Gordon Ramsay’s lobster pasta is a whole cooked lobster tossed through fresh spaghetti with diced cherry tomatoes, white wine, double cream, and fresh basil. The recipe comes from his Make It Easy cookbook and is ready in about 20 minutes.
Ramsay calls lobster “the king of shellfish” in his Make It Easy headnote. His sauce skips oil and stock, building on butter with cherry tomatoes, spring onions, and white wine. The cream only goes in at the end with the lobster.
The technique that matters most is timing the lobster. It is already cooked, so it only needs a couple of minutes in the warm sauce with the cream and basil. Any longer and the meat turns tough and chewy.
Gordon Ramsay’s Lobster Pasta
Course: Dinner, MainCuisine: British, ItalianDifficulty: Medium4
servings15
minutes10
minutes725
kcal25
minutesOne of the fastest luxury pastas in Ramsay’s collection, built around a pre-cooked lobster so the actual cooking time is under 10 minutes. Spring onions replace the usual shallots, and Parmesan adds a salty finish.
Ingredients
1 freshly cooked lobster, about 1kg (2 lb 3 oz)
600g (1 lb 5 oz) cherry tomatoes, diced
2–3 spring onions, finely sliced
1 chilli, deseeded and chopped
1 garlic clove, chopped
50g (2 oz) unsalted butter
Sea salt and pepper
1 glass dry white wine
500g (1 lb 2 oz) fresh spaghetti
1 tbsp olive oil
100ml (3½ fl oz) double cream
Handful of basil leaves, chopped
Freshly shaved Parmesan, to serve
Olive oil, to drizzle
Directions
- Extract the lobster meat: Cut through the body shell and take out the meat in one piece, pulling out the dirt sac from the third disc. Crack the claws open with the back of a knife or a nutcracker. Chop all the meat into bite-sized pieces and set aside.
- Cook the sauce base: Put the cherry tomatoes, spring onions, chilli, garlic, and butter in a heavy-based pan. Cook over medium heat until soft but not coloured. Season with pepper.
- Add the wine: Pour in the white wine and cook until it has evaporated.
- Cook the spaghetti: Add the fresh spaghetti to a large pan of boiling salted water with the olive oil. Cook until al dente, about 3 minutes for fresh pasta.
- Warm the lobster through: Add the lobster pieces to the sauce with the cream and chopped basil. Warm through gently for a couple of minutes. Do not cook the lobster any longer.
- Toss and serve: Drain the pasta and toss with the lobster sauce. Divide between warm plates, scatter the Parmesan over, and drizzle with a little olive oil. Serve immediately.
Notes
- Ramsay seasons the sauce with pepper only, not salt. The pasta water, lobster, wine, and Parmesan all contribute enough salt on their own.
FAQs
Why does Ramsay cook the tomatoes in butter instead of olive oil?
Most lobster pasta recipes start with olive oil. Ramsay’s Make It Easy version cooks the cherry tomatoes, spring onions, and chilli in 50g of unsalted butter instead. Butter creates a richer, rounder base that brings out the lobster’s natural sweetness.
He does use olive oil, but only as a finishing drizzle over the plated pasta alongside shaved Parmesan. That way the oil stays fresh and grassy rather than losing its flavour in the hot pan.
Can I use linguine or dried pasta instead of fresh spaghetti?
Ramsay specifies 500g of fresh spaghetti in Make It Easy because it cooks in about 3 minutes. Fresh pasta has a silkier texture that soaks up the creamy tomato sauce better than dried.
Linguine works well too since the flat shape holds sauce. If you use dried pasta, start it before the sauce because it takes longer. His prawn pasta recipe uses the same quick-toss approach with linguine.
Does Ramsay pair lobster with pasta any other way?
Not as a single recipe, but in Ultimate Home Cooking he suggests serving his Bloody Mary Linguine alongside grilled lobster with chilli butter. He recommends each dish as an accompaniment to the other, which is a completely different flavour approach.
That version swaps the cream for vodka, Tabasco, and Worcestershire sauce, so it is sharper and spicier. If you want to try that pairing, his bloody mary linguine has the full UHC recipe.
Should I buy a pre-cooked lobster or cook my own?
Ramsay specifies “freshly cooked lobster” in this recipe, meaning one that has been boiled and is ready to shell. In Ultimate Home Cooking he says buying lobsters live “is the best way to guarantee freshness.”
If cooking live lobster feels daunting, he writes in Bread Street Kitchen that you can buy one pre-cooked instead. Ask your fishmonger when it was boiled and pick the freshest one. His lobster thermidor recipe uses the same shell-cracking technique if you want more practice.
Does this lobster pasta keep as leftovers?
Not well. Fresh spaghetti absorbs the cream sauce quickly and turns soft within a few hours in the fridge. The lobster proteins have already set from the first cooking, so reheating squeezes out moisture and turns the meat rubbery.
This is best eaten the moment it hits the plate, which is why Ramsay says to divide it between warm plates. If you have leftover lobster meat on its own, fold it through his lobster risotto the next day instead.
