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Paella Recipe

By Adrianna Adarme

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Aug 11, 2016, Updated May 08, 2025

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This authentic Spanish Paella recipe has flavorful saffron-infused rice, fresh mussels and shrimp. I used a traditional Paella pan but feel free to use any pan you have! Serve this with my Summer Rosé Sangria, Spanish pan con tomate and basque cheesecake for dessert.

One of my favorite childhood memories is a summer I spent on the coast of Spain. My Colombian aunt was living in Madrid with her family and at 10pm we all walked to a full-blown party: twinkling lights were strung above, families were around large tables, talking, telling stories, laughing. And In the center of each table were huge paella pans filled with perfectly cooked Valencia rice, a medley of freshly caught seafood. And sangria, lots and lots of sangria.

Even as a teenager, I knew at the time, as we were eating and laughing, that it was an experience that I would one day be nostalgic about.

What is Paella

Paella is a rice dish that originally comes from Valencia, Spain. Traditionally it’s made in a shallow carbon steel pan, known as a “paella pan”. Its signature yellow color comes from strands of saffron that are infused in the broth and sofrito. Different foods are added as additions, including chicken thighs, chorizo, mussels, calamari and squid and prawns.

The Best Rice for Paella

The type of rice is mucho importante.

• The best rice for Paella is called Bomba rice. This type of rice is also called Valencia rice (you can find it online or at Whole Foods). Another very popular rice that’s used is Calasparra Rice. If you can’t find it, then Arborio (risotto rice) is the next best thing.

Ingredients You’ll Need for Paella

1. Valencia Rice – My favorite variety of rice for paella. Arborio rice will also work.
2. Proteins – I like using seafood like mussels and big prawns/shrimp. But I have used chicken thighs and chorizo in the past and they’re both delicious additions.
3. Broth – I like making my homemade fish stock when making paella. In addition, I also like using a good-quality chicken stock. Homemade chicken stock is delicious in this paella.

2. Caramelizing the sofrito. The depth of flavor lives in the sofrito. Some recipes will tell you to cook it for like 10 minutes. That’s fine but I think it should go way longer. Some people actually cook it the day before for a few hours and then use it the day of to save some time. I like a happy medium, so I cook mine until it’s super soft and caramelized, about 35 minutes total.

This isn’t a dish you should rush. It’s the quintessential Sunday meal. Set some appetizers and cook this thing slowly.

3. The broth that you cook the rice in needs to be flavored. Whether this is fish stock, chicken stock, or as I did, mussel broth. Ideally it’s not just water. That leads to a super bland paella. I actually stirred the saffron into the mussel broth, along with some garlic cloves to make it super flavorful.

4. Fill it with all the delicious things. I went the pretty simple and cost-effective way: just shrimp and mussels. But you could add everything from chorizo to rabbit to lamb to chicken to even more seafood.

It was on the warmer side, seeing as it’s summer and all so everyone was really excited about this Pet-Nat Rosé Sangria filled with peaches and strawberries and limes.

The base was a really nice rosé and Grand Marnier and then we added a liberal splash of pet-nat—it was SO delicious.

What to Serve with Paella

If you want to have a paella party, I love to add flavorful Spanish-inspired items. I went with the following

1. Leeks braised and topped with romesco sauce.
2. Cheese plate. I like to make this Spanish-inspired so it’s on theme. I fill it with Spanish cheeses, marcona almonds, anchovies in a spicy oil, castelvetrano olives, peppadew peppers and bread sticks wrapped in prosciutto.
3. Pan con tomato. It’s so simple and delicious. Grated tomatoes that are seasoned and piled on good bread with olive oil and anchovies or sardines (very optional).
4. Basque Cheesecake. It’s light, fluffy and absolutely delicious.

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If you tried this Paella Recipe Recipe or any other recipe on my website, please leave a 🌟 star rating and let me know how it went in the 📝 comments below. Thanks for visiting!

5 from 1 vote

Paella Recipe

By Adrianna Adarme

Prep: 15 minutes mins

Cook: 1 hour hr 10 minutes mins

Total: 1 hour hr 35 minutes mins

Servings: 12

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This Spanish Paella recipe is

Equipment

• 1 paella pan
• 1 pair of tongs

Ingredients 

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Mussels/Broth for Paella:

• ▢ 30 mussels, about 1 1/4 pounds
• ▢ 5 cups cold water
• ▢ 1 1/2 cups white wine
• ▢ 4 cloves garlic, peeled
• ▢ 2 pinches saffron

Paella:

• ▢ Olive oil
• ▢ 2 pounds of head-on shrimp or large shrimp, shells on are fine
• ▢ 2 yellow onions, peeled and finely diced
• ▢ 2 red bell peppers, peeled and finely diced
• ▢ 4 garlic cloves, peeled and minced
• ▢ 5 vine-ripe tomatoes, finely diced (core removed and discarded
• ▢ 2 tablespoons tomato paste
• ▢ 2 tablespoons sweet paprika
• ▢ 2 teaspoons ground cumin
• ▢ 4 dried bay leaves
• ▢ 1 tablespoon kosher salt, and then the rest to taste
• ▢ 4 cups Valencia rice or Arborio rice, see note below
• ▢ 6 cups broths of mussels broth, see above
• ▢ 2 to 4 cups of chicken stock, I used store-bought

Instructions 

To Make the Mussels/Broth for Paella:

• To clean mussels and make the broth for the paella: add them to a bowl of cold water. Mix in about 2 teaspoons of flour. (Eyeball this measurement!) The mussels will gorge on the flour a bit and release any sandy bits. To a pot, set over high heat, add 5 cups of cold water, along with white wine and garlic. When the water reaches a simmer, add the mussels and cover pot; cook for 2 to 5 minutes, until mussels are opened. Discard any mussels that haven’t opened—these are bad!
• Remember that we’re not throwing out the broth—that’s the good stuff. Remove the mussels using a slotted spoon and add them to a bowl. Transfer them to the fridge. Run the broth through a strainer and mix in the saffron. You should end up with about 6 cups of broth. Set aside.

To Make the Paella:

• Place the paella pan over medium-high heat. Add about 3 tablespoons of olive oil. When the oil is hot, add the shrimp and cook for 2 to 4 minutes, flipping them halfway through. This will them about 3/4 of the way and and give the pan a super savory flavor. Remove the shrimp from the pan and set aside.
• Add about 1/4 cup of oil and when hot, add the onions and red bell peppers. Cook until very softened, stirring often, about 15 minutes. Add more a teaspoon or two of more oil is it starts to stick to the bottom of the pan. Mix in the minced garlic and cook for an additional 5 minutes. Next, mix in the tomatoes, tomato paste, paprika, cumin, bay leaves and salt. Cook until the tomatoes have released and cooked out all the water, about 15 to 20 minutes, stirring very often. You can adjust the heat as needed. During this period I turned the heat down to medium.
• Next, pour in the rice and mix and toast and mix and toast, about 5 minutes. Pour in about 2 cups of broth (you can eyeball this measurement). Bring the heat up to medium-high (the liquid should eventually come to a simmer), and cook the paella, stirring frequently. Give the paella a taste and add salt (I added a few more tablespoons—it’s a lot of rice!). When the liquid is mostly absorbed, repeat this 4 to 5 more times, adding 2 cups of broth at a time until the rice is mostly cooked.
• When the rice is pretty much done, pour in an additional 1 cup of broth and smooth out the top. Adjust the salt to taste. Keep cooking (this will create a crust on the bottom) until the broth is mostly absorbed (I like my paella with a bit of liquid in it) and add the mussels and shrimp to the top of the paella. Allow to stand for about 5 to 10 minutes. Sprinkle with minced Italian parsley or in my case, micrograms.
• There will be leftovers and they’ll be SO good. You can heat it up in the microwave or over the stove-top.

Nutrition

Serving: 10g | Calories: 55kcal | Carbohydrates: 8g | Protein: 4g | Fat: 1g | Saturated Fat: 0.2g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 0.3g | Monounsaturated Fat: 0.2g | Cholesterol: 6mg | Sodium: 669mg | Potassium: 338mg | Fiber: 2g | Sugar: 3g | Vitamin A: 1704IU | Vitamin C: 37mg | Calcium: 29mg | Iron: 2mg

Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.

Additional Info

Course: Dinner

Cuisine: Hispanic Recipes, Spanish

Like this Recipe? Please Rate & comment below!

Paella Pan and Cooking Set-up:
Paella Pan
Coleman Cooking Single Stove-Set Up
(This was the BEST most cost-effective option. And one tank will be plenty!)

All photos by Moriah Ziman