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Sea Scallops with Browned Butter, Capers and Lemon
In this recipe, sea scallops get the piccata treatment. Their sweet, briny flavor is perfectly matched by nutty browned butter, salty capers and puckery lemon. When shopping, look for U15 dry sea scallops—the sizing indicates there are fewer than 15 scallops per pound. “Dry” indicates that the shellfish has not been treated with sodium tripolyphosphate (STPP), a preservative that forces water retention and that has a bleaching effect. In fact, bright white color is a tell-tale sign of the presence of STPP, as untreated scallops have a pale coral or ivory hue. And at the seafood counter, dry scallops should not be sitting in a pool of milky liquid. Serve with crusty bread and a leafy salad dressed with a bright vinaigrette.
4
Servings
Tip
Don’t attempt to move the scallops immediately after placing them in the skillet. They may stick at first but will release after they’ve formed a nicely browned bottom crust.
25 minutes
Ingredients
-
1 - 1¼
pounds dry sea scallops (see headnote), side tendons removed and discarded, patted dry
-
Kosher salt and ground black pepper
Directions
-
01Place the scallops on a paper towel–lined plate. Season lightly on all sides with salt; set aside. In a 12-inch nonstick skillet over medium-high, heat the oil until barely smoking. Quickly pat the scallops dry once again and place in the pan, a flat side down, spacing them evenly apart. Cook without disturbing until golden brown on the bottoms and they release easily from the pan, 2 to 4 minutes. Flip each scallop, then add the butter, capers and scallion whites, swirling the pan to incorporate.
Reviews
June 5, 2026
Excellent presentation
So simple and DELICIOUS!!!!!
March 14, 2026
Perfect Sea Scallops
Simply delicious, sweet tender scallops paired with Angel hair pasta & asparagus spears. Plated in 15 minutes, devoured in 5.
March 10, 2026
Extremely tasty and easy
I’ve made this several times, a little loose on the exact butter and caper measurements. I serve it with orzo and there is no need to do anything more to the orzo than spoon the butter/caper/scallions over top. Delicious!
January 22, 2026
Fantastic taste and easy
I had never made scallops before and used the frozen ones from Costco. It was super easy, fast, and delicious. It will be a repeat emergency dinner since all the ingredients are usually on hand.
April 25, 2023
Best scallops
I don’t cook that much inside, mostly on the grill. This is so easy and extremely tasty. The sauce at the end does it! Made some asparagus and tagliatelle pasta.
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Loved this one. Not sure who came up with “let’s do chicken piccata with scallops” but they are right, and really know how to mix it up. It’s such a weird dish because of the scallions and subtle Asian influences, but it’s piccata, so do I serve it with rice? Bread? Pasta? They suggest bread, and I get it, but I needed a starch that would do the piccata justice, so I went orzo, the twilight zone between rice and pasta, Asia and Europe. Rod Serling would be proud. I thought it was extremely easy to make, and delicious based on the straightforward oil/butter/lemon/salt sauce with capers. One tip from me, I always cut sea scallops in half horizontally, and I followed the same cooking times here, and it worked well. So easy, and if you are the kind of person who likes both scallops and capers, you have no excuses not to try it.