Description
Grilled lobster tails get a light char, then a baste of smoky garlic butter sauce. Splitting and loosening the meat before cooking means it lifts right out of the shell, no wrestling required at the table.
Ingredients
Scale
For the lobster
- 4 (5 to 6 ounce) lobster tails
- Olive oil, for brushing
- 2 lemons, halved
For the sauce
- 8 tablespoons butter
- 3 cloves garlic, finely chopped
- 3/4 teaspoon smoked paprika
- 2 teaspoons lemon juice, from a grilled lemon half (more to taste)
- 2 tablespoons chives, diced
- Salt and pepper, to taste
Instructions
- Split the tails. Using kitchen shears, cut through the top (hard) shell lengthwise down the center. Switch to a chef's knife and cut the rest of the way through the meat and bottom shell, splitting each tail into two equal halves. Four tails will give you 8 pieces. Clean out the visible vein running down the center of the meat and rinse, then dry.
- Loosen and settle the meat. Work your thumb or a small spoon between the meat and the shell wall along the full length of the cut, following the curve of the shell rather than pulling straight up. Leave the base near the tail fin so the meat has an anchor point, then settle it back down into the shell.
- Make the sauce. Melt the butter in a small saucepan over medium heat. Add the garlic and smoked paprika and cook about 1 minute, until fragrant. Remove from heat and stir in the chives. Set aside butter sauce until your lemons are grilled, then squeeze 2 teaspoons juice into butter. Taste and adjust with salt, pepper, and more lemon juice as needed.
- Heat the grill. Gas: preheat to 400 to 450°F (medium-high). Charcoal: light the coals and let them burn down to a solid medium-high bed of heat without much active flame, then cook directly over them.
- Brush the lobster flesh with olive oil. Brush the lemon halves with olive oil too. Generously oil the grill grates.
- Grill the lemon halves cut side down until nicely charred. I prefer to do this while the coals are heating, so my butter sauce can be finished.
- Once grill is ready, add lobster tails flesh side down and grill for about 3 minutes. Flip to shell side down and grill 3 to 4 minutes more, until the meat registers 140°F. Baste with the butter sauce once flipped.
- Serve hot with the remaining butter sauce and grilled lemon halves alongside.
Notes
- A split shell exposes the meat along its full length, which makes loosening it simpler: work your thumb or a small spoon between the meat and shell along the whole piece, following the curve rather than pulling straight up.
- Loosen the meat while it's still raw and cold. The connective membrane firms up once it hits heat, which is what welds the meat to the shell if this step gets skipped.
- Skip salting the lobster flesh before grilling. Butter's saltiness varies by brand, so taste the sauce before adding more, and season from there.
- Prep Time: 15
- Cook Time: 10
- Category: Main Dishes
- Method: Grilling
- Cuisine: American