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Linguine With Clam Sauce is an easy to make pasta recipe masquerading as fancy restaurant fare. Soak up the white wine sauce with a few pieces of warm bread!
Your friends and family will never know dinner was SO easy to make. It can be our secret!
Linguine With Clam Sauce Recipe
Linguine With Clam Sauce is one of those dishes that sounds so fancy, like something you would only order in a restaurant. But it’s actually one of the easiest and most affordable dishes you can make at home!
My mom used to make this for me as a kid, it was one of her weekly rotations and it was my favorite! We used to fight over the chopped clams at the bottom of the bowl.
I’m changing things up with her normal recipe and adding seared scallops! So this is the ULTIMATE seafood pasta recipe. They go so well with linguine and clam sauce.
If you’re worried about cooking scallops, don’t worry, I break it down and make it REALLY simple.
I used jarred clams for this recipe, so you won’t have to bother with cooking fresh clams, unless you want to.
The best part is that everything can be cooked and prepped in the time it takes to cook the linguine, so dinner is ready in less than 30 minutes!
Ingredients For Linguine With Clam Sauce
A small handful of ingredients make up this easy pasta recipe. I usually have most of these things at home already and the only thing I run out to grab are the scallops!
- linguine
- garlic
- yellow onion
- dried oregano
- red pepper flakes
- dry white wine or cooking wine
- chopped clams
- lemon
- fresh parsley
- scallops
How To Make Linguine With Clam Sauce
You are going to be SHOCKED when you see how easy it is to make this! If you serve it to friends and family, they will surely be impressed and you can totally trick them into thinking you spent hours in the kitchen.
1. Cook the pasta. Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil. Add the linguine and cook according to box instructions.
2. Sauté the garlic and onion. Heat a large non-stick pan on medium heat with 1 tbsp of olive oil. Sauté the garlic, onion, oregano, and red pepper flakes for about 2 minutes, or until the onions begin to soften. Then add the white wine and cook until the wine has reduced by half, stirring occasionally.
4. Finish the clam sauce. Add the butter and stir until melted. Then add the clams and half their juices, lemon zest and juice, and parsley. Reduce the heat to low and simmer. When the pasta is finished cooking, drain it and add it to the pan, then toss it in the clam sauce.
5. Sear the scallops. Heat a large non-stick pan with 1/2 tbsp of olive oil and 1 tbsp of butter on high heat. When the pan is HOT, add the scallops and cook for 3-4 minutes undisturbed. Flip the scallops add the remaining 1 tbsp of butter, and cook for 1 minute undisturbed until they turn opaque.
Add the scallops to the linguine with clam sauce and serve hot!
Tips For Searing Scallops
Cooking scallops at home might sound intimidating, but I promise it’s easy! If you follow my tips, you’ll have perfect scallops on the first try.
- Purchase dry packed day boat scallops. The best seared scallops start with the type of scallops you’re purchasing. Day boat scallops are the largest and if they are dry packed, they won’t shrink when you cook them.
- Use a non-stick pan. Some people swear by cast irons for searing scallops but mine always turn out the best when I use a non-stick pan.
- Use a combination of olive oil and butter. Using a small amount of olive oil will keep the scallops from burning and using butter will give them a
- Cook the scallops 90% on one side. This is what will get them the most perfect sear. If you flip them halfway through, they won’t be able to get that nice brown crust on the edges.
It’s important to keep the least amount of liquid in the pan as possible, so if it looks like you have too much, just stick the corner of a paper towel in the pan to soak up some of the oil.
If you want to learn more about cooking scallops at home, where to find the best scallops, and more, you can check out my Scallops 101 blog post.
What Goes With Linguine And Clam Sauce?
Any green vegetable will go great with this recipe. I love to serve it with broccolini, but I also suggest serving it with some warm homemade bread to soak up the garlicky white wine sauce!
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Linguine With Clam Sauce
Ingredients
Pasta
- 16 ounces linguine
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- 5 cloves garlic, minced
- 1/4 cup yellow onion, diced
- 1 teaspoon dried oregano
- 1 teaspoon red pepper flakes
- 1/2 cup dry white wine, or cooking wine
- 1 tablespoon unsalted butter
- 12 ounces chopped clams, canned
- 1 lemon, juice and zest
- 1/4 cup fresh parsley, chopped
Scallops
- 1 pound sea scallops
- 1/2 tablespoon olive oil
- 2 tablespoons unsalted butter, divided
Instructions
For the linguine
- Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil. Add the linguine and cook according to box instructions.
- Heat a large non-stick pan on medium heat with 1 tbsp of olive oil. Sauté the garlic, onion, oregano, and red pepper flakes for about 2 minutes, or until the onions begin to soften. Then add the white wine and cook until the wine has reduced by half, stirring occasionally.
- Add the butter and stir until melted. Then add the clams and half their juices, lemon zest and juice, and parsley. Reduce the heat to low and simmer until the linguine is ready. When the pasta is finished cooking, drain it and add it to the pan, then toss it in the clam sauce.
For the scallops
- Heat a large non-stick pan with 1/2 tbsp of olive oil and 1 tbsp of butter on high heat. When the pan is HOT, add the scallops and cook for 3-4 minutes undisturbed. Flip the scallops add the remaining 1 tbsp of butter, and cook for 1 minute undisturbed until they turn opaque.
- Add the scallops to the linguine with clam sauce and serve hot!
We can never have too many pasta dishes and this was amazing. Definitely one to add to our weekly rotation.
What a classic recipe – I love linguine with clam sauce. This version is absolutely tasty and the scallops are just perfect with it!
I’m always on the hunt for new pasta recipes! I love clams too so this was right up my street! Very good!
We used fresh vongole as clams aren’t available here! Fantastic dish, seriously anything with pasta is always awesome.
What a delicious pasta dish and so colourful too. I loved the scallops, my favourite seafood. Thanks for sharing.
I was excited to see a recipe with seared scallops in clam sauce. However, when I click on link I arrive at a place where a million ads pop up and no “jump to recipe” link. Very disappointing. It makes me so frustrated that now I wouldn’t click on any of your easy recipes, which are not easy because you can’t just jump to the recipe.
Hi Jill, thanks for your feedback. Please keep in mind that my blog is a small business and by scrolling down to the recipe you are helping to support me and my family, while also allowing me to continue providing these recipes to you for free. Have a great day!
If I want to use FRESH clams, how would I adjust the recipe?
Hi Rose – you can add them in at step 3 instead of the other clams, just adjust the heat to medium and cover with a lid until the clams open. Discard the ones that don’t open.