Spanish Paella Recipe

Paella! This well-known saffron infused rice dish is a standard Spanish recipe that comes absolutely loaded with seafood or something your coronary heart needs! You don’t want a paella pan to prepare dinner paella, any skillet and even a big pot will do, and it’s surprisingly simple to make.

Terrific festive social gathering meals!

Paella recipe

In case you’ve at all times needed to however been too afraid to strive Paella, I can guarantee you – there isn’t a purpose to be scared! In case you method it the proper means – and I prefer to hold my recipes as threat free as potential – you’ll find yourself with rice that’s cooked precisely to your style in a saffron infused, flavour loaded sauce with all of your seafood cooked to perfection.

No overcooked seafood, and no mushy rice round right here!

The great thing about paella is that it’s the truth is extraordinarily versatile. Don’t get too hung up about getting the precise seafood I take advantage of. Don’t hearken to the authors who inform you that you simply MUST use home made fish broth or purchase extraordinarily costly seafood inventory.

I learnt Paella the Migeul Maestro* and Rick Stein means – as he wrote in his Mediterranean Escapes cookbook, Paella, whether or not or not it’s for a fast midweek meal or a big festive gathering, is supposed to be relaxed and enjoyable, not nerve-racking with strict guidelines.

So simply relax!! 😉

* Miguel Maestro is Australia’s most well-known Spanish Chef.

Greatest rice to make use of for paella

The perfect rice to make use of for paella is Spanish rice labelled as:

• Bomba Rice – or arroz bomba (“arroz” means rice in Spanish);

• Valencia rice or Arroz de Valencia (pictured under) – the opposite frequent identify for Bomba Rice; or

• Calasparra Rice -or  Arroz Calasparra.

Paella rice packets are typically very useful offering clues resembling photos of Paella or “good for paella!” splashed throughout it. 🙂

The place to search out paella rice – right here in Australia, paella rice is bought at most Woolworths and Harris Farms, some Coles, delis, Spanish or Mediterranean delis (some Italian ones too), or connoisseur shops. See under for finest subs utilizing extra frequent rice.

Paella rice is a brief grain number of rice (ie it’s brief in size, distinctly completely different from basmati which could be very lengthy). The distinctive high quality of paella rice is that it absorbs extra liquid than different varieties of rice with out getting bloated and mushy, making it best for a dish like paella the place you need the rice to soak up a great deal of flavour.

Greatest substitute for paella rice is risotto rice (arborio rice) which has related traits ie. potential to soak up numerous liquid, besides risotto goes creamy when you stir it. The subsequent finest is medium grain rice – the identical rice I take advantage of for rice pudding.

I don’t advocate utilizing: brown rice, lengthy grain white rice, black rice, wild rice or another fancy sort of rice. And in anticipation of somebody asking – NO to quinoa!!! (One million Spaniards virtually fainted on the thought).

What goes into Paella

I divide the stuff that goes into Paella into 2 teams:

1. The Base Elements – rice, aromatics (garlic, onion, saffron), inventory;

2. The Add Ins – chicken, seafood, chorizo

1. The Base Elements

• Paella rice – as mentioned above. Purchase something labelled as Bomba, Valencia, de Valencia or Calasparra – or just “paella rice”!

• Saffron – a signature a part of paella is the nice and cozy yellow tinge of the rice and delicate saffron flavour. Saffron is pricey, much more costly than gold by weight! So in case your price range gained’t stretch to actual saffron threads, use a pinch of saffron powder (it’s synthetic however will present the identical color hit and a few flavour – however don’t fear, we have now tons of different flavour on this paella!);

• Inventory/broth – simply retailer purchased chicken inventory is okay right here, we’re going to get tons of seafood inventory from the seafood we use. In case you’re in Australia and demand on utilizing fish or seafood inventory, get the great things from connoisseur or fish retailers, don’t purchase grocery store cartons (they’re fairly nasty). US reads: I can extremely advocate clam juice as an possibility if you need further seafood flavour;

• Garlic and onion – important flavour base;

• Capsicum/bell peppers – additionally provides to the flavour base, I actually advocate utilizing it; and

• Peas – non-obligatory, I like that it provides a splash of color in an in any other case very purple/yellow dish!

2. The Add Ins

And listed below are the proteins I put within the paella – chicken, chorizo*, calamari, prawns/shrimp, mussels. A really basic, fashionable mixture.

* 45 million Spaniards simply threw up their palms in protest on the inclusion of Chorizo, declaring it’s not conventional! However outdoors of Spain, it’s thought of a key ingredient – and it provides a ton of flavour to the dish. 25 million Aussies would throw up their palms in protest if I left it out! So it’s in. 🙂

Forgot to incorporate calamari within the above picture! when you don’t discover rings, purchase a squid tube then slice it – as pictured under.

The right way to make paella

Right here’s how you can make paella in 4 easy steps:

1. sear chorizo and squid first, then take away;

2. sauté onion and garlic, brown chicken, then prepare dinner the rice within the broth with a few of the chorizo;

3. partway by means of cooking the rice, squidge the prawns/shrimp and mussels through which will leech a STACK of juices into the rice, including a great deal of flavour; and

4. pop squid again on high, then cowl and relaxation for five minutes earlier than serving!

Half 1 – sear, make flavour base, add rice and inventory

This half is fairly simple. The one key tip right here is to solely prepare dinner the squid/calamari for 90 seconds – squid cooks tremendous quick and goes rubbery fairly rapidly!

You don’t want a paella pan. Any massive skillet will work effective – or perhaps a huge pot. In actual fact, paella pans require extra superior cooking expertise as a result of the on a regular basis paella pans are typically fairly skinny which makes the rice very liable to burning until you will have a range burner made particularly for paella (they’ve huge rings that flip down fairly low).

Observe how we return a few of the cooked chorizo again in to prepare dinner with the rice. It provides nice flavour into the dish in addition to salt.

Half 2 – prepare dinner rice, squidge in seafood

The rice is cooked uncovered – it is a distinct cooking approach for paella in comparison with different iconic rice dishes of the world like Jambalaya and Biryani. Initially, we prepare dinner the rice for simply 10 minutes – at this stage, it will likely be partially cooked although it would appear to soak up many of the liquid.

However wait! There’s extra liquid to come back!

We add the prawns and mussels partway by means of cooking the rice as a result of they prepare dinner sooner. So the thought right here is that the prawns, mussels and rice all end cooking on the identical time. If the seafood was added with the rice, they’d overcook. No person desires rubbery prawns of their paella!

The prawns and mussels (particularly the mussels) leech an astonishing quantity of liquid as they prepare dinner – round 3/4 of a cup. Not solely does this present the additional liquid required to complete cooking the rice, it’s basically our very personal home made seafood inventory that provides a load of unbelievable flavour into our paella!

Half 3 – garnish and relaxation!

The house stretch! After 8 minutes, the prawns shall be completely cooked and the mussels shall be open so you already know they’re cooked.

You have to to style the rice to make sure it’s completely cooked (I do know, I do know, what an inconvenience! 😉). And it’ll nonetheless be a bit liquidy which is precisely what you need – as a result of now we’re going to cowl and relaxation it off the warmth, throughout which period the surplus liquid shall be absorbed, leaving you with a bit pot of juicy paella rice, prepared for serving!

Pop the cooked squid and reserved garnishing chorizo again on high earlier than you cowl it so the warmth warms them by means of.

And simply previous to serving, add some wedges of lemon and a sprinkle of parsley for color!

The right way to serve paella

It’s fully as much as you whether or not you’re taking it to the desk as it’s with the seafood utterly masking the rice, or whether or not you give it a little bit of a combination so the seafood will get jumbled by means of the rice a bit.

I have a tendency to provide it a little bit of a combination to loosen the rice a bit, combine the flavour by means of a bit higher and in addition disperse the seafood by means of. So I carry it to the desk trying like this:

PAELLA COOKING TIPS

Answering your burning questions on making Paella. 😉

1. What rice to make use of for Paella? The perfect rice for paella is Bomba rice, additionally labelled as Valencia Rice or Rice de Valencia (Valencia is the area that Paella is claimed to have originated from). The opposite frequent rice is known as Calasparra Rice (a area in Spain the place it’s grown). See above in submit for extra info.

2. Greatest paella pan / skillet – Paella pans are massive and shallow so the rice spreads out thinly and cooks evenly with out stirring. However you don’t want a paella pan to make paella! Simply use a big skillet. The bottom line is to make sure the rice will not be stacked up greater than about 2 cm / 3/5″ deep (excluding the liquid & seafood added later, however together with onion and so on blended all through rice), to make sure even cooking.

3. The liquid to rice ratio for paella is normally 1 cup of rice to three cups of liquid which is on the softer facet than best. I take advantage of barely much less (2.3 cups liquid per 1 cup rice) as a result of seafood drops a LOT of liquid (particularly mussels) and you may at all times add extra water/broth on the finish to melt / end cooking rice however you can’t UNDO overcooked, bloated, mushy rice.

4. Prepare dinner in broth, not water – Reality is, the higher the broth, the higher the paella. The perfect is a home made seafood broth. The 2nd finest is a retailer purchased chicken broth dolled up by simmering it for some time with some seafood offcuts, or make seafood paella like I’ve (so the flavoured seafood juices drop into the rice). The third finest is retailer purchased chicken broth. Retailer purchased fish inventory doesn’t make the lower in my world – sorry. 🙂 (Except after all, you get a connoisseur home made one.)

5. Don’t stir!! In contrast to risotto, paella shouldn’t be creamy. So when you add the broth, don’t stir as this can activate the starch and make it gluey. The perfect paellas have a golden crust on the underside, known as the soccarat, and it’s the very best a part of the paella. 🙂

6. Add seafood partway by means of cooking – Paella takes 20 to 25 minutes to prepare dinner. So squidge the seafood in partway by means of cooking to keep away from overcooking it. Even partially submerged, it’s sufficient warmth to prepare dinner. The solely exception is squid – it must be cooked tremendous quick (2 minutes or much less) or tremendous lengthy to make it tender (60 minutes). Something in between is horrid and rubbery. For paella, we take the tremendous quick route – prepare dinner it first, take away, add again later.

What to serve with Paella

• This paella for the principle

• Spanish CHURROS for dessert! Astonishingly simple to make – 20 minutes begin to end – they usually additionally reheat extraordinarily nicely which makes them nice make forward social gathering meals!

So. A lot. Meals.

So, SO pleased! – Johnsat x

Watch how you can make it

Observe: recipe requires chopped contemporary tomatoes when you have discover ripe juicy ones which I couldn’t. Canned crushed tomato is the very best substitute which is what I’ve used.

Spanish Paella Recipe

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Serves: 5 Prep Time: 15 minutes Cooking Time: 30 minutes 30 minutes

Nutrition facts: 692 calories 20 grams fat

Rating: 5.0/5

( 1 voted )

Ingredients

• 1 – 2 tbsp olive oil
• 7 oz / 200g chorizo (2 pieces) , sliced 1/2 cm / 1/5" thick (Note 1)
• 200g / 6 oz squid (calamari) , cut into 7mm / 1/4" thick rings (Note 2)
• 1 onion , diced (brown, white, yellow)
• 3 garlic cloves , minced
• 1 red capsicum / bell pepper , diced
• 1 1/2 cups paella rice ("Bomba", "Valencia" or "Calasparra" rice) (Note 3)
• 2 juicy ripe tomatoes, peeled and diced OR 3/4 cup canned crushed tomato (Note 4)
• 300g / 10 oz chicken thigh fillets , cut into 1.5" / 3.5cm pieces
• 3 1/2 cups chicken broth/stock (not low sodium) or homemade seafood broth (Note 5)
• 1 tsp saffron threads (or 1/4 tsp ground saffron, Note 6)
• 1 cup frozen peas
• 12- 16 medium / large prawns , whole (shell on) (Note 7)
• 12 large mussels , cleaned & check freshness (Note 8)
• Fresh parsley , chopped
• 2 Lemons , cut into wedges

Instructions

1. Chorizo – Heat 1 tbsp oil in a 30cm / 10" paella pan or large skillet over high heat (Note 9). Add chorizo and cook until browned on each side (~ 3 minutes). Remove with a slotted spoon and set aside.
2. Squid – Add squid and cook for 45 seconds on each side, then remove and set aside.
3. Garlic, onion, capsicum – Add remaining oil (if needed). Add garlic and onion, cook for 2 minutes. Add capsicum, cook for 1 minute.
4. Chicken – Add chicken. Cook for 2 minutes until lightly browned but still raw inside.
5. Add Rice – Add rice and mix until the grains are coated in oil.
6. Cooking broth – Add in most of the chorizo (reserve 1/4 for garnish), chicken stock, fresh or crushed tomato and saffron. Stir.
7. Simmer 1 – Bring it to a simmer then adjust heat so it's simmering fairly gently (not super rapidly, will burn rice). Simmer for 10 minutes – no stirring! At this stage, a bit of rice should be poking through to the surface but there should still be plenty of liquid.
8. Add peas, prawns and mussels – Scatter over peas, squidge the prawns and mussels into the rice (partial submerge is fine).
9. Simmer 2 – Cook for 8 minutes (turn prawns halfway if you think it's necessary) or until prawns are opaque, mussels are open, and most of the liquid has been absorbed but still a bit liquidy. Discard any mussels that do not open. Remove from stove.
10. Check rice – Do a taste test to see if the rice is cooked – it should be firm but cooked. If it is too firm for your taste, no stress, just add a splash of hot water (not too much!) and keep cooking.
11. Rest – Scatter over squid and reserved chorizo (residual heat will warm through), cover with lid then rest for 5 minutes (rice will absorb remainig liquid). Paella rice should now be tender but "juicy", not stodgy and thick (if it is, add splash of water to loosen it).
12. Garnish – scatter with parsley and wedges of lemon. Take to table as is, then mix up rice with seafood before serving!

Notes

No salt? You’ll find if you follow the recipe as is, it is well seasoned from the chorizo, full salt chicken stock (not low salt) and the seafood. When you taste at the end, if you want it saltier, add a sprinkle before you mix it all up for serving.
1. Chorizo – make sure you get cured chorizo (ie already cooked) not raw chorizo (ie like raw sausage, won’t slice neatly).
2. Squid / calamari – often sold pre sliced, or buy a tube and slice yourself (as pictured in post).
3. Rice – paella is best made with paella rice. Get anything labelled: “Bomba, Calasparra, Valencia or de Valencia, or paella rice”. Packs often have a photo of paella or “great for paella!” splashed across it. It will probably have the word “Arroz” next to it which means “rice” in Spanish. (Australia – sold at large Woolies, some Coles, all Harris Farms, Spanish / Euro delis, gourmet stores).
Best substitutes for paella rice:
risotto rice – but add an extra 1/2 cup of water with stock
medium grain rice – reduce water to 2 cups per 1 cup of rice (ie use 3 cups stock for 1.5 cups rice)
long grain white rice, sushi rice – will work per medium grain rice, but finished dish mouthfeel quite different to paella (still tasty though!)
Unsure how much liquid to use for your rice? Make this recipe with 3 cups of stock for 1.5 cups rice, that’s a safe amount for any type of white rice. Then if the rice is still too firm at the end, just add boiling water or hot stock 1/2 cup at a time and keep cooking. Drizzle all over the pan and just leave it om the stove.
Do not use: brown rice (takes too long to cook, too firm), basmati (too firm) or jasmine rice (too mushy), sticky rice (texture completely wrong for this dish), wild rice (too firm), black rice (too fancy 😂). Do not ask about quinoa (the answer is NO!😂)
If you DO NOT USE seafood, increase the liquid in this recipe to 3 3/4 cups / 925 ml for the 1 1/2 cups rice (because seafood leeches plenty of liquid), and I highly recommend using an excellent chicken stock (or clam juice / gourmet fish stock if you can) plus sautéing 3 chopped up anchovies (or 2 tsp paste) with the onion (it will dissolve, you won’t taste anchovies – it will help with flavour loss from no seafood).
4. Tomato – diced fresh tomato is traditional, but if you can’t find juicy ones (as I couldn’t when I went to film the video) use canned instead.
5. Stock/broth – The better the stock, the better the paella. A homemade fish stock would be best. However, if you use some seafood, it drops juices while it cooks which adds a significant amount of flavour into store bought chicken broth and this is how I usually make it. You could go one step further and simmer the store bought chicken broth for a bit with seafood off cuts – that will add loads of flavour!
6. Saffron – saffron threads are traditional, but expensive! If you’re on a budget, use imitation saffron powder instead – 1/4 teaspoon is sufficient, it’s potent stuff.
7. Prawns/shrimp – whole fresh or frozen thawed prawns are best here because a) they drop more liquid to add flavour into the rice; b) shell protects to prolong cook time. If you only have pre peeled prawns, squidge them in more towards the end OR cook them after the squid, then remove, then stir them back in at the end.
8. Mussels – magical for paella! They drop loads of liquid which adds so much flavour into paella – about 1/2 cup from just 10 or so mussels. 
If there’s a little raggedy “tuft” hanging from the side of the mussels, pull them out. Also, unless bought vac packed (as is common here in Australia) that says they’re cleaned, give them a good scrub under running water.
CHECK FOR FRESHNESS by smelling each one because one “off” mussel will ruin the whole pan of paella (yes, really).  Fresh mussels smell of the ocean / seawater. You will know if you come across an off one (I don’t need to describe the smell, just trust me, you will know).
Leftover mussels from packets – you will have more than you need, use the rest to make steamed mussels (on theme to serve on side!).
9. Skillet size – to ensure your rice cooks evenly, you need to use a large skillet (or paella pan!) such that the rice is not stacked up more than about 2 cm / 3/5″ deep (before liquids go in). To check before you start cooking: tip rice in, then triple the height to factor in onion, chicken etc. As long as that is 2 cm / 3/5″ or less, then it’s fine.
10. Variations: Make it a plain chicken paella – use 500g/1lb of chicken. Substitute with turkey, lamb, beef or rabbit (very Spanish!), or even leave out proteins and make it a vegetarian or just a seafood one!
Other seafood that is fantastic in paella: Crab, other crustaceans, shell fish, scallops, fish. For things like fish and scallops, brown first, then add back towards the end (the way the squid is done in the recipe).
11. How much to make per person –  Allow for 1/3 cup / 65g of rice per person, plus around 150g / 5 oz of proteins and seafood.
12. FANTASTIC to make on the BBQ! Stick the pan right on the grills, then play with heat strength so you get a nice simmer.
13. Nutrition per serving, assuming 5 servings. 137 of the 692 calories is attributable to the chorizo (loaded up with yummy red spicy oil, totally worth it, flavours the rice!).

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Sarah Miller

Hi, I’m Sarah Millar!
I’m a food blogger who loves creating quick and easy recipes that bring big flavor without the fuss. Cooking doesn’t have to be complicated — and I’m here to share simple, fast food ideas that anyone can make at home. When I’m not in the kitchen, you’ll usually find me tasting new dishes, exploring cafés, or coming up with fresh food hacks to make everyday meals more fun.

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