Coquilles Saint-Jacques is a French scallop au gratin starter, a true bistro classic I’ve always loved. With sweet scallops baked in a creamy mushroom Béchamel and a golden cheesy crust, you’ll be surprised how easy it is to make. Comforting and rich, a lovely way to start a dinner.
Nagi's Notes
If you’re after an elegant starter for dinner parties that can be entirely made ahead, is impressive-but-affordable, and is so incredibly delicious it will make everybody think you’re hiding a French chef in the kitchen, THIS IS IT!!! Make in the morning, bake on demand, and here’s the kicker – ordinary folk (like myself) wouldn’t know whether you used frozen supermarket scallops or the fancy A-grade ones from the fish market that can cost four times more. Yes, we did blind-tastings to test this! I really hope you get a chance to try it!
Coquilles Saint-Jacques
Coquilles Saint-Jacques “scallop gratins” are a classic French recipe, well-known and loved by many. It’s the sort of thing families make as a starter for holidays and special dinners. It uses simple ingredients, has beautiful comforting flavours, a recipe that always feels a bit special without being complicated. It’s also commonly on the menu of proper bistros across France. And the name? Coquilles Saint-Jacques might sound confusing, but it’s simply the French word for scallops.
There are a few different ways to make Coquilles Saint-Jacques. Some people use a creamy white wine sauce with vegetables like onions or leeks. Others like me love the béchamel version, creamy, rich and the perfect base for adding mushrooms which bring a lovely balance and depth of flavour. And of course… I can’t say no to a Gruyère crust!
Ingredients
Here’s what you need to make Coquilles Saint-Jacques.
1. Scallops
Of course the better the scallops the better the dish. But I have also tested this with the best value scallops I could find (freezer aisle of supermarkets) and I was still really happy with the result thanks to the fact that it’s gently cooked covered in the creamy mushroom sauce which keeps it soft.
Scallops – Scallops are one of my favourite seafoods to cook and eat! They are delicate, naturally sweet, cook in minutes and always feel a little bit special on a plate.
If you’re looking for the best scallops, go to your local fish monger or fish markets and get them over the counter or look for good quality ones in the freezer. We get frozen Hokkaido scallops (Japan, see photo below) which are excellent even eaten raw for sashimi and crudos. If frozen, thaw them in the fridge or counter (~ 2 hours) before using. We get ours from the fish market or Japanese grocery store.
However, as mentioned above, for this dish you can also go for the better value frozen scallops from supermarkets and Asian stores. But I wouldn’t recommend them for regular pan-seared scallops because in my opinion you need better quality.
Little side foot – See photos in the post for what it looks like. Most but not all scallops have it. If you see it, best to remove as it can get a little chewy when cooked.
Roe / coral (the orange part) – Most scallops come without it. It has a lightly firmer texture and a mild flavour. It’s 100% edible and can be used in this recipe depending on your taste. Most restaurants remove it but still save it for another purpose (chefs love it for its flavour, richness and colour).
Frozen scallops from Japan. Our favourite go-to option.
2. mushroom béchamel sauce
Unsalted butter – For sautéing the eschalot and mushrooms, and the base of the béchamel.
Eschalot – Adds gentle onion sweetness. Softer and milder than regular onions. Eschalots are the small purple skinned onions with a mild, sweet flavour. They’re called shallots in the US, not to be confused with the long green shallots (Aus)/spring onions(US). Substitute with brown onion.
Mushrooms – Bring savoury depth and earthiness to balance the sweetness of the scallops. I use white mushrooms to keep the béchamel light in colour.
Flour – Thickens the sauce. Just regular plain/all-purpose flour
Milk and cream – Heating it helps the sauce come together lump-free. You could substitute the cream with more milk, but it will reduce the richness. Lactose-free milk and cream work too.
Nutmeg – Classic spice in a Béchamel.
3. cheese crust
Panko breadcrumbs – Light Japanese breadcrumb, perfect for what we are after, an extra-crispy topping. You can buy it at most big supermarkets (Coles, Woolworths) in the Asian foods section and Asian stores. Substitute with regular breadcrumbs if you can’t find it.
Unsalted butter – Helps the panko to brown evenly and adds flavour.
Gruyère cheese – From the Swiss Alpes, it’s the traditional cheese for Coquilles Saint-Jacques. Nutty and melts well, perfect for gratins. Swiss/Emmental is the closest match. Otherwise, use any mild melting cheese like Cheddar, Monterey Jack, Colby or Tasty.
How to make Coquilles Saint-Jacques
The steps to make Coquilles Saint-Jacques are simple. A quick mushroom béchamel, prep a crunchy Gruyère topping, then layer everything over scallops and bake until golden.
1. prepare the scallops
Dry and trim – Pat them dry with paper towel. Remove the little side muscle (the “foot”), it’s edible but gets chewy when cooked.
Slice – Then slice each scallop in half. Set aside until needed.
2. Prepare the Cheesy Crust
Add all the crust ingredients in a bowl.
Combine – Toss together until combined. The topping is ready. Set aside until needed.
3. Making the Mushroom Béchamel Sauce
Butter – Melt butter in a medium pot over medium heat.
Cook mushrooms – When the butter is foamy, add eschalot and mushrooms. Stir regularly and cook for 4–5 minutes until the mushrooms are soft.
Flour – Add flour. Stir and cook for 30 seconds. It will look a bit pasty, that’s normal.
Milk and cream – Pour in the hot milk and cream then stir until incorporated.
Season and simmer – Season with salt, pepper and nutmeg. Stir well, then when you see the first small bubbles appearing, let it cook for 30 seconds and take it off the stove and set aside.
Check the texture – It should not be as thick as a classic béchamel because of the ratio of flour to liquid being lower than normal. It’s creamier and more pourable, so it spreads easily around the scallops and fills the ramekins without feeling heavy.
4. Assemble the Coquilles Saint-Jacques
Season the scallops with salt and divide them between 4 shallow ramekins. Spread them out so they sit in a single layer. (We use flat round ramekins: 11cm / 4.3” diameter, 2.5cm / 1” deep.) Shallow ramekins are best for this dish because the scallops sit in one even layer and cook perfectly in the sauce, plus you get a nice wide surface for the crust, the best balance of crust to sauce! Regular deeper ramekins will also work, just don’t fill them all the way to the top, and you may need to adjust the amount of scallops, sauce and crust to suit the size.
Add the sauce – Pour the mushroom béchamel over the top. It should spread around the scallops and fill up all the gaps. Use a small spatula or the back of a spoon to flatten the surface and to make it even and tidy. Use all the sauce! The dish relies on that creamy goodness!
Top with crust – Scatter the crust evenly over each ramekin, right to the edges. We want a golden top with no empty spots.
Bake – Place ramekins on a baking tray and bake for 20 minutes until the tops are golden and crisp. Rest 2 minutes on the counter, then serve!
How to serve Coquilles Saint-Jacques
Of course, these little gratins are best enjoyed hot! Bring them straight to the table after resting while the tops are still crisp. I love them just by themselves, but you can add a little salad on the side or some crusty bread to scoop up the sauce. Or even add tarragon to the sauce (use your leftovers from the Chicken Chasseur) to make it extra French!
Coquilles Saint-Jacques is one of those dishes that feels special every time you make it. Perfect for holidays, date nights or whenever you want something cosy without spending hours in the kitchen. But now that you know how easy it is, don’t wait for a special occasion! Hope you love it and try not to steal the crust from the person next to you like Nagi does, that’s just mean. Bon appétit! – JB 👨🏻🍳
FAQ – Coquilles Saint-Jacques
Yes, you can make it one day ahead. Assemble the scallops and sauce, then cool it completely before adding the topping. Cover and refrigerate. Bake straight from fridge-cold, the cooking time stays the same (20 minutes).
Yes. Flat, shallow ramekins are my favourite because they cook evenly and give the best crust, but other sizes work too. You may need to adjust the number of scallops, sauce and topping depending on how big your ramekins are and how many you want to make.
You can too! I don’t recommend anything larger than 1.5 litres in capacity, otherwise the sauce layer becomes too thin. Just bake until the top is golden.
Of course you can! You’ll see this option in the video. Using the same recipe, I made 5 portions in medium scallop shells. I found mine at the Sydney Fish Market. You can check with your local fish monger and they’re also easy to buy online. Tip: Place a scrunched sheet of foil underneath to keep them flat and stable in the oven.
I was a bit more hands-on for this one! Nagi still jumped in to help with styling, always good to learn from the master herself. I filmed the video on my own this time. But I still had to go back to the studio a few times after realising I’d missed shots or could have done things better. But that’s how you learn, right?
Nagi suggested this would make a perfect Christmas starter, and I couldn’t agree more. After some research and using my own experience, I got the first test pretty close to the final version. From there, it was just a bit of tweaking, answering questions and refining the method until we both felt it was ready to share.
Watch How to Make It
Hungry for more? Subscribe to my newsletter and follow along on Facebook, Pinterest and Instagram for all of the latest updates.
Coquilles Saint-Jacques
Ingredients
- 220g / 7 1/2 oz medium raw scallops (Note 1)
- 1/4 tsp cooking salt / kosher salt
Mushroom Béchamel Sauce
- 30g / 2 tbsp unsalted butter
- 1 eschalot (US: shallot), finely diced (Note 2)
- 200g / 7 oz white mushrooms , diced 8mm / 1/4"
- 2 tbsp plain flour (all-purpose)
- 1/2 cup hot milk , preferably full fat but works with lite milk too
- 1/2 cup hot thickened cream (heavy cream) , or any other full fat cream
- 1/4 tsp cooking salt / kosher salt
- 1/8 tsp black pepper
- 1 pinch ground nutmeg
Cheesy Crust
- 3/4 cup panko breadcrumbs (Note 3)
- 50 g / 3 tbsp unsalted butter , melted
- 50g / 1/2 cup Gruyère cheese , shredded using a standard box grater (tightly packed if using cups) (Note 4)
- 1/8 tsp cooking salt
Instructions
ABBREVIATED RECIPE
- Pat scallops dry, remove the chewy side muscle, slice in half. Cook mushrooms and eschalot in butter, make a creamy béchamel. Mix the crust. Season and cover scallops in gratin dishes, top with crust, bake 20 minutes at 200°C / 400°F (180°C / 350°F fan).
FULL RECIPE
Preparation
- Preheat oven to 200°C / 400°F (180°C fan-forced).
- Prepare the scallops – Pat them dry with paper towel. Remove the little side muscle (the “foot”) if you see it, it's edible but get chewy when cooked. (Note 1) Set aside until needed.
Cheesy Crust
- Mix the crust ingredients and set aside until needed.
Mushroom Béchamel Sauce
- Melt butter in a medium pot over medium heat. Add the eschalot and mushrooms. Stir regularly and cook for 4–5 minutes until the mushrooms are soft.
- Add flour. Stir and cook for 30 seconds. It will look a bit pasty, that’s normal.
- Pour in the hot milk and cream. Then stir until incorporated and lump free. (Note 5)
- Thicken – Add the salt, pepper and nutmeg, then stir well. When you see the first small bubbles appearing, let it cook for 30 seconds, then take it off the stove. It should be more pourable than a regular Béchamel, so it spreads easily around the scallops. (Note 6)
Assemble
- Season the scallops with salt and divide them between 4 shallow ramekins. (We use flat round ramekins: 11cm / 4.3" diameter, 2.5cm / 1" deep.) (Note 7)
- Sauce – Cover scallops with ALL the mushroom béchamel. Make sure to fill up all the gaps. Flatten the surface with a small spatula or the back of a spoon.
- Cheesy crust – Scatter the cheesy crust evenly over each ramekin, right to the edges. We want a golden top with no empty spots.
- Bake – Place ramekins on a tray and bake 20 minutes until golden.
- Serve – Rest 2 minutes, then serve. (Note 8) And bon appétit, of course!
Recipe Notes:
- Small scallops: keep them whole.
- Medium scallops: cut in half (my preference).
- Large scallops: cut into 3 pieces so they cook evenly.
- Frozen scallops – most scallops in Australia are frozen. Thaw them in the fridge or counter (~ 2 hours) before using.
- Little side foot – See photos in the post for what it looks like. Most but not all scallops have it. If you see it, best to remove as it can get a little chewy when cooked.
- Roe / coral (the orange part) – Most scallops come without it. It has a slightly firmer texture and a mild flavour. It’s 100% edible and can be used in this recipe depending on your taste. Most restaurants remove it but still save it for another purpose (chefs love it for its flavour, richness and colour).
Nutrition Information:
Life Of Dozer
Dozer said every recipe has to go through quality control. No exceptions!
I put the whole batch into one big tapas dish and served it as a share plate at a get-together alongside crusty baguette slices to soak up the juices. So delicious! It was very easy too because I keep cubes of roasted mushroom duxelles In the freezer ready to be dropped into anything that needs a mushroom boost so I just used a couple of those. The scallops release some liquid so it’s important to let it stand after it comes out of the oven so it can thicken up again. I’m going to dry-age the scallops next time. It’s a winner.
Where do I buy the Japanese scallops you suggest in recipe please
Hi Tracy, thank you for your comment, I’ve updated the post (ingredients) to make it clearer. We get ours either at the fish market or the Japanese grocery store. You can also find them online.
Husband’s birthday is next week – he’s going to LOVE this!
This will be his birthday present Nancy, he won’t need anything else 🙂
We don’t get scallops very readily in South Africa. Can I replace with fat large prawns cut in half?
Hi Debby, yes you totally can. Cut in half is fine, smaller if they are very large.
No roe no scallops for me. Grew up on good old Tasmanian scallops and will never waiver.
Hi Trish, I hear you! Tassie scallops are something special!
Hi Team – how would you make this ahead of time? Frozen or Fresh scallops in this case?
Hi Ryan, you can make this one day in advance. Using fresh or thawed scallops. You can bake straight from fridge cold. The cooking time won’t change, still 20 minutes.
This looks perfect for a Christmas eve treat, thanks! Always have the right recipe at the right time with the right ingredients!
This why we do what we do Anna! 🙂
Hi Chef JB
I have a recipe i found years ago, a seafood mornay baked in Vol au Vents. Would your delicious recipe be something you could use, or is it too runny? I dont have flat ramekins!
Hi Vanessa, I’m not completely sure because I haven’t tested it in vol-au-vents but in theory it should work. The sauce is thick enough for a gratin style dish, so it shouldn’t be too runny. If you try it, please let me know how it goes. 🙂
I love everything about this recipe, including shallots, nutty Gruyere and my favorite shellfish, scallops. One thing though. I’ve always disregarded unsalted butter and just subtracted a pinch in other places where salt is mentioned to compensate. Any thoughts?
Hi Casey, I’m so glad you love the recipe! As for the butter, unsalted lets you manage the seasoning more precisely. If you prefer salted butter, absolutely use it, just reduce the added salt a little and adjust to taste at the end.
J B. What is the difference between ‘thickened cream’ and full fat cream?
Referring to your Coquilles san Jaques recipe.
Hi Angela, full fat cream is just cream, thickened cream has added thickeners/stabilisers (usually gelatin). Thickened cream whips easily and holds shape well. It’s great for sauces, desserts, whipped cream, anything that needs a bit of stability.
I have always wondered about that. Thank you for that little bit of information, chef JB!
Hi, I haven’t tried it yet, but could I just use all half and half instead of milk and cream? Thanks.
Yes Barbara, you totally can 🙂
Nagi, when are the Christmas recipes coming? I’m desperate for inspiration.
Hi Mads, this is perfect for Christmas!! A great starter for any special dinner 🙂
Wow ,this recipe look a lot easier than the one I had , I use to cook the scallop just a bit and then worried if it would over cook in the oven while I was browning the top .
Cant wait to try this one.
I also did your crepe recipe JB and they were more than great, better than the French recipe I use to make for many years .
Thank you for all your great recipes you and Nagi are great chef.
Thanks Jen for all the compliments! Hope you get to try the scallops soon!
Jen: in the 70’s my ‘discovered’ crepes (hey, it was central California). Anyway, she was delighted when she found that pretty much any stir-fried dish made a great filling for crepes.
Could you substitute white wine for the milk?
Hi Nancy, not really, milk is a crucial ingredient in a proper béchamel and the béchamel itself is essential for this dish. 🙂
Great to find you back and that Dozer is still checking all out. Just reading the recipe makes me drool.
Haha, yes Dozer knows his job! Thanks Jonathan!
Love your recipe -EXCEPTFOR ONE VERY IMPORTANT THING LEFT OUT. I’ve been eating and cooking scallops for 50 yrs. I’m 77. The pink coral is ALL IMPORTANT for flavour and appearance .i NEVER have this dish in a restaurant if they serve Without the coral. It is a Major part of the scallop, and alters the taste. CHEFS: make your sauces with something else! A scallop without a coral is a scall.! Please Don’t deny us our favourite shell fish. Richard Cornwall and France xx
Hi Richard, thank you for taking the time to write. I completely agree that the coral adds flavour and colour. I actually do mention the coral in the post, but it doesn’t appear in our photos and recipe simply because scallops are most commonly sold out of their shells and without the coral these days. For many home cooks, it’s not something they see often at the shops anymore. Thank you again for reminding us of the traditional way, it’s always lovely hearing from someone who has been cooking this dish for so long!
In Australia many years ago you could find scallops for sale with the coral attached.
These days scallops sold in Australia are rarely available fresh and never have the coral attached.
If you can find them, the price of fresh scallops in fish markets, where they are presented in the shell or fresh, is too high compared to the cost of frozen scallops.
Frozen scallops from the supermarket are a very acceptable substitute. Having used the frozen scallops from the supermarket on many occasions they are an acceptable substitute and just as tasty.
Hi everyone, I’m French and when I do this dish, I usually use white pepper and I put a part of my cheese in the bechamel which makes a Mornay sauce and the rest on the crust. I also make it the classic way using mashed potatoes piped around the edge of the ramequin. Happy cooking!
Hi Sam, thank you for sharing your way. Mornay and mash potato is so classic and so good. We went for a slightly different path. Still great, adding mushrooms for earthiness and a very cheesy and buttery crust. 🙂
Hi Nagi,
Just wondering if I can use bay scallops instead? Will using them change the flavor?
Hi, yes you can totally can, just keep them whole as they are fairly small. The fact that they are covered in sauce won’t overcook them. I used to cook with Nantucket bay scallops. So good!
Hi Nagi, in U.S. the scallops are usually sold number per lb like shrimp. From the photo yours look quite large, 8-10 per lb? Do you have this measurement? Thank you.
Hi Den, the scallops we use in this recipe are around 20 to 25g each. So 18-20 pieces per lb.
Every week I wait to see the latest update on DOZER! He is one happy dog!
Haha yes! He lives such a happy life 🙂