Viral Trader Joe's Lobster Pasta Recipe

Viral food trends come and go on seemingly a daily basis, but not all of them withstand the test of time. One trend we do think will remain popular is the viral Trader Joe's lobster pasta, a concoction that cleverly utilizes a popular TJ's item — lobster bisque — and transforms it into a pasta sauce. Add in some pasta of choice and lobster meat (or make use of another popular but not-always-available Trader Joe's item, frozen langostino tails), and you've got a low-effort yet incredibly rich and downright delicious pasta dish.

Recipe developer Patterson Watkins grew up on hearty soup-based casseroles, so when it came to crafting her take on the viral Trader Joe's lobster pasta, creating a pasta sauce from bisque didn't seem like a huge stretch. "The lobster bisque creates this luxe finish for the pasta sauce," she explains, describing the clever shortcut as "a smart semi-homemade alternative that is still chock full of lobster flavor without all that shell-picking, soup-simmering, mire poix-prepping time suck." Of course, a little more goes into this dish than just bisque, pasta, and lobster. "As great as pre-made soups are, we still needed to create a little pasta-appropriate finesse. That we achieve with the roasted garlic and the oven-broiled cherry tomatoes and sweet onion." But this is a relatively simple recipe as luxurious pastas go, and you can have something a little more exciting than spaghetti on the table in just over 30 minutes.

While many variations of the Trader Joe's lobster pasta are five-ingredient recipes, Watkins' recipe adds a few more players to the mix, making for an elevated version of the trendy dish. To start, you'll need cherry tomatoes, sliced yellow onion, and a head of garlic, along with some olive oil, salt, pepper, Italian seasoning, and smoked paprika. Next, you'll need some prepared lobster bisque (Trader Joe's version is ideal, but any kind will do), Parmesan cheese, and lobster meat (or langostein tails or rock shrimp pieces). Finally, to make it a pasta dish, you'll need cooked spaghetti, a bit of residual pasta water, and some fresh basil to garnish.

Preheat the oven to broil on low and line a medium baking sheet with aluminum foil.

Place the tomatoes, onion slices, and garlic head on the prepared baking sheet.

Drizzle the veggies with olive oil and sprinkle with salt, pepper, Italian seasoning, and paprika.

Place in the oven and broil for 10 to 15 minutes or until the veggies are nicely charred and the garlic is tender (if the garlic is not, wrap it in foil, and continue broiling).

Transfer the tomatoes, onions, and any pan drippings to a large high-sided skillet. Set the garlic aside to rest.

Add the bisque to the skillet, stir to combine with the veggies, and bring to a low simmer over medium heat.

Once simmering, add the Parmesan and stir until combined and melted.

Add the lobster meat to the skillet, stir to combine, and return to a simmer. Simmer for 5 minutes or until the lobster meat has reheated.

Add the cooked spaghetti to the skillet.

Toss to coat the noodles in the sauce and continue to cook for a minute more or until the noodles have reheated. If the sauce gets too thick, use the reserved pasta water to thin.

Divide the pasta between plates and top with roasted garlic cloves and chopped basil.

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The beauty of just about any viral food trend is that you can customize it to your heart's content. For starters, it's easy to sub in a whole slew of pasta shapes to fit your preference. Watkins is partial to those "twirly swirly" pasta shapes, like spaghetti, fettuccine, or linguine, and these long, slurpable types do work well to house quite a bit of sauce in any given bite. However, she does note that shapes like bow ties, ziti, or penne will all work just as well. Avoid particularly small or delicate pasta types, like ditalini or angel hair, because they might overcook, break up in the sauce, or simply not hold the sauce quite as well as those more full-bodied types.

Another easy way to customize this recipe is to add in more veggies. Spinach, roasted asparagus, bell peppers, zucchini, or peas would all be viable options here. "To add in some additional veggie action, cook the veggies separately and add them in when you introduce the cooked pasta noodles," Watkins advises. "That way you don't risk either overcooking your veggies or disrupting the integrity of the sauce."

When it comes to selecting lobster bisque to use for this recipe, you can take a cue from the viral trend itself and specifically opt for Trader Joe's lobster bisque. Otherwise, a lobster bisque from the prepared food section of just about any grocery store will get the job done, and you could even source the bisque from a beloved soup or sandwich shop. Watkins advises us, "Fresh is best for crafting recipes like these, the flavors are more
prevalent, and you don't risk getting that tinny-canned aftertaste." Making homemade lobster bisque is always an option, or if you happen to have already made bisque and need an inventive way to use up those leftovers, look no further than this recipe.

There's quite a bit of flexibility when it comes to sourcing the lobster for this pasta, too. "As for the lobster, I used frozen, cooked lobster meat (found near the other frozen fish options at my grocery store) and that worked perfectly," Watkins says, noting that she allowed the meat to thaw before adding it to the mix. Again, Trader Joe's langostino tails (thawed from frozen) would work well as an alternative, as would fresh, cooked, chopped-up lobster meat. For a slightly less bougie but still delicious option, Watkins recommends using cooked shrimp for an easy-to-source and inexpensive seafood alternative.

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