SEAFOOD PAELLA

Why make it?

Seafood paella is the most iconic dish from Spanish cuisine, and it's surprisingly easy to make at home! This authentic recipe provides the perfect taste of Spain.

Rave review

"This was excellent! We liked cooking the shrimp on top of the rice for better control, and the socarrat came out fine. Five stars!" – Jane

Ingredients

1/3 cup olive oil  2 cloves garlic 1 large onion 2 medium tomatoes 1.5 tsp sweet paprika 1 pinch saffron Rings of 2 large squid 2 cups rice 1 cup white wine 3 cups seafood stock 12 jumbo shrimp 12 mussels

Seafood paella is so delicious and easy! Here's a look at what you'll need.

We'll start by heating the stock, white wine, and saffron in a small saucepan, then set it aside for later.

In the meantime, we'll heat the olive oil in a large paella pan and add the onion.

Add in the garlic and the tomato. This is called the "sofrito" and it forms the flavor base for your paella!

Now stir in your paprika and salt, and cook the sofrito until it's nice and jammy.

When the sofrito has thickened, add the calamari rings to the pan. Sauté for about a minute to give them some color.

Next, add the rice and sauté for a bit. This is the only time you'll stir the rice!

Now we'll pour in the stock, wine, and saffron mixture that was heating up. Don't touch the rice anymore!

Let the rice cook for about 10 minutes. Unlike a risotto, we don't stir paella—the end result will be a drier rice dish.

Now is a good time to taste a bit of the broth and adjust for salt if needed.

Meanwhile, steam the mussels by adding them to a pot of boiling water until they open up.

Time to start adding the seafood! Simply lay the shrimp out on top of the rice.

After about 5 minutes, flip the shrimp if needed so they cook evenly on both sides.

After the paella has cooked for 20 minutes, add the mussels. Remove it from the heat and let rest under a dish towel for 5 minutes.

After 5 minutes, remove the towel and put the rice over high heat. This allows us to get the crispy bottom layer of rice called "socarrat"!

Listen for that crackling, popcorn-like sound. That's the rice caramelizing!

Take the rice off the heat after about 30 seconds and garnish with lemon slices.

Serve as part of a big, long Spanish-style lunch, and enjoy!