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Broiled Scallops

Cooking scallops doesn’t have to be frightening – you can easily make scallops at home with this recipe in your oven!

Broiled scallops on a white plate with asparagus
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Scallops are one of those tricky examples of seafood that most people are scared to cook at home. However, thanks to the handy broiler, it doesn’t have to be frightening – you can easily make scallops at home with this recipe!

For some more great recipes using scallops, why not try making these Bacon Wrapped Scallops? Or some Chili Coconut Scallops Campfire Dinner instead?

Broiled scallops on a white plate with asparagus

Broiled Scallops

Scallops have long been seen as a sort of mystery, tricky seafood, suitable only to be eaten at restaurants and prepared by people who know what they are doing.

However, in reality, scallops don’t require much effort at all to become delicious. The only thing you really need to be careful of is ensuring that they don’t overcook and turn rubbery.

While you can prepare scallops in a million different ways, this simple broiled scallops recipe is a great introduction to the world of scallops and makes for a delicious light lunch or seafood side dish for a fancy dinner.    

Broiled scallops ingredients

Broiled Scallops Ingredients

Make sure you look at the recipe card at the very bottom for the exact amounts so that you know exactly what to buy for this recipe.

• Scallops

• Garlic

• Butter

• Lemon juice

Broiled scallops in a collander

How To Make Broiled Scallops

• Turn your broiler on and move the oven rack to the very middle of the oven

• In a medium mixing bowl, stir the melted butter with the garlic and set aside

• Rinse the scallops and pat them dry

• Place the scallops in the bowl of butter and garlic; gently turn them to coat them properly

• Place the scallops on the non-stick baking pan and sprinkle them with the lemon juice

• Broil them for about 8 minutes, watching them carefully and turning them once they start to turn golden brown

• After 5 more minutes of cooking, remove them from the oven and serve

Broiled scallops on a white platter

Where To Actually Get Scallops For This Recipe

Due to the fact that scallops are mainly cooked and eaten at restaurants, there isn’t really much of a market for getting scallops at home.

This means that you might have a bit of difficulty in trying to source scallops for this recipe.

The best place to go to get high-quality, fresh scallops is a local fishmonger. Obviously, not every town or city actually has a single fishmonger, especially if where you live isn’t close to the coast, so in that case, try going to your local larger supermarket.

They will probably have a decent fish counter, and even if they don’t actually have any scallops, they will be glad to point you in the direction of a local place to get them.

Failing all of that, you can always try looking in the freezer section. Alongside the frozen fish and other simple and cheap seafood, there will usually be a big bag of frozen scallops that you could use for this recipe.

Broiled scallops on a white plate with asparagus

How To Know When Scallops Are Completely Cooked

If scallops have one significant drawback, it is the fact that they can turn pretty rubbery if they start to become overcooked.

Unlike other foods that simply burn when you keep them under the heat too long, scallops have a tendency to become rubbery and far too chewy if you cook them even a tad longer than you should.

The trick to making sure that you don’t wind up with gross scallops is to be watching them really, really carefully.

You want to watch for the flesh to begin changing color, even if only slightly. Once the flesh goes fully opaque, that is when you need to get the scallops out from under the broiler before it overcooks.

Thankfully though, because this recipe uses plenty of garlic butter, it is likely that the garlic butter will burn before the scallops have a chance to turn rubbery. This lets you use the butter as a good metric for knowing when the scallops are close to being done.

Plus, once the top of the scallops start to turn golden brown is when it is pretty much ready to be removed from the oven or flipped to the other side.

Looking for more delicious Seafood recipes? Try these out:

Garlic Butter Salmon

Bacon Wrapped Shrimp

The Best Beer Batter Recipe

Happy Cooking

Love,

Karlynn

Pin this recipe to your Seafood Recipes Boards and Remember to FOLLOW ME ON PINTEREST! 

Cooking scallops doesn’t have to be frightening – you can easily make scallops at home with this recipe in your oven!

Broiled Scallops

Cooking scallops doesn’t have to be frightening – you can easily make scallops at home with this recipe in your oven!
Broiled scallops on a white plate with asparagus
Prep Time
10 minutes
Cook Time
10 minutes
Course
Appetizer
Cuisine
American
Servings
4
Author
Karlynn Johnston

Ingredients
 

  • 1 ½ pounds scallops
  • 1 tablespoon garlic (Fresh minced)
  • 1/2 cup butter (melted)
  • 2 Tablespoons lemon juice

Instructions
 

  • Turn broiler on (400-500°) and move the oven rack to the middle of the oven.
  • In a medium mixing bowl stir the melted butter with the garlic. Set aside.
  • Rinse the scallops and pat dry.
  • Place the scallops in the bowl of butter and garlic and gently turn them over to coat them well.
  • Place the scallops on the non stick baking pan and sprinkle them with the lemon juice.
  • Broil them for 6-10 minutes watching them and when they start to turn golden brown remove from the oven, flip them over and broil for another 4-6 minutes until the tops are browning again. Remove from the oven and serve.

Recipe Notes

Scallops are cooked when the flesh is pearly, opaque and flakes.

All calories and info are based on a third party calculator and are only an estimate. Actual nutritional info will vary with brands used, your measuring methods, portion sizes and more.

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Karlynn Johnston

I’m a busy mom of two, wife & cookbook author who loves creating fast, fresh meals for my little family on the Canadian prairies. Karlynn Facts: I'm allergic to broccoli. I've never met a cocktail that I didn't like. I would rather burn down my house than clean it. Most of all, I love helping YOU get dinner ready because there's nothing more important than connecting with our loved ones around the dinner table!

Learn more about me

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  1. june says

    Wish you could have it that you click on the ingredients and instructions that it would pop up on another window so it can be printed from there. This way you have to print all the other garbage on the page and it prints page after page after page. MUCH wasted paper!!

    Thank You,
    June Coll

  2. Julie says

    Hello Karlynn
    All your recipes are fantastic!
    Printing the recipes is still the not right way too much-wasted paper, you have your ingredients on top & the instructions way down the page a good 4″.
    Thank you
    Julie Freed

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