Let’s find out what to serve with seared scallops, bacon-wrapped scallops and pan seared scallops? We have 17 side dishes you will love!
Sweet, buttery, and full of flavor, scallops are considered a seafood delicacy and a sure hit at dinners and parties. It’s a delicacy that you can make for family meals, celebrations, or date nights.
Rich in omega 3 fatty acids and low in calories, scallops are an excellent source of protein. You can make them in many ways like a grill, bake, pan-fry, or simple sautéing. You can make stews, soups, sauces, and even risottos from them as well.
Scallops are very fulfilling and bring a seafood aroma and taste to your table. It goes well with many side dishes that you can make to complete the meal. You can make your table look more colorful and exotic by complementing scallops with other side dishes?
In this article, we will discuss how to serve scallops with different other dishes. Before we suggest some side dishes to pair with scallops, let’s see what scallops are actually and how to prepare them.
What is Scallop?
The scallop is an edible bivalve mollusk with a fan-shaped shell. Scallops are not inexpensive, so that you usually reserve them for special days or nights. They are packed with nutrition and very easy to make. It takes simply five minutes to prepare scallops, and you can pair them with lots of delicious, healthy, and colorful dishes. Their flavor is subtle. They taste salty, buttery, and nutty and have a springy texture.
For preparing the scallop, remove the side muscle and wash it properly. Pat them and season as you like them. Scallops don’t need much seasoning. Simple salt and pepper are enough, or you can use some lemon juice.
For searing, you need a pan, and a cast iron pan gives perfect results. Make it hot and add some oil. Leave enough space in between so they get even color and texture.
Scallops won’t take much to cook. Each side takes about two minutes and then flips. Two extra minutes to cook the other side, and they are ready to go to the table. Both sides should have a seared brown texture. Make sure they remain soft after cooking. They can get chewy and tough if you cook too long.
What to Serve with Seared Scallops? 4 Side dishes!
Let’s see what to serve with seared scallops.
1) Rice
The rice and scallops go very well together. Rice is fulfilling, and you can make them in too many ways to go with the scallops. You can serve them as a side dish or even make rice with scallops as well.
You can take brown rice or white, and brown rice is certainly a more healthy choice. Boil rice, and when they are cooked, add seared scallops with the oil.
Oil gets all the flavors from scallops, so mixing them in rice is like adding all those flavors and aroma. Season them mildly as you don’t want them to overpower the very subtle sea flavor of scallops.
2) Pasta
What can be better for serving with scallops than a good creamy pasta? You can make pasta your favorite way. Use pasta, macaroni, spaghetti, or bow ties as a base for serving scallops.
Boil pasta and add your favorite sauce or dressing to the pasta. Use olive oil with salt and pepper, add some herbs to enhance the flavor. Use the pasta as a bed for serving the seared scallops.
3) Spinach and Pomegranate Salad
It’s delicious, it’s colorful, and it’s very easy to make. Spinach and pomegranate salad comes with lots of nutrition that come from spinach and pomegranate.
For the salad, you can blanch the spinach leaves. You don’t want to ruin the texture or color of leaves, so it’s like only dipping the leaves in boiling water and immediately shocking them with cold water to stop the cooking process.
Place the spinach in the dish, add pomegranate, walnuts, sprouts, and feta. Make a dressing with olive oil, vinegar, salt, and pepper. Mix the dressing with the salad, and it is ready to be served. It looks very beautiful due to the combination of red and green and goes well with scallops.
4) Brussels Sprout with Creamy Lemon Sauce
It’s another healthy side dish to be served with seared scallops that is very healthy with lots of good nutrition. Brussels sprouts pack a lot of nutrition.
They are delicious and can be made in too many ways. They look good on the table and complement the nutty flavor of scallops.
To make the creamy sauce, you need to add cream, lemon, and basil. Add salt and pepper. Sear the Brussels sprouts in a skillet in a little olive oil. Add the creamy lemon sauce with the sprouts and give a good mix. You can add some almonds to add nutrition and flavor.
What to Serve with Bacon-Wrapped Scallops?
A famous way of serving scallops is to wrap them in bacon and sear from each side in a pan. The combination of some sweet and buttery scallops and salty bacon is delicious. It’s a fancy way of serving scallops—the flavors of bacon and scallops blend. Guests can’t help but have another serving.
1) Oven Roasted Asparagus
It’s an easy-to-make side dish that goes well with seafood and other meals. Roasted asparagus looks good on the table and does not need much preparation.
For roasted asparagus, you don’t need too many ingredients. Cut the hard ends from asparagus spears. Bend the spear, and the woody part is broken easily.
Toss them in olive oil, sprinkle some pepper and salt. Squeeze a lemon on spears as it goes well with the salty and tangy flavor of asparagus.
Put them in the oven, sparsely placed on a baking pan. Cook until asparagus are tender and caramelized at the same time. Asparagus spears should have a slight brownish exterior that looks even more delicious.
2) Lemon Orzo
Pasta goes well with both scallops and bacon-wrapped scallops. Lemon Orzo is another delicious idea to go with your scallops. Orzo is another shape of pasta. It looks like rice, but actually, it’s a form of pasta. It’s easy to make and looks beautiful on the table.
Orzo is boiled just like rice. Simmer it with only a few flavors. Add some broth, oregano, salt, and lemon zest. When cooked, remove from stove.
Add some butter while it is hot. Add lemon juice, mint, and black pepper. It’s delicious and very easy to make. You can make it look more colorful by adding the green onion. Sprinkle some parmesan cheese on the top, and it’s ready to go on the table.
3) Mango Avocado Salad
It can be used as a dessert, appetizer, or simply as a salad on your dinner table. The salad has a creamy and sweet taste that complements the nutty and salty flavor of scallops.
The salad has a sweet, tangy, and fresh taste, not to mention its nutritional value. Both mango and avocado are the powerhouse of energy.
Pick fresh and plump mango for the salad. Cut them in chunks. Avocado adds creaminess to the salad. Add small chunks of onion to give a salsa-like touch to your salad. Mix everything well.
Add cilantro for color and freshness. Lemon juice also goes very well with the sweet, creamy, and tangy flavor of this salad. Season it with salt and pepper. The salad looks beautiful on the table and tastes heavenly.
What to Serve with Pan Seared Scallops? 3 Delicious side dishes!
Pan-seared scallops are easy to make. Toss everything in the pan, and it gets ready in five minutes. When it comes to side dishes, you can serve them with many dishes. Here are some we have picked for you.
1) Corn and Tomato Salad
It’s colorful and delicious. The salad is easy to make and needs some basic ingredients other than corn and tomato. The fresh corn brings the sweet flavor that goes well with the seafood flavor.
Add tomato and chopped onion. Use salad dressing of your choice. My easy way of making it is to mix olive oil, lemon juice with pepper and salt.
Toss everything together and serve it fresh. You can garnish it with cilantro or mint to give some green color to the table.
2) Fettuccini Alfredo
Scallops and pasta go very well. Fettuccini Alfredo pasta looks elegant on the table, and its combination with scallops is superb. It’s an instant hit on dinners and parties.
It’s very easy to make as well. If you already have alfredo pasta in your pantry, that cuts short the preparation time. But making homemade alfredo sauce is also very easy. The ingredients include butter, flour, cream, cheese, and garlic. It’s almost like a white sauce.
Once you have the sauce ready, all it takes is to boil your favorite pasta and combine it with alfredo sauce. You can add boiled and shredded chicken as well to make it richer. Sprinkle some parsley on the top before serving, and it’s a complete meal.
The rich and cheesy flavor of pasta contrasts with the nutty and sweet flavor of scallops.
3) Shredded Thai Salad
It’s much like coleslaw but has more colorful veggies. The blend of colors looks pretty on your table, but these veggies provide the much-needed nutrition you need.
This Thai salad has cabbage and seasonal vegetables like carrots, bell pepper, scallions, peas, and avocado. Cut everything in uniform chunks and put it in a bowl.
For the salad dressing, you need to mix honey, vinegar, crushed garlic or garlic powder, a piece of ginger minced, sesame seed, and sesame oil. Make an excellent dressing for the salad.
Mix everything and serve with avocado slices on the top. It’s healthy, wholesome, and goes very well with the pan-fried scallops.
What Goes Well with Grilled Scallops?
As we have already mentioned, scallops can be made in so many ways. Grilling them is another easy option.
Sprinkle salt and pepper with olive oil and lemon on scallops and put them on a heated grill. Each side may take 2 minutes, and scallops are ready in no time. You can add them to pasta, any sauce of your choice, or any other way you like.
The size of scallops matters while grilling. You may place small scallops on a grill pan. Larger ones can be threaded into skewers to be grilled.
Here is how you can serve grilled scallops.
1) Pesto Pasta
The combination of pesto pasta and grilled scallops is delicious. Pesto pasta is easy to make. It blends with the buttery and savory flavor of scallops.
Pesto pasta is pasta made with pesto sauce. Pesto sauce is easy to make at home. This dish can be made with any type of pasta you love. Simply boil pasta to al dente and leave it on aside. Keep the pasta water to be used later.
Pesto sauce is available in the market, and you can prepare it at home. Fresh pesto sauce is way better and cost-effective as well.
Pesto sauce is made with pine nuts and basil. You can add other greens like kale, spinach, parsley, or other nuts like almond, cashew nuts in it as well.
What you need is a blend of greens and nuts. It should be smooth and creamy. If it’s too thick, you can add the pasta water reserved to help you mix the sauce in pasta. Add olive oil pasta and pesto sauce, and it is ready to be served.
You can serve grilled scallops on the top of pasta or as a separate dish as well.
2) Grilled Vegetables
When you already have a grill ready for the scallops, why not use it to grill some vegetables as well. A portion of vegetables always goes well with the scallops.
You can choose veggies of your choice. We love making it with cubes of onions, bell pepper, carrots, and mushrooms. You can add some other healthy veggies like eggplants and zucchini.
Arrange the veggies with a different color on skewers, brush olive oil on the top and sprinkle some salt and pepper. Grill them until veggies are tender but have a charred exterior.
Make sure you don’t overcook the veggies, or they will lose shape—transfer on a plate when cooked, and it’s another delicacy along with your grilled scallops.
3) Grilled Watermelon and Feta Skewers
Already have a grilling menu its time to add some freshness to your table with these watermelon skewers. It’s an excellent recipe for summers.
The sweetness of watermelon provides a contrast with the sweet taste of watermelon. Feta cheese provides a creamy flavor to your meal that is always a big hit.
Only two ingredients are required for putting it together. Cut the watermelon into cubes.
Make sure you remove all seeds. Cut the feta cheese into cubes of the same size—thread watermelon and feta chunks on skewers alternatively. Brush the skewers with olive oil from all sides.
Grill the skewers until they are lightly charred. All you need is a grilling flavor and color. Nothing is there to cook. It takes almost the same time as scallop, and everything is ready in no time.
While serving, add balsamic vinegar with some salt and pepper and drizzle it over the skewers. The blend of sweet, salt, creamy flavors, and an instant sour from vinegar create an exciting combination.
Side Dishes With Pasta and Scallop
We have already mentioned several pasta dishes that go very well with scallops. You can prepare scallops in any way and add them to your pasta dish. Whether you have Alfredo pasta or Peto, a scallop on the top gives it a completely new look and taste. The seafood flavors blend with the creamy flavors of pasta and turn it into a delicacy.
When you have pasta and scallop, your dinner table is not yet complete. You still need some side dishes on it. Here are some side dishes that you can try with pasta and scallops.
1) Mashed Potatoes
Mashed potatoes are a versatile recipe that you can try with any other main dish, including scallops. It’s easy to make and has a creamy flavor that blends with your pasta, especially if it is not creamy.
Making mashed potatoes is no rocket science. You can bake potatoes or boil them. Make a paste, add loads of cream and cheese, season it with pepper and salt. You can add some herbs of your choice to enhance flavors. It smells great in the end, and you can’t help having more than one servings for sure.
2) Glazed Carrots
Glazed carrots are very easy to make and require nothing much to prepare. All you need is baby carrots. Remove their heads. Melt some butter in a pan, add brown sugar and cook it until it’s creamy. Add the carrots and cook until carrots are tender. Serve them with some roasted almonds on the top, and it’s nothing less than a desert.
Glazed carrots are a must-have if you are having a formal dinner.
It adds a lot of color to your dinner table. Having a sweet dish provides the much-needed break from all other savory tastes from pasta and scallops.
Kids love to have glazed carrots, and the nutritional value of carrots is just another reason to include this wonderful vegetable on your menu list.
3) Steak with Scallop Pasta
Just because you have scallop pasts does not mean you can’t have meat on your menu. Especially when you are serving scallops with pasta, a steak on the side completes your table.
Whether entertaining guests or preparing a meal for your loved ones, having a steak with scallop pasta makes a scrumptious meal that you will love.
Tenderloin steak is easy to make and gives perfect results each time. Season the steak the way you like. We love keeping the seasoning to the minimum. Sprinkle some salt and pepper with a dash of oil. Sear the steak from all sides on a hot cast iron skillet until it’s charred from all sides.
Put it in the oven until it’s tender and juicy. You can serve it on some salad leaves with the scallop pasta. It’s a complete meal, and you can expect nothing but appreciation from your guests for his brilliant combination.
4) Succotash
It’s a southern dish that adds freshness, color, and flavor to your table. The combination of lime, beans, cherry tomatoes, and corn is incredible.
The dressing includes butter, lime juice, and spices of your choice. It’s delicious; add some beans and veggies to your menu. You can even add bacon to make it special and have some enhanced flavors.
Final Words
Scallops are a bit expensive, but they can give adorn your dinner table with flavors. You can blend them with many side dishes, starters, and appetizers. It goes well with veggies, beans, pasta, rice, and even meat.
You can have a seafood menu or serve the scallops on the side, and they are loved by everyone and provide the much-needed nutrition. You can even include a soup with lots of seafood flavors on your menu, especially in winters.
So, do you already know the best scallops side dishes and what goes good with them? Please, feel free to leave your comments below!
Other side dishes:
