After all those rich, complicated, and time-consuming holiday recipes, I’m always craving something light, easy, and quick. These brown butter scallops with polenta are perfect for that!
Who doesn’t love beautifully seared scallops on the bed of creamy polenta all drizzled with garlic-y brown butter? I actually think garlic + butter + scallops is basically the same thing as aromatherapy. And if you’ve never seared scallops, please rethink the direction of your life and make it happen. So simple! No, for real, stay with me here.
HOW TO MAKE PERFECTLY SEARED SCALLOPS
First, you’ll pat the scallops very dry, then you’ll throw them in a hot pan with oil. Sear them on one side for about 3 minutes, flip and sear them on another side for thirty seconds to a minute. You want a beautiful sear on one side, and almost cooked through. Not entirely though! The best scallops are the ones that are still a kiss of rare on the inside. Oh boy, I can barely even sit still just thinking about these brown butter scallops with polenta!
There are two keys to producing sufficiently seared scallops: they must be perfectly dry and your pan must be extremely hot, which means you have to use a very heavy, cast iron or stainless steel pan.
CREAMY POLENTA
Creamy polenta goes perfect with the scallops and is quite simple to make. As long as you stir it in slowly, whisking constantly to avoid lumps, and simmer it until it’s perfectly soft, you will have one of the world’s greatest comfort foods. If polenta is too thick, simply add some more water or broth to loosen it up a bit and whisk until smooth.
BROWN BUTTER
Put the smashed garlic cloves and butter in a clean skillet over medium heat and stir it while watching it closely – when the garlic starts to sizzle and the butter starts to look golden and foamy, remove from heat, discard the garlic and drizzle the butter over the scallops and polenta.
More Quick and Easy Meals:
Shrimp Cakes with Cilantro Lime Sauce
Brown Butter Scallops with Polenta
Ingredients
Polenta
- 1 cup medium grind cornmeal
- 3 tbsp butter
- 4 cups chicken broth or water
- 1 tsp kosher salt
- 1/3 cup Parmesan cheese grated
Scallops
- 1 lb jumbo scallops
- 2 tbsp oil for frying (something high heat, like canola or grape seed oil)
- salt and freshly ground pepper
Brown Butter
- 3 garlic cloves smashed
- 1/4 cup butter
Garnish: fresh lemon, fresh parsley
Instructions
Polenta
- Boil the broth or water with salt in a medium pot. Slowly add the cornmeal, whisking constantly to avoid lumps. Bring water down to low and stir with the whisk until it just starts to thicken. Put the lid on over the pot and continue cooking for 20 minutes, stirring occasionally. Turn off the heat and add Parmesan cheese and butter. Stir to combine and pour into the serving plates.
Scallops
- Heat oil in nonstick skillet. Pat scallops as dry as possible, sprinkle with salt and pepper and add to the hot pan. After 2-3 minutes, flip them over and sear for another 30 seconds to a minute. Then place straight onto the serving plates over the polenta.
Brown Butter
- Put the smashed garlic cloves and butter in a clean skillet over medium heat and stir it while watching it closely – when the garlic starts to sizzle and the butter starts to look golden and foamy, remove from heat, discard the garlic and drizzle the butter over the scallops and polenta.
These scallops look so delicious I can almost smell them. What a beautiful sear!
Thanks Nicole!
Amazing recipe again! What creative and tasty dishes you have here 🙂 The brown butter scallops are making me drool…
Thanks Angela! 🙂 Appreciate that!
I came across your recipe on Pinterest and omg I wish I discovered this recipe sooner. It tastes so good!!
aww thank you so much Chelsea! Enjoy!
Looks delicious! Not having made polenta before, assume you mean cornflour (1 cup) ? Would medium grit work?
Thanks Luey! Yes, medium grind cornmeal would be perfect!
Ohhh those scallops looked cooked perfectly. I’m drooling! And now may need to get some scallops at the store this weekend.
Wow I love that perfect sear on the scallops! This is definitely going on the menu this week!
These scallops look so perfect and so delicious! I can’t wait to try them over the creamy polenta! Exquisite!
The scallops look perfect and I love that you paired them with polenta! Looks delicious!
This looks fantastic! I can’t wait to give this recipe a try! My daughter and I are going to love this!
It was delicious I tagged a pic on Instagram will definitely make it again!
My dear sweet, Jeebus, this is amazeballs. So easy to make, and the garlic-butter put it over the top. Perfection in its simplicity. My waist like does *not* thank you for the fact that this is going in the recipe rotation (but my tastebuds are soooo grateful!)
I made this recipe last night, the only difference is I added roasted asparagus over the polenta and then the scallops and brown butter…. It was absolutely fabulous. Thank you so much for this recipe.
I made this for a dinner party and it was a hit! Paired it with some simple grilled veggies. Given the chicken stock and parm, I was more careful with my salt seasoning. My company was scraping the polenta from the pot.
I would offer a photo but we ate them too fast! Spectacular way to cook, serve, and eat scallops!
I cheated and used polenta from a tube, cooked in chicken broth until smooth, and added the parm and butter as in the recipe,
The butter/garlic was an exceptional finish to the perfectly seared scallops and on top of polenta, almost decadently delicious.
Thank you!!!!
Absolutely fantastic way to serve scallops. I cheat on the polenta and buy it in the tube, chop it up and simmer with low sodium chicken broth, before adding Parmesan and butter.
But the scallops are the star of the show, and the browned butter with a hint of garlic takes them over the top.
Such a simple way to cook scallops with results that are out of this world! Wow!
Fantastic! The polenta is perfect and so fast to make. I wanted to cut down on the fat, so I did not sauté the scallops in oil, but directly in 3 TB of unsalted butter, in a very hot cast iron pan, 2 min. one side, 1.5 min the other, and added crushed garlic to the pan at the very end. Did not make the extra brown butter, but the scallops were very brown, with the pan butter and garlic on top, and all was delicious, incredible.