Paella Master Recipe
Updated May 6, 2024
- Total Time
- 50 minutes
- Rating
- Notes
- Read community notes
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Ingredients
Yield:4 to 6 servings
- 3tablespoons olive oil
- ½pound meat, like boneless chicken thighs, chorizo or pork, cut into 1-inch pieces (optional)
- Salt and black pepper to taste
- 1onion, chopped
- 1bell pepper, chopped
- 2cups short-grain rice, such as Bomba, Calasparra, Calrose or Arborio
- 1pinch of saffron threads (optional)
- 3½cups hot chicken, lobster or vegetable stock; water; wine; or a combination
- ½pound seafood, like shrimp, mussels or squid
- ½pound vegetables, like olives, tomatoes, snow peas or mushrooms
Ingredient Substitution Guide
Nutritional analysis per serving (6 servings)
584 calories; 18 grams fat; 4 grams saturated fat; 0 grams trans fat; 11 grams monounsaturated fat; 2 grams polyunsaturated fat; 62 grams carbohydrates; 2 grams dietary fiber; 3 grams sugars; 19 grams protein; 848 milligrams sodium
Note: The information shown is Edamam’s estimate based on available ingredients and preparation. It should not be considered a substitute for a professional nutritionist’s advice.
Powered byPreparation
- Step 1
Put 3 tablespoons olive oil in a 12-inch skillet over medium-high heat. When hot, add about ½ pound of meat, sprinkle with salt and pepper and cook until nicely browned. Add the onion and bell pepper and cook until soft. (If you want a meatless paella, skip right to the onion.)
- Step 2
Add 2 cups rice and a pinch of saffron, if using, and cook, stirring, until shiny with olive oil. Add 3½ cups hot stock and stir until just combined, then stir in seafood or lay it on top of the rice. (Skip the seafood if you want vegetarian paella.)
- Step 3
Cook over medium-high heat, undisturbed. If the pan is too big for your burner, move it around a little; but otherwise, leave it alone. About halfway through the cooking (about 10 minutes), add any vegetables, taste and season with salt and pepper, and stir gently, just once. When the mixture starts to dry out, begin tasting the rice. If the rice seems quite tough, add another ½ cup or so of liquid. And if you can smell the bottom starting to burn, lower the heat a bit.
- Step 4
The rice is done when tender and still a bit moist; if the mixture has stuck to the bottom of the pan, congratulations: you have socarrat, a characteristic of good paella. Serve the paella in the pan, in the middle of the table, and dinner guests — up to six — should fight over it.
Private Notes
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Cooking Notes
Lesa
I was taught that the foundation of a good paella is a good sofrito -- made of chopped tomato, onion and garlic and seasoned with smoked paprika, it forms the basis for much Spanish cooking. I think that's a good addition here if you have the time. I make it in the pan before adding anything else.
The dish turns out better if the liquid is very hot before it is added to the rice. Also, I've noticed the overall taste improves if the broth is "as salty as the sea," as one paella expert told me!
Cody Stanford
I made this using Lesa's advice to add the sofrito step, although I sauteed the onion first and added the garlic and tomato later. I also added smoked paprika, since I see it's an essential ingredient in every other paella recipe I've seen. I also heated up the stock before I added it (I used a little white wine, too). The results were astonishing!
sandra bloomberg
Prepare sofrito first: 1cup diced tomatoes with juice (from can), 1 med to leg white onion, 3-4 garlic cloves, 1 red bell pepper. After done sautéing add 1 teas of Spanish smoked paprika Well heat 2 cups of chicken before adding to rice. Add 1/2 cup of white wine Use Bomba rice or Calrosa rice. Don’t add seafood until last five minutes.
Marsha
It looks like the recipe calls for adding the seafood and cooking for about 20 minutes (says to add the veggies about halfway through the cooking - 10 minutes). It seems like this would overlook the seafood. What do others think?
Marian V.
Mr. Bittman really doesn't say when to add the onions and peppers. This is what I did. Cut chicken thighs into bite size pieces and browned them in the oil. Removed them to the side and cooked the onion and pepper until softened. Then continued the recipe as written. Incidentally I halved this recipe because I was making it for two people. It turned out fine.
Pam's Kitchen
Serve with lemon wedges.. it adds a pop of brightness against the richness!
Karen Artiaco
Great recipe! I made the sofrito iwith onion, garlic, fresh tomato and a jar of fire roasted red and yellow peppers. Softened a large pinch of saffron in a 4 T of warm water, added to sofrito with T sweet paprika. Used 1/2C white wine, 3C homemade chicken stock. I found a chicken andouille sausage with a heat level and taste I liked, 1 Lb. ea. clams and shrimp and large scallops (sliced in half) 1/2 lb. mussels. Added scallops during 10 min. while rice was covered. My 1st time, won’t be my last!
Suzanne Z
I prepped all the day before...cooked chicken, shrimp, calamari, fennel, onions, garlic, chopped tomatoes. Added smoke paprika. Day of party I cooked with the rice and assembled ready to go when guests arrived.
Teresa
Enjoyed this recipe. I added a little white wine to the broth and paprika as others suggested. Added the vegetables first, cooked another 5 minutesn and then added the seafood ( mussels and shrimp) on top 5 minutes before the finish and then covered with foil for 5 minutes to finish steaming
Kyong
I love the way Mark Bittman writes his recipes.
He gives the cook room to change things so one can
adopt. Will try this next week.
dreiser
Added smoked paprika and garlic
Gary
I halved this recipe using 2 boneless chicken thighs cut into chunks and about 4 oz. of sliced Spanish chorizo. After adding the liquid (tinned Bar Harbor seafood stock), I covered the cast iron skillet and cooked it for 10 min after which I stirred in a handful of pitted kalamata olives and then layered mussels and prawns on top. I covered the skillet again, and after another 10 min. I uncovered the skillet, turned the heat to high, and cooked 5 more minutes. A nice socarrat formed. Yummy!
Joaquin
I am from Spain. Mark's recipe is faithful to our tradition, except for two things: only when cooking for tourists do Spanish cooks ever add chorizo or mix meat and fish (mar y montaña). Chorizo colors the rice the wrong way and detracts from the saffron; fish may be tolerable with chicken, but not with pork. For a meat paella I use pork ribs cut tranversally into cubes, add chicken cut into 16 pieces, and maybe pancetta for decor. Also, unintuitively, never use tomatoes nor garlic.
Emma Davies
Would be helpful to mention what type of rice. Took longer than 20 mins to cook...maybe I used the wrong kind, hard to know
Douglas Evans
I prefer to cook my paella over an open flame, as they do in Spain. A standard Weber charcoal grill works fine. If you add some wet hickory chunks it gets a wonderful smoky taste.
DaivdOfSeattle
Excellent, and easy. The comment below about the sofrito is a good one...gave everything an excellent base to work with. We did ours with shrimp, chicken thighs, squid, clams/mussels and some sausage along with Kalamata Olives, Bell Peppers and green onions. Really fantastic! Made enough for 10 though, so hoping I still like it in 3 more days... :-)
Diane
I've been making this since the recipe first appeared in the NYT magazine a decade (or two?) ago. It's perfect for an easy, delicious dinner. I love that it's really flexible and uses up the stuff in your fridge that may be just about on it's last legs. The recipe in the magazine had a "wonder wheel" of different ingredient suggestions which I wish were shown here because it shows how unfussy this recipe is. No matter what I throw in, it's always fantastic.
Caroline H
I was confused about some parts of this recipe (adding the seafood before cooking the dish for 20 minutes) and I was right. Ended up with overcooked seafood and undercooked rice! Really disappointed, waste of good food!
Jeff A.
Was very good but thought it was a bit bland. Added 1 t of smoked paprika per suggestions, and did the sofrito as well. Could have used more salt and paprika maybe?
Maree
Lazy way - premake and freeze sofrita. Saute sofrita and seasonings, saute rice, add broth etc
Patrice
Made sofrito with onion, red pepper, cup of drained tomatoes diced added after a while, then garlic and followed with broth ( clam juice, water and white wine) that was hot- used about a t of smoked paprika, and 2 of regular paprika- bloomed saffron ( BiIG pinch) Followed directions otherwise; added seafood after rice was almost done ; mussels and big shrimp- added green Castillo olives to dice. No stirring
Kevin
We made the best fish paella from this recipe, we just didn't follow the recipe. The comments are key. From the comments: we started with a Sofrito (onion, tomato, pepper, smoked paprika), the fish/shrimp goes in way later than suggested (about five minutes before done, the stock should be hot, you should add wine or vermouth when adding stock and it takes a lot more stock to cook the rice. We used salmon, swai and shrimp. It was really fabulous.
James S.
This is interesting, but I don't agree with the process. It is much better to brown the meat and remove it (if chicken then finish in an oven), add the onion/garlic items, then add tomato and caramelize it. Then add the rice and coat, add the hot broth with dissolved saffron, and when the liquid is rice level, add the proteins. Cover with foil and let it ride. But then again everyone has their own way with this dish.
Steve A
To increase your chances of achieving the socarrat, don’t not overload the paella pan with a deep layer of rice. Jose Andres noted in his recent TV special that the secret is to keep the rice at 2-3 kernels deep or about 1/4”. If the paella is cooked but there is little or no soccarat, place the paella pan on a very hot stove burner until rice starts to pop.
Kerry
I learned to make paella from a Madrileño. This is not true paella. There's no sofrito and the whole things cooks for far too short a time while the seafood is cooked for WAY too long. And the saffron is absolutely NOT optional!
Janice Rusche de Santos
You cannot make paella without saffron and a pinch is not enough. Short grain rice is best. Saffron is the quintessential flavor a paella.
Kdg
Ok. But not great. Too dry
Atxpm
My wife is Spanish and I've made this many times with her. Saffron is never optional. That's what gives it it's distinct shade of yellow. This is is a very flexible recipe. Yes, do not add the seafood until the very last few minutes. Use pimento peppers and green peas to give it a splash of color. And definitely agree with the lemon wedges and parsley. Also serve with some good baguette. If you get soccarat then you really achieved Nirvana. Serve with friends and family (and sangria)
Jane G
This may be good, but is NOT a master recipe for this dish. 1/2 pound of meat is way too little. Authentic recipe calls for both chicken thighs and chorizo. Also, no mushrooms! No snow peas! Yes to a can of chick peas and red pepper slices and regular peas. Marinate the shrimp in olive oil and thyme before adding at last minute.
Sasha, Spain
To put chorizo in paella = heresy ( as well as mushrooms, or pork. Rabbit is alright, though.). Just call it rice then. When people in Spain hear about chorizo in paella they go mad and violent. I have warned ye…
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