These pan-seared scallops are easy to make at home, with a delightfully golden crust on tasty restaurant-quality scallops. Cooking your sea scallops to perfection is much easier than you think. They are a real treat to enjoy on special occasions, date nights, or when entertaining guests.
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Instructions
Preheat your skillet, non-stick frying pan, or cast-iron skillet to medium-high heat with olive oil. Your oil should begin to shimmer and start to smoke at this heat when it is ready for the scallops.
Rinse and pat the sea scallops dry. You want them to be as dry as possible for the best sear.
Season the dry scallops with salt and pepper right before placing them into your preheated skillet. Place the scallops with the seasoned side down, leaving spacing between the scallops. Then season the upward-facing side of the scallops.
Sear the scallops for 2 minutes without moving the scallops. *This interrupts the searing.
Use tongs to flip the scallops and sear the second side for 1 minute.
Add the butter and a squeeze of lemon, then spoon the melted butter over the searing scallops in the last minute of cooking time.
Once the second side is seared, remove the scallops from the skillet and transfer them to plates to serve. Garnish with zested lemon and parsley.
Notes
There are a couple of things to note before starting, and these will help to prevent any mistakes! Firstly, you want your pan and oil to be fully heated. The oil should not only be shimmering but also on the verge of smoking. If not actually smoking a bit.
Secondly, you want to place your scallops with enough room between them so that they can cook evenly. Crowded scallops will tend to boil more than sear. We don't want this!
Once cooked, it is important to not only remove your pan from heat but also to transfer the scallops to your serving plate. *The heat from the pan will continue to cook the scallops if set aside.
And last but definitely NOT LEAST. Do not move your scallops while they are cooking. The searing process would be interrupted if you wanted to move or check your scallops during the cooking time. Plus, your seared meats will release from the cooking surface when they are done. Trust the process.