Crispy Oven-Fried Scallops
Coated in a crunchy bread crumb topping and then baked, these delicious and crispy oven-fried scallops are a lighter and healthier take on classic fried scallops.
By Yankee Magazine|Oct 04 2022|
Coffee By Design | Portland, Maine
Photo Credit : Katherine KeenanThese crispy oven-fried scallops are a lighter take on classic fried scallops, which involves baking them in a panko bread crumb topping. Don’t be alarmed by the full stick of butter in the ingredients list—you won’t use the entire thing.
Yield:
6, as an appetizerIngredients
2 large eggs
1 teaspoon fresh lemon juice
20 medium sea scallops (20–30 per pound)
1 cup all-purpose flour
1 ¼ teaspoons paprika
1 teaspoon kosher salt
½ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
½ cup (1 stick) salted butter, melted
1 ½ cups panko bread crumbs
Tartar sauce and lemon slices, for serving
Instructions
Preheat oven to 475° and set a rack to the middle position. Take two rimmed baking sheets and set a wire rack in each. Set aside.
Whisk eggs and lemon juice until thoroughly combined. Pat scallops dry. In a shallow bowl, whisk together flour, paprika, salt, and pepper. Pour melted butter and bread crumbs into additional (separate) shallow bowls.
Dip a scallop in the egg mixture, then dredge in the seasoned flour. Now dip it in the melted butter and gently roll in panko bread crumbs. Place on a wire rack. Repeat with remaining scallops. When all scallops are breaded, drizzle with some of the remaining butter and transfer to the oven. Bake until scallops are golden brown and cooked through (cut to check), 10 to 13 minutes. Serve with tartar sauce and lemon slices.
How can I get the recipe to print?
Hi there. If you click the green square with the printer logo on it (you’ll find it in the row of colored squares under the recipe title), it will take you to the printer-friendly version of the recipe. Thanks!
Do you bake these on the wire rack?
No, you bake on the cookie sheets. The wire rack is the rack inside your oven. The instructions ate to move one to the middle position in the oven.
Your instructions are correct, then it goes on to say to set a wire rack in each pan.
Read the directions again.
Yum
Thanks for the Scallops recipes. I’m from Cape Cod but have lived in Maryland for a long time. Yes , I still go home to CC every now and then and when I do I can’t eat enough seafood–know one does it better!!!! Love Scallops. Thanks again for ALL of the seafood recipes. p.a. youngling
I enjoy reading all the seafood recipes and would love to try them, but I live in the upper Midwest and my seafood comes frozen. When I thaw scallops or cod loins they shrink to almost nothing. I have tried thawing them in water or just on a plate. Any suggestions? I am heading to the coast soon and plan on having seafood for all three meals a day while I am there!
do you thaw them in the refrigerator or on a counter ? I live in Maine and purchase them fresh but possibly a slow thaw will help you, also could be the result of the freezing process.
From Boston but now live in VA. I use frozen scallops & quick thaw the by placing the bag in a bowl of cold water. I begin preparing them when they are nearly thawed & never had any shrinkage.
Anyone have experience with this recipe using a hot air fryer?
Sounds like you are purchasing water-added/soaked scallops and the water is just draining out when thawed. Try going to a good seafood shop and buy ‘dry’ scallops. There is a world of difference.
And to a previous commenter, while I am not a native Cape Codder I do live out here now on the elbow. I am what they call a ‘Wash-a-shore’. Please, folks, the correct pronunciation is ‘s-call-ops’, not s-cal-ops’!
In RI the pronunciation is S-kal-ups. It really all depends on where you come from.
How about a good recipe for tartar sauce. These sound really yummy but not low calorie with a quarter pound of butter.
I have made this recipe several times and the scallops are wonderful. I lived in Ma. for several years and these are as good as any I have ever had.
It says the butter is not used. Can anyone give an approximation so nutritional information can be calculated, or is it a case of “if you have to ask, you can’t “afford” them (nutritionally speaking?
These are delicious! My husband Rick, loved them and this recipe will be made often! Thanks for sharing it!
This recipe sounds fantastic. I live in Maine and love fresh sea scallops, cook them all the time but now am cooking with a newly acquired air fryer. Will absolutely try this in my air fryer @ 400F for maybe 15 minutes checking frequently…don’t want to overcook those beauties. Thanks for the recipe!
When this was first posted the recipe for the tartar sauce was included. We loved the scallops and tartar sauce. Where is the sauce recipe????
Hi Mary. This recipe was first published in the Jan/Feb 2017 issue but did not include an accompanying recipe for tartar sauce. Perhaps you are thinking of the recipe for homemade fish cakes with tartar sauce from 2015? You may also enjoy this tartar sauce recipe from the current May/Jun 2019 issue — it would be delicious served with these oven-fried scallops! Find it here: https://newengland.com/today/today/dune-brothers-homemade-tartar-sauce/
As a child, I lived at Pleasure Beach, down the road apiece from the best scallops in the world that we could rake from Niantic bay in Connecticut. My Uncle Eric made his living as a fisherman and commercial artist. That was a wonderful advantage that I took for granted. We’re talking 1940’s, 50’s 60’s and 70’s. As I remember, I don’t think my mom did anything special to the scallops before she put them in a deep fryer. There would be load after load, out of the fryer and into a salted paper bag that we shook. Same treatment with Fr. fries which we cut ourselves. Most delicious with tarter sauce. I should check my memory with my sister who still lives down there. But in my many years, I have never had anything to compare with the sweet Niantic Bay scallops.
I miss new england, and the best seafood every
I’d love to have a good tartar sauce recipe. The one in the picture looks great. I remember going to Claire’s roadside clam shack in NH and they had the best tartar sauce! Claire’s no longer exists.
I just posted, but here you go: mayo (main base), dab mustard-not much, minced onion, pickle relish, few chopped capers, salt/pepper, and a dab of gsrlic powder. The key is a balance of sweet to salt so taste after mixing. Full flavor will come out in about 2 hours when covered and in fridge. No “set” amounts…just go by taste.
This is what I use to make tartar sauce. I use onion powder for just flavor and a dab of horseradish added is good, too!
Doug, how can you tell in text? 8)
Tartar sauce easy: mayo, dab mustard, minced onion, pickle relish, i also add a few chopped capers, S/P, and if adventurous a bit of garlic powder. Delish. Do this early in the day and cover/fridge for several hours to meld all flavors!
Too buttery. Takes away from the scallop. Will not make again.
Do you bake them on the wire rack?
We have made this recipe many times, excellent recipe
Saw this recipe when it was originally published in Yankee Magazine, showed it to my husband who agreed it sounded delicious…..and it is!!! Even makes the sea scallops I buy on sale here in Florida taste out of this world!! Both of us are New England natives and dearly miss the fresh cold-water seafood, but one learns to work with what’s available. Here’s a tip ~ after preparing the scallops and placing them on a wire rack set on the baking pan, I refrigerate them for about 30 minutes or so prior to cooking, resulting in better adherence of the crumb coating.
Excellent suggestion! Fellow New Englander here… thank so much for the cooking tip!
Glad to be of assistance to anyone, but especially to a fellow New Englander!!
Can you suggest an alternative coating that paleo friendly? Almond flour?
Panko has a GF version.
No green or other color squares
Excellent!
These were just fabulous ! They’re in my personal cookbook forever.
awesome!
I made this recipe tonight substituting the following ingredients: 1 cup of Cassava flour instead of all- purpose flour, 1/2 cup of avocado oil instead of butter and 1 1/2 cups of grain free sea salt cauliflower tortilla chips instead of panko bread crumbs. The recipe came out delicious! I highly recommend it!
This recipes is wonderful been using it for a few years now.I us it with haddock or cod cut into bite sized chunks