Having Pan Seared Scallops in the recipe book is like having a little black dress hanging in the closet. Quick, healthy, simple, and positively perfect for any occasion. Scallops are the ideal seafood for all sorts of meals.
Succulent and tender, they hold the flavors they’re cooked in, which allows them to be incredibly versatile depending on your taste for the meal. The meat has a nice firm bite to it but is still incredibly tender with a nice texture in the mouth. This allows for it to hold up in multiple presentations, whether it’s topping pasta, stuffed in another fish, or holding its own as the main dish on the plate.
With some simple flavoring and a quick sear in the pan, this easy recipe will dress your table up or down for any occasion you are looking to hold, making it a favorite staple for any cook.
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Ingredients for Pan Seared Scallops
For this recipe, we are looking at seared scallops in garlic sauce, topped off with a touch of Sriracha Sauce for a hint of heat.
OK, first off, shopping for your scallops. When scallops are your main dish, you’ll be looking for a larger size. Sea Scallops will be larger than Bay Scallops, so you’re looking for about 1 1/2-2 inches in diameter. When we’re looking for the main dish, we always prefer fresh to frozen. If you can only find frozen, make sure they are thoroughly thawed and at room temperature prior to searing.
The other ingredients in here are pretty simple and focused on the flavor. Butter, olive oil, chopped garlic, sea salt, pepper, cajun spice, and sriracha and parsley for your garnish.
Searing your Scallops
The process for searing scallops is pretty quick. The first thing you will need to do is make sure that the meat is thawed, patted dry and at room temperature. You don’t want to leave them out for a long period of time, but pulling them out of the refrigerator about 30 minutes to cooking should allow them to get to room temperature. Since you are searing them, this will allow the heat to move to the center of the scallop during the cooking process.
Warm your cooking skillet to medium high and add your olive oil and butter in the pan.
We use the Ninja Foodie Never Stick pan as it cooks evenly and the non-stick surface allows for a nice, clean sear. It’s also incredibly quick and easy to clean.
Once the butter is melted, place the scallops in the pan. Sprinkle with salt, pepper, and cajun spice. Sear on one side for 2-3 minutes, then turn the scallops over and flavor with your spices on the second side. The scallops will have a nice, caramel color, and be firm to the touch when seared.
Remove the scallops from the pan and put on a serving plate or dish. Add the garlic to the pan. Stir to evenly coat the garlic with butter and heat until the garlic releases its aroma, roughly one minute. This is not a long process, as you don’t want the garlic to burn. Once it is lightly brown and you have that nice, aromatic scent of garlic filling the kitchen, turn off the heat!
Spoon the garlic butter over your scallops, garnish with parsley and sriracha sauce, and you are ready to serve!
Why we Love Scallops for an MS Diet
You might not know this (or already know it,) but scallops are one of the healthier seafoods out there! We tend to love seafood as a protein for an MS diet, and we really love when it comes with an extra does of health benefits. High in Vitamin B12, scallops are a great source of antioxidants. On top of that, they are also a great source of zinc, which has benefits for memory.
Other benefits of scallops are that they are high in Omega-3 fatty acids, which is always on our favorite lists for nutritional benefits.
So what are you waiting for? This simple, delicious, healthy dish is just a few minutes away from being ready for your table!
Please visit our Resources page if you are interested in finding some of the tools and gadgets Dre uses to make cooking accessible while combatting MS.
Pan Seared Scallops
Ingredients
Instructions
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Warm the cooking skillet to medium high. Add the olive oil and melt the butter in the skillet.
The olive oil keeps the butter from burning during the searing process. The butter gives flavor to the scallops. -
Pat the scallops dry and place them in the pan. Sprinkle with salt, pepper, and cajun spice.
Scallops should be thoroughly thawed and at room temperature prior to searing. If they have been in the refrigerator pull them out for roughly 30 minutes prior to cooking to get them to room temperature. This will allow that the heat from the pan will reach the center of the scallops. -
Brown on one side for 1 1/2 to 2 minutes, flip over, flavor with the rest of the salt, pepper, and cajun spice.
Scallops will have a caramelized color on each side and be firm to the touch when finished. -
Remove scallops from pan and place on serving dish. Add garlic to butter and oil in pan. Lightly brown garlic until aromas release, roughly 1-2 minutes. Once garlic is browned and aromatic, turn off heat and spoon garlic butter over scallops.
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Plate Scallops, garnish with parsley and sriracha sauce, and serve!
