adding lobster into our macaroni and cheese. We usually save that ~delicacy~ for restaurants, but our restaurant-going has been quite few and far between lately. Thanks Miss ‘Rona.

With the help of Market District’s fresh seafood department, I was able to find two juicy lobster shells for just $10.99 to boil, chop, and toss into my mac and cheese.

Cavatappi or shells are my go-to choices when looking for a pasta to pair with my cheese. Speaking of cheese, it is essential to pick the right combo of cheese that goes perfectly together. (Have I graduated from the cheese dust that comes in a Kraft box, or what?) This last venture, we experimented with a hunk of habenero from Costco and paired it with some cheddar and Gruyere and hoooooly cow was it good.

Bless you if you’ve read through my ramblings about mac and cheese long enough to get to this point… but finally here’s the recipe you’ve been waiting for!

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The Best Lobster Mac and Cheese

It's cheesy, it's creamy, it's everything you'd hope for in a homemade lobster mac and cheese!

Course Appetizer, Main Course, Side Dish

Cuisine American, gluten free, seafood;

Keyword cheese, lobster, mac and cheese, seafood

Prep Time 12 minutes

Cook Time 25 minutes

Servings 4 servings

Author cravecolumbus

Ingredients

• 2 lobster tails boiled until cooked
• 16 oz cavatappi (or GF noodles)
• 1 1/2 cups heavy cream
• 1/2 cup milk
• 8 tbsp unsalted butter
• 8 oz habenero (or cheddar) cheese
• 8 oz Gruyere cheese
• 1 1/2 tsp mustard powder
• 1/2 tsp ground nutmeg
• 1 1/2 tsp black pepper
• 8 oz white cheddar cheese

Crispy Breadcrumb Topping

• 1 cup breadcrumbs (GF ok too)
• 2 tbsp butter
• 1/2 tsp salt

Instructions

1. Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil. Cook the cavatappi according to package directions. Drain water and dump into a bowl.

2. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

3. In a small saucepan, mix together the cream, milk, butter, and heat over medium to low heat until the butter is melted. Once thorough, pour this mixture over the pasta and stir. To this bowl, add the habenero and Gruyere, nutmeg, mustard powder, pepper, and 1/2 tsp of salt and stir until well combined. Don't forget the hunks of lobster!

4. Pour the bowl of pasta into a greased 9×13 pan (or little minis like in my photo!) and spread evenly. Sprinkle your leftover cheese on the top and bake until the cheddar is melted, close to 20 minutes (less if you're using the smaller containers).

5. Meanwhile, if you want, brown the breadcrumbs by first melting the butter in a saucepan and then adding and constantly stirring the breadcrumbs to distribute the butter to all crumbs. Once the mac and cheese is baked, sprinkle the breadcrumbs over the top of the pasta.

6. Let pasta sit for 5 minutes before consuming. Enjoy!