Lemon Butter Seared Scallops

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This Lemon Butter Seared Scallops recipe is a restaurant quality meal that can be on the table in as little as fifteen minutes. Perfectly golden pan seared sea scallops in a lemon butter sauce turns an ordinary meal to dining in elegance.

Pan seared scallops in a cast iron skillet with a lemon butter sauce.

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What are scallops
Why you'll love this recipe
Recipe Ingredients
Variations and adaptations
Cooking Prep Tips
How to Make Lemon Butter Seared Scallops
Serving Suggestions
Expert Tips
Recipe FAQs
More Delicious Dinners
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What are scallops

Sea scallops are a bivalve mollusk meaning they have two shells like clams, oysters, and muscles. They're considered shellfish. They part we eat is the adductor muscle that opens and closes the shell. It looks like a giant fluffy marshmallow but should smell like the ocean, a bit briny.

They get the name of scallops for their shell appearance, have scalloped ridges. For a visual, it's the shell that Venus is standing in, in Botticelli's The Birth of Venus.

Why you'll love this recipe

Simple: just a few ingredients that you probably have on-hand.
Quick: in about 5 minutes, they're ready to be served.
Nutritious: considered a superfood for being high in omega-3's and loaded vitamins and minerals. Also naturally low in fat (on their own, not including the butter or oil used to cook them.)

Recipe Ingredients

Ingredients for the recipe: pepper, parsley, butter, garlic, lemon, red pepper flakes, salt, and sea scallops.

Scallops — You'll want a least a pound of fresh scallops, frozen scallops, or wild caught. Whatever your preference is.
Butter — we used salted, however to better control the salt content, you can use unsalted.
Lemon — freshly squeezed lemon is best for this recipe instead of the bottled lemon juice.
Seasoning — roughly minced fresh garlic, fresh parsley, salt, pepper, and red pepper flakes.

See the recipe card below for exact ingredient amounts, nutritional information, and detailed instructions.

Variations and adaptations

Add different fresh herbs like thyme, dill, tarragon, or basil.
Swap the fresh lemon juice for a crisp white wine.
Seasoning blends like cajun or creole, herbs de Provence, or Montreal blend.
Add some freshly chopped, chives, shallots, green onions, or even leeks to the sauce.
Swap some of the butter for bacon renderings. Olive oil and avocado oil can also be used.
Let our Chili Lime Shrimp tacos inspire a scallops version.

Cooking Prep Tips

Some scallops come with part of the muscle or 'foot' still attached. Remove the muscle, rinse thoroughly, and pat dry with paper towels.
If using frozen scallops allow to completely thaw in the refrigerator. This could take between 8-10 hours. Once thawed dry scallops with paper towels.
Let scallops rest on the counter for 5-10 minutes to come to room temperature before searing. Getting the chill off will result in a better sear. Rest them on paper towels to absorb any additional released moisture.

How to Make Lemon Butter Seared Scallops

Step 1 — Heat a cast iron skillet on medium high heat. Once hot add two tablespoons of butter.

Sea scallops thawed and seasoned with salt and pepper for cooking.

Step 2 — While the skillet heats and butter melts, pat dry the scallops and season with salt and pepper on both sides.

Scallops searing in butter in the skillet.

Step 3 — Sear the scallops, about 2 minutes per side. Cook scallops in batches, transferring scallops to a plate.

Lemon butter sauce being made in the skillet.

Step 4 — Once all the scallops have been seared and removed from the skillet, in the same pan add the remaining butter, garlic, parsley, red pepper flakes, and lemon juice. Bring it to a quick simmer then remove from heat.

Scallops resting the hot lemon butter sauce.

Step 5 — Return the scallops to the skillet, into the sauce. Spoon the sauce over the top to coat them. Serve immediately.

Serving Suggestions

As pictured, we served these lemon butter seared scallops over a bed of rice pilaf with roasted asparagus. Toss angle hair pasta in the lemon butter sauce and plate with the scallops atop. For a surf and turf vibe, our cast iron steak and baked potatoes would be perfect.

Garlic lemon butter sauce being poured over scallops.

Expert Tips

Scallops can take 8-10 hours to thaw in the fridge. If you need to thaw quicker, you can thaw them in a bowl of cold water in their packaging. During the thawing process, make sure they are in a container of some kind as they release a lot of liquid during this time.
To get a perfectly golden brown sear, scallops must be completely dry. Do not salt the scallops until right before you put them on to cook; salt will cause additional moisture to be released if on too soon affecting the sear.
Not crowding the pan is another essential step to getting that golden brown crust. There needs to be space to allow the butter to bubble around them.
Scallops cook incredibly quick. You don’t want to over cook them as they will become chewy and tough. They will turn opaque and firm when done.

Recipe FAQs

Are bay scallops the same as sea scallops?

No, while they are both salt water shell fish, they are different. Bay scallops are small, about the size of a dime. They are found along the cold, shallow Atlantic bay waters. Sea scallops are found in deeper waters.

What are diver scallops?

Diver scallops are also called wild caught. As the name implies, they are harvested by divers living wild or naturally in the ocean vs being trawled or farmed.

What are dry and wet scallops?

Wet and dry refers to the the method of packing the scallops once harvested. Wet packed means they have packed in water with preservatives to extend their shelf life. Dry packed have no artificial preservatives.