Vegan Paella Mushroom

There are few dishes as flavor-packed, comforting, and vibrant as paella. This vegan mushroom paella packs a rich punch of flavor thanks to a sofrito base, hearty mushrooms, and artichoke hearts. It's cooked to perfection with lots of tender rice at the center of the skillet and that delectable golden-brown paella crust at the edges.

There are few dishes as flavor-packed, comforting, and vibrant as paella. A quick google search for paella or even vegan paella unveils thousands of recipes, each of which approach the dish with a subtly different technique. That said, there seem to be a few elements that most consider to be fundamental to the dish . . .

1| The type of pan matters. Paella is the Valencian word for pan, which makes perfect sense given that this rice-based dish is a one-pan meal. There is such a thing as a paella pan but a cast iron skillet works well too.

Vegan Paella Recipe • Veggie Society

(i.e., flavor base) of chopped or julienned veggies cooked in oil.The vegetables caramelize as they cook in the oil, taking on deeper, richer flavors. Thus, the sofrito serves as an important flavor building block in paella. A basic sofrito almost always includes tomatoes and garlic but onions and red bell peppers are sometimes added as well.

3| Unlike stirring-intensive, one-pan rice dishes (e.g., Risotto), for paella, once you add the rice and broth to the pan, you stir it once and leave it alone. Risotto = stir it like it's hot; Paella = forget it exists.

4| Speaking of rice, short-grain, highly-absorbent rice is vital to achieving the right texture, look, and feel. If you use a longer,  less absorbent type of rice, you run the risk of creating a mushy, gummy paella. No one wants that.

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Is the crunchy, golden-brown rice crust that forms along the bottom and sides of the pan as the rice cooks. Depending on the type of pan and the heat used, the 

The heat is turned up for the last 60 seconds of cooking to gently caramelize and toast the rice on the bottom of the pan.

6| Saffron. The thread-like spice flavors the dish and infuses it with that beloved golden hue. It's all too appropriate that saffron is considered to be the gold standard paella spice given its steep price tag. I was grateful to find a teaspoon of saffron for $2.99 at a small neighborhood grocer, so I did use it for this recipe. However, feel free to omit or substitute with a pinch of ground turmeric.

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I had mushroom paella on my to-make list for nearly a year, but always felt intimated by the dish. However, after a prolonged period of dilly-dallying, a surge of determination washed over me late last week, and I decided that this would be the week I'd finally tackle it.

Now that I'm on the flipside of my paella woes, I've realized that there's nothing to fear (except maybe the sudden urge to devour an entire skillet full of the stuff).

To make this vegan mushroom paella, you'll start by dry cooking the mushrooms. I used a combination of baby bella (i.e., cremini), button, and porcini mushrooms, but feel free to mix and match as you please.

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Dry cooking intensifies the mushrooms' flavor, ensures a hearty, meaty texture, and seasons the pan to boot. Once the mushrooms are just about done cooking,  you'll season them with a bit of olive oil and parsley. Then, scoop them out of the pan and set aside.

I made the sofrito with a combination of julienned red bell pepper and red onion, diced tomatoes, and lots of garlic to infuse the paella with as much flavor as possible.

Next, stir in quartered artichoke hearts and cook for just a minute or two more before adding the Arborio rice. Gently stir-fry the rice until it just begins to turn translucent. Then, add plenty of vegetable broth, a small amount of water, and a generous pinch of saffron. Stir once and leave it alone.

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The rice will begin to puff up about 10 minutes into cooking. At that point, you'll add the mushrooms back to the pan and gently stir and continue to cook for another 10 minutes, or until the rice is tender. Then, remove the pan from the heat, loosely cover it with foil, and allow the paella to rest for 10 minutes.

And the last step? Uncover that beautiful paella and season it to taste with sea salt, fresh parsley, and a generous spritz of fresh lemon juice. Perfection.

*Note: It's tempting to stir throughout cooking, but don't do it! You want the rice at the bottom and sides of the pan to develop a crust (this is the best part).Paella is pronounced pie-ay-ah. I just learned that recently. In fact, I'd been going around thinking it was pronounced pay-ella and that pie-ay-ah was a completely different thing. No really, like, I'd see these pictures or paella on Pinterest and think, Oh look at that lovely rice dish. I should make a vegan version of that. And then people would talk to me about how much they loved pie-ay-ah, and I'd think it was some pie thing. I knew it was spanish and involved seafood, but not much else. I think I tuned out after the seafood part.

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Anyway, my brother was telling me about the awesome mushroom pie-ay-ah at a vegetarian restaurant he visited, and I was all, Oh, do tell! A big Spanish mushroom pie thingy? Vegan? That sounds awesome!

Okay, so did you follow all that? They're really just one dish and it's Spanish and involves rice and, traditionally, seafood. No pie. That's okay! Pie has it's place, but it's not everything. There's room for rice in my heart too.

Mushrooms are the perfect stand-in for seafood here. (1) They have the ideal texture. (2) They add savory flavor, which, while different from what you might get from traditional seafood, is no less delicious. And (3) you can add a bunch of different types of mushrooms for extra flavor and fun.

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Traditional paella is made with bomba rice. I live in an area where ingredients are pretty accessible, but no bomba rice was to be found. So I figured it might be tough for you guys too. So I went with the next best thing, which is arborio rice — the stuff you'd normally use for risotto.

I also cooked my paella in a cast iron skillet instead of a traditional paella pan. If you have a paella pan, go for it, but my kitchen space is running low these days, and the skillet worked just fine.

So I guess the cat's out of the bag that this paella is totally inauthentic. But it's delicious, and it keeps with the spirit of traditional paella, if you ask me. It's also delicious and feels really special. Perfect vegan Valentine's Day food.

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Fits into a 12-inch cast iron skillet. If you don't have one that large you'll need to scale back on the recipe size, or split it up.

Hi, I'm Alissa! I'm a former attorney turned professional food blogger. I love creating vegan recipes with bold flavors! You can read more about me here.Happy weekend, guys! Mine is going to be a busy one. On Saturday, I am attending my third day-long pottery workshop, which I am super stoked about. I am looking forward to honing my skills and also picking up the bowls I made last time. I cannot wait to see what they will look like once fired and glazed. After the workshop, I am hopping out of my clay-stained clothes and into something more presentable as we are going to a restaurant with Duncan’s family, to celebrate Duncan’s niece turning 21. Sunday will be spent doing chores of various descriptions and running so I won’t bore you with details, but you get the gist – a mixture of fun stuff and less so is on the agenda.

We are not planning on any entertaining this weekend, but if you are I recommend that you try this vegan paella on your guests! Despite its pretty elaborate and somewhat luxurious appearance, it is actually deceptively simple to make. It’s all about learning to cook the rice to perfection using visual cues alone. If you have a paella pan, dust it off and you are set, but if you don’t, just use a regular pan. I actually tried to get myself a paella dish, but I could not find anything suitable. I found one that was way too big for my needs and another that was coated in teflon, which I did not like, so I resorted to using my regular, stainless steel pan and it worked just fine. A pan with a tight fitting lid would be even better here as resting the rice at the end of the cooking time is key.

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Once you’ve got your pan covered, make sure you have the correct type of rice to hand. If paella rice (there are quite a few varieties: senia, bomba or bahfa) isn’t available, most short-grain rice varieties will do. I used the widely available risotto rice (arborio) as I had a big bag of it that needed using up and it worked beautifully. The key thing with paella is judging