How to make an authentic New England Lobster Roll!
Eating lobster is usually a luxury for us – reserved for special occasions or a special and delicious treat! But thanks to a glut of Maine lobsters this summer – prices at the market for lobster here in New England are at record lows. So we’ve been eating (and thoroughly enjoying) this delicious seafood quite a bit!
A classic meal here in New England is the Lobster Roll! Although the original Maine lobster roll is simply cooked lobster meat and melted butter on a buttered and grilled hot dog roll, most restaurants make a New England lobster roll with a lobster salad made with a mayonnaise base. Today’s recipe is our version of the classic New England lobster roll similar to those served in local area restaurants.
How do you make a New England Lobster Roll?
The trick to making the perfect New England lobster roll is to keep it simple. The flavor of lobster is so delicious and so unique, that you don’t want to over-complicate the recipe too much with flavors that will overwhelm your lobster salad.
Just a touch of mayonnaise and lemon juice along with some finely chopped celery, parsley and scallion are the perfect complement to the fresh lobster meat. My husband Jack also adds a touch of hot sauce (we used sriracha) which brightens up the flavors of our New England lobster roll, but adding it is optional.
To make a truly classic New England lobster roll, split-top hot dog rolls are the time-honored choice for the bread. The split-top hot dog rolls are baked together so that when they are pulled apart, there is no outer crust on the sides of the roll.
Around New England, split-top rolls are easy to find, but if you can’t find them in your area, any side-cut hot dog roll will work just as well.
Served with sliced fruit or coleslaw – these New England lobster rolls are a classic taste of New England!
You might like these other Lobster recipes:
- Lobster Sambuca over Fettucini
- Lobster Bisque
- Lobster Newberg
- Lobster Corn Chowder
- Lobster Mac and Cheese
- Lobster Stock
New England Lobster Roll
If you are using live lobsters that you will cook yourself, the yield is about 25%. So for four pounds of live lobsters, you will end up with one pound of cooked meat (give or take a few ounces depending on the size of the lobsters. The smaller the lobster, the lower the yield). Prep time below does not include cooking time for lobster. Cooking times for live lobsters can be found here.
- Prep Time: 10 mins
- Total Time: 10 minutes
- Yield: 2–4 servings 1x
Ingredients
- 1 pound cooked lobster meat cut into bite sized chunks
- 1/3 cup mayonnaise
- 2 teaspoons fresh lemon juice
- 1/4 cup finely chopped celery (use tender inner stalks)
- 1 teaspoon chopped fresh parsley
- 2 teaspoons green tops from a scallion, minced fine
- 1 dash hot sauce (we like Cholula)
- Pinch is salt
- Few grinds freshly ground black pepper
- Split-top hot dog rolls
- 2 tablespoons melted butter
- Optional – lettuce for serving.
Instructions
- Place the cooked lobster meat in large bowl.
- In a separate, smaller bowl combine the mayonnaise, lemon juice, celery, parsley, scallion, hot sauce, and salt and pepper. Mix and taste for seasoning. Once you have the seasoning to your liking, add to the cooked lobster meat and mix.
- Brush both sides of rolls with butter and toast both sides in a medium fry pan over medium heat until nicely browned.
- Divide the lobster salad between each roll per your preference. Some serve lettuce under the lobster salad but we like it without, your choice.
Never put celery and scallions in lobster rolls Here in New Hampshire we only put Mayo and maybe a bit of sour cream and thats it .We want to taste the Lobster not onions and celery
Thanks for sharing Ernie – everyone seems to have their own recipe!
From Maine on the coast no hot sauce. Everything else correct but no no no hot sauce. That’s not New England lobster roll. No way!
Thanks for taking the time to write to us today Marilyn!
Great easy recipe!
Thanks Jen!
Easy to make and tastes awesome. Took me less than 30 min including grilled lobster tail and home made chips
Thanks Ian!
sounds perfect to me..
Thanks Tony!
Really easy to make came out delicious.
Thanks Izzy!
Used exact recipe and it was runny, wasted$26 on the lobster only
Hmmm…I’m not sure why it would be runny Bella!
The fewer ingredients in a lobster salad the ever soo good!!!! This receipt is great!!! Enjoy everyone!!!
Agree Linda – glad you enjoyed it!
Great recipe–I figured I knew what to put in it but wanted to see it in print–but used Sriricha for the hot sauce, about half a Tablespoon (we like spicy!)
Thanks Polly! Any hot sauce you like can be used.
Any thoughts about adding dash of dill weed and paprika?
You could GE, and it would be delicious! Some folks feel that the taste of the lobster should be left alone to shine in this recipe, and dill can be a strong flavor that might overpower the lobster. But it’s certainly worth trying – maybe start with a little and add more if you’d like. 🙂