Air Fryer Frozen Scallops

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Delicious, perfectly cooked, air fryer frozen scallops. Raw scallops are cooked from frozen in the air fryer with lemon and garlic for the ultimate air fryer light lunch recipe.  

These frozen scallops are effortless to prepare and taste so good you will not want to share them!

Our air fryer frozen scallops were originally shared in 2020 and is updated today with even more great tips and tricks and new ideas.

Air Fryer Frozen Scallops

I remember the first time that my aunt introduced me to scallops. I was 15 and it was the November of 1997.

My parents were travelling, and I was staying with my Grandparents, while my parents were on a six week RV adventure.

I spent quite a bit of time around at my aunt and uncles. I always felt my grandparents were too old and in bad health that I didn’t want to annoy them 24/7 and my aunts house was a wonderful safe sanctuary.

My aunt is an amazing cook and I looked forward to what she was cooking next.

She taught me how to make a cheese sauce, a quiche and baked cookies. Along with many other things.

My uncle was just as good in the kitchen and as a fisherman was always bringing some nice fish or seafood home and making something amazing.

One night for dinner, I can’t remember what the main course was, but I do remember starting our meal with what I was told was garlic butter queenies.

Until that point, I don’t think I had ever tried any type of scallop and was so in love.

How can something taste so good just from being tossed in garlic butter? Almost 25 years later I am still thinking of those delicious scallops and want to show you how to cook frozen scallops in the air fryer and best of all there will be plenty of garlic!

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What Are Queenies?

I am sure I have confused you, by calling them queenies and not just saying that I ate some scallops. In fact, it originally confused me for many years.

You see it was the only time I had scallops and as they had been introduced to me as queenies, I never realised what I ate back in 1997 was scallops.

You see queenies is the name given to queen scallops. They are a smaller scallop compared to the king scallop and are most common for starters, appetizers and serving as finger food at dinner parties.

Chances are that most people that have tried scallops have in fact tried queenies. Or maybe you know them as small scallops and know king scallops as large scallops?

Think of them like comparing our instant pot baked potatoes with our instant pot new potatoes.

Can You Cook Scallops From Frozen?

Yes, you sure can cook frozen scallops. Cooking frozen scallops is not that different to fresh scallops and because scallops are small, they are easy and fast to cook without thawing.

Best Way To Cook Frozen Scallops?

In my opinion, the best way to cook frozen scallops is to cook frozen scallops in an air fryer.

If you think about how you would normally cook scallops, then the chances are that it involves either the deep fat fryer or the frying pan.

Both types are what the air fryer is popular at doing.

You can place scallops in the air fryer loaded with garlic butter and it will cook everything for you in one small air fryer baking pan.

The garlic butter will melt as the scallops cook and the scallops will taste AMAZING.

Can You Cook Scallops In An Air Fryer?

Yes, you sure can. Scallops in the air fryer are delicious. You can use thawed, or frozen scallops in the air fryer. You can also cook scallops that are in a sauce, as well as queenies.

You can also cook air fryer scallops that are wrapped in bacon too.

Can You Cook Frozen Scallops In Air Fryer?

Yes, you can cook frozen scallops in air fryer. You can also mix and match different methods of doing so too.

For example, when we originally showed you how to cook scallops from frozen, we used frozen scallops that we had bought in a tomato sauce.

We then cooked the frozen scallops in an air fryer container like you see below:

And you can do the same with any scallops in a sauce.

Though you can also go sauce free like we are doing today with some raw frozen scallops we bought from Tesco’s as well as with Trader Joe’s frozen scallops.

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Air Fry Frozen Scallops Ingredients

Scallops – For cooking scallops from frozen I recommend a bag of raw scallops. The bags we use are 500g from Tesco (16oz) and are perfect for a medium portion in the air fryer.

Garlic – OMG scallops in the air fryer are not the same without plenty of garlic. I peel some garlic cloves and air fry with the scallops and the garlic goes like roasted garlic.

Lemon – I also recommend having some lemon wedges that you can cook with the scallops and the garlic and then you can squeeze the juice over the scallops once cooked.

Seasoning. Then for seasoning your air fryer frozen scallops I recommend salt, pepper, and fresh curly parsley.

Then for the kitchen gadgets that we have used in this frozen scallops air fryer recipe it has just been our Philips Air Fryer. We have this one and its wonderful for many types of air fryer recipes.

Plus, we recommend you head over to our air fryer recipes category as we have more than 500 tried and tested air fryer recipes and have been air frying for 10 years.

How To Cook Frozen Scallops In Air Fryer?

• Load. Start by removing the frozen scallops from the bag and loading into the air fryer and getting rid of any excess liquid.
• Season. Then add your salt, pepper, and fresh parsley. Chopping up the fresh parsley as you add it to the air fryer. Then add in peeled garlic cloves and lemon wedges.
• Cook. Air fry frozen scallops for approximately 12 minutes or until fully cooked.
• Serve. Then load onto a plate and squeeze the juice from the lemon over the just cooked scallops before serving.

And I am sure you can see now how easy it is air frying frozen scallops and why you should be doing it too!

How To Prepare Frozen Scallops?

The fantastic thing about cooking frozen scallops in the air fryer, is that there is no prep. You don’t have to clean them, or get rid of any bad bits, because this has already been done for you.

Simply load frozen scallops into the air fryer and let the air fryer work its magic!

How Long To Cook Frozen Scallops In Air Fryer?

The frozen scallops cook time in the air fryer can vary depending on the size of your scallops and how many you are cooking at once.

We found that the bag of frozen scallops were cooked from frozen in the air fryer in JUST 12 minutes.

How Do You Know When Scallops Are Cooked?

The easiest way to tell that scallops are cooked is by their colour. When they go into the air fryer they will have that fleshy raw fish look. But once cooked air fryer scallops will turn white.

Frozen Scallops Air Fryer Tips & Tricks

• Don’t overload the air fryer basket. We found that 1 bag of 500g frozen scallops (same as 16oz) was the perfect size for the air fryer.

• We love garlic, lemon, and parsley with our frozen scallops. You can do the same or mix and match favourite ingredients.

• Keep the seasoning simple with salt and pepper and parsley and enjoy the flavour of the scallops.

• I have seen recipes for frozen scallops in air fryer at 400 degrees. Avoid maxing the temperature of the air fryer, as it will ruin your scallops.

Top Air Fryer Trick – If you are cooking a pack of prepared garlic butter scallops with a sauce, then use a baking pan or another air fryer accessory.

Your air fryer frozen scallops recipe is below, note you can print it out with or without photos, adjust servings, or click between metric and imperial depending on where you are in the world.

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