Brown Butter Scallops With Parmesan Risotto Recipe

comment icon 380 more comments Say hello to this bowl of brown butter scallops + risotto that is about to take you by storm with all of its brown butter glory. But back it up. Brown butter is just the beginning, er, more accurately, the finishing touch.

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Get Ready To Be Dazzled

This feels-like-a-fancy-restaurant meal combines the love that is a pile of creamy Parmesan risotto (with a splash of white wine bcz this is a fancy restaurant, remember?) and seared scallops, garlic sautéed greens, and THEN, like we weren’t already 😍😍😍 enough, the brown butter gets drizzled all up on top of everything. Just so you can go to heaven and back again in one bite. In real life, while I was making this, Bjork walked into the kitchen and announced that our house smelled like a fancy restaurant. Like, are you even ready for this level of food celebrity status? Prepare yourself.

Can’t Stop Swooning Over This One

Two of my very favorite things about this recipe are the process – or maybe better called an adventure 😁 – of searing the scallops (um, PS. hi, I’m a complete novice at the scallop game, so just wanted to throw that out there) and the slow simmering of the risotto. I am usually all-in for quick and easy meals that require little to no hands-on time. I embrace slow cookers (see also: Midwest born and raised). Short ingredient lists inspire me. I love fast food processor meals, because you can count Magic Green Sauce as a meal, right? But slow, constantly-stirred, creamy risotto is not necessarily fast, and I love it all the more because of it. There is something so super zen, so calming and relaxing for your always-on-the-go self when you’re standing over the stove and gradually stirring the liquid into the barely-bubbling pan of creamy arborio rice while talking to your people sitting on the other side of the counter. You’re just lazily pouring, stirring, pouring, stirring, and together you’re just talk-talk-talking. And your house smells amazing like you CAN’T EVEN because garlic + butter + white wine is basically the same thing as aromatherapy. And obviously you can and will manage to find time between stirs to take five hundred bites, you know, just to test it. It’s the purist form of food therapy.

How To Get The Perfect Scallop Sear

The scallops are almost sweet and so perfectly light and luscious, but let’s tell it like it is: searing them might not be food therapy and might require some YouTube studying beforehand. A few things that help:

use a non-stick pan use grapeseed oil (high smoke point) get that pan pretty darn hot shake the pan around with the scallops in there so they don’t stick and tear keep a fire extinguisher handy just kidding maybe

For real: You can do this. We can do this. Fancy restaurant status is coming at you in the form of golden brown scallops, creamy Parmesan risotto, and garlic sautéed greens! 👇

I developed this recipe in partnership with ALDI for an Instagram campaign, so while this isn’t a sponsored post per se, we did use (and enjoy!) ALDI Jumbo Scallops for the recipe! 👌 The Jumbo Scallops will be available in ALDI stores from 12/16 through the end of the holiday season, or while supplies last!

More Date Night Deliciousness

Slow Cooker Beef Ragu with Pappardelle Date Night Rigatoni with Sausage and Kale Coconut Curry Ramen Perfect Baked Salmon with Lentils and Lemon Herb Sauce