Spicy Scallop Scampi

5 from 43 votes

Spicy Scallop Scampi is an impressive dish that comes together in under 20 minutes. Seared scallops topped in a savory garlic, lemon, white wine, and butter sauce!

Prep Time10

Cook Time7

Total Time17

Servings:

Calories: 379kcal

Author: Chef Molly Pisula

Ingredients

1 pound large sea scallops, tough muscles removed (450g)
1 tablespoon olive oil
5 tablespoons salted butter divided
½ cup white wine
1 tablespoon minced garlic
1 tablespoon lemon juice
½ teaspoon lemon zest
¼ teaspoon crushed red pepper
¼ teaspoon kosher salt
1 tablespoon chopped chives to garnish

Instructions

Rinse scallops, and pat off as much moisture as possible with paper towels. This will help ensure you get a great sear on your scallops.
Heat a skillet over medium high-high heat.
Add 1 tablespoon olive oil and 1 tablespoon butter, then when the butter melts, add your scallops.
Cook for about 2 minutes on the first side, until you can see the brown crust forming on the bottom. If you are using something like a cast-iron skillet, you should be able to get a great sear on your scallop—you can tell they are ready to flip when they release easily from the pan. (With a nonstick skillet, you just need to use your eyes since they won’t stick to the pan at all.)
Once flipped, cook only about 1 minute on the other side until they start to brown very lightly. Remove from pan. Scallops will continue cooking after you remove them, and overcooked scallops turn rubbery easily.
Turn down the heat to medium.
Add white wine, remaining 4 tablespoons butter, minced garlic, lemon juice, lemon zest, crushed red pepper, and salt. Cook for 2 minutes, until you can smell the garlic, and sauce has reduced slightly.
Serve scallops with scampi sauce poured over the top.
Garnish with fresh chopped chives.

Notes

Serve over rice or pasta, or with baguette to sop up the juices. If you are serving over a large amount of pasta, you may want to increase the sauce ingredients as well as adding some vegetable broth and cooking liquid from your pasta. Then toss pasta in the sauce and add scallops on top.

To double the recipe, you’ll need to cook your scallops in two batches. Crowd the pan and you’ll get steamed instead of seared scallops, which aren’t nearly as delicious.

Buying Scallops: Scallops are usually classified by the number of scallops in a pound. U/10 scallops contain under 10 scallops in a pound while U/30 scallops contain under 30 scallops in a pound. For this recipe, I’d aim for large scallops, somewhere around U/15.

Nutrition