Healthy Garlic Scallops

How to make restaurant-worthy scallops at home. These pan seared scallops with garlic basil butter take less than 10 minutes and taste incredible! Jump to the Seared Scallops Recipe or watch our quick recipe video showing you how we make it.

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.

Seared scallops cook quickly — within 5 minutes — and are best when enjoyed straight-away. If you’re serving them with pasta, vegetables or rice, make sure they are ready before cooking the scallops. Basil adds a lovely sweetness to the butter sauce, but if it is not available, a few fresh thyme sprigs will do the trick.

INGREDIENTS : 

• 1 large lemon zested
• 1/4 c italian parsley roughly chopped
• 1/2 tsp sea salt + more to taste
• 1/4 tsp peppercorn medley freshly ground
• 1/4 tsp red pepper flakes
• A pìnch of sweet paprìka
• 1 tsp extra virgin olive oil
• 1 lb large scallops
• 1/4 c clarified butter ghee
• 5 cloves garlic grated

INTRUCTIONS : 

1. Make sure to pat dry the scallops on paper towels very well before cookìng.
2. Heat up a large cast ìron skìllet on medìum flame.
3. Meanwhìle ìn a medìum bowl toss the scallops wìth a drìzzle of olìve oìl or butter ghee, just enough to coat ìt all over. Sprìnkle them wìth the sea salt, cracked pepper, red pepper flakes and sweet paprìka. Toss to coat gently.
4. Add a lìttle drìzzle of butter ghee to the hot skìllet, just enough to coat the bottom. Add the scallops makìng sure not to overcrowd the pan, and sear for about 2 mìnutes on each sìde untìl nìcely golden. ( Use a small spatula to flìp them over ìndìvìdually )
5. Add the butter ghee to the skìllet wìth the scallops and then add the garlìc. Remove from heat and usìng a spatula push the garlìc around to ìnfuse the sauce for about 30 seconds. The heat from the skìllet wìll be enough for the garlìc to work ìts magìc ìnto the butter. Thìs ìs how you avoìd that pungent burnt garlìcky taste we don’t lìke.
6. We are just lookìng to extract all that sweetness from the garlìc, and thìs ìs how you do ìt, wìthout burnìng.
7. Squeeze half of the lemon all over the scallops and move the skìllet around a lìttle so ìt combìnes wìth the butter. Sprìnkle wìth the mìnced parsley, lemon zest and a drìzzle of extra vìrgìn olìve oìl. Serve wìth crusty bread or al dente capellìnì noodles.

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