How To Clean Scallops In The Shell

Grilled Scallops in the Shell

Grilled Scallops in the Shell because I couldn't go all the way to the ocean and not cook some seafood! It's been a minute since we've done scallops and grilling some on a shell felt like the perfect way to celebrate a much needed vacation. My wife and I spent a fun afternoon visiting the local seafood shack, picking out our dinner and getting a bit creative on how we were going to cook it. Now, I know this isn't the first time someone has cooked scallops in a shell, but that doesn't mean it wasn't a fun, fresh recipe for us. Keep reading to see how it can be for you too!

Grilled Scallops

What are the two MVPs of all seafood dishes? If you said butter and lemon, you'd be correct! Now, I'm not saying that there aren't other, very classic and standard ingredients you could use. It's just that when I think about cooking seafood, I automatically reach for the lemons and butter. This leads me to our Grilled Scallops in the Shell preparation. I start with… lemon juice! I placed all my scallops on a dish and covered them with the juice of one lemon. I mixed the scallops by hand to ensure each one had an even coating of the lemon juice.

Up next comes the seasoning. To keep things simple (remember I was on vacation, so simple is good), I reached for my all purpose Seafood Seasoning from Spiceology. I poured a thin layer across the top of the scallops. Then mixed them by hand again to ensure an even coating of seasoning across all these grilled scallops. Now, onto the butter.

The butter preparation is also pretty straightforward. I started by melting butter. Next, I dumped the parsley, scallions, red chili flakes, garlic and horseradish into the dish containing the melted butter. Mix that all together, but with a spoon this time. I should note, not all horseradish is created equal. The horseradish we picked up was as 10/10 on the set your sinuses on fire scale. Luckily, my wife and I love horseradish so we still added a decent amount to our compound butter. You can easily adjust how much you use in your butter based on your personal preference for these grilled scallops in the shell.

Grilled Scallops in the Shell

Shell Grilling

It's the shell grilling that makes this recipe fun for me. I love cooking in unique ways and this one is definitely an eye catcher. Plus, it's so simple to make Grilled Scallops in the Shell!

For this cook, I lit up some Cowboy Charcoal and set my grill grate directly on top of the hot coals. Now, when I say directly on top of the coals, I don't mean over the coals on the grill grate stand. I literally mean set the grill grate on top of the coals. I was tempted to place the shells directly on the coals, but wanted the flat surface of the grill grate to help hold the shells upright.

Place the scallop shells on top of the preheated grill grate so that they have time to warm up. Next, place one scallop in each shell. You should hear a sweet sizzling sound and see small bubbles popping at the edges of the scallops. Flip them once the bottoms of the scallops start to turn golden brown in color. Let them continue to cook for a bit after you flip them, then we'll add the butter.

I used a spoon to pour about a tablespoon of the compound butter over each scallop. If you don't hear the hallelujah chorus singing as a backdrop for the butter pour, you're doing something wrong. This is where this Grilled Scallops in the Shell recipe comes to life! Let the scallops continue to cook in this butter for a couple minutes before pulling each shell from the grill.

Shells are Served

Pull the Grilled Scallops in the Shell from the grill and place them directly on your serving platter. No garnish needed for this beautiful dish, although I did place some grilled lemons on the side for a pop of color. If you did want to garnish with something, I think some finely grated cheese would be incredible. We just forgot to get some at the store, but I promise these are delicious just as they are. Best enjoyed with friends and family! Cheers!

Grilled Scallops in the Shell

Grilled Scallops in the Shell is on the menu! Cooked in their own shells, I couldn't go all the way to the beach and not cook some seafood.

Course: Main Course

Cuisine: American

Keyword: Grilled Scallops in the Shell

Servings: 2 people

Author: Derek Wolf

Scallops:

8-10 Scallops with side muscle removed
1 tbsp of your favorite Seafood Seasoning
1 Lemon juiced
Charred Lemon for garnish

Horseradish Herb Butter:

3 tbsp of Melted Butter
1.5 tsp of Chopped Parsley
1.5 tsp of Chopped Chives
1 tsp of Minced Garlic
1 tsp of Prepared Horseradish
½ tsp of Red Chili Flakes
½ tsp of Hot Sauce

Place your scallops on a plate and pat them dry with paper towels. Lightly add some lemon juice, then season thoroughly with seafood seasoning. Place the scallops in the fridge for 10 minutes, uncovered, to dry out the outside in order to make them crispy. When ready to cook, pull out scallops to come to room temperature 5 minutes before cooking.
In a bowl, add your melted butter and all the other ingredients for the Horseradish Herb Butter. Mix together then set aside until ready to use.
Preheat a high heat fire (around 400F) for direct grilling. Add your scallop shells to the grill 1 minute before cooking with a little dab of oil in each shell.
Add your scallops to the shell to cook for 1-1.5 minutes per side. Once you have flipped them over, add a spoonful of butter sauce over the top of each scallop. Let simmer in the butter until done. Once done, pull off and let cook for a couple minutes.
Add a little more butter to each scallop, serve with charred lemon and enjoy!