‘The Pioneer Woman’: Ree Drummond’s Lobster Mac and Cheese Is a Decadent Spin on a Classic

Ree Drummond makes a decadent mac and cheese recipe that’s an easy upgrade of the classic dish. The Pioneer Woman star shared the steps for making the homemade comfort food.

Ree Drummond’s lobster mac and cheese was inspired by a steakhouse dinner

Drummond made the dish on an episode of The Pioneer Woman, sharing the inspiration behind the decadent recipe.

“Last time we went on a family vacation, we went to a steakhouse and the girls and I ordered lobster mac and cheese along with little beef filets,” she explained.

The Food Network host cut two lobster tails along the underside and pulled out the meat then chopped it into big pieces. “I definitely want this to be unmistakably lobster mac and cheese,” she explained. “I really want to see those chunks of lobster.”

Drummond shared, “Lobster mac and cheese is definitely one of those decadent treats so this is definitely not something we eat every night.”

Drummond said lobster is ‘one of my favorite things in the entire universe’

Drummond added the lobster to a skillet with butter. “The great thing about lobster is it hardly takes any time to cook at all,” she explained, pulling it from the pan slightly undercooked. “The mac and cheese is gonna bake in the oven so it’ll have a chance to cook even more and I definitely don’t want to overcook it,” she said.

Drummond noted, “It’s all I can do to keep myself from grabbing a fork and eating all of this right now. Lobster and melted butter, I swear they serve it in heaven. It’s one of my favorite things in the entire universe. In fact, I think it’s definitely on my list of items that I would choose to eat on my very last supper on earth.”

For the sauce, she added butter to the skillet then sprinkled on flour and mixed it with the butter, whisking it constantly for a minute. “You need to keep going until it forms a smooth paste in order to wind up with a lump-free sauce,” Drummond explained. She whisked in milk and allowed the sauce to bubble and thicken.

“To make it extra, extra rich, I’ll splash in a little half and half,” she said. “This is definitely not a low-fat dish. It’s very decadent, unapologetically so.”

‘The Pioneer Woman’ star uses four different kinds of cheese in her recipe

After Drummond seasoned the sauce with salt and pepper, she added sharp cheddar, fontina, parmesan, and goat cheese. “This is the most wonderful combination of cheeses and it goes perfectly with the lobster,” she explained.

Drummond added cooked elbow macaroni and the lobster to the sauce and stirred it well to combine everything and melt the cheese.

“Now I know I say this a lot but it’s pretty much the most delicious thing I’ve ever seen in my life,” she said. “I say that at least once a day but I really meant it this time.”

Drummond poured the mixture into a buttered casserole dish, sprinkled on parmesan cheese, and baked the lobster mac and cheese in a 350 degree Fahrenheit oven for 25 minutes.

The full recipe is available on the Food Network website.