Crockpot Garlic Butter Sea Scallops and Sun-Dried Tomato Champagne Pasta

This Crockpot garlic butter sea scallops and sun-dried tomato champagne pasta brings restaurant elegance to your own kitchen with almost no hands-on time.

Seared scallops, fettuccine, and a rich champagne cream sauce simmer together in the slow cooker, creating a silky, celebratory dinner that feels like a special occasion any night of the week.

The slow cooker does the heavy lifting here, transforming champagne, seafood stock, mascarpone, and garlic into a velvety sauce while you sear the scallops. Then everything comes together in just ten minutes at the end.

The result is a pasta dish with golden-crusted scallops, tender fettuccine, and a sauce that's both luxurious and comforting. Perfect for a date night, a holiday dinner, or any time you want to impress without stress.

Ingredients

Why this recipe works

Slow-cooking the sauce on LOW for two hours allows the champagne and seafood stock to meld with the mascarpone and butter, creating a rich, complex flavor that would normally require constant stirring and reduction on the stovetop. The gentle heat keeps the dairy smooth and prevents curdling, so the sauce stays silky and glossy.

Searing the scallops separately before adding them to the Crockpot builds a golden crust that locks in their natural sweetness.

The final ten-minute simmer finishes cooking them gently in the sauce, infusing the pasta with their briny essence while keeping the scallops tender and moist. The fettuccine cooks directly in the sauce, absorbing all the flavors as it softens.

Notes and substitutions

Use dry champagne or any dry sparkling wine for the best balance; sweet varieties will make the sauce too sugary. Seafood stock adds depth, but you can substitute chicken or vegetable stock in a pinch.

Mascarpone gives the sauce its signature richness, but cream cheese works well as a substitute. Sun-dried tomatoes packed in oil add extra flavor, so use those if you have them.

Sea scallops are ideal here because they're large and sear beautifully. If using smaller bay scallops, reduce the final cooking time to 5-7 minutes. Fresh fettuccine cooks faster than dried, so check it after 7-8 minutes. Baby spinach wilts quickly, but you can use regular spinach, roughly chopped, if that's what you have.

• dry champagne: Use any dry sparkling wine or substitute with an equal amount of dry white wine plus 1/2 teaspoon of white wine vinegar for acidity.
• seafood stock: Substitute with vegetable stock or chicken stock if seafood stock is unavailable.
• mascarpone cheese: Replace with an equal amount of cream cheese for a slightly tangier sauce, or use full-fat Greek yogurt added at the end to avoid curdling.
• sea scallops: Use large shrimp or peeled and deveined jumbo shrimp; reduce the final cooking time to 5-7 minutes until pink and opaque.

Equipment

• 6-quart slow cooker
• Large skillet for searing scallops
• Tongs
• Wooden spoon
• Measuring cups and spoons
• Chef's knife and cutting board