This bisque is rich, creamy, deliciously seasoned and loaded with an abundance of shrimp and scallops. You CAN make restaurant-quality seafood bisque right at home – and this is it! It’s a delicious appetizer (or main dish) that will have you going back for seconds.
This is one of my very favorite seafood recipes and I love it year-round. Serve it with a garden salad and French bread for a complete meal that will be devoured by all!
It’s impressive enough to serve on special occasions, yet simple enough to serve as a weeknight meal. A total win-win. Can you tell I have a slight obsession with this bisque?!
Ingredients Notes
- Shrimp – You’ll need one pound of medium shrimp, peeled, deveined and cut into about ½ inch pieces. Save some time by buying your shrimp already peeled and deveined!
- Scallops – Bay scallops are used in this recipe. Some of my bay scallops were on the larger side, so I cut them in half to yield approximately ½ inch bite size pieces.
- Seasonings – Salt, black pepper, Old Bay Seasoning and ground nutmeg. Feel free to adjust the amounts to your personal taste.
- Wine – You’ll need a dry white wine, such as pinot grigio or sauvignon blanc. You can substitute extra seafood stock (or even chicken broth) for the wine if you choose not to use it.
- Garlic – Minced fresh garlic (if you’re in a hurry, feel free to use the minced garlic that comes in a jar!).
- Celery – finely chopped
- Flour – all-purpose
- Sugar – A little white granulated sugar adds a hint of sweetness – delicious!
- Butter – I use unsalted butter so I can better control the amount of salt, but feel free to use salted if that’s what you have on-hand.
- Half-and-half
- Seafood stock – found in the same section of the grocery store as the chicken and beef stock and broth.
How to Make Seafood Bisque
Following is a brief overview on how to prepare – please see the recipe card at the bottom for full detailed instructions.
- Melt butter in a 6 quart Dutch oven or large soup pot over medium high heat. Add shrimp and scallops and cook until all the shrimp pieces have just turned pink. Remove with a slotted spoon and transfer to a bowl.
- Add additional butter to the pot and melt, then add celery and cook until tender. Add garlic and cook until fragrant.
- Slowly add flour while whisking to combine. Pour in half-and-half and seafood stock, while continuing to whisk.
- Bring to a simmer and simmer for 10 minutes, or until thickened (stirring frequently). Reduce heat as necessary to maintain a simmer.
- Return shrimp and scallops to the pot. Add wine, Old Bay Seasoning, nutmeg, sugar, salt and pepper. Simmer for an additional 5 minutes.
I sprinkle a little additional Old Bay Seasoning and chopped fresh parsley on the bisque when serving – this is totally optional.
Enjoy!
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Seafood Bisque
This seafood bisque is rich, creamy, deliciously seasoned and loaded with shrimp and scallops. A restaurant-quality bisque made right at home!
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Servings: 11 cups
Ingredients
- 6 tablespoons unsalted butter divided
- 1 pound medium shrimp peeled, deveined and cut into about ½ inch pieces
- 1 pound bay scallops cut any larger scallops into about ½ inch pieces
- 1 ½ cups finely chopped celery about 3 large stalks
- 1 tablespoon minced fresh garlic
- ¾ cup all-purpose flour
- 3 cups half-and-half
- 1 (32 ounce) container seafood stock 4 cups
- ¼ cup dry white wine such as pinot grigio or sauvignon blanc
- 2 teaspoons Old Bay seasoning
- ½ teaspoon ground nutmeg
- 2 teaspoons granulated sugar
- ½ teaspoon salt more or less, to taste
- ½ teaspoon black pepper more or less, to taste
- 2 tablespoons chopped fresh parsley optional garnish
Instructions
- Melt 3 tablespoons of the butter in a 6 quart Dutch oven or large soup pot over medium high heat. Add shrimp and scallops and cook until all the shrimp pieces have just turned pink and are opaque, stirring frequently (about 4 minutes).
- Remove shrimp and scallops with a slotted spoon and place in a large bowl, leaving juices in pot.
- Add the remaining 3 tablespoons of butter to the pot with the juices and melt. Add celery and cook for 4 to 5 minutes, or until tender (stirring frequently). Add garlic and cook until fragrant, about 30 seconds, while continuing to stir.
- Slowly add flour while whisking to combine. Pour in half-and-half and seafood stock, while continuing to whisk.
- Bring to a simmer, stirring frequently. Simmer for 10 minutes, or until thickened, stirring frequently. Reduce heat as necessary to maintain a simmer (medium to medium-low).
- Return shrimp and scallops to pot. Add wine, Old Bay Seasoning, nutmeg, sugar, salt and pepper. Stir well to combine.
- Simmer for an additional 5 minutes, stirring occasionally.
- Sprinkle with chopped fresh parsley when serving, if desired.
Notes
- This recipe yields approximately 11 cups.
- White wine can be substituted with additional seafood stock or chicken broth.
- Allow any leftover bisque to cool and store in an airtight container in the fridge for up to 3 days.
Nutrition
Serving: 1cup | Calories: 255kcal | Carbohydrates: 13g | Protein: 15g | Fat: 15g | Saturated Fat: 9g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 1g | Monounsaturated Fat: 4g | Trans Fat: 1g | Cholesterol: 103mg | Sodium: 803mg | Potassium: 349mg | Fiber: 1g | Sugar: 1g | Vitamin A: 637IU | Vitamin C: 2mg | Calcium: 134mg | Iron: 1mg
If provided, nutritional info is a courtesy, is not guaranteed and should only be considered as a guideline.
Tried this recipe?Mention @TheBlondCook or tag #theblondcook!
Originally published February 2018. Updated with new text, new photos and republished July 2021.
This was my first time making a seafood bisque.
It was very easy and made a good amount.
Family loved it and I will be making it again.
This recipe is absolutely delicious.
I admit to some minor tweaking:
I don’t care for nutmeg, so I left that out. I didn’t have half/half in the house, so I substituted 35% whipping cream. And sugar didn’t seem like the right choice, so I left that out completely, but I did use a slightly sweeter white wine, so perhaps it evened out? I used pre-cooked frozen shrimp cut in half, frozen uncooked bay scallops cut in half and I added a can of crab meat. I was concerned that 2 teaspoons of Old Bay would be too much, so I added one and taste tested; decided to go with the full two and have no regrets.
I like my bisque smooth, so I used a blender between Step 5 and Step 6 (after simmering the stock/cream base).
Step 4 (adding the flour) resulted in a clumpy mess, but, after adding the seafood stock and the cream, it all mixed in fine and thickened nicely.
Fussy daughter had seconds and raved about it. Salt sensitive better half thought this was too salty, so I may reduce the salt next time, but personally, I thought the salt content was fine as per the recipe.
Thank you for sharing this recipe! I’ve been looking for a great bisque recipe for a while and this is by far is the best I’ve ever managed to make at home. Takes some prep work, but it’s so worth it!
Hi Argo, thank you for sharing – your version sounds delicious. I’m so glad you and your daughter enjoyed it!
Wow! I don’t often leave reviews but this one is an exception. This seafood bisque is truly restaurant quality. I made it exactly as recipe stated and it’s perfect!
Hi Peg, thank you so much – I’m so glad you enjoyed the bisque!
Delicious, I used 1 pound can of crab meat instead of shrimp and used heavy cream instead of half and half
Thank you, Pottzie (and thanks for the 5 star review!). So glad you enjoyed it!