Grilled scallops with oyster sauce and sesame
by Helen Graves
Related Recipes
Scallops cook quickly and the heat from a barbecue is fierce, which means this recipe goes from kitchen to table in around ten minutes. The sauce is simple yet delicious, thanks to the oyster sauce which gives the seafood a luxurious sticky sheen.
You can also cook the scallops on a griddle pan in the kitchen, but the smokiness of the barbecue really lifts the flavour.
Ingredients
Metric
Imperial
- 10 large scallops, in their shells
- 1 tsp vegetable oil, for brushing the scallops
- 6 garlic cloves, finely chopped
- 1 tbsp of Shaoxing wine
- 1 knob of ginger, peeled and finely chopped
- 3 tbsp of Lee Kum Kee Premium Oyster Sauce
- 1 tsp Lee Kum Kee Premium Light Soy Sauce
- 1/2 tsp white pepper
- coriander, chopped, to garnish
- toasted sesame seeds, to serve
SAVE RECIPE
Method
1
Preheat a barbecue for direct cooking (but don’t put the grill on top). The coals are ready when glowing and covered in a layer of grey ash
2
Open the scallops by sliding a knife between the two shells and slide it around gently, cutting the muscle which joins the two halves together. Twist the blade of the knife to separate the two shells. Use the knife to remove the tough muscle attached to the side (the flappy, translucent thing), then lift the scallop carefully from the shell
3
Wash and dry the shells, then brush the scallops with a little oil so they don't stick and place inside the clean curved half of the shell. Set aside
4
Combine the garlic, ginger, Shaoxing wine, oyster sauce, soy sauce, white pepper and a splash of water in a bowl
5
Place a teaspoon of the sauce on top of each scallop then carefully place each shell directly onto the coals (or a griddle pan) - it’s best to put them around the edges of the coals rather than right in the middle, where they might catch and burn
6
Stay with the scallops and, after two minutes, carefully turn them within their shells using tongs. Add another teaspoon of each sauce to each shell and cook for a further two minutes
7
Once cooked through (exact cooking time will depend on the size of the scallops) use tongs and heavy duty heatproof gloves to remove the scallops from the heat and garnish with the sesame seeds and coriander. Serve immediately
Helen Graves is Head of Content at Great British Chefs. She's also the author of the cookbook LIVE FIRE: Seasonal Barbecue Recipes and Stories of Live Fire Traditions, Old and New, and the editor of Pit, an independent magazine with roots in live fire cooking.
Get in touch
Please sign in or register to send a comment to Great British Chefs.
You may also like
Load more
NAVIGATE
© Great British Chefs 2026