Piaya Food

You can make a delicious, authentic Paella–the most popular dish of Spain–in your own kitchen with simple ingredients like rice, saffron, vegetables, chicken, and seafood. If you love cooking International food, you will fall in love with this comforting dish! 

My goal with this paella recipe was to use the tutelage I received while living in Madrid to create a traditional Spanish paella that anyone can make (and without special equipment, like a paella pan). After lots of trial and error, I am so excited to share everything I know and have learned about making Paella, as authentically and practically for the home cook, as possible.

Paella (pai · ei · uh) is a classic Spanish rice dish made with rice, saffron, vegetables, chicken, and seafood cooked and served in one pan. Although paella originates from Valencia, it’s recognized as the national food of Spain and there are several different varieties. The most common types of paella are chicken paella, seafood paella, or mixed paella (a combination of seafood, meats, and vegetables).

What Is Paella Rice?

The main ingredients in every paella dish are rice, saffron, chicken, and vegetables.  From there, ingredients vary depending on the type of paella or region where it’s made.  The ingredients in this easy paella recipe include:

1. Sauté:  Add olive oil to a skillet over medium heat. Add onion, bell peppers and garlic and sauté until onion is translucent. Add chopped tomato, bay leaf, paprika, saffron, salt and pepper. Stir and cook for 5 minutes.

4. Add broth.  Pour the broth slowly all around the pan and jiggle the pan to get the rice into an even layer. (Do not stir the mixture going forward!). Bring mixture to a boil. Reduce heat to medium low. Give the pan a gentle shake back and forth once or twice during cooking.

Authentic Paella Does Not Contain Fish, Chorizo Or Peas, Say Valencian Cooks

5. Cook uncovered: Cook paella uncovered for 15-18 minutes, then nestle the shrimp, mussels and calamari into the mixture, sprinkle peas on top and continue to cook (without stirring) for about 5 more minutes. Watch for most of the liquid to be absorbed and the rice at the top nearly tender.

6. Cover and let rest.  Remove pan from heat and cover pan with a lid or tinfoil. Place a kitchen towel over the lid and allow to rest for 10 minutes.

Spanish rice (also called “bomba” rice, calaspara rice, arroz redonda) is traditional in Paella, and it’s what I recommend using. It’s a short grain rice that absorbs more water than regular rice, without turning mushy. You can buy Spanish rice on Amazon, World Market or an international food market.

Vegetarian Paella Recipe

If you don’t like seafood, leave it out and substitute more chicken and vegetables. You can use any combination of your favorite seafood including clams, scallops and chopped pieces of fish. Frozen seafood is a great accessible option if you don’t live near the ocean. (Costco sells a great mixed seafood bag in their freezer section with shrimp, mussels, clams, scallops, and calamari.) Be sure to thaw frozen seafood in the fridge overnight before using.

When buying fresh seafood make sure to smell it to make sure it’s fresh. It should not have a strong fishy odor. Most of the seafood used here will smell like nothing, or just like the ocean (slightly salty). Be sure to clean it properly (remove “beards” from mussels, if necessary).

No, you can us a regular large skillet to make Paella (I use a 12×2 inch skillet and this recipe fills it to the brim). Traditional paella is cooked in a large paella pan because it allow the rice to be spread out into a thin layer and cook more evenly.

Traditional Spanish Paella Recipe

You can make a delicious, authentic Paella--the most popular dish of Spain--in your own kitchen with simple ingredients like rice, saffron, vegetables, chicken, and seafood.

*Rice: Spanish rice (also called “bomba” rice, calaspara rice, arroz redonda) is traditional in Paella, and it’s what I recommend using. (If your grocery store doesn't carry it, try Amazon, World Market, or an International food market). If necessary you can substitute medium grain rice, like Calrose rice which can be found at Walmart or most grocery stores, and reduce the broth to 3 ¾ cups. (I don’t recommend using Arborio rice or long-grain rice for Paella).

*Broth: Authentic paella would include making your own fish stock from the discard shells of seafood. I usually substitute chicken broth for convenience.

Real Spanish Omelette Recipe

*Seafood: If you don’t like seafood, leave it out and substitute more chicken or vegetables. You can use any combination of your favorite seafood including clams, scallops and chopped pieces of fish. Frozen seafood is a great accessible option if you don’t live near the ocean. (Costco sells a great mixed seafood bag in their freezer section with shrimp, mussels, clams, scallops, and calamari.) Be sure to thaw frozen seafood in the fridge overnight before using. If buying fresh seafood, smell it to make sure it’s fresh. It should not have a strong fishy odor. Most of the seafood used here will smell like nothing, or just like the ocean (slightly salty). Be sure to clean it properly (remove “beards” from mussels, if necessary).

*Saffron: this may be the most important ingredient, so it’s best to buy high quality. If your grocery store doesn’t carry it, try an International food market, or Amazon. If necessary, substitute 1 teaspoon saffron powder.

Calories: 535 kcal Carbohydrates: 59 g Protein: 37 g Fat: 15 g Saturated Fat: 3 g Cholesterol: 260 mg Sodium: 1159 mg Potassium: 805 mg Fiber: 3 g Sugar: 3 g Vitamin A: 1408 IU Vitamin C: 58 mg Calcium: 125 mg Iron: 4 mg

Spanish Paella Recipe (seafood, Chicken, & Chorizo)

Welcome! I’m Lauren, a mom of four and lover of good food. Here you’ll find easy recipes and weeknight meal ideas made with real ingredients, with step-by-step photos and videos.This saffron-infused paella recipe is loaded with mussels, clams, and shrimp. Grill it in your biggest skillet for best flavor (no special pan required). Paella serves a crowd for your next cookout!

Sally is the author of four cookbooks and is a regular correspondent for the Boston Globe Wednesday Food Section. She also is a food photographer.

A festive occasion calls for a big statement, and this paella is just that: a colorful rice dish bursting with clams, mussels and shrimp along with smoky chorizo and saffron for tons of flavor. You don’t need much else to serve alongside it, but you could make a green salad if you feel inspired.

The Ultimate Paella Recipe

Set the whole pan of paella on your picnic table, and bring out some crusty bread and wine glasses. Summer is just too short not to celebrate it with friends.

The origins of paella are ancient, rooted in the area around Valencia, Spain near the Albufera Lagoon, where both fishing and rice growing dominated the region for centuries.

Paella was the food of farm workers who cooked dishes of rice over wood fires, embellished with whatever ingredients they could find.

Spanish Paella Recipe

The dish is named for the wide, shallow pan in which the paella is cooked. The word paella is from a Valencian dialect meaning “pan, ” probably derived from the Latin word patella for pan.

While you can buy a paella pan and even a special outdoor paella grill for cooking it, it's easy enough to adapt the traditional paella method to our home kitchens without a lot of extra fuss.

Since I don’t possess a paella pan, I used the largest sturdy skillet in my collection of pans. A cast iron pan would be ideal but mine was not big enough and I found my heavy skillet worked just fine. Lacking a large skillet, you could also use a medium-size roasting pan (approximately 14x10 inches).

Seafood Paella Recipe

Although you can cook paella entirely indoors on top of the stove, when you consider paella’s wood-fired origins, it makes total sense to cook it outside on the grill. For this recipe, I started it on the stove indoors while the grill heated, and then finished it on the grill. Even, steady, medium heat is the goal.

Paella is the mother of all the one-pot meals, so it makes a supreme party dish. Improvisation rules the day, since even in Spain the issue of what ingredients should go in paella is hotly disputed, making it impossible for foreigners, let alone Spaniards, to dictate them strictly.

Paella is essentially a rice dish, and the type of rice does make a difference. Spanish bomba rice, a medium-grained stubby rice that absorbs liquid well but maintains some firmness when it cooks, is preferred.

Paella, The Traditional Spanish Dish From Valencia

The crispy bits! Once the stock comes to a simmer, don’t stir it. As the paella cooks, the rice stays on the bottom and forms a crusty golden bottom layer in the finished dish. This crust of rice is called

For this seafood paella, you can use fish or shellfish stock if you like and if you can find a good source for it, but I actually prefer chicken stock. It adds a depth of flavor, and as the shellfish cook, you get plenty of sweet, briny juices to flavor the rice. Be sure to taste the stock and season it with salt if necessary.

Saffron is

Easy Spanish Paella Recipe With Seafood [+video]