
These Seared Scallops with Avocado Mousse and Passion Fruit Sauce is a easy but elegant and tasty recipe. Perfect for any special occasion!
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Hello everyone! I hope you are doing well. I am doing well, too, thanks for asking. When you read this post, Andrew and I are enjoying our long-anticipated trip towards Newfoundlad & Labrador, Canada. Fingers crossed everything is fine :)
Today I am sharing, perhaps, one of the most sophisticated recipes on this blog. And I am not talking about the LONG name (I know Google will retaliate, but sometimes short names simply won’t do!)
There’s nothing complicated about it. But as it consists of three main elements (plus the garnish), the dish looks very elegant, in my humble opinion.
What Are These Elements?
– Seared Scallops. Obviously. When I had been planning this recipe, I wanted large scallops so the dish would look even more impressive. However, on the day of groceries, there were only mini scallops. While with small scallops it might not look as stunning, it doesn’t affect the flavour at all. You can serve this dish as an appetizer or as a main course. As an appetizer, 2-4 large (6-10 small or small medium) scallops should suffice. As a main course, use 5-6 large or 10-14 small ones.
– Avocado Mouse. A simple combination of avocado, cream cheese, lime, and salt.
– Passion Fruit Sauce / Salsa. That’s a sweet and salty sauce with sautéed shallots, sweet peppers, jalapenos, garlic, thyme, and, of course, passion fruit. Nice and refreshing!
Seared Scallops with Avocado Mousse and Passion Fruit Sauce
Despite three elements, these Seared Scallops with Avocado and Passion Fruit Sauce are extremely easy to make. If you can multitask, you can easily pull this together in about 30 minutes.
I would recommend making the passion fruit salsa first which would take about 10 minutes or so (Plus a little time for cooling it down, ~15 minutes.) Then tackle the avocado mousse (And refrigerate a bit while tackling the scallops.) Lastly, sear the scallops. The process would take another 5 minutes or so. So easy but so delicious!
More Scallop Recipes
Chanterelle Seared Scallop Salad
I hope you like this recipe, and you will give it a try soon. If you try it, let me know in this post or send me an Instagram message or share you photos adding the hashtag #havocinthekitchen.
Cheers and see you in a week or so!

Seared Scallops with Avocado Mousse and Passion Fruit Sauce
Seared Scallops with Avocado Mousse and Passion Fruit Sause
Course: Main, Appetizers2-3
servings15
minutes30
minutesThese Seared Scallops with Avocado Mousse and Passion Fruit Sause is a easy but absolutely elegant and tasty recipe. Perfect for any special occasion!
Serves 2-3 mains or more as an appetizer
Ingredients
- Seared Scallops:
20-28 small scallops (In my case ~14 gr. each) or 10-12 large scallops
1 tbsp. olive oil
1 tbsp. butter
a little of salt and pepper
- Passion Fruit Sauce / Salsa:
1 tbsp. olive oil
2 small shallots
1/2 small sweet pepper, cored, seeded and cubed (about 1/2 cup cubed)
1/3 – 1/3 small jalapeno, seeded and thinly sliced
1-2 garlic cloves, minced
about 1/2 cup passion fruit pulp (4-6 fresh fruit)
1 tsp. honey, optional
1/2 tsp. fresh thyme
a small pinch of smoked paprika and salt, each
- Avocado Mousse:
1 ripe avocado
1/3 cup cream cheese
juice of 1 or 2 limes
2-3 large basil leaves
a little pinch of salt, to taste
a little (~up to 1 tsp.) drizzle of olive oil (optional)
- Assembling / Garnishing
1 passion fruit, pulp
fresh herbs (thyme and basil)
extra jalapeno, seeded and sliced
extra olive oil, for drizzle
lime wedges
Directions
- Passion Fruit Sauce / Salsa:
- In a small-medium pan heat the oil and cook the shallots, garlic, sweet pepper, and jalapenos, stirring occasionally, for about 5-7 minutes, until soften and fragrant.
- Stir in the passion fruit pulp along with the thyme, salt, and smoked paprika. If the passion fruit pulp is quite tart, you can also add a little of honey. Simmer for another 2-3 minutes, until glossy, and off heat.
- Avocado Mousse:
- Combine the avocado, cream cheese, lime juice, basil, and salt and pure using a regular or immersion blender, until the desired consistency. If you want a silkier texture, you can also add a little drizzle of olive oil.
- Seared Scallops:
- Use a paper towel to pat the scallops dry. Season them lightly with salt and pepper from both sides.
- Add the oil and butter to the pan. When the oil is hot and shimmery, carefully place the scallops into the pan. Cook, without moving them (Otherwise you could destroy the sear) until browned, between 1,5 and 2 minutes. If you are cooking large scallops, 2 minutes should be sufficient.
- Flip the scallops. If any stick to the pan, wait a few more seconds then try again, gently moving them to help release them. Sear the from another side for 1,5 minutes or so. Transfer to the paper towel to remove some excessive oil.
- Assembling:
- To assemble, place few spoons of the avocado mouse and passion fruit salsa, each. Arrange the scallops. Garnish with fresh passion fruit pulp, herb, and lime wedges. If desired, drizzle with the olive oil. Enjoy immediately!

Hi – I’m Ben, a blogger, recipe developer, and food photographer. I’m glad you’re here! I hope you will enjoy hundreds of delicious recipes and a pinch of havoc in the kitchen.
What a beautiful dish, Ben. I love scallops so much and definitely don’t cook them often enough. This is an delicious reminder. And the passions fruit! My favorite! Thank you for sharing this. :-) ~Valentina
Valentina recently posted…Pumpkin Almond Flour Cookies for Halloween and Thanksgiving
What a beautiful dish, Ben – as you know from my posts, scallops are one of my favorite things to make and eat. I love the colors and textures here – I wish I could easily get fresh passionfruit!
Lovely, lovely decadent twist Ben!
2pots2cook recently posted…Biscoff Cookie Butter Recipe
What a deliriously delicious dish, Ben! Every element here from the passion fruit sauce to the bed of avocado mousse to the beautifully cooked scallops looks and sounds absolutely wonderful! Fantastic meal! Thanks so much for sharing this one! Wow!
Shashi recently posted…By: Holley
So elegant and such wonderful flavors!
Elegant is right Ben! I can’t get over your lovely photos! The passion fruit sauce is particularly intriguing, and I love how you presented it. This is a combination of flavors and textures I have to try, yum!
Shannon recently posted…Sriracha Vegenaise Sandwiches
What a lovely, elegant meal! I adore scallops and that sauce is the perfect pairing.
Hope you guys are enjoying your trip. We’re lucky here in Scotland, it’s easy to get good quality scallops so I’ll definitely be putting this dish on the list. That pairing with avocado and the salsa sounds amazing!
Neil recently posted…Quick And Easy Banana Porridge
Seared scallops are one of my very faves! I love how you paired them with that silky avocado mousse and the spicy and sweet passion fruit sauce. Can’t wait to eat this! Looking forward to hearing about your travel adventures too.
Tasia ~ two sugar bugs recently posted…Pop Tart Cookies
Wow what a flavour combination. Your a food chemist Ben, never thought of combining all of these ingredients together, they sound definitely would blend well together, texture sounds magical, add to that the aesthetic aspect its all A+++
What a delicious sounding recipe, Ben. I absolutely love seared scallops and the pairing with avocado along with the salsa sounds heavenly.
And, btw enjoy your trip!
Love, love, LOVE scallops! This is a terrific looking dish — lot of flavor. Thanks!
John / Kitchen Riffs recently posted…The Claridge Cocktail
What a great combination of flavors here, Ben! This does sound like a sophisticated recipe, but there’s nothing too difficult in here at all. You just need to have a plan in the kitchen! I really would love to play around with passion fruit a bit more…
In other news, I hope you enjoyed the trip! I can’t wait to hear more about it!
David @ Spiced recently posted…Slow Cooker Chicken Tikka Masala
Sophisticated is right! You’re so good at putting together luscious flavor and texture combinations and this one is gorgeous too! I hope that you and Andrew have a wonderful trip to Newfoundlad and Labrador.
What an amazing flavour combination! Such a nice light dinner option. Love your creativity, Ben — keep the recipes coming!
The combination of avocados and seared scallops are fantastic! I make a similar dish but instead of cream cheese, i add coconut cream or milk. The sauce is made of shallots and champagne vinegar, sooooo good. We serve the dish on lightly toasted french stick or baguette. We were first introduced to scallops and a sweet-ish sauce in Spain at a Michelin rated (not yet started) restaurant where the served the seared scallop on a bed if creamed corn. OMG, so good.
We had wanted to see NFLD but the prices were ridiculous, so we passed. Hope your tip is good and you don’t have issues. Our friends (same sex male couple) have travelled everywhere without issues but they are 6’ plus and 250 lbs each so I doubt anyone would trouble them. In Budapest, the worst thing was a stupid hooker who wouldn’t stop harassing them until they spelled out why they weren’t interested. They loved Turkey and Morocco. Next month they’re heading to the far east.
I love scallops but the hubby does not! He and the kids are going up to Green Bay to watch a Packers game next month and I will add your scallops to my menu while they’re gone!! They sound terrific!
Hi Liz, for us land-bound mortals, Costco has excellent (albeit expensive) large scallops in the freezer fish section. They are exceptional. I usually defrost them in the fridge overnight. They are not brined (like most “fresh” scallops we get here) they are flash frozen and smell like the sea when defrosted.
The sauce is intriguing Ben.
I adore scallops and nestled in that fluffy avocado mousse looks heavenly. Then paired with that sauce puts it over the top. Would love to dig in!
Kim | Give it Some Thyme recently posted…Roasted Butternut Squash Risotto
What a unique combo of flavours! I have never thought of combining passionfruit sauce with scallops. Wish I could taste some right now!
angiesrecipes recently posted…Sweet Potato Toast with Avocado and Cherry Tomato