Seared Scallop Recipe with Cream Sauce
While many people may find it intimidating to cook scallops, most absolutely love eating them! Enjoying the lightly sweet flavor and delicate texture are well worth learning to cook scallops at home. In fact, they are incredibly easy to prepare and only require a few minutes in a pan.
Although scallops cost more on average than a lot of other seafood, the cost of buying them and cooking at home is way less than at the restaurants. You will need just a few other pantry staples to turn them into a luxurious and delicious meal.
Pasta is a perfect pairing for this creamy scallops because the sauce is very close to an Alfredo sauce. It’s like a Scallops Alfredo but with a bright addition of garlic. Don’t forget to finish it with some freshly grated Parmesan cheese!
What To Look For When Buying Scallops
- If you’ve never purchased this type of seafood before, it can be overwhelming trying to figure out what to get. Not only are there different sizes to choose from, but each type may be packaged and sold differently, and some are soaked in a chemical solution.
- You can find more information in my baked scallops recipe explaining what all of this means and what to look for at the seafood counter. In short, you want to get sea scallops, they are larger, and ask if they are “dry.”
- “Dry” means that the scallops were not soaked in a chemical solution as a preservation method. Dry scallops are healthier and will sear much better without the excess liquid.
Ingredients Substitutions and Tips
- Stock – When using store-bought broths and stock, try to get “low sodium” or “no salt added” kind. Try to also get bone broth if available, it will have a richer flavor.
- Heavy whipping cream – for the best rich and creamy texture, do use heavy whipping cream. If absolutely need to substitute, use half and half but nothing less rich. Be sure to bring your dairy to room temperature first, so it doesn’t scald. Simply let it sit on the counter while you prep the other ingredients and start cooking.
- Parmesan – For the best flavor, buy a fresh block and grate it by hand! I recommend using a microplane zester because the smaller shreds will melt down smoother and easier into the sauce. If you don’t have the time to grate it yourself, some deli sections of the grocery store will have freshly grated parmesan cheese available.
How To Make This Scallops Recipe
- First, prep and measure out your ingredients. If you’ll be serving these with pasta, boil water and start to cook the noodles few minutes before cooking scallops and sauce.
- It’s also important to rinse the shellfish and pat them dry with a paper towel to ensure a gorgeous golden crust on the outside.
- Preheat the pan first! Season with salt and pepper just before cooking and then place scallops in a hot skillet. Make sure to leave space between each one. Overcrowding will cause them to steam instead of sear.
- Once they are in, do not touch them.
- Sear on both sides: Once the first side has a nice crust, flip them in the same order they were added to the skillet. This guarantees that each is cooked for the same amount of time.
- Then, remove them from the skillet before making the sauce.
- Melt butter and sauté garlic: Lower the heat and swirl butter around until melted. Add pressed garlic and let it sit for a few seconds until fragrant.
- At this point, you will want to deglaze the pan with stock. Pour it in slowly, then mix it into the other ingredients while scraping up any bits that are stuck to the bottom.
Add the cream. Next, stir in the heavy whipping cream until well combined. Let it heat through before adding cheese.
Stir in Parmesan and let it thicken. Sprinkle the cheese evenly over the liquid and mix until melted and smooth. Continue stirring while bringing the mixture to a gentle simmer until thickened.
Return scallops to the pan. This is just to warm them back up, so don’t leave them on the heat too long or they will overcook.
If you’re making this dish with pasta. Add cooked pasta to sauce and mix it until evenly coated. You can stir it in right with the scallops or take the scallops out and mix pasta with the sauce in the pan.
Frequently Asked Questions
These can be a bit finicky, especially if you haven’t made them before, so you will want to go by look and feel.
Both sides will have an even golden color, and the scallops will turn opaque all the way through. When gently pressed, they should feel firm and spongy to the touch with a little bit of give. Any firmer and they will be tough and rubbery.
You can also check the temperature for a more exact measurement. They should be 125°-130° in the center when done, so remove them from the heat at first number since they will continue to cook as they rest.
Yes, but do so carefully. Reheat them on the stove over low heat just until warmed through.
Leftovers of this scallop recipe should be good for 3 to 4 days stored in the refrigerator, in a food storage container with an air-tight lid.
As sad as it is, they are over-cooked. Scallops are very delicate and much like shrimp, turn chewy and rubbery when overcooked. When all the moisture and fat has been cooked out, there is nothing left to keep it tender.
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Scallops Recipe
Ingredients
- 1 lb sea scallops (dry)
- sea salt or kosher coarse salt
- fresh cracked black pepper
- 2 tbsp canola oil
Sauce:
- 2 tbsp unsalted butter
- 3 garlic cloves
- 3 tbsp chicken or vegetable stock
- 1 cup heavy whipping cream
- 3/4 cup fresh grated Parmesan cheese
- salt to taste
Pasta:
- 1/2 lb fettuccine * or any other favorite pasta
Instructions
- Start cooking pasta according to the package instructions, if you're serving these scallops with pasta. Cook it at the same time as scallops and sauce, strain, and set aside.
Prepare Scallops:
- Rinse off scallops with cold water and pat each one dry with a paper towel. If there are any scallops that have the side muscle attached, simply remove it. (Side muscle cooks tough and it’s unpleasant to eat.)
Searing scallops:
- Preheat a cooking pan first over medium-high heat. Add olive oil and let it heat through until you start to see a little smoke (it should take less than a minute).
- Season scallops with salt and pepper on both sides right before adding the pan.
- Place scallops into the skillet but leave some room in between each one. To ensure a nice sear, don't overcrowd them.
- Do not move or touch them until ready to flip.
- Sear scallops for about 2 minutes (a few seconds more or a few seconds less depending on the size). Flip each on in the same order as you put them in and sear another 2 minutes.
- Take scallops out of the pan and set aside while preparing the sauce.
Prepare the sauce:
- Turn the heat down to medium and melt butter in the same pan where you cooked the scallops.
- Add pressed garlic and let it sear for a couple of seconds, until fragrant.
- Pour in stock and deglaze the pan by scraping the bottom of the pan.
- Pour in heavy whipping cream and slowly stir to mix. Let it heat through for a minute or two.
- Stir in grated Parmesan cheese and taste to see if you need more salt.
- Gently and slowly stir the sauce at it heats through and comes to a simmer. Let is gently simmer for a couple of minutes to thicken. Once sauce is thickened, add scallops back just enough to heat them up and take off heat.
- If you're making this dish with pasta, you can toss pasta with sauce or pour the sauce over the pasta. (Tossing will coat pasta much more evenly though.)
Video
Notes
- Nutrition notes: nutritional facts are calculated with fettuccine but note that it would change with other pasta or side dish options.
- *Gluten Free Notes: pasta is the only ingredient in this recipe that contains gluten. So make sure to use gluten free pasta is you need to make this recipe gluten free. My personal favorite gluten free pasta is Tinkyada.
- Storing: Leftovers should be good for 3 to 4 days stored in the refrigerator, in a food storage container with an air-tight lid.
- Reheating: Reheat them on the stove over low heat just until warmed through.
Nutrition
Serving Suggestions
- I enjoy this scallop recipe with freshly cooked fettuccine so the noodles can soak up the extra sauce. Linguine or tagliatelle would make a great substitute as well.
- Starches like rice and potatoes are another popular addition to this dish, but you could easily pair it with a sautéed or some roasted vegetables for a lighter option.
- Broccoli and cauliflower are the most popular options for dishes with cream sauce because they soak up sauce so well.
More Delicious Seafood Recipes To Try
Originally published on Will Cook For Smiles in March 2021.
Categories:
30 Minute Meals, Dinner Recipes, Mother's Day Recipe Ideas, Pasta Recipes, Seafood Dinner Recipes,All images and text ©Lyubov Brooke for ©Will Cook For Smiles. Please do not use my images without prior permission. If using my posts in collections and features, please link back to this post for the recipe.
Disclaimer: Nutrition information shown is not guaranteed to be 100% accurate as most ingredients and brands have variations.
We served it over zoodles to make it a healthier dish! We had left over sauce.
Such a smart and healthy choice—zoodles are a perfect pairing! 😍
I never really knew how to make scallops with a sear, this recipe is terrific and I’m a foodie! So delicious, thank you for sharing!
I am so glad you liked the recipe, Heather!
Five stars just isn’t enough!! This is a recipe I will make often. Not only was it easy to make but the flavor was amazing! My husband and I both loved it ! I can’t wait to try more of your recipes!
Wow, thank you so much! I’m beyond thrilled that you and your husband loved the recipe! Your kind words made my day, and I’m so happy to hear it’s a new favorite for you. 😊 I can’t wait for you to try more of the recipes—hope they’re just as much of a hit!
Absolutely delicious. I like to cook but I don’t cook like this often (deglazing to make a sauce). The sauce was amazing and I can see doing the same thing with shrimp, maybe even fish
Made this wonderful recipe last nite. Absolutley delicious.
I am so glad you liked it, Evelyn!
Excellent. My son made this tonight. & Asparagus and was absolutely delicious.. He thinks he went too heavy on salt. Perhaps just his error. A real keeper.
Thank you
I recommend salting to taste as everyone has a different level of salt preference, but I am so glad you liked the recipe!
My family loved it!!😍
I am so glad to hear that!
This was so good!! I doubled the recipe and added some shrimp as we had company and I wanted to make sure that there was plenty of protein. Everyone loved it!! Thank you!
I am so glad everyone loved it! Thanks for stopping by to tell me!
Would canned coconut milk work as well, do you think, as heavy cream? For an option with less dairy?
I haven’t tried that so I can’t say for sure, they do have dairy free heavy cream now you could also try that.
I used canned coconut cream and it worked beautifully! I also suggest adding a small minced shallot when adding the garlic!
Glad you liked the recipe! Thanks for sharing your modifications—I’m sure others will love trying that out too!
Delicious, even though our cream sauce separated (maybe because we tried to use half and half instead of full cream).
Served with cauliflower instead of pasta. Was delicious 😋.
Yum! Glad you liked it! 🙂