Crab Bisque
intro
Velvety, rich classic crab bisque made with sweet lump crab, aromatic mirepoix, and smooth cream—an elegant, cozy soup perfect for special at-home meals.
Ingredients
Steps
Sauté Aromatic Mirepoix
Melt 56g (4 tablespoons) unsalted butter in a heavy-bottomed 4-quart Dutch oven over medium heat. Add 150g diced yellow onion, 100g diced celery, and 80g diced carrot, cooking for 8 minutes until soft and translucent, stirring occasionally to prevent browning. Add 15g minced garlic and cook for 1 additional minute until fragrant.
Toast Paste and Roux
Stir 30g (2 tablespoons) tomato paste into the cooked vegetables, cooking over medium heat for 2 minutes until the paste darkens slightly to a deep rust color and smells sweet and concentrated. Add 24g (3 tablespoons) all-purpose flour, stirring constantly to coat all vegetables evenly, and cook for 3 minutes to remove raw flour taste, forming a light golden roux.
Deglaze and Simmer Base
Slowly pour in 120ml (½ cup) dry sherry, scraping the bottom of the pot with a wooden spoon to lift all browned fond bits, and simmer for 3 minutes until the sherry is reduced by half. Add 720ml (3 cups) low-sodium seafood stock, 2 fresh thyme sprigs, 1 bay leaf, 2g (½ teaspoon) smoked paprika, and 0.5g (¼ teaspoon) cayenne pepper. Bring to a gentle simmer over medium-low heat, then cook uncovered for 15 minutes, stirring occasionally.
Blend and Strain Bisque
Remove the pot from heat, discard the thyme sprigs and bay leaf. Use an immersion blender to puree the soup until completely smooth, about 2 minutes. Pour the puree through a fine-mesh sieve set over a clean saucepan, pressing with a silicone spatula to extract all silky liquid; discard the remaining fibrous vegetable solids. Return the strained soup to low heat.
Add Cream and Crab
Stir 180ml (¾ cup) heavy cream into the strained soup, then reserve 100g of the lump crab meat (25g per serving) for garnish, and add the remaining 350g crab meat to the pot. Simmer gently over low heat for 5 minutes, being careful not to bring the soup to a rolling boil, as high heat will curdle the cream. Season with 3g (1 teaspoon) kosher salt and 1g (½ teaspoon) ground black pepper, tasting and adjusting seasoning if needed.
Garnish and Serve Hot
Ladle the bisque into 4 pre-warmed shallow soup bowls, top each portion with 25g of the reserved lump crab meat, a light sprinkle of chopped fresh parsley, and a tiny pinch of cayenne for a subtle heat kick if desired. Serve immediately while piping hot.
Tips
2.Do not skip the straining step: even fully blended vegetable bits will create a grainy texture, and straining produces the signature silky, luxuriously smooth mouthfeel of classic crab bisque.
3.If dry sherry is unavailable, substitute an equal amount of dry white wine plus ¼ teaspoon of sugar to mimic sherry’s subtle nutty sweetness; avoid using cooking sherry, which is high in added salt and artificial flavor.
OMG this crab bisque is SO good! I just finished making it for my partner’s birthday dinner and we both licked our bowls clean. Used fresh lump crab from the fish market down in Monterey and it was worth every single penny. Perfectly creamy, not overly heavy, just the right briny kick from the crab. 10/10 will be making this for our next dinner party with friends!
Was real skeptical a creamy seafood soup could hit as hard as my usual smoky corn chowders, but this recipe is a total game changer! Threw in a tiny dash of Cajun seasoning for a little kick and served it with buttery garlic bread for our Sunday family dinner. Even my picky 16 year old who turns his nose up at anything “fancy” went back for a second heaping bowl. Cook time was right at 55 minutes like advertised, no weird surprises.
Great solid base recipe! I used canned lump crab (rinsed really well to cut the brine) instead of fresh to save some cash and it still turned out super tasty. Will say it’s a little more labor intensive than my usual 30 minute weeknight soups, so I saved it for a lazy Saturday meal prep session. It freezes really well too — I’ve got 3 portions stashed in the freezer for quick work lunches this week!
Made this for our neighborhood potluck last weekend and people were practically begging me for the recipe! I was worried it would be too rich for my boys, but my 6 and 8 year old devoured theirs and asked if we could have it for our Halloween dinner before trick-or-treating too. Only swap I made was leaving out the sherry since I was serving it to kids, and it was still absolutely perfect.
Grew up eating crab bisque at my grandma’s beach house on the Olympic Peninsula and this recipe tastes exactly like hers! That trick of sautéing the aromatics then blending them smooth before adding the cream makes it so velvety, no weird grainy texture like other bisque recipes I’ve tried. Quick heads up for new cooks: don’t boil it after you add the crab or the meat gets rubbery — learned that the hard way on my first test run a few months back!
This has a really great flavor base, but I wish the recipe noted how much salt to add upfront, or warned about salty stock! I ended up over-salting mine because I used salted butter and regular seafood stock instead of low-sodium, oops. It’s still edible, just a little saltier than I prefer. I’ll definitely adjust that next time, because the actual cream and crab ratio is spot on.
It’s finally soup weather in the Rockies and I’ve been dying to break out my immersion blender, so this recipe did NOT disappoint! It’s so velvety, the little lumps of crab throughout are *chef’s kiss*. I topped mine with a dollop of creme fraiche and chopped chives, and served it with crispy sourdough grilled cheeses for the coziest Monday night dinner ever.
I’ve been making crab bisque for over 40 years, ever since I had it on a trip to New Orleans in my 20s, and I have to say this is one of the best versions I’ve found online. The cream to seafood stock ratio is perfect — not so heavy that you feel sluggish after a bowl. I added a splash of dry sherry right at the end like I always do, and it elevated the flavor even more. This is going into my regular Sunday dinner rotation.
Made this for my husband’s 40th birthday dinner party two weeks ago and it was the absolute star of the whole menu! I served it in little shot glasses as a passed appetizer course before the main steak dinner, and guests were raving about it all night. Only heads up for anyone making this for a party: it took me a little longer than 55 minutes because I was prepping 3 other dishes at the same time, so give yourself a little time buffer if you’re cooking for a crowd.
Planning to make this for my book club dinner next week and I’m so excited! Quick question for folks who have made it: has anyone tried using claw meat instead of lump crab? It’s like $10 cheaper at my local grocery store and I’m wondering if the texture will be off if I use that instead of the fancy lump stuff. Don’t want to waste money or serve a flop to my friends!
Made this after a long, freezing fall hike last weekend and it was the most satisfying post-adventure meal ever! Me and my partner split almost a whole pot after drying off by the cabin fire, it warmed us right up from the inside out. Only reason I’m not giving it 5 stars is that it’s so rich I could only eat one small bowl before I was stuffed — I was hoping to have a bigger serving after burning all those calories on the trail!
First time cooking a “fancy” at-home meal for my wife since we got back from our honeymoon, and I was so nervous I’d mess it up (I’m the guy who burns frozen pizza 90% of the time). But this recipe was so easy to follow! The steps were super clear, cook time was right at 55 minutes like it said, and she said it was better than the crab bisque we had at our wedding reception. Total win. We’re having leftovers tonight and I’m already pumped.