Classic Lobster Salad on a Budget

Craving the creamy, cold taste of lobster with the tang of pickles and mayo but can’t afford fresh lobster? Start with a precooked frozen lobster and make your own taste of New England Summer with this easy lobster salad recipe.

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My family loves lobster – steamed and dipped in butter, in silky ravioli, and chilled with tangy mayo in a classic lobster salad. We used to live on the coast in Connecticut, the heart of lobster land. Culls, lobsters with one claw only, would go on sale at the grocery store for $3.99/lb. I knew some lobster men so we’d sometimes get extras from the boats to bring home for dinner. And always in the summertime we’d go to a local outdoor restaurant for fresh lobster rolls. There’s really nothing that beats sitting on at a wooden picnic table by the water in the sunny breeze eating fresh seafood, corn on cob and fighting off the seagulls who want to steal your fries. Fun times. No, seriously, lobster rolls and soft serve ice cream are two of my favorite memories of New England summers.

Budget-conscious recipe for Easy Lobster Salad

These days we live on the opposite coast in Portland, Oregon. New England lobsters are not common here, and fresh ones are at least $18/lb in the grocery store. If you’ve ever cooked lobsters at home, you know that per-pound price includes a lot of the lobster that’s not edible. That means fresh lobster is expensive here. Seriously expensive. I did splurge and get him two fresh lobsters for his birthday this year, but it’s not an everyday meal like it used to be. Oh, and no one here seems to make lobster rolls. Except my husband, that is. He’s found an easy way to satisfy his craving for lobster salad – frozen whole lobsters.

Yes, technically live lobster is the way to go. You pick them out of the fish tank, take them home and dunk them head-first in a few inches of boiling water. They die quickly and don’t leak any toxins into the meat. That’s the freshest way to go and really the only way for lobster dinner where you’re eating the meat dipped in clarified butter. But, we’ve found it’s really not necessary for lobster salad. In addition to the high cost of the fresh lobsters, you have to chill the meat before making the salad. Using precooked, frozen lobsters in this easy lobster salad recipe skips those steps without sacrificing flavor. We’ve found frozen “chicken” lobsters at the local grocery store for $6.99 each.

How to make Classic Lobster Salad

You have to plan ahead a little to allow the frozen lobster to thaw. Usually we lets them defrost overnight in the refrigerator but we have defrosted them more quickly by soaking in cold water. Once they’re thawed, crack the shell and pick the lobster. You want the meat from the tail and claws. If you’re really ambitious you can go for the scant meat in the body, but I don’t think it’s worth it. Too much work for not enough return in my opinion. My husband disagrees, so … do what you want.

Once you have the meat out, chop it into bite-sized chunks. You don’t want to cut it too much or you’ll lose the classic mouth feel of New England lobster salad. Biting into chunks of creamy lobster is part of the allure of a classic lobster rolls.

Use a high-quality mayonnaise. I can’t say this enough. Most of the mayos on the condiment aisle have water and sugar – two ingredients that do not belong in mayonnaise. You could make your own or purchase a high quality one. I’ve linked to a couple of good ones below.

I like to add dill pickles and red bell pepper for crunch and tang. Sweet onion adds some zing without being too overpowering. My husband thinks pepper is a separate food group so he always finishes his sandwiches off with salt and pepper. That’s all you need for this easy lobster salad recipe.

Ingredients for Classic Lobster Salad

• Frozen pre-cooked whole lobster – these are called “chicken” lobsters because they’re small. But, at $7 they’re a deal if you aren’t on the east coast. One of these skinny lobsters will yield enough meat for one generous or two petite lobster rolls.
• Mayonnaise – this is the carrier for the salad and a major contributor to the overall flavor. I recommend using a high-quality mayonnaise such as this one from Primal Kitchen or this one from Tessemae’s. Many of the other mayos on the market have a lot of water in them – for some it’s the first ingredient! That doesn’t make sense. Mayo is oil and eggs, water doesn’t go with that!
• Dill pickles – we like to get the smallest ones as they’re the most crispy, but any good flavored dill should work.
• Finely chopped red pepper
• Finely chopped sweet onion – Vidalia or Walla Walla are the best, but any sweet onion will do.
• Juice from one lemon wedge – cut a lemon lengthwise into six pieces, squeeze the juice from one of the pieces into the salad mix.
• Ground pepper – key ingredient according to my husband, and salt of course.
• Leafy green lettuce
• Soft hoagie or sandwich roll to make a classic lobster roll

How to clean a lobster

Once the lobster is thawed you have to get the meat out. It’s messy, so do these steps over the sink.

1. Grab the lobster in both hands, one hand holding the body and one holding the tail. Twist your hands in opposite directions to separate it into two pieces. Put down the body and focus on the tail.
2. If you see a bright orange piece where the body came away, put that in the “keeper” bowl. That’s roe, you want that. Then rinse the tail in water to get out the green poop, you don’t want that.
3. Next hold the fins at the end of the tail and break them off. This gives you an opening to insert the lobster sheller, which is the thing that looks like a lobster claw on the end.
4. Put that pointy end of the lobster sheller into the end of the tail you just broke open and push up, breaking up the underside of the tail shell. This frees the meat.
5. Finally, poke a fork into the smaller end of the tail and push the meat out the other side. That’s the lobster tail.
6. Next pick up one of the claws and use the cracker to break the large claw shell in two or three places. Break off the smaller part of the claw shell and twist to release the meat. Then break off the larger half of the claw shell to release the meat. There’s a firm fin in the meat that you need to find and remove.
7. Finally break into the leg portions of the claws and get that meat. You also can pick out the meat from around the body and in the little legs using the picking spears.

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Do you need special tools to clean a lobster?

Technically, yes. You need a lobster cracker (AKA a nut cracker), a lobster sheller, a crab picker or skewer and a fork. I suppose you could bang on the lobster claws with a rock or your rolling pin, but having the cracker and picking tool makes it a million times easier. You don’t need anything fancy as they last forever and are not complicated machines. This set is a great deal and has enough sets for when you host your first lobster boil with several friends.

Tips & Tricks

• Thaw the lobster in the fridge overnight. If you forgot to take it out of the freezer, or just got home from the store and don’t want to wait until tomorrow, placing the lobster in a bowl of cool lobster will allow it to thaw in about 30 minutes.
• Using Whole30-compatible mayonnaise makes this a delicious Whole30 protein salad that’s a serious upgrade to tuna salad.
• This easy lobster salad recipe works well on any good bread or a bed of lettuce. Add cucumbers, pepperoncinis,or some raw summer squash for more variety.

If you make these, please leave a comment and a star rating below. I’d love to hear about your experience. And, tag me @GoodliciousFood on Instagram.

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