Seared Scallops with Garlic Basil Butter

How to Cook Scallops like a Pro

Scallops are one of the simplest kinds of seafood to cook. They’re just as easy as shrimp. In fact, we use the same method to prepare these garlic basil scallops as we use when making our garlic butter shrimp.

There’s no need to be intimidated. Scallops are easy to prepare, promise. With a few tricks, you’ll be cooking them like a pro in no time. Let me show you how I do it:

Cheaper than going out to a restaurant and just as good as chef made scallops! These crispy, pan seared and juicy Lemon Garlic Butter Scallops are the ultimate treat when it comes to scallop recipes! Serve as a starter or main, nothing melts in your mouth quite like tender-crisp and buttery scallops.

With so many shrimp recipes on this site, it was high time I gave the mic over to scallops. And what a recipe to kick us off! You have all been writing in telling us how much you loved this Garlic Butter Shrimp Scampi recipe and this Lemon Garlic Butter Shrimp recipe. Both are so similar to how we cook scallops, I had to share this one with you in time for Good Friday!

How To Buy Scallops
Before we can cook them, we need to buy quality scallops. If you can, buy fresh scallops. I look for larger sea scallops since they taste sweet. They are sweet and work beautifully in our scallop recipe below.

Frozen scallops work in this recipe, too. The easiest and safest way to thaw frozen scallops is to place them in the refrigerator the night before you plan to cook them. For a quicker solution, you can add the scallops to a sealed bag and put them in a large bowl under cold running water. Move the bag around the bowl every so often until the scallops have defrosted. Assume they will take half-an-hour, or so.

Ingredients

• 1 lb scallops
• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 1 tablespoon butter
• salt and pepper

Garlic Butter

• 2 tbsp butter
• 1 clove garlic (minced)

Serving

• Lemon wedges

Instructions

1. Ensure scallops are thawed and pat dry with paper towel. Season scallops with salt and pepper.
2. Heat butter and oil in a pan on high heat.
3. When butter starts to smoke place scallops in the pan and cook for 90 seconds. Flip scallops and cook for 90 seconds longer, or until brown crust forms.
4. Garlic Butter
5. While scallops cook melt butter in separate saucepan and add garlic. Cook until garlic is fragrant then turn off heat.
6. Serving
7. Brush garlic butter over scallops and squeeze juice from lemon wedge.