Creamy Garlic Scallop Spaghetti with Bacon. Updated to add recipe video! Ready in well under 30 minutes, this in one quick & easy meal that’s sure to impress. It easily adapts to serve just two as well, making it an ideal choice for a romantic dinner for Valentine’s Day or at any time of the year you want to pamper your sweetheart.
Creamy Garlic Scallop Spaghetti with Bacon.
As we get ready to usher in February, I begin to get messages from folks who are looking for easy ways to cook a special dinner at home for their sweetheart.
My suggestions for those occasions usually fall into 2 categories. Those are slow cooked dishes that are ready to serve from the oven, or quick and easy which can take only a few minutes on the kitchen to prepare.
This recipe definitely comes under the quick and easy category but delivers great flavour in minimum time. The key here of course is preparation, which speeds up the process even more.
Always use the freshest scallops when you can but thawed frozen scallops are often used around here as well.
Prepping the Creamy Garlic Scallop Spaghetti with Bacon.
A great idea for this recipe is to prepare everything you need in advance. You can then spend as little as 15 minutes to get this delicious dish on the table.
Precook the bacon, chop the garlic and have a pot of salted water on the stove ready to boil for the pasta. Basically, do anything you can think of that can be done in advance.
Crisp cooked bacon compliments the scallops beautifully
One great tip is to prep all the ingredients individually, place them in small dessert dishes or ramekins. Place all of them on a tray which gets completely covered with plastic wrap and placed in the fridge.
When the time comes to do the actual cooking, you won’t be searching around the fridge for ingredients. You’ll just pull out the tray, pull off the plastic and set to work.
Creamy Garlic Scallop Spaghetti with Bacon.
Think of it like preparing for a cooking show. Most of the time the reason that the cooking looks so easy on these shows and also goes so flawlessly, is because everything the chef needs is at hand.
This is a great habit to get into no matter what you are cooking. However, when time is of the essence, it’s even more important, especially when romance awaits.
If you’re looking for more great ideas like this, check out this collection of 20 of Our Favourite Seafood Dinners.
Updated June 2020
Looking for more easy date night meals?
Find plenty of other ideas to please your Sweetheart in our Valentine’s Day Recipes Category or in our Quick & Easy Meals Category.
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Creamy Garlic Scallop Spaghetti with Bacon
Creamy Garlic Scallop Spaghetti with Bacon - ready in well under 30 minutes, this in one quick & easy meal that's sure to impress. It easily adapts to serve just two as well, making it an ideal choice for a romantic dinner for Valentine's Day or at any time of the year you want to pamper your sweetheart.
Ingredients
- ¾ pound dry spaghetti
- 4 slices crisp cooked bacon, chopped
- 1 pound medium sized scallops
- Salt and pepper to season
- 3 tablespoons olive oil
- 6 cloves minced garlic
- ½ cup white wine
- 1 cup low sodium seafood stock, or chicken stock
- 1½ cups whipping cream
- 2 large tomatoes, center pulp removed and diced small.
- ½ cup grated Parmesan cheese
Instructions
- Cook the dry spaghetti to al dente in salted water and drain.
- Crisp cook the bacon in a large sauté pan and roughly chop it. Set aside.
- Season the scallops with salt and pepper and pan sear them in the bacon fat for only about 1½ to 2 minutes per side and set aside with the bacon.
- Drain the bacon fat from the pan and add the olive oil and garlic; cook for only a minute to slightly soften the garlic.
- Add the white wine and seafood stock and simmer quickly for a few minutes until the liquid has reduced by about ⅓. Add the cream and simmer for an additional 2 minutes.
- Season with salt and pepper if needed, then add the bacon, tomatoes and the scallops to the sauce. Simmer for only a minute or two to warm the scallops through before adding the cooked pasta and Parmesan cheese.
- Toss together the pasta and sauce very well before serving.
Notes
The nutritional information provided is automatically calculated by third party software and is meant as a guideline only. Exact accuracy is not guaranteed. For recipes where all ingredients may not be used entirely, such as those with coatings on meats, or with sauces or dressings for example, calorie & nutritional values per serving will likely be somewhat lower than indicated.
Recommended Products
Rock Recipes a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for us to earn fees by linking to Amazon.com and affiliated sites. Our product recommendations are almost exclusively for those we currently use or have used in the past.
Nutrition Information
Yield
4Amount Per Serving Calories 992Saturated Fat 27gCholesterol 175mgSodium 1019mgCarbohydrates 75gFiber 3gSugar 4gProtein 36g
Sounds wonderful. Thank you Barry.
We normally don’t serve a dish to dinner guests without trying it ourselves first. But we served this last night for dinner guests and it went over so well that everyone wanted the recipe. Some people did not like scallops so we roasted a chicken and they had the sauce over the pasta and chicken. Absolutely delicious and easy recipe
What a beautiful looking dish. It is true classic comfort.
Love the recipes
Enjoy all the recipes try a few and enjoy them
Wanting to make this!! It appears one doesn’t use the roe on the scallops; is that correct? Thanks!
you can if you like. They are not commonly sold that way here.
Great recipe. tastes awesome. 1 1/2 – 2 minutes each side seems a little long though especially as they will keep cooking when you add them to the pasta. 40 second each side in a hot pan is better for the scallop,
Depends on the size and how cold they are. But yes, I agree most get overcooked.
I had some beautiful big scallops, 1.5 minutes were perfect. Dish was delicious, whole family loved it. I used lemon juice and water instead of WW because I didn’t have it. Worked well.
This looks like a recipe I have been looking for except for the tomatoes. Could you use sun-dried tomatoes instead?
Yes, I’d use the oil packed variety.
Thank you for all your recipes! You are my go to guide always when cooking or baking! I have made this with smoked salmon added, always a hit!! Thank you!
The sauce was very thin and, unfortunately, not very creamy. Is there any way to thicken it up so that it coats the pasta better?
Sounds like you are not reducing the sauce enough. Simmer it a little longer. A tsp of cornstarch dissolved in an ounce of cold water will do in a pinch as well.
Has anyone tried this recipe using shrimp instead of scallops?
Yes, still very good!
I also do this recipe with assorted mushrooms. The best are the more exotic earthy ones
Made this for my boyfriend. Quick and easy. Tasted SOOO good!
OMG so good. Made this with gluten free pasta and used 18% cream. Used a bit of corn starch to thicken the sauce since I got impatient. This is a keeper for a recipe.
I made this with shrimp and it was delicious. I think I will add clams and mussels next time.
Literally JUST made this for dinner and it was A-MAZ-ING!! I honestly didn’t expect it to be THAT good! So glad we gave it a chance, just added another regular entree to the house menu!!
Thanks for the recipe, keep up the good work!!!!
What kind of white wine would work best?
I’m never too fussy as long as it’s relatively dry. Chardonnay is what is usually around at my house.
This creamy garlic was delicious
MAGIC 👫
My mouth is watering reading this . Can’t wait to try it.
I hate wine and I am wondering if you can taste ut at all. Would it be ok to omit it do you think?
Yes, you can add stock instead.
The best recipe that I’ve tried. Quick, easy and sooo good! Restaurant worthy. Will definitely try more of your recipes based on this one.
Your instructions state to use whipping cream? I assume you mean heavy cream and not whipped cream? Thanks.
Whipping cream, or any liquid cream at approximately 35% MF.
Was wondering if I could use a pasta sauce instead of cream as my husband doesn’t like cream sauces.
Go ahead. I do a similar thing with chicken.
Made this tonight. Seems like company arrives when my “Rock Recipes” are on the menu. This turned out fantastic and I did add some shrimp (but used the shrimp shells to make the seafood broth). If you left the pasta in the hot sauce in the pan, it would thicken more on its own before serving on a piping hot stoneware plate and hear the sizzle. I garnished with green onions and more parmesan. Five stars.
I have swapped bacon for chorizo sausage and it’s genius.
Sounds great!
I made this with scallops and it turned out great. I am going to try it with shrimp. Wondering if I should skip the searing step with shrimp and just add directly to the sauce for 4 minutes or till pink before adding the tomatoes and bacon Thanks
I think that would be fine.
I have made this twice! Soooooo good! Thanks Barry love your recipes!
This was amazing!!! Thanks for sharing. I used mushrooms instead of tomato, and also added peas. Then squeezed lemon over with chopped parsley. The best meal I have ever made! Thank you for the recipe 🙂
My family and I went scalloping in Crystal River, Fl this year and I was looking for a good recipe to make for our catch, I came across this one and decided to give it a whirl because the picture looked yummy. The first bite, I was in heaven! My husband said to save this recipe for every scallop dish we make! So delicious! Thank you!
This recipe looks wonderful. My only problem is with the high fat whipping cream. Any lower fat substitutions? Would half and half work, whole milk and a little butter???
Love your recipes, Barry, keep up the good work!
The fat is what thickens the sauce. Your sauce may be runnier without it but let me know if you experiment with it.
I love the scallop and bacon spaghetti dinner. Was wondering how I could make the sauce a bit thicker while keeping the great taste. I find it a bit runny (cream).
Thank you!
Boil the cream mixture a little longer or slightly undercook the pasta and finish simmering it in the sauce.
This recipe was delicious. My only change would be to sprinkle the crisp bacon over the top of the finished dish instead of folding it in; otherwise, the bacon loses its crispness.
My husband and I liked it. The kids did not. The scallops were expensive.
Terrific recipe! Happy 12th anniversary! I enjoy your site immensely.