Total Time
15 minutes
Seven ingredients and one skillet lead the way to home cooking that's as good as anything you'll eat in restaurants.
Read More: How to Cook Scallops for a Restaurant-Worthy Dinner at Home
Ingredients
Serves 4
Preparation
Step 1
Cut 2 tablespoons of the butter into pea-sized pieces, put it on a small plate, and stick it in the freezer. Heat a large skillet over medium-heat high for 3 or 4 minutes. Add the remaining 1 tablespoon butter and the olive oil and wait for the butter to melt.
Step 2
Pat the scallops dry with paper towels, add them to the pan and sprinkle with salt and pepper; work in batches if necessary to avoid crowding the skillet. Cook, turning once, until they are well browned on both sides but not quite cooked through, 2 minutes per side (less if the scallops are under 1 inch across; more if they’re over). Transfer the scallops to a plate.
Step 3
Stir in the garlic, lemon juice, and wine and scrape all the brown bits off the bottom of the skillet with a spatula. Lower the heat to medium and cook until the liquid in the skillet thickens, a minute or two, then whisk in the butter you chilled in the freezer, one bit at a time, to make a creamy sauce, adding another tablespoon or two of liquid if necessary.
Step 4
Return the scallops to the skillet and add the chives. Adjust the heat so the sauce bubbles gently and toss to coat the scallops with the sauce. To serve, transfer the scallops to a platter and spoon the sauce over all.
Variation:
Step 5
Seared Scallops With Cherry Tomatoes and Basil: Skip the lemon juice. Cut 1 pint cherry tomatoes in half. Add the tomatoes with the garlic and wine and cook until they wrinkle a bit and release their juice, 2 or 3 minutes. Use chopped fresh basil leaves instead of chives.
Cooks' Notes
Step 6
Releasing From The Pan: The scallops will offer no resistance when they’re ready to turn. Press down gently while the scallops cook to encourage full contact with the pan, then listen for a hiss: That’s moisture heating and evaporating.
Step 7
Getting A Good Sear: The idea is to brown the scallops well on both sides without overcooking them, so keep the heat as high as you can without creating too much smoke.
Step 8
Building Sauce With Butter: After you add the liquid and deglaze the pan, the addition of butter develops fantastic creaminess and richness.
Step 9
Finishing The Dish: As soon as the scallops are cooked through completely and coated with the sauce, remove the pan from the heat; they will continue to cook. Nick-and-peek into one if you need to check for doneness.
Make sure you pat the scallops dry with a paper towel. Only a dry scallop will sear properly.
A perfectly seared scallop should be nicely browned on the outside and buttery in the middle. A paring knife should slide in and out with almost no resistance, but as always, the best way to check it is to make a small slice into one and look (or taste). The inside should remain translucent. High-quality scallops are delicious raw and tend to dry out quickly: It’s better to undercook than overcook.
Leave a Review
Reviews (16)
Back to TopDelicious!
Anonymous
1/24/2024
We love'd this perfect simple recipe. I will make it again!
Teresa
7/29/2023
I agree with another reviewer that said "Maybe my lemon had too much juice. Otherwise simple and tasty." I wish the author had provided a more specific measurement of the juice. But I will definitely make this recipe again, but with less lemon juice. I served it over angel hair pasta and used some of the pasta water in the sauce. My husband loved it. It made a nice Valentine's Day dinner <3.
j9hannum
NY
2/15/2021
Maybe my lemon had too much juice. Otherwise simple and tasty.
pjperrera4542
Tucson
12/10/2020
Simple and delicate. This recipe takes very little time and is truly easy to follow. Getting the sear just right takes a little training, but having to make this repeatedly to perfect one's skill is more of a bonus than a punishment ;-)
julias_child2
Ontario
3/15/2020
This recipe was simply and super easy! The biggest plus was that it tasted GREAT!! My family fought over who would have the last of them at New Year's Eve dinner! Thanks for the great recipe. Happy New Year!
LiaCater
New York, NY
1/1/2020
This is a quick, easy and delicious recipe. I've been looking for a good scallop recipe for my husband to cook up as he is a newbie in the kitchen. We are hooked!
Boston, MA
7/29/2019
We love this recipe. Quick, easy and delicious. When our daughter was in the middle of finals this Spring, and needed something to feel happy about, she called to request this for dinner her first night home. It's a winner!
whalebones
Three Lakes, Wisconsin
5/22/2019
A classic. Especially when it comes to "mount" the sauce with butter, as they say in French. Flavors are well balanced. Thank you, Mr. Bittman!
Anonymous
Montreal, Qc, Canada
2/3/2019
I usually find Mark Bittman’s recipes hit or miss, but this one is a real winner. I did use white wine and doubled the amount of garlic as my wife and I are both garlic lovers. Awesome.
crowell.mark1093
7/5/2018
Phenomenal!!! Hate that there’s one negative review here, such a great and simple recipe!
Jmr4715
Chicago, il
7/1/2018
Loved this recipe. The sauce even made the Brussels sprouts it touched on my plate taste wonderful
ZiaI
Florida
4/9/2018
I saw this recipe and, though it didn't get great reviews, I checked it out anyway. It a great, meal that's quick and simple to prepare. It a shame someone left a negative review based on an oversight... Garlic WAS listed as an ingredient and I think white wine is a better choice for flavor as opposed to water. I've made this several times and always gets great reviews at the dinner table. It's always nice to be able to come home from work and prepare a nice meal quickly.
luna2oons
New Hope, PA
1/1/2018
Easy, basic scallop recipe. Just the right amount of lemon to freshen the taste. I had excellent, very fresh scallops, about 1" thick - I cooked them for three minutes per side and then removed them from the pan, finished the sauce and then poured the sauce over the scallops. I did not put the scallops back in the pan to finish. I also doubled the amount of garlic and the fresh chives.
bfreidy
San Francisco Bay Area
2/4/2017
Sloppy editing - garlic not listed as an ingredient, just mentioned in passing in the instructions. Ok, that wouldn't be a big problem but the recipe itself is totally unexceptional. I wish I had just thrown some hoisin sauce on them and called it a day.
jon_nyc
NYC
12/11/2016
See Related Recipes and Cooking Tips
29 Scallop Recipes for Restaurant-Worthy Dinners at Home
Scallops make dinnertime fancy with very little effort.Mark Bittman's 10 Favorite Recipes of All Time
Bittman knows How To Cook Everything, but these are the ten recipes he lives by.
