Pan Seared Scallops with Bacon Fennel Cream Sauce. The most popular scallops recipe ever on Rock Recipes. Folks just love the luscious bacon cream sauce. A great romantic dinner for 2.
Originally published October 2007.
This recipe for pan seared scallops with bacon fennel cream sauce makes an ideal dinner party idea that doesn’t take much time at all. If you prep all your ingredients beforehand and have them at the ready beside the stove, the cooking time should really be about 15 minutes.
Not long at all to be away from your guests at all while they enjoy a pre-dinner drink or nibbles.
A perfect choice for a romantic dinner just for you and your sweetheart too. The creamy fennel flavoured sauce is delicious with the sweet succulent scallops with the bacon cutting the richness just a little with its smoky saltiness.
Such a quick, easy recipe makes a nice midweek dinner treat too after a busy day at work.
For another delicious scallops and pasta suggestion try our Creamy Garlic Scallop Spaghetti recipe.
This is one of the earliest recipes I ever posted on Rock Recipes back in the first few weeks this blog was started. The photos were definitely a lot different back then but this one still makes me drool!
For more tried and true recipes, check out this collection of our 25 Most Popular Recipes since Rock Recipes began back in 2007.
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Pan Seared Scallops with Fettuccine in Bacon Fennel Cream Sauce
Pan Seared Scallops with Fettuccine in Bacon Fennel Cream Sauce - The most popular seared scallops recipe we have ever made on Rock Recipes. Folks just love the luscious bacon cream sauce. A great Valentine's meal for two.
Ingredients
- 2 dozen large scallops
- 2 cloves garlic finely chopped
- 4 Tbsp extra virgin olive oil
- 1 cup whipping cream
- ½ cup seafood or chicken stock
- ¼ cup white wine
- ¼ lb low sodium bacon, crisp cooked (about 6 slices)
- ⅔ cup fennel, finely chopped (if fresh fennel is not available you can substitute ½ tsp ground fennel seed)
- 1/2 tsp salt and pepper to taste
- 350 g package fresh fettuccine pasta
Instructions
- Chop bacon into small pieces and cook until crisp in a large non stick sauté pan.
- Drain fat and discard.Set the bacon aside.
- Add the garlic and fennel to the pan and sauté until the fennel begins to soften; just a couple of minutes.
- Add the stock and wine and reduce the volume of the liquid to about half before adding the whipping cream.
- Simmer slowly for a couple of minutes, then add the bacon and season with salt and pepper.
- Toss the cooked pasta in the prepared sauce.
- In a separate heavy bottomed sauté pan heat olive oil until very hot on medium high heat. Lightly salt and pepper the scallops and sear them in the hot pan for only about 2 minutes per side. Sear the scallops a few at a time and don’t crowd the pan.
- Serve the scallops over the fettuccine and sauce. Garnish with chopped fennel fronds and bacon.
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Nutrition Information
Yield
4Serving Size
1 servingAmount Per Serving Calories 800Total Fat 52gSaturated Fat 20gTrans Fat 1gUnsaturated Fat 27gCholesterol 130mgSodium 921mgCarbohydrates 49gFiber 2gSugar 5gProtein 33g
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.
Betty
Saturday 13th of February 2021
I made this recipe tonight and it was delicious. I didn’t change a thing. Thanks Barry for another great recipe. 😊
francine
Saturday 3rd of November 2018
Omg! Made this recipe tonight! Delicious! I tweaked it a bit. I thickened the sauce a bit and added a cap full of pernod, because the fennel does not come through enough. Will be making this often? Ya!! Thanks for your beautiful, delicious recipe! Looking forward to many more ideas!
Elizabeth
Friday 20th of April 2018
Delicious. I made this as written but used angel hair for the pasta. I did use a lot of the pasta water to lighten it but that was probably because of the pasta. After cooking the bacon I drained the pan and then used some bacon fat to sauter the scallops. I added some water to the scallop pan after taking them out and degreased it and then added that to the pasta. Didn’t want to waste a drop of flavor. It was a wonderfully flavorful dish. The fennel seed was mild but added another layer. I used dry vermouth because I was out of white wine. Definitely will make it again.
Barry C. Parsons
Saturday 21st of April 2018
You're a woman after my own heart, Elisabeth. "No flavour left behind" is my motto :)
Diane Essex
Saturday 11th of April 2015
I have just made this and it was wonderful. I did not have any fennel of any type so put a little chopped tarragon in the get a similar taste. It was wonderful and I will be making this one of my regular dishes. Thank you Barry x
Bernadette @Rants From My Crazy Kitchen
Friday 18th of July 2014
This sounds fabulous. I like scallops but I'm always looking for new ways to use them. Pinning!