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Serve steamed scallops resting on a bed of chewy, slurpy vermicelli noodles. To season the scallops, a delicious savory and spicy sauce is drizzled over them. Make the sauce with simple ingredients, such as minced garlic, finely chopped Thai chili peppers, oyster sauce, light soy sauce, and hot oil.
What To Know About This Steamed Scallops Recipe
Pairing steamed scallops with glass noodles is a fun spin on your typical scallop dish. It makes your dinner table more appetizing with its decorative half shell plating.
This dish is often seen gracing tables at banquets and weddings in China. However, chefs sometimes opt to use aluminum foil trays instead of scallop shells.
What makes this dish a favorite for many is how easy it is to whip up in 6 steps and less than 30 minutes.
This recipe requires minimal preparation tasks and a few minutes of inactive cooking time for steaming. Once the scallops are cleaned and the vermicelli noodles are soaked, simply put them together on a half-shell and drizzle the hot sauce. Afterward, steam the assembled scallops and garnish with green onions and hot oil.
Enjoy the scallop’s briny, sweet taste and the soft, chewy vermicelli noodles. You will also love the savory, spicy, garlicky, and umami sauce. Serve this dish as your appetizer, side dish, or even main meal paired with these dishes:
- Yang Chow Fried Rice
- Chive Pancakes
- Stir-Fried Yu Choy
- Stir-Fried Shrimp Mei Fun
- Stir-Fried Bok Choy And Mushrooms
- Steamed Egg with Clam
- Chinese Stuffed Mushrooms
- Cheung Fun (Steamed Rice Noodle Rolls)
- Steamed Fish (Chinese-Style)
- Seaweed Egg Drop Soup
- Black Chicken Soup (Chinese Silkie Chicken)
All About Sea Scallops
If you don’t know much about sea scallops, check this section first before gathering your ingredients. In this section, I share tips on how to choose scallops, where to buy them, and how to store them, among other things.
Where to buy sea scallops?
Sea scallops are available in fish/seafood markets, local grocery stores, or on online markets like Amazon.
What types of sea scallops are there?
You can find fresh live scallops and ask the fish mongers to shuck them. Frozen jumbo scallops without the shells are also available in stores. Generally, there are wet and dry scallops.
Wet scallops are soaked scallops that have been treated and soaked in a water solution to preserve them and add water weight. On the other hand, dry scallops are not soaked and are sold either fresh or frozen. Dry scallops are a better choice because they do not have preservatives and added water weight.
How to choose scallops?
Before buying scallops, make sure they do not smell bad. If the smell is bad or fishy, then the scallops may not be good for consumption anymore. It should smell fresh like the ocean.
What if I can‘t find scallops with shells?
If you can’t find scallops with shells, don’t worry! You can purchase scallop shells or aluminum foil trays, just like Chinese chefs do, from stores that sell baking supplies or online markets like Amazon.
Or, if you are lucky, don’t discard the foil trays from egg tarts; you can use those instead (see the image below). The scallop shells are purely optional for decoration and don’t add any flavor to the dish.
If you don’t mind skipping the shell, simply place the scallops in a steamer-safe small plate or small ramekins.
How to store scallops?
As I always say, it is best to cook and consume scallops within the day to relish their fresh taste and texture. If you are not yet ready to cook the scallops, store them in the fridge for up to 2 days or in the freezer for 2 months or more.
When you are ready to use frozen scallops, let them defrost in the fridge overnight or in a bowl of cold water. Avoid thawing scallops in the microwave as this will make the texture rubbery and stiff.
What Goes With Sea Scallops
Here is a breakdown of the ingredients I used for the sauce and noodles. I share below my tips on how to prepare the ingredients and what alternatives to use.
- Glass noodles: Prepare the glass noodles or vermicelli noodles by soaking them in water until soft and opaque. Drain and set aside. If the noodles are a bit hard, then you need to soak them longer. You may find rice vermicelli noodles. However, this is not the same as vermicelli noodles since rice noodles are made from rice flour and are whitish. You can use rice vermicelli noodles as an alternative but the texture will be slightly different. If you have extra noodles, use them to make the following:
- Garlic: Infuse the sauce with lots of garlic. A sauce always gets better with the nutty, earthy, and pungent taste of garlic. If you don’t have garlic but want the garlicky flavors, you can substitute 1 clove of garlic with 1/8 tsp of garlic powder or 1/4 tsp of granulated garlic. If you have ready-made crispy fried garlic, you can use it as an alternative.
- Thai chili pepper: Are you a spicy lover like me? If you LOVE spicy chili, then add finely chopped Thai chili pepper or bird’s eye chili. You can use green or red chili peppers, crushed red pepper flakes, or cayenne peppers. It’s okay to remove this if you prefer a non-spicy sauce and simply make it savory.
- Hot oil: Hot oil is needed to fuse the flavors together and release a delightful aroma. To make hot oil, simply heat it in a pan until it starts to bubble and sizzle. Any type of oil will do, but I recommend oils with a high smoke point to reduce the amount of oil oxidized and to withstand heat longer. Oil with a high smoke point are avocado, peanut, canola, and corn oil. If you want a neutral taste, go for peanut, soybean, or vegetable oil. However, if you are going for a healthier option, use olive, avocado, sesame, or safflower oil.
- Oyster sauce: Oyster sauce has always been a favorite seasoning for its sweet, savory, and briny taste. It’s just like a mix of light soy sauce and barbecue sauce. You can substitute this with hoisin sauce, kecap manis, teriyaki sauce, Worcestershire sauce with soy sauce and sugar, and oyster-flavored sauce.
- Light soy sauce: Add depth to the sauce with salty, umami light soy sauce. You can also use tamari, liquid aminos, coconut aminos, or gluten-free soy sauce.
- Green onion: As a finishing touch, I added chopped green onions as a garnish. This adds a fresh, oniony taste and a decorative touch. You can swap green onions with spring onions or chives. If you must know, spring onions are sweet and pungent, while chives are mild with a slight garlicky taste.
Ingredients And Kitchenware
Prepare the scallops using a knife or kitchen shears and a heat-resistant bowl to mix the sauce with hot oil. Cook the scallops using a steaming appliance. If you don’t have a steamer, you can still steam them without a steamer in several DIY ways, such as a pan with a steamer rack, a pan with a sieve, or an instant pot.
And if you are using scallops without the shell, don’t forget to prepare your plating dish, such as aluminum foil traysl, steamer-safe small plates, or small ramekins. The ingredients to prepare are the following:
Ingredients:
- 5 sea scallops
- 1 pack vermicelli noodles (soaked)
- ¼ cup minced garlic
- 1 tbsp finely chopped Thai chili peppers
- 1 scoop hot oil
- 1 tbsp oyster sauce
- 2 tbsp light soy sauce
- Chopped green onions (for garnish)
- Extra Hot oil (for garnish)
6 Steps To Make Steamed Scallops With Vermicelli Noodles
In a nutshell, the steps call for cleaning the scallops, soaking the vermicelli noodles, assembling them with the sauce, and steaming. You are done in 6 easy steps in less than 30 minutes! Learn how I did it with my Instagram or TikTok tutorial video.
Finished making steamed scallops with vermicelli noodles? What do you think of the taste and texture? Let us know your thoughts and ideas in the comments section below!
- Soak the vermicelli noodles for about 10 minutes or until soft and transparent. While the noodles are soaking, open the scallop shells and split them in half. Use kitchen shears to remove the black innards and scoop out the scallops from the shells. Rinse and clean the scallops and shells thoroughly to remove any dirt and debris.
- Then, take a portion of the noodles and twirl it like spaghetti noodles for a decorative touch. Place the twirled vermicelli noodles on the shell and then the scallops on top of the noodles.
- In a heat-resistant bowl, mix minced garlic and finely chopped Thai chili pepper, sizzling them in hot oil until fragrant. Then, add oyster sauce and light soy sauce to the mix. Mix well and adjust to taste.
- Take a tablespoon of the sauce and spread it over the scallops and noodles.
- Bring a pot of water to a boil. Transfer the scallops to the steamer basket, cover the steamer, and steam the scallops for about 7 minutes.
- Once done, garnish with chopped green onions and drizzle with a bit of heated oil before serving. The oil drizzle is optional, so feel free to skip it if you prefer less oil.
Steamed Scallops With Garlic And Vermicelli
Ingredients
- 5 sea scallops
- 1 pack of vermicelli noodles soaked
- ¼ cup minced garlic
- 1 tbsp Thai chili peppers finely chopped
- 1 scoop of hot oil
- 1 tbsp oyster sauce
- 2 tbsp light soy sauce
- Chopped green onions for garnish
- Extra Hot oil for garnish
Instructions
- Soak the vermicelli noodles for about 10 minutes or until soft and transparent. While the noodles are soaking, open the scallop shells and split them in half. Use kitchen shears to remove the black innards and scoop out the scallops from the shells. Rinse and clean the scallops and shells thoroughly to remove any dirt and debris.
- Then, take a portion of the noodles and twirl it like spaghetti noodles for a decorative touch. Place the twirled vermicelli noodles on the shell and then the scallops on top of the noodles.
- In a heat-resistant bowl, mix minced garlic and finely chopped Thai chili pepper, sizzling them in hot oil until fragrant. Then, add oyster sauce and light soy sauce to the mix. Mix well and adjust to taste.
- Take a tablespoon of the sauce and spread it over the scallops and noodles.
- Bring a pot of water to a boil. Transfer the scallops to the steamer basket, cover the steamer, and steam the scallops for about 7 minutes.
- Once done, garnish with chopped green onions and drizzle with a bit of heated oil before serving. The oil drizzle is optional, so feel free to skip it if you prefer less oil.
