I will never again bake meatballs in the oven after attempting air-fried versions. The outsides get a light crisp while the insides remain soft and supple. The best part is that you may prepare them in advance and freeze them for use later. I’ve written those instructions in the notes. Indulge your meatballs in marinara if you like.
| Prep Time: | 10 mins |
| Cook Time: | 10 mins |
| Total Time: | 20 mins |
| Servings: | 3 |
Ingredients
- 4 cups vegetable oil for frying
- 2 cups buttermilk
- 2 cups all-purpose flour
- ½ tablespoon salt
- ½ tablespoon ground black pepper
- 12 large fresh scallops
Instructions
- Heat oil in a deep fryer or large saucepan to 400 degrees F (200 degrees C).
- Pour buttermilk into a bowl. Combine flour, salt, and pepper in a second bowl. Dip 4 or 5 scallops in buttermilk, then roll in flour mixture until thickly coated.
- Cook coated scallops in hot oil until golden and crispy, 3 to 4 minutes. Drain on a paper towel-lined plate. Repeat coating and frying remaining scallops.
- We have determined the nutritional value of oil for frying based on a retention value of 10% after cooking. Amount will vary depending on cooking time and temperature, ingredient density, and specific type of oil used.
- Nutrition data for this recipe includes the full amount of buttermilk and flour. The actual amount of buttermilk and flour consumed will vary.
Nutrition Facts
| Calories | 769 kcal |
| Carbohydrate | 85 g |
| Cholesterol | 83 mg |
| Dietary Fiber | 3 g |
| Protein | 37 g |
| Saturated Fat | 6 g |
| Sodium | 1915 mg |
| Sugars | 8 g |
| Fat | 31 g |
| Unsaturated Fat | 0 g |
Reviews
Fantastic and spot-on recipe. Easy and it reminded me of our old fried clam joint in Revere Beach!
I have not tried recipe but common technique with any breaded recipe is to chill for a bit after breading then frying.
Seems a shame to take a healthy whole food and coat it in something unhealthy like flour and fry it in something as unhealthy as vegetable oil.
Easy and very good. Used milk & lemon juice for buttermilk substitute.
Delicious, whole family love it for our Christmas party!
It was very delicious and it was the first time I made this recipe. I need to get a thermometer, as I think I had the oil too high. However, they were wonderful.
Awesome recipe, we loved the scallops prepared this way. They were so good. Sweet, crisp and delicious. Thanks so much for sharing a recipe that I will use often. BK
This was very easy to put together. Some of the other reviews noted the breading came off in the oil. My solution was to double dredge, and it worked perfectly.
I’ve been looking for a good recipe for scallops and I now think I have my go-to! Unfortunately I did not have any buttermilk so needed to use milk and lemon juice. I added just a bit of corn starch to the flour. It had the right amount of seasoning. Frying time was right on the mark. Excellent recipe!!! Thank you MBeau!!!
These were good but I did have trouble with the breading staying on. I fried them in a skillet but I think they would have worked better in a deep fryer. The entire scallop submerged in hot oil would have helped seize up the breading faster which would also prevent overcooking. Just my opinion. I do all of my deep frying outside to keep the smell out of the house but it was pouring down rain so I was forced to skillet fry. I made half of these as written but for the other half I added some Old Bay to the seasoned flour. The addition of Old Bay bumps these from a 4 star to a 5. Overall good and simple recipe and one I will definitely make again.
These were actually delicious. The only problem the breading did fall off while being deep fried. But the taste was outstanding, my husband loved them, and I will make again.