It's that time of the year! Time for fall dinner parties with lots delicious food and wine and friends, and I think that calls for a Spanish Paella!
I love Paella for many reasons... let's count the ways. 1 - everything is made in 1 big paella dish so that keeps thing semi-tidy. 2- you can pick and choose all sorts of different proteins to add into the paella. It can be just seafood, seafood and chorizo, seafood and chicken, we could go on and on. 3- once the Spanish Paella is ready, it actually gets served in the same pan you cook it in. 4- all that you need on the side are a few bottles of wine and then you're set.
Mine has been evolving over the years and these days it consists of chicken, shrimp, mussels, clams and a really smoky chorizo that highlights some of the spices! If you were feeling extra special and decadent you could add some lobster to this too! All you need is a paella pan - here's my favorite! I've been using it for years! Now all that's left is to secretly plot a trip to Spain so I can have it in its home country alongside a bottle or two of Spanish wine! Paella recipes can more commonly be with seafood/pork, if you are looking for a similar dish with chicken, try arroz con pollo.
Love Seafood? Try these other seafood recipes?
- All my Seafood recipes
- Shrimp Fajitas
- Seafood Pasta
- Grilled Shrimp with Cilantro Pesto
- Seafood Paella
Check out some of my favorite Shrimp Recipes here:
Easy Spanish Paella
Ingredients
- 1 teaspoon smoked paprika
- ½ teaspoon oregano
- 2 boneless skinless chicken breasts, cut into 1-inch chunks
- ¼ cup olive oil
- 2 Spanish chorizo sausages thickly sliced on a bias
- 1 yellow onion diced
- 4 garlic cloves chopped
- 1 bunch flat-leaf parsley leaves chopped
- 1 can 15-ounce fire-roasted diced tomatoes
- 1 ½ cups medium grain Spanish rice
- 3 cups water
- generous pinch saffron
- 10 littleneck clams cleaned
- 10 mussels cleaned
- 10 medium shrimp peeled and deveined
- ½ cup frozen sweet peas thawed
- lemon wedges for serving
- sea salt and freshly cracked black pepper to taste
Instructions
- Combine the paprika and dried oregano in a small bowl. Rub the paprika mixture all over the chicken and marinate chicken for 1 hour in the refrigerator.
- Heat the oil in a 15-inch paella pan over medium-high heat. Add the chorizo to the pan and sauté the chorizo until browned. Remove and reserve chorizo.
- Add chicken to the pan and brown on all sides, turning with tongs until fully cooked. Season with salt and cracked pepper. Remove from pan and reserve. In the same pan, sauté the onions, garlic and parsley for 2 or 3 minutes on medium heat.
- Add the fire-roasted tomatoes and cook over medium heat for about 4 minutes to let the flavors come together. Add the rice and stir to coat the grains in the mixture. Add the water and simmer for 10 minutes, slowly stirring the rice. Add chicken and chorizo back to the pan along with the saffron. Add the clams, mussels and shrimp, tucking them into the rice. Continue to cook until the rice has absorbed all of the liquid, the shrimp is cooked and the mussels and clams have opened, about 15 minutes more.
- Add the peas and toss to combine. If any of the clams or mussels do not open, discard them before serving. When the paella is done, turn up the heat to high and toast the rice on the bottom of the pan for 30 seconds. Remove the paella from the heat and let it rest for 5-10 minutes. Serve with the extra lemon wedges and season with Sea Salt or Cracked Black Pepper to taste if needed.
Notes
Nutrition Information
This is one gorgeous dish!
I need to make a birthday dinner for my daughter's boyfriend Friday night and this is perfect! This sounds like a grand slam. do you serve any sides with this? Thanks Gaby.
Nope!! Just the paella but you can add a salad on the side if you want!!
What is Spanish rice? Will just white rice do?
white rice is perfect!
Paella is one of those dishes that I pull out when I'm feeding a crowd! This looks amazing! Might need to have a party soon! 😉
This is the perfect party dish!!
Looks like a crowd pleaser!
Gorgeous! We make this all the time in our family and it's always a favorite!
How many people does this serve? It looks fabulous!
8-10!
I absolutely love Paella, we make it all the time, going to check out your version now.
Beautiful dish and i love the Spice Islands blog.
I adore Paella and yours looks wonderful!
Love this one pot wonder!!
You're a life saver! I was just given a big bag of fresh clams (in shell) by a friend and was trying to decide what to do with them. This is it!
Yum paella reminds me of my time living in Spain but I've never made them!
I love paella, I grew up eating it. What a great idea for turkey day guests! I usually make it for the week of Christmas, same idea, a little indulgence before a leg of lamb, or roasts. Now I am craving it, and have no time to make it, so it is going on my list to make for December!