• Skip to main content
  • Skip to header right navigation
  • Skip to site footer
Umami Days

Umami Days

Meaty with a dash of veggies

  • Pick a meal
    • One Bowl Meals
    • Breakfast
    • Lunch / Dinner
      • Appetizers
      • Salads
      • Soups
      • Main Courses
      • Side Dishes
      • Sweets
    • Snacks
    • Drinks
      • Summer drinks
      • Cold weather drinks
      • Cocktail hour
  • Pick your protein
    • Chicken, duck & turkey
    • Meat
    • Seafood
    • Eggs
    • Mushrooms
    • Tofu
    • Vegetables
  • Pick your carb
    • Rice & grains
    • Noodles
    • Bread
  • Newsletter
  • Sidebar
    • Kitchen
    • Dining
    • Edible Garden
    • Food Tales
  • Newsletter sign-up!
  • Recipe index
    • By Meal
      • One Bowl Meals
      • Breakfast
      • Lunch / Dinner
        • Appetizers
        • Salads
        • Soups
        • Main Courses
        • Side Dishes
        • Sweets
      • Snacks
      • Drinks
        • Refreshing summer drinks
        • Cold weather drinks
        • Cocktail hour
    • By Main Protein
      • Chicken, duck & turkey
      • Meat
      • Seafood
      • Eggs
      • Mushrooms
      • Tofu
      • Vegetables
    • By Carb
      • Rice & grains
      • Noodles
      • Bread
  • Sidebar
    • Kitchen
    • Dining
    • Edible Garden
    • Food Tales
  • About
  • Privacy
  • Copyright
  • Contact
Seafood Appetizers

Easy pan-fried scallops with crispy bacon

Published: 06.02.2011 » Last updated: 12.29.2022

With five minutes to prep and ten minutes to cook, you can have a delicious appetizer to enjoy with your New Year's Eve drinks. Double or triple the recipe if serving to a larger crowd.

Easy pan-fried scallops with crispy bacon

My husband, Speedy, cooked this dish. Whether he found the inspiration in Nigella’s website or saw her cooking the dish on TV, I am not sure.

The original recipe, he said, had crumbled chorizo. We didn’t have chorizo so Speedy used bacon. Great choice, it turned out. The dish did not need any salt as the salt from the bacon was enough to season everything without overpowering the delicate flavor of the scallops.

But, before the recipe, let me explain a few things about scallops. Scallop is a shellfish. A bivalve mollusk, to be more precise. There are several species and they come in different sizes. We buy scallops frozen and fully cleaned. If you’re luckier and have access to fresh scallops, there are two schools of thought as to which part of the muscle is edible.

Scallops showing the white meat and coral

When you shuck a scallop, you will see two distinct types of muscle inside. There is a white muscle which is shaped like a flattened sphere. Then, there is the orange-y muscle surrounding it. The white muscle is what we get when we buy frozen scallops.

One school of thought says the orange-y muscle is also edible. Another achool of thought says only the white muscle is safe to eat. What is the orange-y muscle anyway? It’s called coral (obviously because of its color) and often erroneously referred to as roe (egg). It isn’t roe.

The coral has two parts, actually. There is the orange-y part and a gray portion (the frilly portion) that connects the coral to the white muscle and the shell. They are the female and male reproductive organs of the scallop, respectively. Scallops are permanent hermaphrodites so each animal has a male and female reproductive organ.

The coral is safe to eat. It is removed mostly to give the scallop better visual appeal. From experience though, the gray part of the coral (the male reproductive organ) is rather chewy. It is up to you which part of the scallop to serve and which to discard.

Full recipe below

Easy pan-fried scallops with crispy bacon

Connie Veneracion
Based on a recipe by Nigella Lawson, this easy-to-cook pan-fried scallops with bacon ditches Nigella’s crumbled chorizo in favor of crispy bacon.
Scallops require a short cooking time. Overcooking makes them tough and rubbery. That's why pan-frying over high heat is the ideal cooking method. Cook to sear and caramelize lightly, flip to do the same with the other side, and the scallops are done.
Easy pan-fried scallops with crispy bacon
Print
Prep Time 5 mins
Cook Time 10 mins
Total Time 15 mins
Course Appetizer, Main Course
Cuisine International
Servings 4 people

Ingredients
  

  • 12 large scallops
  • 100 grams belly bacon - unsweetened
  • juice of half a lemon
  • roughly chopped fresh parsley

Instructions
 

  • Finely slice the bacon.
  • Spread the bacon in a hot oil-free non-stick pan.
  • Cook, stirring occasionally, until fat had been rendered and the bacon’s color turns deeper (you can go on cooking until the bacon bits are crisp — totally up to you).
  • Scoop out the bacon bits. Keep the heat on.
  • To the bacon fat in the pan, add the scallops.
  • Cook to sear (high heat!), a minute or two per side, depending on their size.
  • Pour in the lemon juice, scraping to loosen whatever bits are sticking to the bottom of the pan.
  • Transfer the scallops to a plate.
  • Pour over the pan juices.
  • Add the bacon bits.
  • Sprinkle with parsley.
  • Serve hot.
Print
Keyword Bacon, Scallops

More recipes, cooking tips & food tales

Fish and chips with vinegar for dipping

Fish and chips

Mackerel poached in olive oil

Mackerel poached in olive oil

Cheesy baked salmon with crispy crumb topping

Cheesy baked salmon with crispy crumb topping

Chirashi (scattered) sushi platter

Chirashi (scattered) sushi platter

Shrimp miso soup

Shrimp miso soup

Mussels on the half shell topped with tomato sauce and cheese

Baked mussels with mozzarella and Parmesan

Sidebar

Connie Veneracion, Chiang Mai, 2020

Hi, I’m Connie!

Welcome to Umami Days, a blog that advocates innovative home cooking for pleasurable everyday dining. No trendy diets, no food fads and definitely no ludicrous recipe names like crustless quiche, noodleless pho or chocolate lasagna.

  • About
  • Recipes
  • Privacy
  • Copyright
  • Contact

Umami Days is powered by Apple, Canon, coffee & one bowl meals · Copyright © 2023 Connie Veneracion · All Rights Reserved