How Long To Boil 4 oz Lobster Tail?

Considered to be one of the best culinary selections available by many (me included), lobster is a delicious food with exceptional and unique flavors.

Although many parts of the lobster are edible, by far the most popular portion is the lower abdomen, or more commonly referred to the lobster tail. This is where the bulk of the meat can be found and it comes with a juicy, dense texture that’s hard to match with any other food. For this reason, lobster tails are the most frequently found section in grocery stores, especially in the frozen section.

If you’re interested in making this tasty crustacean either for a special occasion or just for a random dinner, I’ll give you some useful prep instructions on how long to boil a 4 oz lobster tail.

How Long To Boil 4 oz Lobster Tail?

The short answer is 5 minutes if you are using a fresh lobster tail. If you are using a frozen lobster tail, this will take 10 minutes to cook through. After the cooking time is up, remove the lobster from the pot and check it with a food thermometer to see if it’s reached 140 degrees, at which point it should be safe to eat.

Some Important Background on Cooking Shellfish

Shellfish are invertebrates that inhabit mostly saltwater environments that tend to be filter feeders (if they’re mollusks) or omnivores (if they’re crustaceans).

Shellfish are a lot different anatomically from fish or land animals, which can make cooking them a bit different from more common sources of meat. Unlike most meat sources that tend to get softer or easier to work with when cooked, shellfish have a very specific window where it can be cooked well while not being undercooked, but if it’s cooked for too long it starts to get hard and rubbery.

This can make preparing shellfish a bit tricky as it’s very easy to ruin the texture of it since a couple minutes of cooking time over what’s necessary can completely change the proteins found inside. When making something on the more expensive end, like crab or lobster, this issue becomes even more important to consider.

Another thing you need to keep in mind when cooking shellfish, especially lobster, is that food safety can an issue if you’re not careful. A lot of shellfish is immediately frozen or is still alive when you go to the supermarket for a reason. Shellfish have a lot of bacteria in them that can reach dangerous levels quickly after they die.

It’s important to keep this in mind since you don’t want shellfish sitting out too long. When cooking lobster, either throw a frozen tail into a boiling pot or use very fresh lobster, but do not under any circumstance thaw out a frozen lobster tail before cooking as this could be a very serious health hazard.

How to boil lobster tail?

Now that we have a couple of important disclaimers out of the way, let’s take a look at the boiling process involved with making some top-notch lobster tails.

Clean The Lobster

The first thing you want to do is clean off any sort of debris or dirt off of the lobster tail as the delicate flavor of lobster can easily be influenced by odd tasting contaminants. This can be somewhat of an issue if you’re using a frozen tail, but you can get the result you’re looking for by rinsing it in warm water for a minute or two to thaw the very outside of the shell.

You could potentially just use your hands to clean off any dirt, but I would definitely recommend using either a hard brush or a rough sponge.

Start Boiling Water in a Pot

Next, you need to start boiling water in a pot. You don’t need to add too much water since there isn’t going to be much evaporation during the cooking process. Ideally, the water you put in would be distilled as tap water contain particles and chlorine that change the flavor of the lobster. However, if you’re not someone with a sensitive palate, you might not notice the difference.

Unless you have a very specific taste you’re interested in, I also highly recommend adding in a decent amount of salt to the water to enhance the lobster’s flavor. You don’t need to add in too much, maybe a tablespoon or so; otherwise, you might make the lobster too salty.

Get A Good Simmer Going

Once you get the water to a rolling boil, turn down the heat so that it starts to simmer. When cooking lobster, it’s important to not be too aggressive with your cooking method as you want everything heat through, but minimally disturbed.

Fresh vs Frozen Tail Cook Times

After the pot has cooled down a little so that it’s reached a decent, but not too robust simmer, then add in the 4 oz lobster tail and cover the pot to keep all the heat in.

If you’re using a fresh lobster tail, then cook it for 5 minutes.

If you’re using frozen lobster, you’ll need to double this time to 10 minutes in order for everything to cook through.

After the cooking time is up, remove the lobster from the pot and check it with a food thermometer to see if it’s reached 140 degrees, at which point it should be safe to eat.

Cutting It Open and Serving

Once the lobster tail has sufficiently cooled and you want to break it open, the easiest way to do this is to flip the tail so that it’s belly-side up and cut it with a knife straight down the middle, leading to two open sections that are easy to get the meat out of.

There are about a million different ways you can flavor lobster, with there being a long list of spices and condiments that go well with its light, yet still poignant flavor. However, the classic way to serve it is with melted better and lemon juice, which is the way I usually eat my lobster.

Making Some Tasty Lobster

Lobster really is a one of kind type of food that that brings a lot of unique flavors and textures to the table. There are very few dishes that can be as impactful, but only if it’s prepared correctly.

If lobster is cooked for too long, it can really hamper a lot of the elements that make it great; it won’t necessarily be ruined, but it will be lacking. Luckily, the next time you decide to make lobster tails, you’ll know exactly how long to cook them!