Vegetable Paella With Chorizo

Paella is one of my favourite spanish recipes and is easy to make vegan! It is also super simple to make and requires just one pot/pan.

I’ve used chorizo style sausages and these are fried in oil first which adds flavour to the dish, before setting aside and adding once the rice has cooked.

You want to get your hands on spanish paella rice (bomba) which most big supermarkets will sell. It’s a short grain rice a bit like arborio rice which holds it’s shape well once cooked.

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This will create a layer of toasted rice on the bottom which is called socarrat and adds flavour to the dish. So don’t throw it away or worry that bits are sticking to the bottom of the pan.

You also want to use a large shallow frying pan to cook paella so use the largest you have and on the biggest hob/burner. I used this paella pan which I got for under £10 from amazon (affiliate link).

Once the vegan chorizo has been fried and is crispy, remove it and set aside and make your sofrito. Add finely chopped onion and garlic and fry for around 5 minutes on medium heat until soft.

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At this point it will already smell amazing, you want the pepper to be starting to colour and brown before adding the bomba paella rice. This get stirred and cooked for a minute until translucent on the edges.

Pour in the saffron infused stock and leave to simmer for 10 minutes, don’t be tempted to stir it before then. Stir once and then let cook for another 10 minutes.

The rice should be al dente, if you need a little more time then add some extra water. A couple of minutes before its done add the frozen peas and chorizo sausage.

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Finish with the juice of a lemon and lots of fresh parsley and it’s ready to be shared with family and friends! The best way to enjoy food is with your loved ones and this dish is certainly perfect for that!

As always if you make this vegan chorizo and vegetable paella be sure to leave me a comment, rate this recipe and tag me onInstagram. I love seeing all your photos of my recipe recreations!

Great recipe. We’ve had the chorizo shroomdogs in the freezer for ages and finally found a recipe for them! My only slight gripe is that it takes a lot longer to cook than the recipe suggests. Otherwise, fantastic.

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Made this tonight and it was great! My only changes were that I didn't use the lemon (I don't like them), I substituted turmeric for saffron, and I used a bunch of fresh herbs from my garden rather than just parsley. I cooked it in a large, cast iron pan and behaved myself even when I wanted to stir! Thanks for the recipe.

Hi Jonan, thanks so much for your comment! So glad you enjoyed it and glad those subs turned out :) Tamsin xo

Hi Natalie, yes definitely - will keep for a couple of days in the fridge :) hope you enjoy it! Tamsin xoThere are a couple of things required to make a great paella: the right rice, a long-cooked sofrito base, and the nerve to cook it slowly without stirring to allow the rice to steam and develop a socarrat—the caramelized layer of rice at the bottom of a pan of well-made paella.

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The rice must be a medium-grained rice. I was taught to make it with bomba rice, although I know a lot of Spaniards who use calasparra. This is one of the few times where it's necessary to seek out a specialty ingredient, either by finding a fancy food store or ordering online. Bomba rice is different than something like arborio, which is used for risotto, because the starch content allows it to cook up as individual grains and benefits from not stirring. Arborio rice needs to be stirred and have the cooking liquid added in intervals to develop the signature creaminess.

Sofrito is a catch-all term for a long-cooked base of aromatic vegetables. Like mirepoix in France or the holy trinity in Cajun and Creole cooking, sofrito lends depth of flavor to any dish. In this case, it's nothing more than onion, garlic, olive oil, and tomatoes cooked until thick and has become more than the sum of its parts. You can add other aromatics like bell peppers, carrots, celery, etc., but this combination is how I was taught and what I have come to like best.

True paella isn’t stirred after the liquid is added. This allows the rice to gently absorb the cooking liquid and keep the grains of rice intact. I always cook slowly on a burner or grill. I’ve seen accomplished chefs place a started paella into a hot (425°F) oven or nestled into the coals of a campfire. No matter how you cook it, don’t stir. Trust the method and let it cook. Stirring is often used to keep things from sticking to the bottom of the pan, but in this case, you want the paella to stick a little bit. The socarrat is the coveted crispy browned layer of rice at the bottom of the paella. Similar to the browned crust of a tahdig or the layer of not-quite-burnt cheese at the bottom of the fondue pot, socarrat is the prize hidden underneath. To ensure a crust, turn up the heat at the very end of cooking (after the liquid is fully absorbed) and listen. You’ll start to hear the rice crackle, give it 30 seconds or a minute, then remove from the heat. Like the rest of us, paella benefits from a bit of a rest after going through the ups and downs of cooking, so give it a 10-minute rest between cooking and serving.

Traditional Chicken, Chorizo & Vegetable Paella

Paella only needs these three things. Everything else is extra. You can add seafood or chicken or chorizo. At the height of July summer vegetable bounty, I like to layer the top with a variety of different vegetables to steam along with the rice. This is my favorite combination, but don’t feel confined by it. Just know that if something takes a while to cook (like the artichokes used here), cook it in advance and use the steam to re-warm and make it part of the paella. —abraberens

Abra Berens is a chef, author, and former vegetable farmer. She started cooking at Zingerman's Deli, trained at Ballymaloe in Cork, Ireland. Find her at Granor Farm in Three Oaks, MI. Her first two cookbooks Ruffage and Grist are out now. The third Pulp: a practical guide to cooking with fruit publishes on April 4th, 2023.