Gluten Free Lemon Butter Scallops
Sea scallops with a golden crust and a glossy lemon butter sauce feel like restaurant food, but this version comes together in a single skillet with ingredients you can easily verify are safe. For anyone navigating a gluten-free lifestyle, shellfish dishes can be surprisingly tricky — sauces thickened with flour, seasoning blends with hidden fillers, or cross-contact from shared cookware are all real concerns. Here, the sauce is built entirely from butter, fresh garlic, lemon juice, lemon zest, and red pepper flakes, so there's nothing to second-guess. The real secret to that gorgeous sear is patting the scallops completely dry and letting a screaming-hot pan do its job undisturbed — resist the urge to move them and you'll be rewarded with a deep, caramelized crust that's hard to beat. Swirling the butter in piece by piece at the end creates a silky, emulsified sauce that clings to every scallop without any starch or thickener in sight. A shower of fresh parsley and a squeeze of lemon at the table keeps everything bright and clean. This is the kind of dish that looks impossibly impressive for how straightforward it actually is.
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Learn more →Ingredients
4 servings
- 1 ½ lb large dry-packed sea scallops (about 16–20 count)
- ½ tsp fine sea salt
- ¼ tsp black pepper, freshly ground
- 2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
For the sauce
- 3 tbsp grass-fed unsalted butter, cut into 3 pieces
- 4 cloves garlic, thinly sliced
- ¼ tsp red pepper flakes
- 3 tbsp fresh lemon juice (from about 1 ½ lemons)
- 1 tsp lemon zest
- 2 tbsp fresh flat-leaf parsley, finely chopped
For serving
- lemon wedges, for serving (optional)
Instructions
- 1
Pat the scallops thoroughly dry with paper towels — press firmly on all sides. Season both flat faces with the salt and black pepper.
- 2
Heat the olive oil in a 12-inch stainless steel or cast iron skillet over high heat until the oil just begins to smoke. Add the scallops in a single layer, flat side down, leaving at least 1 inch between each one. Sear undisturbed for 2 to 2 1/2 minutes, until a deep golden-brown crust forms on the underside and the scallop releases easily from the pan.
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