Keto Lemon Bacon Scallops. If there is one driving force in any restaurant, it is to get and keep repeat customers by making drool worthy food which will bring them back with the memory of that food. These keto bacon lemon scallops are one of those foods and yes, they are truly drool worthy, extremely easy to make and easy to impress with. I have listed them as an appetizer and 5-6 of them make a terrific lowcarb keto dinner.
Here in Portland, OR I have had more than several restaurants that have done this to me and guess what. I return-again and again and again. In my case it is usually a sauce that goes with a steak. Of course it’s not the steak that’s memorable but the sauce that showcases the steak and maybe think a simple Béarnaise or a lemony Buerre Blanc. The next time I return they have some equally different sauce and I am hopelessly hooked.
I showed you the label from my scallops packaging because I always find it rather amusing that I live on the Left Coast and (all) the scallops here come from the East Coast and if I were to eat totally locally, I would never get these succulent morsels of delight.
An important note about scallops: Don’t be afraid to ask if they are DRY or “soaked” (wet) because it makes all the difference in the world. Yes, they are expensive, but DRY scallops are the only thing to buy. Soaked, as denoted by the name, have been subjected to sodium tripolyphosphates (STTP) for several reasons but the biggie is additional profit. Scallops are naturally about 75% water by weight and by adding an additional 10%-12% water & chemicals, at least to this person’s senses, is out-and-out cheating let alone rendering them uselessly mired in a milky water and which makes them impossible to sear. I don’t know about you but I am not interested in paying $20.-$25. per pound for water and chemicals. The same goes for most commercial chicken. It has also been injected with sodium tripolyphosphate, is watery, and can’t be fried very successfully as it sputters and spatters when the water hits the hot frying oil. If you are interested, here is a good read about Sodium Tripolyphosphates and how you may be being cheated. It may not be much in one little shrimp or one little scallop but when taken in the totality of the whole of the fishing, ham and poultry industries it is probably in the billions of dollars per year. Scary.
Lastly, I would advise always buying fresh, never frozen, scallops because freezing and thawing will form ice crystals drawing out natural liquids and make them difficult to cook properly. Nature has a way of taking care of itself, if left to its own devices, and freezing them is not natural. Buy what you need and don’t ever freeze them.
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- 8-12 Room Temperature Large Scallops Or About 1 Lb.
- 1 T Butter
- 4 Slices Cooked & Crumbled Bacon (Save Fat For Another Use)
- ½ C Heavy Cream
- 2 T Lemon Juice
- 2 T Parmesan Cheese
- 1 T Dried Chives (Yes, Fresh Are Terrific Too)
- 1½ t Chicken Base*** (Your Salt)
- 4 Thinly Cut Lemon Slices
- Freshly Ground Pepper At Service
- Cook and crumble bacon. Set aside. (Save Fat For Another Use)
- Bring butter to beginning to brown in a hot sauté pan, place scallops in butter, and depending on size, sear about 1½-2 minutes without moving them.
- Turn, sauté another 1½-2 minutes, and immediately plate with a slice of lemon.
- Turn down heat, add heavy cream, lemon juice, chives, bacon, & chicken base and reduce slightly.
- Mix in Parmesan cheese.
- Drizzle sauce over scallops and serve with freshly ground pepper.
- 4 Servings
- 241 Calories, 11.7g Protein, 19.2 Fat, 1.7g Carbs, 0.g Fiber, 1.7g Net Carbs
- Make sure you have everything ready, including the bacon, as this goes very quickly.
- If you are using larger scallops then two per person might be enough (As an appetizer). I am a piggy when it comes to scallops so I ate three of them. As you can see in the dinner pic I scaled down to five because I also ate other things with them and yes, of course they make a drool worthy dinner too.