2 Seafood Appetizers to Serve for the Holidays

Serving Seafood for the Holidays

The holiday season may not look the same as it always has, but that doesn’t mean you can’t still serve up some special dishes for close friends and family to enjoy!

Scallops, shrimp, crab, you name it—people are seeking out new seafood recipes to add diversity to their diets, and there are endless options to choose from. While preparing seafood recipes may seem intimidating, more common seafood like scallops and shrimp take very little time to cook and pair well with a wide variety of flavors. That means you can prepare delicious scallop recipes, shrimp recipes, and so much more in minutes, even if you don’t cook seafood all the time.

Most seafood is also light, making foods like scallops and shrimp ideal for holiday appetizers. That’s why we created two brand-new seafood recipes that are easy to prepare and will look and taste delicious as starters within your holiday spread. Here are our best tips and tricks for preparing these dishes, plus some extra tips for preparing your favorite seafood!

Seafood Starters with Scallops & Shrimp

Get inspired with these two seafood starter recipes featuring scallops and jumbo shrimp seared to perfection!

Seared Scallops with Corn, Avocado, & Bacon Salsa

Scallops come in different sizes, but this recipe calls for large scallops as they are incredibly juicy and sear beautifully. It also features fresh veggies, creamy avocado, and crispy bacon in a flavor-rich salsa that pops with color.

What You’ll Need

Here’s what you’ll need to prepare the scallops:

Large scallops
Olive oil
Butter
Salt and pepper

And for the salsa, you will need:

Cherry Tomatoes
Red Bell Pepper
Bacon
Sweet corn
Avocado
Red onion
Limes
Olive oil
Fresh cilantro

Find the full recipe here!

Jumbo Shrimp with Romesco Sauce

A homemade Romesco Sauce pairs well with a wide variety of grilled meats, grilled vegetables, and seafood options–including jumbo shrimp! Each shrimp gets its own spotlight on this seafood platter, and the Romesco Sauce adds a festive red that makes this dish ideal to serve during the holiday season.

What You’ll Need

Here’s what you’ll need to prepare the jumbo shrimp:

Jumbo shrimp
Olive oil
Garlic
Lemon
Salt and pepper

And for the Romesco Sauce, you will need:

Red Bell Peppers
Tomatoes-on-the-Vine
Crusty Italian bread
Toasted almonds
Smoked paprika
Garlic
Red wine vinegar
Extra virgin olive oil
Fresh parsley

Find the full recipe here!

Tips for Preparing Seafood

Here are some extra chef-approved tips for preparing scallops and jumbo shrimp so you get the best results when preparing your seafood spread!

How to Prepare Scallops

Here are our chef’s top scallop tips:

Pat scallops dry with a paper towel before cooking. Extra moisture will make it difficult to sear your scallops to a beautiful golden brown, so the dryer the scallops, the better.
Like many seafood options, it takes very little time to cook scallops. When cooking large scallops like this recipe calls for, you will need to cook on medium-high heat for only 3 to 4 minutes per side. Once the scallops are opaque (or no longer transparent) they are done and ready to be enjoyed!
We suggest cooking scallops with both butter and olive oil: the butter will add a rich flavor to the scallops, and the olive oil will help you achieve a beautiful sear.

How to Prepare Jumbo Shrimp

Here are our chef’s best tips for cooking jumbo shrimp:

You may need to devein and peel your jumbo shrimp before cooking. To peel, slip your thumb under the shell near the tail of the shrimp and peel it off in pieces. To devein, use a paring knife to cut down the back of the shrimp; avoid cutting all the way through. Once you find the vein (which is a dark black in color), you can pull it out of the shrimp and discard it. Your shrimps are now ready to cook!
Jumbo shrimp take a bit longer than small shrimp to cook. When preparing, cook each side of the jumbo shrimp until they turn opaque and are seared to a golden brown, roughly 10 minutes total.