Pan fried scallops with white wine garlic sauce is an easy and delicious recipe, perfect for a date night in. Serve with crusty bread to mop up the sauce or over creamy lemon risotto for a showstopping dinner.

Table of Contents

1 Ingredients
2 How to pan fry scallops
3 How long to cook scallops
4 What to serve with scallops
5 Date night recipes
6 Panfried scallops with white wine garlic sauce

Ingredients

Full recipe and amounts can be found in the recipe card below.

Scallops.
Olive oil.
Salt and pepper.
Butter.
Garlic.
White wine.
Lemon juice.
Parsley.
To serve: Lemon risotto or crusty bread

How to pan fry scallops

How to cook frozen scallops: Thaw frozen scallops in the fridge overnight. Remove from packaging, drain any liquid then pat dry with paper towels. If you don’t dry the scallops they won’t sear and form that beautiful golden exterior.
Seared scallops: Drizzle the scallops with olive oil and season with salt and pepper. Heat a large, non-stick frying pan over high heat. Add the scallops, taking care not to overcrowd the pan. If you add too many scallops they will steam instead of fry. Cook the scallops for 2-3 minutes per side, depending on their size, until they are golden brown on both sides. Remove and set aside.
Make the sauce: In the same pan, melt the butter then add the garlic. Cook for 30 seconds then pour in the white wine, lemon juice and parsley. Allow to come to a simmer and reduce for 3-5 minutes until the sauce has thickened slightly. Add the scallops back in the pan to warm.
Serve with crusty bread or creamy risotto.

Panfried scallops with creamy lemon risotto.

How long to cook scallops

Scallops are a quick-cooking protein, like all shellfish. Depending on their size, they should take no more than 2-3 minutes per side. Scallops are cooked when the flesh is milky white throughout and opaque. The internal temperature will read 54ºC/130ºF on a meat thermometer.

What to serve with scallops

Date night recipes

Panfried scallops with white wine garlic sauce

Panfried scallops with white wine garlic sauce is an easy and delicious recipe, perfect for a date night in. Served with risotto, it's a showstopper.

4.53 from 42 votes

Print Pin Rate

Course: Dinner

Cuisine: American

Keyword: How to cook scallops, Panfried scallops, Scallop recipes

Prep Time: 10

Cook Time: 10

Total Time: 20

Calories: 193kcal

Author: Alida Ryder

Servings:

Ingredients

500 g (1lb) scallops Cleaned | If frozen, thawed
1 tbsp olive oil
1 tsp salt
½ tsp pepper

White wine garlic sauce

2 tbsp butter
3-4 garlic cloves minced (to taste)
½ cup white wine (I used Chardonnay)
1 tsp lemon juice
2 tbsp finely chopped parsley
salt and pepper to taste

To serve

Instructions

Heat a large, non-stick frying pan over high heat.
Pat scallops dry with paper towels. Drizzle with olive oil and season with salt and pepper.
Add the scallops to the hot pan (do this in batches to avoid overcrowding the pan) and allow to panfry for 2-3 minutes per side until they are golden brown and seared on both sides.
Remove from the pan and set aside.
Melt the butter in the pan then add the garlic. Allow to cook for 30 seconds then pour in the white wine, lemon juice and parsley.
Bring the sauce to a simmer then cook for 3-5 minutes until the sauce has reduced slightly.
Add the scallops back into the pan and allow to heat through.
Serve with sides of your choice.

Nutrition