Easy Spanish Paella Recipe – How To Make Paella In 30 Minutes
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Paella is a traditional Spanish dish made with saffron rice and a mixture of meat and seafood. This easy paella recipe is made in 30 minutes from start to finish, yet tastes authentic and super flavorful!
If you have been intimidated to try making Spanish paella due to long ingredient lists, even longer cooking times and worst of all, complicated and confusing instructions, look no further! You have finally found YOUR paella recipe!
This is the easiest version of paella you will ever find. It is made from start to finish in just 30 minutes, and I break down the cooking processing into easy-to-understand steps that will help you to finally have the paella figured out. Best of all, this paella recipe doesn’t compromise on flavor – it has a deep authentic taste, just the way the Spanish paella is meant to be! People will think you slaved over this paella for hours :) Don’t let out our dirty little secret that you made this paella in 30 minutes flat!
Here’s how to make paella in a nutshell: you cook rice in chicken broth with seasonings, and while the rice is cooking you cook the meat, seafood and vegetable mixture (in this recipe, it’s chicken, chorizo sausage, shrimp, onion and bell pepper). By the time the chicken mixture is cooked, the rice is done cooking and voila – the paella is ready in 30 minutes! Just mix everything and serve!
Paella rice gets its yellow color from saffron spice, and additional flavor from bay leaf. You can find both saffron and bay leaves in a spice section of well-stocked supermarkets or Middle-eastern stores. Chorizo sausage is a Spanish sausage that is also found in most well-stocked supermarkets near the sausage section. Ask the grocery store staff and they will help you find it!
How To Make Paella Step By Step
Step 1: Organize all ingredients
Set aside the ingredients for rice and for the chicken mixture in 2 separate areas.
The rice ingredients are: rice, chicken stock, saffron, bay leaf, oil, minced garlic and red pepper flakes.
The chicken mixture ingredients are: cut-up chicken, crumbled chorizo (remove and discard casings), chopped onion, chopped green pepper and shrimp.
You also need olive oil for both rice and chicken mixture.
Step 2: Cook the rice
Coat the rice with oil, garlic and red pepper, add chicken broth, saffron and bay leaf and cook. To make this even easier, feel free to use a rice cooker!
Step 3: Cook chicken mixture while rice is cooking
Pan-fry the chicken, chorizo, onion, bell pepper until cooked through, and add shrimp at the end.
Step 4: Mix everything
Mix the cooked rice and chicken mixture, and serve the paella!
Easy 30-Minute Spanish Paella Recipe
Ingredients
- 2 cups short-grain rice
- 4 cups chicken stock
- 1/2 tsp saffron threads
- 1 bay leaf
- 3 cloves garlic minced
- 1/2 tsp red pepper flakes
- 4 tbsp olive oil
- 1 large onion chopped
- 1 red bell pepper chopped
- 1 lb chicken breast or thighs cut-up
- 1 lb cooked shrimp peeled and deveined
- 1/2 lb chorizo sausage crumbled
Instructions
- Heat 2 tbsp olive oil in a heavy-bottomed non-stick pot or large non-stick pan over medium-high heat.
- Add garlic, red pepper flakes and rice. Stir to coat rice with oil, and cook, stirring, for 1 minute.
- Add chicken stock, saffron and bay leaf. Bring to a boil, cover, then reduce heat to simmer. Cook for 20 minutes.
- While the rice is cooking, heat another 2 tbsp oil in another large frying pan, wok or paella pan. Add onion, bell pepper, chicken and chorizo and stir. Cook, stirring periodically, for 7 minutes, or until cooked through.
- Add shrimp to the chicken mixture and cook, stirring periodically, for 3 minutes.
- Add chicken mixture to cooked rice and mix until combined.
