Seafood Mac and Cheese

Cozy meets fancy in this delicious spin on a classic. Our seafood mac and cheese recipe makes a fantastic one-dish meal. Loaded with cheese and your choice of shellfish—any combination of shrimp, lobster, crabmeat, or crawfish would work—it’s a luxurious entree that’s ideal for entertaining and only needs a side salad to round out the meal. A little onion and garlic boost the flavor of the cheese sauce, while a toasted panko topping adds punchy contrast to all the creamy richness. We love it with elbow macaroni, but you can use any short pasta shape you like.

Buying and Prepping Seafood For This Recipe

You can use any combination of crab, lobster, or shrimp for this recipe. No matter what you choose, you'll need a full pound of cooked seafood.

Crab: While any type of cooked crabmeat will work in this recipe, we recommend purchasing lump or special crabmeat for the best flavor and texture. To prep it, spread the crabmeat out on a double layer of paper towels, then pick through well and remove any bits of shell.

Shrimp: Any size of shrimp will work for this recipe since you'll be coarsely chopping them before stirring into the pasta. Buying cooked shrimp will cut down on prep time, but buying raw shrimp will give you more control over how they're cooked. To cook raw shrimp for this recipe, bring a pot of salted water to a simmer, then add one pound of peeled and deveined shrimp; cook until firm, opaque, and tails are beginning to curl, 2 to 3 minutes.

Lobster: If using all lobster for this recipe, you'll need roughly five lobster tails to equal a pound of meat. (Each lobster tail will give you about 3 1/2 ounces of meat.) Cook the lobster tails by placing them in a steamer basket set over an inch or two of boiling, salted water. Cover and cook until shells are bright red and meat is opaque, 6 to 8 minutes. To remove lobster meat, break the fin off of the tail, then place the tail on its side and apply gentle pressure with your hands until you feel or hear the shell crack. Use your thumbs to apply pressure to the back of the shell to release the tail meat inside.

Crawfish: Look for frozen, cooked crawfish tail meat in the seafood department at your grocery store or at a dedicated seafood market. Thaw the package of crawfish meat in a large bowl of cool water until defrosted, refreshing water every 15 minutes.

The Best Cheeses For Seafood Mac and Cheese

For the best flavor and texture, we like using a mix of cheeses for this recipe. Try combining a cheese with a more pronounced flavor, like Parmesan or Asiago, with a milder, meltier cheese, like Colby Jack or cheddar (mild or sharp). Other cheeses that would be welcomed here include Gruyère, Gouda, baby Swiss, or Monterrey Jack.

Remember that making macaroni and cheese is an excellent way to use up bits of cheese from your fridge, just avoid anything with too strong a flavor, such as blue cheese or feta, for this recipe.