With their rich flavor and slightly sweet meat, lobster tails are a decadent side that’s difficult to pass up. They’re an exceptional choice for impressing a date, for a dinner party, or even for just serving for yourself.
It helps that lobster tails are also versatile. They can be poached, grilled, boiled, steamed, or baked, with each technique offering its own interesting features. However, you probably won’t be serving them on their own. That’s why you need to consider what to serve with lobster tails.
The best sides for lobster tails include roasted tomatoes, smashed potatoes, buttery corn on the cob, and earthy sautéed mushrooms. These all offer interesting textures and flavors that bring your meal up to a new level. They’re also highly customizable, allowing you to build the perfect meal for your needs.
Speaking of meals, you’ll often want to choose two sides rather than just one. This allows you to balance your meal with one carb-rich side and one vegetable focused side.
Finally, as you’re going through these sides, think about how the lobster tails will be cooked and the type of occasion. Both factors influence the best sides for your lobster. After all, special events call for different types of sides than casual dinners.
What To Serve With Lobster Tails (16 Sides To Try)
Grilled Asparagus
Grilled asparagus is a classic and delicious side for lobster tails. For one thing, it’s bright and vibrant side, especially if you squeeze a little lemon juice over the asparagus. The bright flavors naturally contrast the richness of your lobster and make the meal more balanced.
You can also grill your asparagus so that you get a little char and smokiness from it. This is another fantastic feature alongside asparagus.
Another cool trick is to serve hollandaise sauce on your asparagus. The hollandaise sauce adds richness and an amazing balance of flavor.
Lemon Butter Grilled Asparagus
Butter is often a key part of lobster meals, which makes this Lemon Butter Grilled Asparagus perfect in every way imaginable. To make it, you just need a handful of ingredients, including asparagus, butter, lemon juice, salt, and pepper.
It’s as simple as that. And, why shouldn’t it be? Lobster is delicious on its own. Why drown that flavor out with a complicated side?
A Fresh Salad
Salads have some of the same features as grilled asparagus, as they can be bright, vibrant, and light. As such, they’re a refreshing side that easily complements your lobster tails.
This is also a versatile option, given there are so many different types of salad out there. You might go with a classic lettuce salad, perhaps with a lemon vinaigrette to provide a familiar flavor contrast. Citrus salads are excellent too for the same reason.
Don’t be afraid to branch out. Plenty of other salads work well with lobster tails too. You might make a Caesar salad, a spinach salad, or even a green bean salad.
Grilled Caesar Salad With Homemade Caesar Dressing
This Grilled Caesar Salad is a little different than normal, as it relies on grilled romaine lettuce hearts, rather than simply romaine leaves. Grilling the romaine like this adds a delicious smoky flavor to the salad, which is perfect alongside your lobster tails.
The rest of the salad is exceptional too, including a delicious homemade Caesar dressing that really brings the whole thing together. There are even instructions for making your own croutons, in case you’d like to try.
Roasted Tomatoes
Now we come to roasted tomatoes, which are simply stunning in countless situations. The roasting process intensifies the flavor of your tomatoes, highlighting both sweet and umami notes.
You can add fresh herbs or spices to the tomatoes to slightly tweak the flavor. Or, why not experiment with the type of tomato? You could even make this dish using heirloom tomatoes or perhaps flavorful cherry tomatoes.
Garlic Roasted Cherry Tomatoes
Aren’t these Garlic Roasted Cherry Tomatoes exciting? They’re fast and easy to prepare yet are still bursting with flavor.
The recipe includes just a few ingredients: the tomatoes themselves, garlic, olive oil, salt, and pepper. Because of this, you’ll need to focus on high quality ingredients to get the most out of the recipe. This includes using decent olive oil and focusing on fresh garlic instead of garlic powder or garlic paste.
If you’re looking for a little more, try adding some fresh herb sprigs on the tomatoes before roasting them. This infuses them with extra flavor, bringing the tomatoes to an entirely new level.
Smashed Potatoes
Potatoes often seem bland and boring, yet they’re the perfect complement to countless meals. Their blandness makes them the perfect base, allowing you to add whatever flavors you like, while also experimenting with appearance and texture.
While mashed potatoes are an easy choice with lobster, why not branch out a little and try smashed potatoes instead? These little treats are made by boiling small potatoes, then smashing them onto a baking tray and roasting them in the oven.
This approach gives the potatoes a delicious creamy interior and a crispy exterior. You can also add whatever seasonings you like, such as garlic, fresh herbs, and parmesan cheese. Don’t forget about the butter either, as this works incredibly well with the potatoes and with your lobster.
Crispy Smashed Red Potatoes
These Crispy Smashed Red Potatoes are the perfect way to get started with the smashed potato idea. They’re incredibly easy to make, with just a few minutes of hands on time. They also rely on simple ingredients, so you won’t need to go out and buy anything special.
You can even start the recipe ahead of time by boiling potatoes and storing them in the fridge. Then, you can take the potatoes out, smash them, and bake them whenever you’re ready.
As the author points out, choosing the right type of potato is essential here. You’re looking for small potatoes, ones roughly the size of a golf ball. The author suggests using fingerling, red, or Yukon gold potatoes – as long as they’re the right size.
Corn On The Cob
Sweet and vibrant, corn on the cob has plenty going for it. Plus, it’s traditionally served with plenty of butter – and we all know that lobster and butter are excellent together.
This is also an easy and fast side to prepare, taking as little as five minutes if you’re boiling shucked corn. Grilling corn takes longer, but adds a delicious smokiness that complements the sweetness of your lobster.
Even just serving corn and lobster, with no other ingredients, would give you a complex selection of flavors. You could try seasoning the corn as well, perhaps with parmesan cheese or herb-infused butter.
Easy Oven-Roasted Corn On The Cob
This Easy Oven-Roasted Corn on the Cob recipe offers a fascinating way to cook your corn. The approach involves covering the corn with seasoned butter, then wrapping it up in tin foil.
The foil helps to keep moisture in with your corn, creating the perfect environment for a tender and delicious side. This is also a very hands off recipe, as you only need to turn your corn once while it is cooking.
The recipe relies on garlic and Creole seasoning to give the corn extra flavor. However, these seasonings aren’t essential. You could easily make the corn using your own favorites instead.
Fettuccine Alfredo
Fettuccine alfredo is an interesting side dish for lobster tails. It works well in some situations as the pasta dish is rich and heavy, giving you an extremely decadent meal.
This pairing works best if you focus on the authentic Italian of fettuccine alfredo. This version doesn’t use cream, so it doesn’t have the same intensity as Americanized fettuccine alfredo.
If alfredo still sounds too intense, you could always experiment with a lighter pasta dish, like lemon garlic butter pasta or perhaps pasta primavera.
Pesto Cream Sauce Over Fettuccine Pasta
This Pesto Cream Sauce over Fettuccine Pasta is an interesting alternative to traditional fettuccine alfredo. The use of pesto adds some depth of flavor to the meal, working well with the taste of your lobster.
You don’t even need to prepare the full pasta dish. You could easily make the creamy pesto sauce from the recipe and use it in a different situation.
Scalloped Potatoes
Scalloped potatoes are a second potato dish that deserves to be alongside your lobster. This is a much richer choice than the smashed potatoes we mentioned earlier, which isn’t a bad thing at all.
With scalloped potatoes, you’re often looking at layers of thinly sliced potatoes, complemented by cream and plenty of cheese. Of course, there are countless recipes, all with their own features and flavors. You might even skip the cream and use a lighter dairy-based ingredient.
Garlic Parmesan Scalloped Potatoes
What do you think of these Garlic Parmesan Scalloped Potatoes? They rely on sliced potatoes, milk, heavy cream, garlic, parmesan cheese, and a handful of other ingredients.
This collection of ingredients creates a creamy and delicious dish, with all the traditional textures of scalloped potatoes. The recipe also includes links to other potato dishes, all of which could be excellent sides for lobster tails.
Cucumber, Tomato, And Mozzarella Salad
Cucumbers, tomatoes, and mozzarella work well to create a refreshing side for lobster tails. This is partly because there’s so much freshness and acidity from the tomatoes and cucumbers. This acidity is complemented by creaminess from the mozzarella cheese.
You could make the salad with just these three ingredients, perhaps with a light vinaigrette or even with no dressing at all. Alternatively, you could expand on the salad and add other ingredients, like basil, lettuce, or red onion.
Cantaloupe Caprese Salad
This Cantaloupe Caprese Salad is an amazing treat in its own right. It features cantaloupe melon balls, heirloom tomatoes, mozzarella cheese, and basil. Then there’s the traditional topping of olive oil and balsamic glaze.
The author uses multiple types of tomatoes, which provides an interesting mix of flavors and colors. However, you could easily use just a single type of tomato if that’s all you have.
Then there are the cantaloupe balls. These add an interesting sweetness to the salad, which works well with the slight sweetness in the lobster.
Green Beans With Lemon Butter
Green beans are an excellent vegetable side for lobster tails, providing a delicious flavor. Cooking the beans with lemon butter is an even better approach, as this provides a bright citrus flavor and buttery notes.
This is also a fast and easy side to prepare, which is perfect if you’re short on time. You could also pair this with a carb-based side as well, like perhaps a potato dish or something with pasta.
Lemon Butter Parmesan Green Beans
These Lemon Butter Parmesan Green Beans are an easy and delicious approach to green beans. It uses butter, green beans, and lemon zest, giving you the flavor profile we just discussed.
There are some interesting extra ingredients as well, including garlic, seasonings, pine nuts, and parmesan cheese. These add layers of complexity to the meal, especially as the pine nuts are toasted, which makes them taste even better.
Rice Pilaf
If you’re looking for a carb-based side, why not try rice pilaf? This relies on rice, aromatics, and seasoning ingredients, plus whatever extra ingredients you like.
Because there’s so much flexibility, rice pilaf works well as a side for almost any dish you can imagine. You could try a Mediterranean rice pilaf, a lemon herb rice pilaf, or something completely different.
Baked Mushroom Risotto
This Baked Mushroom Risotto isn’t a rice pilaf, but it has many similar features and is just as powerful alongside lobster tails. The mushrooms are particularly powerful, as they offer a rich earthy flavor that is just what you need alongside the lobster.
The cooking method deserves a special mention too. Notably, this risotto is baked in the oven, while most similar recipes use the stovetop instead. Baking the risotto is surprisingly effective, making the risotto much easier to prepare.
The risotto even reheats well, so you can prepare a large batch and then use leftovers as sides for multiple meals.
Steak Bites
Next, we have steak bites. These aren’t a side dish, but rather something you’d serve with the lobster, as part of a classic turf and surf meal.
The combo of steak with lobster shines because of the contrasts. For one thing, steak offers savory umami flavors, while lobster is rich and buttery instead, with slight sweet notes. There are texture contrasts too.
Steak and lobster are both protein-backed ingredients, so you’d likely want at least one side to go along with them. Look for sides that work well with both steak and potatoes, such as mashed potatoes or roast vegetables.
Garlic Steak Bites And Potatoes
These Garlic Steak Bites and Potatoes would be a dream alongside lobster tails. The recipe includes garlic butter, oregano, thyme, and parsley, which all provide plenty of flavor.
This is also an easy meal to prepare as everything can be cooked in the same pan. The recipe provides precise timing details, so you can be sure that everything is perfectly cooked.
There are also some interesting ideas for recipe variations. You can experiment with the potatoes, the cut of steak, and the herbs you use.
Sautéed Mushrooms
Now we come to sautéed mushrooms. These offer a wonderful earthy flavor, which is excellent alongside the slight sweetness of the lobster.
You can add even more flavor by sautéing the mushrooms with butter and various fresh herbs. The taste will also vary depending on the type of mushroom you choose.
Also stunning is the speed of preparation. The mushrooms can take just five to ten minutes to cook fully (depending on whether they’re sliced and their size).
Sautéed Garlic Mushrooms
If you don’t cook mushrooms often, then these Sautéed Garlic Mushrooms are a great place to begin. They’re also a little more complex and flavorful than normal, as the recipe includes garlic cloves and chicken broth.
The chicken broth is an inspired addition, as it provides extra flavor, while helping with the texture of the mushrooms. You’re also getting some interesting tips for how to make the mushrooms perfect every single time.
Parmesan Crusted Zucchini
Have you ever tried parmesan crusted zucchini? It’s a fantastic idea, as you get delicious salty notes from the parmesan, underlying vegetable flavors from the zucchini, and an interesting texture contrast.
The crispy exterior and tender interior of the zucchini is also reminiscent of fries, making them even more appealing.
Panko Parmesan Zucchini Fries
These Panko Parmesan Zucchini Fries are spot on as an alternative to fries, especially if you serve them like they are in the image. The fries are easy to make too, as you simply cut the zucchini into the appropriate shape, then dip each zucchini fry in an egg wash followed by a mixture of parmesan cheese and panko bread crumbs.
The fries are baked in the oven, which makes them much healthier than regular fries. Don’t worry, they still end up being crispy and delicious.
Roasted Veggies
We can’t forget about roasted veggies, can we? They’re a classic side dish for many meals, providing variety, nutrients, and fiber. Plus, roasting vegetables brings out their natural sweetness, which plays well with the delicate flavor of your lobster tails.
Another useful feature is the space for variation. You can choose which vegetables you roast, the oil to use, and the seasoning ingredients. Doing so allows you to create many unique and delicious side dishes.
Garlic Herb Roasted Veggies
These Garlic Herb Roasted Veggies keep things simple without compromising on flavor. There are just three types of veggies in the mix – baby potatoes, carrots, and zucchini. The zucchini is an especially good choice, as it provides a great texture that nicely contrasts with the root vegetables.
The colors work well on the plate too, especially with green flecks from the herbs. Imagine serving these veggies next to your lobster. Wouldn’t this combination just look stunning?
Mac And Cheese
Let’s not forget about mac and cheese as a possible side for lobster tails. This one almost goes without saying, given that mac and cheese can be served alongside nearly any meal imaginable.
The rich cheesy creaminess of the dish is an amazing complement to the sweet and delicate flavors of your lobster. Plus, mac and cheese is a naturally comforting dish, which is perfect if you want a homestyle meal.
Beyond this, mac and cheese is easy to tweak. You can make the meal as simple or as complicated as you like. You can match your lobster by using some of the same herbs to flavor both the lobster and the mac and cheese.
Smoked Mac And Cheese
Want a bit more depth to your mac and cheese? If so, this Smoked Mac and Cheese could be the perfect side.
The cheese sauce is the crucial part to this recipe and is what makes it taste so amazing. It’s also unusual, as Velveeta is included as an ingredient. Don’t worry, there’s real cheese in there too – the Velveeta is simply a way to make the sauce so amazingly creamy.
There’s a handful of spices in the recipe too, including BBQ rub, which is where some of the smoky flavor comes from. Of course, you can easily use your own selection of spices. You can even play around with some of the types of cheese if you wish.
But… this mac and cheese really lives up to its name. As in, it isn’t just a dish with smoky flavoring. It has actually been smoked by a smoker.
Creamed Spinach
Finally, we have creamed spinach. This is a classic side dish for many seafood or steak meals, making it an easy go-to for your lobster.
You will, however, need to think a little about your guests for this one. Lobster tails and creamed spinach are both rich dishes, which can make your meal somewhat overwhelming.
If the richness seems too much or some of your guests don’t like creamed spinach, you could try a lighter spinach-based side instead. Sautéed spinach would be a great option here or perhaps a spinach salad instead.
Creamy Spinach Pasta
This Creamy Spinach Pasta is another interesting way to serve spinach alongside your lobster tails. It’s still a creamy dish, with heavy cream as a key ingredient. However, the creaminess is nicely offset by ingredients like white wine, garlic, Italian seasoning, and pasta.
The combination of flavors and textures should be excellent alongside any lobster meal. If that wasn’t enough, this meal also looks stunning on the plate. That’s a win-win.