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This decadent seared scallop linguine in a light cream sauce uses minimal ingredients, with lots of fresh flavor. Perfect for a special dinner with friends or a date night at home and ready in under 30 minutes.
Easier than you think, these perfect, pan-seared scallops take only 5 minutes to cook. While the linguine cooks, you make a quick creamy sauce with broth, heavy cream, garlic, and shallots. It’s a quick recipe overall, but is a restaurant-quality meal. Pair this creamy scallop linguine with lighter sides like bibb lettuce salad or apple fennel salad.
Why You’ll Love This Recipe
- Simple Ingredients – Linguine pasta, scallops, cream, garlic and shallots – many you probably already have on hand!
- Best for: Date nights, holidays, or dinner parties.
- Quick – Only 30 minutes for a restaurant-quality meal.
- Easy to substitute – If you can’t find sea scallops, this recipe can be made with jumbo shrimp or chicken!
- Gluten free friendly – Can easily substitute gluten free linguine or another type of pasta for this recipe. Or another gluten free option are these seared scallops with cauliflower puree.
Table of Contents
Ingredients
For the full ingredient list with amounts, see the recipe card below.
- Scallops – See my detailed tips below on choosing the best ones. Look for dry, sea scallops. Bay scallops will also work in this pasta!
- Linguine – I used dried linguine, but you can substitute spaghetti, or any type of pasta you like.
- Garlic – Feel free to measure this with your heart.
- Shallot – Do not substitute this with onion! The light flavor of a shallot compliments the scallops.
- Heavy Cream – Look for a brand without carrageenan, like Organic Valley or Horizon. This will thicken better and be more creamy!
- Broth – I use vegetable broth for this recipe, but seafood broth or stock, or chicken broth would also work well. For store-bought, I recommend Trader Joe’s Hearty Vegetable.
- Parsley – Fresh parsley is needed for brightness since the ingredients in this are so simple. Fresh chives would also be great!
Optional ingredients include a squeeze of lemon juice on top or parmesan cheese mixed in. For a bolder, cheesy flavor, you may want to try my Boursin pasta sauce.
How To Choose Good Scallops
When you use minimal ingredients, it’s important the ones you’re using are high quality. Good scallops are called “dry scallops” and have a slightly peachy color to them.
- Wet scallops are treated with sodium tripolyphosphate, causing them to bloat with excess fluid so they appear larger than they are. These are the kind you might find frozen at Walmart. If you use these, it’s difficult to get a proper sear.
- Dry scallops will have more of a skin-colored, creamy tone as opposed to being a gray-ish white. If you have any questions, don’t hesitate to ask your local fishmonger.
Recipe Substitutions
- Scallops – Can be substituted with jumbo shrimp, chicken, or vegetables.
- Heavy cream – An oat creamer would work well for a dairy free substitute, but you may need to add 2 teaspoons of flour or cornstarch to thicken the sauce.
- Linguine – Use any kind of pasta you like!
- Parsley – Fresh chives would be a wonderful addition here too.
How to Make Scallop Linguine
Step 1: Prepare linguine according to package directions, using salted water, and reserve about 1 cup of the pasta water. Meanwhile pat the scallops completely dry and season them with pepper. Heat a large non-stick or cast iron pan with olive oil over medium high heat. Once hot, sear the scallops on one side and do NOT touch them. After 2 minutes, check the scallop is golden brown and flip. Cook another 2 minutes or until golden brown and then remove from the pan and set aside.
Step 2: In the same pan you cooked the scallops, add garlic and shallots over medium heat, cooking for about 1-2 minutes or until softened. Add broth to deglaze the pan over medium high heat.
Step 3: Scrape up any brown bits from the scallops and bring to a simmer. Add cream and simmer for another 3-4 minutes or until the sauce has thickened and reduced. Taste and add kosher salt and pepper as needed.
Step 4: Add in the drained pasta to the sauce, using tongs to toss around and fully coat the noodles with the sauce. Add in the seared scallops and top with parsley. If the scallop linguine seems a bit dry, add a splash of pasta water or cream and toss with everything.
Recipe Tips
- Dry Scallops – You want to remove all excess moisture for the perfect sear. Sometimes I’ll pat them between two paper towels and then return them (uncovered) on a plate to the fridge. Pull them out just before you want to cook. Excess moisture causes the scallops to steam instead of sear. This is also why it’s important to space them apart at least 2″ in your pan.
- Hot Pan – The pan needs to be really hot when you add them – like just before smoking. Oil increases the searing temperature without the butter burning, while butter adds the flavor. You can also do this with all oil as well or ghee, which has a higher smoke point than regular butter.
- Leave It – Don’t add scallops to the pan and then start lifting them to check if they’re done. Set them in the pan and don’t check them for at least 2 minutes on the first side. Scallops usually only take 1 1/2 – 2 minutes to cook per side, depending on how large they are. Mine are pretty large here so they took closer to 2 minutes. This will help you develop that nice, golden crust without getting rubbery in the middle.
Serving Suggestions
Serve this scallop linguine alfredo with fresh, green sides that have a little acidity to compliment the creamy sauce.
- Apple fennel salad
- Pear rocket salad
- Kale crunch salad
- Cream cheese crab dip for a seafood appetizer
- Air fryer filet mignon or air fryer NY strip steak for a surf and turf date night dinner
Recipe FAQ
This could be a few things – using wet scallops, not getting the pan hot enough, crowding the pan with too many, and moving the scallops around too much when cooking. A proper sear requires dry scallops, a hot pan, a good amount of space between them, and not moving the scallop around while it’s cooking so it can form a nice crust.
If the cream sauce is not thickening on its own, this usually has to do with not simmering long enough. Sometimes this can take up to 7-10 minutes, so be patient! If it’s still not thickening, add 2 teaspoons of flour or arrowroot powder, which will help the process along. Remember adding a starchy pasta will help thicken it as well.
Yes! A few cheeses will work well with this creamy pasta. I would recommend parmesan (if tolerated) or ricotta for a lighter flavor that doesn’t overpower the scallops. For really cheesy pastas that would work with scallops, try my Boursin orzo bake or mozzarella pasta.
Creamy Pasta Recipes
Pasta
Creamy Spinach Pasta
Love this recipe? Please leave a 5-star 🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟 review in the recipe card! Don’t forget to tag me @thedizzycook on Facebook and Instagram, and follow along on Pinterest for more great recipes!
Scallop Linguine in Cream Sauce
Ingredients
- 1 tablespoon butter or ghee
- 1 tablespoon olive oil or cooking oil
- 8 large sea scallops
- kosher salt and pepper
- 8 ounces pasta
- 1 large shallot, chopped
- 4-5 garlic cloves, minced
- 1 ⅓ cups vegetable broth
- 2/3 cup heavy cream
- 1/3 cup fresh Italian, flat leaf parsley, chopped
- Optional: juice of 1/2 lemon and 1/3 cup freshly grated parmesan
Instructions
- Prepare a pot with salted boiling water and cook pasta according to package directions. Reserve about 1 cup of pasta water just in case you need it to thin the sauce.
- Prepare the scallops using the tips from the post (pat them dry and don't sprinkle with salt and pepper till immediately before searing). I personally recommend not adding salt to the scallops as I find them naturally salty, but please season to your own taste.
- Heat a large pan, non-stick or cast iron, with butter and oil over medium high heat. Once hot, add the dry scallops, keeping them at least 2 inches apart so they sear and don't steam. If they don't make a sizzle sound, your pan isn't hot enough. Leave them to sear for 2 minutes (don't move or touch them), or until a nice brown crust forms. Flip and cook another 2-2½ minutes or until you get the same crust on the opposite side. Set the scallops on a warm plate.
- In the same pan, use the leftover butter/oil to saute the chopped shallot and garlic, about 2 minutes until softened and fragrant. If your pan is dry, use 1 tablespoon more butter or oil. Deglaze the pan by adding broth, scraping up any browned bits (this basically means add broth to a hot pan which should bubble up and start to simmer). Then add cream and bring to a simmer for about 3-4 minutes until the sauce has thickened. When you run a wood spoon through the sauce, it should leave a clear path.
- Add cooked linguine and toss with the sauce, simmering to thicken it a bit more. If your sauce is too thick or isn't coating the pasta well, add in 1/4 cup of the reserved pasta water till it reaches your desired consistency. Add in fresh chopped parsley and kosher salt and pepper to taste. Top with the cooked scallops.
Notes
- Use dry scallops instead of wet for the best sear/flavor. These will be a creamy, rosy pinkish color (not gray/white) and without sodium tripolyphosphate.
- Scallops are naturally more salty. Salt them very lightly just before searing, or just season with a touch of pepper. You want that natural sweetness to shine.
- The cream sauce here is very light to not overpower the scallops you spent so much money on! You can add a lemon wedge to each plate for some brightness and acidity. Or mix in some freshly grated parmesan with the pasta. These additions would not be HYH.
- Use gluten free pasta for gluten free, and leave out the cream for a dairy free option. If you do this, I recommend adding fresh herbs like basil and chives for more flavor.
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
Horrible…it’s doesn’t say how much quantity of each item to use….
Ma’am you scrolled right past the quantities in the recipe card to leave this comment.
I was very excited when I read the reviews but honestly, it was very disappointing. The sauce didn’t have much taste. I think it needed lemon juice, Parmesan cheese or something. The taste was bland. Sorry, not a fan of this recipe.
Hey Lucy, The sauce has a more muted flavor to let the flavor of the scallops shine without overpowering. You could always add these as toppings to your liking.
You are spot on. When sautéing the onions I added lemon juice and a bit of sugar to make the flavors pop!
I jazzed it up a bit to suit my family’s tastes. I made a roux and added that to the sauce to thicken it so it would cling better to the linguine and added some white wine, a pinch of oregano and a generous amount of ground black pepper. Delicious!
Great adds!
I made this and was so impressed. It was delicious. The sauce was perfect. I can’t wait to try it with chicken. I’ll have to add this to meal prep rotation.
This was delicious. I used popcorn scallops fresh from San Francisco bay. I added asparagus tops and mushrooms. cream sauce very good. I only had chicken stock, but it was a great recipe, Thanks
That sounds delightful!
Mmmmmm!!!
Added a little lemon juice and zest, heavy on the garlic and shallot…absolutely mouth-wateringly delicious!!!
Thanks, Amanda! Sounds delicious!