The 4-Ingredient, Old-School Seafood Appetizer That Puts Bacon In The Spotlight

Even if you consider yourself quite the entertainer, you're likely always on the hunt for elevated yet still simple dishes to serve at dinner parties, special events, or get-togethers with friends. Although you may want something that seems like you invested a ton of time, the reality is that between getting your charcuterie tray in order and shopping for disposable tableware, you don't have hours to spend over the stove making appetizers. 

Lucky for you, we have just the recipe you need: Four-ingredient, bacon-wrapped scallops. This dish, in its entirety, comes together in less than 40 minutes and requires very simple ingredients: bacon (regular thickness), fresh scallops, maple syrup, and soy sauce. The soy sauce and bacon offer the perfect salty juxtaposition to the sweet and sticky maple syrup, while a well-cooked scallop has the ideal toothsome texture and mouthfeel. 

Although the scallops do offer delectable seafood flavor, it's really the bacon that reigns supreme in terms of flavor and texture. The recipe also includes an apple cider vinegar and apple cider dipping sauce, though we would argue that these scallops are tasty enough to serve without it. It's a great appetizer to serve when you need something filling and savory enough to satiate your guests without distracting from the main course.

Since bacon is the star of the show here, one of the easiest ways to amp up the flavor of these scallops is to play with the type that you use. Our recipe is tailored to strips with a standard thickness, meaning you won't want to venture too far from that when it comes to size. But, swapping plain bacon for an applewood- or hickory-smoked variety would be an easy way to infuse it with more flavor to better complement the rich maple syrup and the apple cider dipping sauce. You could swap the bacon with prosciutto as well; just be sure to pay attention to the thickness to ensure that everything cooks correctly.

The other way to add more flavor to this dish is to play with different seasonings on the scallops. An Old Bay-seasoned scallop, for example, would add the perfect savory complexity and pair well with the bacon. You could also add some sort of heat element to the equation by adding some hot sauce to your dipping sauce or to the soy-maple drizzle.