Name: Grilled Lobster Recipe
Prep time: 30 min
Cook time: 30 min
Total time: 60 min
Ingredients: 3 Lobsters (split in half & cleaned); 1.5 tbsp Smoked Chipotle Mezcal Seasoning; 1 cup Gruyere Cheese (grated); Lemons (Sliced for garnish); Parsley (Chopped for garnish); 1.5 tbsp White Wine; 1 tbsp Garlic (Minced ); 1 tbsp Shallots (Minced ); 1 stick of Unsalted Butter; 1 tsp Hot Sauce; ½ tsp Tarragon (Chopped )

Grilled Garlic Butter Lobster plated and ready to eat.

Today, I’m partnering with my good friends at Cowboy Charcoal to throw down some Grilled Lobster with Garlic Butter.

I split the lobster, seasoned them with Smoked Chipotle Mezcal, melted together a garlic herb butter, and topped the lobster with that butter and some fancy cheese! Yes, cheese. Haters gonna hate but no one in this family ever complains about some cheese on seafood! Give it a try!

Post Sponsored by Cowboy Charcoal.

Why You’ll Love Grilled Lobster with Garlic Butter

It’s time to ditch the fancy restaurant and make this perfect dinner at home! Okay, maybe sometimes you’ll still want to go the fancy seafood restaurant route, but if you have a special occasion to celebrate at home, this fire-cooked favorite is the best way to please any seafood connoisseur.

There are lots of different ways to cook lobster, but this easy recipe is sure to impress.

Kicking off this recipe by getting the protein on the grill.

Grilled Lobster Recipe Ingredients

For the grilled lobster, all you’ll need are some lobsters, Smoked Chipotle Mezcal Seasoning, Gruyere cheese, lemon halves, and parsley. So simple, you’ll want to make them every night!

For the Garlic Butter Sauce, you’ll just round up some white wine, minced garlic, minced shallots, unsalted butter, hot sauce, and tarragon.

With only a 30 minute prep time and 30 minute cook time, you’ll be ready to serve 6 people the best at-home seafood they’ve ever had.

How to Make Grilled Lobster With Garlic Butter

Let’s jump right into this recipe by talking about the lobster. The first step is to get three whole fresh lobsters. Then you want to place them on a clean work surface and quickly cut the lobsters in half lengthwise with a sharp knife.

Now, if you want to recreate this recipe like I did, then be prepared to clean out the inside of the lobster. This is the price you have to pay for the freshest lobster. It’s not hard, but it probably won’t be your favorite part of this cook.

Keep pressing forward champion, it’ll be worth it in the end! However, you could make this recipe with only lobster tails if you don’t want to grill whole lobsters.

Season the Lobster

After the lobsters are sliced and cleaned, we’ll move onto the more fun parts of this recipe. One of those fun parts being the seasoning. I brushed a bit of oil across the lobster meat and then gave a generous sprinkle of my Smoked Chipotle Mezcal seasoning.

The uncooked lobsters hitting the grill.

This is one of my newer rubs and I’ve been really enjoying how this seasoning came together. It’s no secret that I’m a fan of chipotle, but the way the smokiness and citrus flavors from the mezcal work together with the chipotle is so delicious! Season up each of the lobsters, and then head outside to the grill.

For more recipes with my Smoked Chipotle Mezcal rub, check out Smoked Birria Burgers, Planked Salmon with Chili Lime Sauce and Smoked Pulled Ham Sandwiches.

A Note About Charcoal:

If you’ve ever cooked with fire, you understand the importance of a consistent heat source. Whenever I’m cooking over fire, I know the success of my meal depends on what is fueling the flame. Don’t get me wrong, I love using crazy cooking techniques and experimenting with flavor, but the food will have no chance to come to life if it’s not cooked properly.

That’s where Cowboy Charcoal comes in. Cooking with charcoal is one of the easiest ways to ensure a hot, consistent heat source while still providing that fire flavor.

The meal cooking over some charcoal on the grill.

It’s so nice to be able to light a chimney full of charcoal and have coals that are ready for cooking in minutes. It’s also easy to change the temperature using charcoal by simply adding or removing coals from the grill.

Controlling the fire for my style of cooking is always a dance, and charcoal is one of my favorite tools to make that dance a bit easier.

Preheat your Cowboy Charcoal for direct grilling at medium heat (about 350F). To know your coals are ready for grilling, light them using a chimney starter. Once the top layer is just starting to ash over, you’re ready to lay them in the grill.

For more Cowboy Charcoal recipes, check out my Poor Man’s Burnt Ends, Grilled Scallops in the Shell and Achiote Lime Brick Pressed Chicken.

Butter it Up!

Now that we’ve got our hot coals spread across the bottom of our grill, let’s make the garlic butter sauce. First, add the minced garlic and shallot to a preheated cast iron skillet. Sautée these two ingredients until they become fragrant. Then, add the white wine and stir it for a minute or so. This allows it to reduce a bit.

Now, add the butter and hot sauce and let the butter melt. Next, add the tarragon to the melted butter. Give it all a good stir, allowing the flavors to combine and then pull it from the grill. Set it to the side for now, but keep it close because we’ll need it again very soon.

Up next is the lobster. Pull out your whole tails, and place lobster tails on the grill flesh side down. Let them cook here for 2-3(ish) minutes. As the meat becomes less translucent, flip the lobsters over so they’re shell side down, meat side up.

Now let’s add a spoonful of butter mixture to each lobster and then top the tail meat with some grated Gruyere cheese! Fancy cheese for fancy lobster, yum!

A close up shot of the food on the grill.

At this point, I closed the lid to my grill so that it would help the cheese to caramelize (about 2-3 minutes). Once the lobster tails are done and the cheese is melted, pull them from the grill and set them on a serving dish!

I garnished the sweet lobster meat with some chopped parsley and placed a couple charred lemon wedges on the plate for the most beautiful presentation. Best enjoyed with friends and family. Cheers!

Expert Tips

Whether you want to eat these lobsters right from the shell or serve the grilled meat as a next-level lobster roll, you need to make sure you are working with fresh lobster if you are using whole lobster.

If you are staring with frozen lobster tails, make sure they are completely thawed. Any excess moisture in this recipe will change the texture.

Don’t skimp on the lemon at the end! The burst of fresh lemon juice adds a pop of acidity to this that really makes it all come together!

For more recipes like this one, check out Lobster Skewers with Bang Bang Sauce, Smoked Lobster Tails with Spicy Garlic Butter and Stuffed Cajun Lobster Mac & Cheese.

One final shot of the finished dish ready to eat!

Recipe FAQs

Do I Need To Boil Lobster Before Grilling?

Nope, there’s no need to boil the lobster before tossing it on the grill grates. Simply split the lobster down the middle and put it right on the grill!