This Chinese-style Steamed Lobster is cooked to perfection and finished with a garlic soy butter that brings out the very best in the sweet, tender meat. It’s a seafood treat that has the best of both worlds—the simplicity of steamed lobster and butter, with Chinese flavors!
A Lobster Recipe Bridging East and West
There’s something about summer that makes us crave lobster — lobster rolls, steamed whole lobster with drawn butter, the works. But whenever lobster goes on sale at our grocery store, Judy almost always steers me toward the Chinese preparation, (specifically our classic Ginger Scallion Lobster), and I’m never disappointed!
This recipe is for anyone who’s ever had a hard time choosing between those two worlds. It fuses a classic Western steamed lobster with the clean, focused technique of Cantonese cooking. You have the richness of butter, the savoriness of soy, and plenty of garlic to bring it all together.
The combination is absolutely delicious, inspired by recipes like our Steamed Garlic Shrimp with Glass Noodles and Steamed Garlic Scallops!
Why Steam Lobster the Chinese Way?
Chinese cooks prepare lobster and other shellfish with the eating experience in mind. The lobster is cut, cleaned, steamed, and served piping hot with a sauce poured over everything — no shell cracking at the table, no wrestling with the claws. All the work is done in the kitchen.
We love the flavor of a pre-cut lobster because it’s properly cleaned from the start, and once cooked, you can enjoy just the sweet taste of the lobster. No need to rinse the meat or dig for it. All you need is a pair of chopsticks or a lobster fork. Also, the steaming time is cut in half!
Once you cook lobster this way, you may find it hard to go back. This method works just as well if you want to serve your lobster Western-style with drawn butter or chilled with cocktail sauce and lemon wedges.
How to Cut, Clean, and Prepare Lobster
I’ve been cooking lobster for years, and much of what I know I learned from my father, a skilled Cantonese chef. Chefs from Canton, or Guangdong province, are true masters of seafood preparation! At this point, I like to think I’ve become a bit of an expert on cleaning lobster.
Check out this video for a detailed step-by-step on how to humanely dispatch, clean, and cut lobster the Chinese way. (If you have our cookbook, there’s also written step-by-step instructions on pages 208-210.)
Prefer to Steam Your Lobster Whole or Split?
If you’d rather steam the lobster whole in the more traditional Western style, the method is straightforward: bring 2 to 3 inches of water to a boil in a large pot, add the lobsters, cover, and steam for 10 to 11 minutes until the shells are bright red.
You can find the full details in our Lobster Rolls recipe. You can even ask your fish monger to steam them for you. Then serve the sauce on the side and dip the lobster meat into it!
If you want to serve the lobsters split, check out this recipe for our detailed guide to halve and split a whole lobster.
To humanely dispatch the lobster, drive a knife straight down through the top of the head shell before proceeding with any of these preparations.
Recipe Instructions
Prepare your lobsters:
Put the lobsters in the freezer for 10 minutes. This slows their metabolism and de-sensitizes them. Make sure your cutting board has juice grooves or place it on a large kitchen towel to catch any liquid. Position the point of a sharp chef’s knife vertically in the center of the head shell, just behind the eyes. In one smooth, quick motion, drive the knife straight down until you hit the cutting board below. This instantly and humanely dispatches the lobster. Any movements from here on out are just reflexes.
Next, place your index finger just under the back of the head shell, where it meets the rest of the body, and gently but firmly pull the shell up to remove it. Trim the antennae off the lobster head shell, and cut off a small portion from each side of the bottom of the head shell so it can sit on a flat surface at a 45° angle (this step ensures it sits nicely on your large serving plate). If you don’t care about presenting the head shell on the plate, skip this step and discard the head shells altogether.
Cut off the mouth portion of the lobster head with a cleaver or chef’s knife. Cut or twist off the lobster claws, followed by the smaller legs. Alternatively, you can also leave the legs attached to those lobster head pieces.
Remove and discard the lobster gills, which are inedible. Remove the green mustard and innards. You can discard the mustard, use it in another dish, or include it in this dish. We leave it out, because it has a very strong flavor. Rinse the lobster pieces under cold running water.
Split the lobster lengthwise from the head portion to the end of the tail, so you have two halves, and remove the dark vein running down the center of the tail. Take each half, and cut off the upper section, separating it from the tail portion (there’s actually quite a bit of meat in that piece). Cut each tail half into 3 equal pieces, giving you 6 total tail pieces.
Separate the elbow joint from the claws, and split each claw with a cleaver. Using a mallet with the cleaver can help. Use a good pair of kitchen shears to cut through the shell to split the small elbow piece that connects the claw and body. Gently rinse all the lobster pieces, and drain in a colander. Repeat with the second lobster. At this point, you will want to cook the lobster right away.
Cook the Lobsters:
Arrange the lobster on a heatproof steaming platter that will fit inside your wok or steamer.
Bring water in your steamer or pot/wok with a steamer rack to a boil. Turn off the heat. Carefully place the lobster into the steamer, and cover tightly. Turn the heat back up to a boil. Steam the lobsters for 5 to 6 minutes, until the shells turn bright red and the meat is opaque white.
While the lobster is steaming, heat a saucepan over medium heat. Add the butter (or oil) and garlic. Stir until just starting to sizzle. Add the soy sauce, sugar, and water. Bring to a simmer, stirring occasionally and then turn off the heat.
Once the lobster is done, spoon the mixture evenly over the lobster, distributing the garlic and sauce evenly over the top and serve!
Recipe Notes:
- Use 1¼ pound lobsters for the best results. The maximum size I would buy is 1½ pounds. They are tastier and the shells are much thinner. They also have a good meat to shell ratio. Once you get larger than that, you’ll have a tough time preparing the lobster, and the meat will be tougher.
- Use canola oil instead of butter for a more traditional Chinese recipe, or if you are dairy-free.
- If steaming the lobsters whole, serve the soy butter garlic sauce on the side with the lobster.
- To make this a bigger meal, cook some noodles and put them on the plate before steaming. Longevity noodles (yi mein) are a traditional and delicious choice, but any chewy wheat noodle or soaked glass noodle will work well too!
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Recipe
Steamed Lobster with Soy Garlic Butter
Ingredients
- 2 live lobsters (about 1¼ pound / 550-600g each)
- 3 tablespoons unsalted butter (can substitute 2 tablespoons neutral oil)
- 3 tablespoons garlic (about 9 cloves, finely chopped)
- 2 tablespoons light soy sauce (or to taste)
- ½ teaspoon sugar
- ¼ cup water
Instructions
Prepare the lobsters:
- Put the lobsters in the freezer for 10 minutes. This slows their metabolism and de-sensitizes them. Make sure your cutting board has juice grooves or place it on a large kitchen towel to catch any liquid. Position the point of a sharp chef’s knife vertically in the center of the head shell, just behind the eyes. In one smooth, quick motion, drive the knife straight down until you hit the cutting board below. This instantly and humanely dispatches the lobster. Any movements from here on out are just reflexes.
- Next, place your index finger just under the back of the head shell, where it meets the rest of the body, and gently but firmly pull the shell up to remove it. Trim the antennae off the lobster head shell, and cut off a small portion from each side of the bottom of the head shell so it can sit on a flat surface at a 45° angle (this step ensures it sits nicely on your large serving plate). If you don’t care about presenting the head shell on the plate, skip this step and discard the head shells altogether.
- Cut off the mouth portion of the lobster head with a cleaver or chef’s knife. Cut or twist off the lobster claws, followed by the smaller legs. Alternatively, you can also leave the legs attached to those lobster head pieces.
- Remove and discard the lobster gills, which are inedible. Remove the green mustard and innards. You can discard the mustard, use it in another dish, or include it in this dish. We leave it out, because it has a very strong flavor. Rinse the lobster pieces under cold running water.
- Split the lobster lengthwise from the head portion to the end of the tail, so you have two halves, and remove the dark vein running down the center of the tail. Take each half, and cut off the upper section, separating it from the tail portion (there’s actually quite a bit of meat in that piece). Cut each tail half into 3 equal pieces, giving you 6 total tail pieces.
- Separate the elbow joint from the claws, and split each claw with a cleaver. Using a mallet with the cleaver can help. Use a good pair of kitchen shears to cut through the shell to split the small elbow piece that connects the claw and body. Gently rinse all the lobster pieces, and drain in a colander. Repeat with the second lobster. At this point, you will want to cook the lobster right away.
Cook the lobster:
- Arrange the lobster on a heatproof steaming platter that will fit inside your wok or steamer. Bring water in your steamer or pot/wok with a steamer rack to a boil. Turn off the heat. Carefully place the lobster into the steamer, and cover tightly. Turn the heat back up to a boil. Steam the lobsters for 5 to 6 minutes, until the shells turn bright red and the meat is opaque white.
- While the lobster is steaming, heat a saucepan over medium heat. Add the butter (or oil) and garlic. Stir until just starting to sizzle. Add the soy sauce, sugar, and water. Bring to a simmer, stirring occasionally and then turn off the heat.
- Once the lobster is done, spoon the mixture evenly over the lobster, distributing the garlic and sauce evenly over the top and serve!
