Ultimate Corn and Crab Bisque Recipe (Easy to Make)
Brimming with fresh, succulent blue crab meat and tender sweet corn, this Corn and Blue Crab Bisque is as easy to prepare as it is delicious. This is a simple classic recipe that is perfect for everything from a cold winter evening to a light summer meal.
Spread the crabmeat on a large plate and carefully and gently use your fingers to feel the delicate meat. Try not to break up any large lumps. Pick out and discard any bits of shell or cartilage; it's much easier to feel the shell bits than see them. Set aside.
Melt the butter in a large, heavy pot over medium heat (I recommend a Dutch oven). When the butter has melted, add the onions and cook for about 5 minutes or until the onions become translucent and tender.
Add the garlic, bay leaf, cayenne, creole or cajun seasoning, and black pepper. Cook and stir until you can smell the garlic, which should take about 30 seconds to one minute.
Add the seafood stock (or chicken stock if using). Bring the stock to a boil and add the corn. Reduce the heat to low and cook for 15 minutes.
In a small bowl, add the flour to half a cup of the half-and-half and stir with a fork until the mixture is smooth with no lumps. Then, add to the bisque mixture.
Add the remaining half a cup of half-and-half and a quarter cup of white wine. Increase the heat to medium. Stir continuously until the bisque begins to thicken and gets creamy. This should take about three to four minutes.
Reduce the heat again to low and add the crab meat. Stir gently and try to avoid breaking up the delicate lumps of crab. Cook for three minutes or until the bisque is hot.
Taste the soup and add half a teaspoon of kosher salt, if needed. Garnish with parsley and serve immediately.
Video
Notes
Be sure not to skip the step of picking over your crabmeat for shell fragments. If you have ever eaten egg salad and bitten into a piece of shell, you know how unpleasant that is. To find any bits of shell, spread the crabmeat on a large plate and carefully and gently use your fingers to feel the delicate meat. Try not to break up any large lumps. Pick out and discard any bits of shell or cartilage; it's much easier to feel the shell bits than see them.This recipe calls for fresh lump white crabmeat. You can substitute claw meat, which is a little less expensive, but it also has a more robust crab flavor.Because fresh crabmeat is so easy to find where I live, I have never tried canned crabmeat, so I can’t say how it would be in this soup.This soup has a low level of heat. If you don’t like any heat, reduce the amount of cayenne pepper or the creole or cajun seasoning. You can always add more at the end if it’s not spicy enough for your taste.