Grilled Garlic Butter Lobster hitting the grill over some hot coals. I’ve partnered with my good friends at Cowboy Charcoal to throw down some whole lobster today. I split the lobster, seasoned them with Smoked Chipotle Mezcal, melted together a garlic butter and topped the lobster with that 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.
Recipe Ingredients
For the grilled lobster:
- Lobsters, split in half & cleaned
- Smoked Chipotle Mezcal Seasoning
- Gruyere Cheese
- Lemons
- Parsley
For the Garlic Butter Sauce:
- 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
Step By Step Instructions
Let’s jump right into this recipe by talking about the lobster. I picked up three whole fresh lobsters. Then you want to place them on a clean work surface and quickly cut the lobsters in half, lengthwise. 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 didn’t want to grill whole lobsters.
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. 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 come together with the chipotle is so delicious!
Season up each of the lobsters and then head outside to the grill
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 that 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. 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.
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 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.
For more Cowboy Charcoal recipes, check out my Poor Man’s Burnt Ends, Grilled Scallops in the Shell and Achiote Lime Brick Pressed Chicken.
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 shallot and garlic 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 be reduced a bit. Now, add the butter and hot sauce. After the butter has melted you can add the tarragon. 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. I added each slice of lobster to the grill, meat side down first. Let them cook here for 2-3(ish) minutes. As the meat becomes less translucent, flip the lobsters over. Now let’s add a spoonful of that garlic butter to each lobster and then top it with some Gruyere cheese! Fancy cheese for fancy lobster, yum!
At this point, I closed the lid to my grill so that it would help the cheese to melt. I left the lobsters here until they finished cooking. When they’re finished, pull them from the grill and set them on a serving dish! I garnished with some chopped parsley and placed a couple charred lemon wedges on the plate for that extra flare. Best enjoyed with friends and family. Cheers!
What To Serve With This Recipe
Serve these with
- Grilled potato wedges
- Creamy Pasta
- Rice
- Salad
- Or go surf and turf with a grilled ribeye as well.
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 juicy adds a pop of acidity to this that really makes it all come together!
Recipe FAQs
Nope, there’s no need to boil the lobster before tossing it on the grill. Simply split the lobster down the middle and put right on the grill!
You want to make sure your lobster is cooked until the meat has become white and opaque.
No, I don’t recommend grilling lobster from frozen.
Loving these lobsters? Check out our steak and shrimp with garlic butter to serve with them too!
For more delicious recipes, check out my cookbook Food X Fire!
Needing more spice in your life? My spice line can help with that. Check them out here.
Grilled Lobster Recipe
Ingredients
Lobster:
- 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
Garlic Butter Sauce:
- 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
Instructions
- Lather your split & clean lobster halves with canola oil and then thoroughly seasoning with Chipotle Mezcal seasoning (or your favorite seafood seasoning). Set in the fridge until you are ready to cook.
- Preheat your Cowboy Charcoal for direct grilling at a medium temperature (about 350F).
- Add a cast iron skillet over the coals to preheat for 1 minute. Add your shallots and garlic and let simmer with a little oil until browns (about 2-3 minutes). Deglaze the skillet with the white wine and let simmer for 1 minute. Next, add the butter and hot sauce and let it melt. Once everything is melted and simmering, add your chopped tarragon. Let simmer for 1 more minute then pull off and let cool.
- Pull out your lobster tails, and add them to the grill to cook for 2-3 minutes flesh side down. Flip the lobster tails over and begin adding a spoonful of the Garlic Butter sauce on each lobster tail. Top each tail with the grated gruyere cheese and cover the lobster tails with a lid or cover to let the cheese caramelize (about 2-3 minutes). Once the lobster tails are done and the cheese is melted, pull off and let cool.
- Garnish the lobster with parsley and lemons. Serve & enjoy!
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Nutrition
Derek is the driving force behind Over the Fire Cooking. He started cooking with live fire in 2016 and decided to start a social media page so his friends and family could follow the journey. Fast forward to today and Over the Fire Cooking has spread across multiple platforms with millions now following Derek’s fire cooking journey. He’s a southern fellow who enjoys everything from classic BBQ to Central and South American inspired dishes. Whatever he’s cooking up, it’s guaranteed to be so freakin’ delicious!
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