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!
More Seafood Recipes You’ll Love
Seafood Bisque
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
If provided, nutritional info is a courtesy, is not guaranteed and should only be considered as a guideline.
Originally published February 2018. Updated with new text, new photos and republished July 2021.
Sandra Stewart
I’m going to try this today! Any chance you have the nutrition info?
Amy
Hi Sandra, I don’t currently have nutrition info for this recipe – in the meantime there are several online nutrition calculators you can use… just search for “nutrition calculator” and you should be able to easily enter the ingredients. Keep in mind the values can vary depending on brands of ingredients used. I hope you enjoy the bisque! 🙂
Mary B
This is by far the BEST seafood bisque I have ever had! It is off the charts! My husband & I enjoyed it so much! I made seafood stock from the shells and vegetable stock and since it’s winter, had to use frozen shrimp and can crab meat. I also added 2 lobster tails, I figured if you gonna make it go all the way! It was over the top! I can’t wait till summer to get fresh seafood because we live just a few miles inland. Thank you so much for this excellent recipe
Abe
This is a lot for one person (grin). How long does it keep? Not sure if it can be frozen, because of the half and half. Thanks!
Amy
Hi Abe! This keeps for up to 3 days in the fridge. I wouldn’t freeze it because of the half-and-half, it tends to separate and the texture is not the same when defrosted. Hope you enjoy it! 🙂
Jennifer Davis
Fantastic. I live in the middle of nowhere and can’t find seafood stock, so I simmered shrimp shells with Vegetable broth.
I’m in Maryland and we love cream of crab, this is definitely right on par with that. Added extra old bay, I’m in Maryland, it’s what we do.
This has gotten me out of my dinner rut, and I can’t wait to try more recipes of yours.
Lucy Hull
Absolutely delicious! Just made this for dinner. I added a couple small diced carrots, onion and an extra garlic clove (I’m Italian, lol) just about everything I cook gets an extra garlic clove! Also I didn’t have any white wine so I used Marsala which did great as a substitute. Once I had all the ingredients on the counter it only took 35 minutes to throw together! Thanks for sharing this great and easy and delish recipe.
Jill Zgorzelski
I made this today using homemade shellfish stock. I followed the directions carefully and couldn’t be more pleased with the results. It was seasoned perfectly and tasted better than the bisque I order at my favorite local restaurant. My husband and I had second helpings it was so perfect. My only extra addition was a shot glass of apple brandy before serving. Soooooooo good. I will only use this recipe to make bisque from now on.
Stacia Stone
Absolutely amazing! Just made it tonight, and hubby said it’s every bit as good as the seafood restaurants around here, and we are in the Seattle area, so that’s sayin’ something. Thank you for the wonderful recipe.
Amy
Thank you, Stacia – So glad to hear you and your hubby enjoyed it!
Claudia
Can this be made with almond milk by our daughter cannot have dairy?
Amy @ The Blond Cook
Hi Claudia, I don’t think almond milk will be thick enough but I can’t say with certainty because I haven’t tried it. I’ve read here that coconut cream is a good dairy-free alternative for half and half and heavy cream and this thread suggests to use a mixture of almond milk and coconut cream in a bisque. Let us know how it turns out if you try it!
Stephanie Johnston
One word..AMAZING.
Amy @ The Blond Cook
Thanks so much, Stephanie! So happy to hear you enjoyed it! 🙂
Erin
Excellent! I made this tonight and we all loved it.
Amy @ The Blond Cook
Thank you, Erin… so happy to hear everyone loved it! 🙂
Elyssa
I made this recipe last night for my fiance and I and we both LOVED it. I couldn’t find seafood stock so we instead boiled some blue crab claws in a smaller pot to make our own stock (just boiled it while I chopped all the veggies and cooked the scallops). I also added finely chopped onions and carrots along with the celery because I had them and mirepoix is just classic. Will definitely be making this again!
Amy @ The Blond Cook
Thanks so much, Elyssa – So happy you enjoyed it! 🙂
Kari Turner
My first try, and success!! I followed three recipe exactly, other than substituting seafood stock with a garden veritable stock. I’m definitely keeping this on my menu!!! Thank you!
Kari
Amy @ The Blond Cook
So happy you loved it, Kari – Thank you! 🙂
Christine
This turned out great! I added some clams and some tomato paste because we like tomato-ey seafood bisque, and it turned out great!
Amy @ The Blond Cook
Thanks so much, Christine! That sounds delicious! 🙂
Jill
I made this recipe yesterday and my family is still talking about it! I doubled the recipe because we had a larger crowd – but it goes a long way. I added fresh crab meat as well. I will admit that it look me way longer to prepare this than 10 minutes – and cook time was over an hour – almost 2. I cooked it slowly to make sure I didn’t scorch the pan and also used more flour because I like my bisque on the thick side. Open bottle of chardonnay to boot – and it will definitely be a keeper! Thank you so much!!
Amy @ The Blond Cook
Thanks, Jill! So happy to hear everyone enjoyed it! 🙂
Valerie | Valerie’s Kitchen
This looks incredible! Can’t wait to try!
Amy @ The Blond Cook
Thanks you, Valerie! 🙂