Creamy Garlic Scallops are just as good as restaurant scallops with minimal ingredients and maximum flavour!
A silky, creamy garlic sauce with a hint of lemon coats crispy, buttery scallops! With only a handful of ingredients, you’re minutes away from having the most incredible Creamy Garlic Scallops on your dinner table! People will think there’s a hidden chef in your kitchen!
You have all been writing in to tell us how much you have been loving these Seared Garlic Butter Scallops that I HAD to try them in a creamy sauce! You guys are going to LOVE this low carb creamy garlic scallops recipe!
HOW TO COOK SCALLOPS
This scallop recipe is just as easy as the original, with a creamy sauce consisting of 5 ingredients. FIVE!
Butter — unsalted is the best option which allows you to better adjust your seasonings. Garlic — minced or finely diced. Use fresh if you can. White wine — completely optional! You can use broth (or stock) as a substitute or leave it out all together! Lemon juice — I only use 1 tablespoon in this recipe as I find it’s just enough in a creamy sauce like this one. Cream — use heavy cream, thickened cream or evaporated milk.
Understanding how quickly scallops cook means you’ll never be intimidated again! They only take four to five minutes to cook — that’s it! You’ll have no chance of messing them up from now on. Guaranteed.
Heat an oiled skillet or pan until it’s sizzling. Key step right here. You want them to sizzle and crisp to a golden colour on the outside.
The first scallop should sizzle as soon as it hits the oil. If it doesn’t, wait and let the pan continue heating before adding any more.
Use a large pan to avoid over crowding, or cook in batches to make sure they are at least 1-inch apart.
Sear them without moving them for about 2-3 minutes on each side. Done!
Then go straight into making your sauce. Creamy garlic scallops in minutes!
HOW DO YOU MAKE CREAMY GARLIC SCALLOPS?
Melt butter in the same pan as the scallops, scraping up any delicious browned bits. This is where the flavour is! Add garlic, minced or crushed. Pour in a good quality dry white wine, like Sauv Blanc or Pinot Grigio and let reduce to half. Add cream. Simmer. Stir in lemon juice off the heat and add the scallops back into the pan to serve.
Serve your creamy garlic scallops with as much sauce as you want! There’s an abundance here.
HOW TO PREPARE SCALLOPS
Try to find scallops without the bright orange or coral coloured crescent-shaped part still attached (or roe). The orange part can be a little bitter, however some people do like this part of the scallop. It’s personal preference.
If you can only find them with the roe attached, you can pull it off and discard it. If you have bought whole scallops, you will need to remove that and the muscle that attaches the scallop to the shell. For this reason, we buy frozen wild caught scallops without the roe.
HOW TO THAW SCALLOPS
Thaw scallops in a bowl of cold water for about 10-20 minutes until thawed completely, or overnight in the refrigerator.
Make sure to thoroughly pat them dry with paper towel to absorb all the liquid before searing.
SIDES TO GO WITH SCALLOPS
Creamy Garlic Scallops are perfect served with carb sides such as:
Creamy Garlic Scallops are just as good as restaurant scallops with minimal ingredients and maximum flavour! A silky, creamy garlic sauce with a hint of lemon, coats crispy, buttery scallops! With only a handful of ingredients, you're minutes away from having the most incredible scallops on your dinner table!
4-5clovesgarliclarge, minced, or 1 ½ tablespoons minced garlic
1pinchsaltto taste
1pinchcracked pepperto taste
¼cupdry white wineor broth – optional
1cupheavy creamlight, full fat or thickened cream. For a lower fat option, use evaporated milk
1tablespoonlemon juice
¼cupfresh parsleychopped
Instructions
If scallops are frozen, thaw in cold water. Remove the side muscle from the scallops if attached. Thoroughly pat dry with paper towels.
Heat olive oil in a large pan or skillet over medium-high heat until hot and sizzling. Add the scallops in a single layer without over crowding the pan (work in batches if needed).
Season with salt and pepper to taste and fry for 2-3 minutes on one side (until a golden crust forms underneath), then flip and fry again for 2 minutes until crisp, lightly browned and cooked through (opaque). Remove from skillet and transfer to a plate.
Melt 2 tablespoons of butter in the same pan, scraping up any browned bits left over from the scallops. Add in the garlic and cook until fragrant (1 minute).
Pour in wine (or broth) and bring to a simmer for 2 minutes or until wine reduces by about half. Add cream and allow to simmer until slightly thickened.
Remove pan (skillet) from the heat; stir in lemon juice and add the scallops back into the pan to warm through slightly and garnish with parsley.
Serve over rice, pasta, garlic bread or steamed vegetables (cauliflower, broccoli, zucchini noodles).
Notes
Tip:Â Make sure your scallops are completely dry before searing to ensure they brown nicely.Â
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Comments
Garrett Vannisays
Truly wonderful recipe! The taste is immaculate. Although, I must say, mine turned out very very different than the picture depicted. But to be quite frank, if the way I did it wasn’t entirely right, I don’t want to find out what entirely right would be! hahaha! thank you so much for giving this to us all.
I made this last night. Very simple. I used a very good Sauvignon Blanc for the wine. I served this over angel hair pasta and with an Italian salad that included some Kalamata olives. I included Reggiano and a planner at the table so we could add fresh Parmesan to their meal. It was delicious, quick and easy to make. I just discovered this site and I am hooked. Since my wife and I work and it is just the two of us we use Home Chef during the week, but now we are thinking of doing a combination of Home Chef and Cafe Delites recipes. The way the recipes are presented here with pictures, videos and details it is easy to shop for everything (we use a grocery delivery service) and we have our own herb and vegetable garden and a large freezer which we stock with meat
Holy flavor! Just made this for Father’s Day dinner. It was a hit! The flavors went so well together. I added shrimp and asparagus as well. I’ve gotten requests for making it again. Thank you!
I made this for my boyfriend and he loved it…I cook for him all the time and he said this is the best thing I’ve cooked! The only thing I changed was I added shrimp, asparagus, and sun-dried tomatoes.
Garrett Vanni says
Truly wonderful recipe! The taste is immaculate. Although, I must say, mine turned out very very different than the picture depicted. But to be quite frank, if the way I did it wasn’t entirely right, I don’t want to find out what entirely right would be! hahaha! thank you so much for giving this to us all.
Katie Morgan Rupp says
This sauce is amazing!! Feel like I could make it just to drink it haha!
jay says
I made this last night. Very simple. I used a very good Sauvignon Blanc for the wine. I served this over angel hair pasta and with an Italian salad that included some Kalamata olives. I included Reggiano and a planner at the table so we could add fresh Parmesan to their meal. It was delicious, quick and easy to make. I just discovered this site and I am hooked. Since my wife and I work and it is just the two of us we use Home Chef during the week, but now we are thinking of doing a combination of Home Chef and Cafe Delites recipes. The way the recipes are presented here with pictures, videos and details it is easy to shop for everything (we use a grocery delivery service) and we have our own herb and vegetable garden and a large freezer which we stock with meat
Christina monette says
Omg amazing!!!!!
Diane says
We loved this simple to follow recipe and excellent tips. I make scallops often and had already adopted most of you tips but I’ll keep a record of this as it’s very well presented. I used rose wine (as that was what was open ). We also eat the coral (Scottish) and I added that half way through cooking the second side of the scallop. I served with salad and yesterday’s jersey potatoes sliced and sautéed plus salad. Your recipe was just delicious.
Sara says
I just made this for dinner tonight. I used creme fraiche because that’s what I had on hand. Served over linguine. It was delicious!
Amber P. says
Holy flavor! Just made this for Father’s Day dinner. It was a hit! The flavors went so well together. I added shrimp and asparagus as well. I’ve gotten requests for making it again. Thank you!
Kimberly Campbell says
Delicious, have made this a couple times. I make extra sauce and serve it over rice , it’s one of my favorites.
Maria D says
Just made this tonight. I used Bartenura white wine and also added grated lemon peel. Delicious. I serviced it over basmati rice with a side of corn.
Betty says
What kind of skillet is best to use? A regular or cast iron? Can’t wait to try!
Kim says
In Cast iron,everything taste better in cast iron
Star says
I made this for my boyfriend and he loved it…I cook for him all the time and he said this is the best thing I’ve cooked! The only thing I changed was I added shrimp, asparagus, and sun-dried tomatoes.