Put a gourmet twist on your favorite Mexican dish with a serving of these buttery lobster tacos with mango salsa! In just 20 minutes, tender, sweet lobster is cooked in a chili-lime butter sauce and then piled onto a soft, warm tortilla with your favorite toppings. Taco night never tasted so good.
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Why You Need to Make This Recipe
Oh, my goodness. These lobster tacos are officially my new obsession. I can’t stop thinking about how delicious they turned out.
- Fancy yet perfect for a casual backyard party. The lobster adds an upscale flair, but we’re still talking tacos here.
- Full of tropical flavor. While the mango salsa is technically optional, it will make you think you’re enjoying tacos on the beach.
- Quick and easy. Even though these are gourmet tacos, you won’t believe how fast you can put dinner on the table for your favorite people.
Bonus: For more taco night inspiration, also try these blackened salmon tacos, chorizo tacos and Greek lamb tacos!
Ingredients
Obviously, the main ingredient here is lobster meat, and we have a few options. If live lobsters are available in your area and you feel comfortable cooking them, you can use those. My local Safeway offers whole, cooked lobsters, so that’s what I use. Lobster tails are widely available at seafood counters, and that’s a convenient option.
You can also use frozen lobster meat or order it online. I’ve also seen prepared lobster meat at Whole Foods if you have a location in your area.
Step-by-Step Instructions
Step 1: Before we start cooking our lobster tacos, we want to warm our tortillas. For this step, we wrap tortillas in foil (photos 1 and 2) and then pop them into a 350-degree oven for 10 minutes.
Step 2: Now we melt some butter with chili powder in a skillet (photo 3).
Step 3: When our butter melts, we add the lobster to the skillet and stir to coat in that buttery goodness (photo 4). We just cook the lobster until it heats through. Since we’re working with cooked lobster meat, this won’t take long.
Step 4: As our final step, we turn off the heat and sprinkle fresh lime juice on top. And just like that, we’re ready to scoop our lobster meat on warm tortillas, add our toppings and enjoy!
Related: Make sure you complete your meal and check out this guide on what to serve with seafood and fish tacos!
Recipe FAQS
You have several options: steaming, broiling and grilling all make for delicious cooked lobster meat. If you decide to cook your own lobster meat rather than buy cooked meat, here are a few resources.
How to steam whole lobsters
How to broil lobster tails
How to grill lobster tails
How to de-shell lobsters
I love my mango-habanero salsa with these lobster tacos. This salsa is super easy and loaded with fresh flavor. My pineapple pico de gallo or tropical pico de gallo are wonderful alternatives.
Other delicious topping include avocado slices, extra limes, Mexican crema or sour cream, and shredded lettuce. These are just a few suggestions. Feel free to get creative and let me know if you try other toppings.
Of course, refried beans are always great with tacos, but I especially love my coconut-lime rice with this dish. It’s the perfect tropical side, and it's super simple to prepare.
Expert Tips
- Both corn and flour tortillas work here. Feel free to use which tortilla you prefer or even a mix of both.
- Don’t let the tortillas warm for more than 10 minutes. They can turn hard if they overcook. If you happen to start the tortillas early, just keep them wrapped tightly in foil. The foil will keep them warm just fine.
- I used lime juice to keep with the taco theme, and it works perfectly with lobster. But I’d you prefer lemon with your lobster, you’re more than welcome to substitute the lime juice.
Perfect Pairing
I love a witbier with these lobster tacos. The refreshing beer comes with a nice lemon kick to bring out our lobster, and it has plenty of bubbles to cut through the butter sauce and leave our palate cleansed after each bite.
For a wine pairing, you can’t go wrong with a chardonnay, which has a buttery quality itself to complement our sauce and sweet lobster meat.
And, of course, tacos means tequila right? Try my Cadillac margarita, tequila sour, triple citrus tequila smash or coconut margarita. You might also enjoy a tropical drink on the side, and my Painkiller tiki cocktail is delicious. Or for an extra dose of mango, you can't go wrong with my mango mojito or jalapeño-mango margarita.
For a summery, gourmet spin on this Mexican favorite, I hope you try these buttery lobster tacos. You'll fall in love after just one bite.
Cheers!
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📖 Recipe
Lobster Tacos
Equipment
- Large skillet
- Foil
Ingredients
- 8 tortillas corn or flour
- 1 cup salted butter
- ½ teaspoon chili powder
- 2 cups cooked lobster meat
- 1 lime juiced
- Desired toppings such as mango salsa, crema, avocado, lettuce, etc.
Instructions
- Wrap the tortillas tightly in foil. Place in a 350-degree oven for 10 minutes to warm. Remove after 10 minutes. The foil will keep the tortillas warm.
- Melt the butter in a large skillet over medium heat. Stir in chili powder.
- Add the cooked lobster to the skillet. Stir to coat the lobster in butter. Cook just until the lobster heats through. This should only take a few minutes. Turn off the heat once the lobster warms and sprinkle lime juice on top.
- Fill the warm tortillas with lobster and desired toppings. Enjoy!
Notes
- Both corn and flour tortillas work here. Feel free to use which tortilla you prefer or even a mix of both.
- Don’t let the tortillas warm for more than 10 minutes. They can turn hard if they overcook. If you happen to start the tortillas early, just keep them wrapped tightly in foil. The foil will keep them warm just fine.
- I used lime juice to keep with the taco theme, and it works perfectly with lobster. But I’d you prefer lemon with your lobster, you’re more than welcome to substitute the lime juice.
- Nutritional information is only an estimate. The accuracy of the nutritional information for any recipe on this site is not guaranteed.
Luca - Ruoka on valmis says
As I come from Italy and live in Finland, tacos are not so common so never heard of anything like this with lobster. It looks so mouthwatering!
Amanda McGrory-Dixon says
You will love it!
Amy says
I love everything about this recipe! So fresh and light with a great combination of flavors!
Amanda McGrory-Dixon says
Thank you, Amy!
Erin Gierhart says
This was a real treat! The chili-lime butter is amazing!
Amanda McGrory-Dixon says
Thanks, Erin! It really adds a little something extra!
serena says
I'm such a fan of lobster tacos. These are delish and so simple to make!
Amanda McGrory-Dixon says
Thanks, Serena!
Alison says
These are so lobster tacos are so delicious I could eat them everyday! The lime chili butter sauce is perfection and pairs so nicely with the mango salsa!
Amanda McGrory-Dixon says
Thanks for sharing! Happy that you loved them.
Jamie says
Talk about gourmet tacos!! We're big fans of lobster and tacos in our house so I know we're all going to love this!
Amanda McGrory-Dixon says
You absolutely will!
Heather Johnson says
So delicious - i left off the salsa as i'm not a big mango fan - but the lobster and chili butter - with avocado and sour cream - so amazing!
Amanda McGrory-Dixon says
I bet it was still wonderful! Can't go wrong with lobster either way. Thanks for sharing!
Anjali says
This was such a fun and delicious twist on our typical taco night! The mango salsa paired perfectly with the lobster too! Yum!
Amanda McGrory-Dixon says
It's my favorite kind of taco night!
Claudia Lamascolo says
That put a whole new level of yum for a taco for sure! WOW!
Liz says
This recipe screams summer to me! Very beneficial that it is a quick prep too!
Amanda McGrory-Dixon says
It makes it so convenient, for sure!
Jere Cassidy says
What a delicious way to eat lobster and that chili-lime butter sounds delicious.
Amanda McGrory-Dixon says
It's so good! I really can't stop thinking about these tacos.
Naomi says
Hi Amanda, I'd love to know what else you served in the pic for this taco. It looks divine... 🤤🤤🤤
Amanda McGrory-Dixon says
Thank, Naomi! Are you referring to the orange salsa on top? That's a mango-habanero salsa, and you can click on that to get the recipe. Other than that, I used a Mexican crema and avocado slices.