Name: Spanish Paella with Chicken and Chorizo Recipe
Prep time: 10 min
Cook time: 35 min
Ingredients: 7 oz small onion ((1 medium onion)); 12 oz red bell pepper ((or orange or yellow)); 2 garlic clove; 18 oz chicken breast ((2 chicken breasts)); 10 oz smoked chorizo sausage; 16 oz canned diced tomatoes ((with liquid)); 1 cup short-grain white rice; 2 cups chicken stock ((note 1)); 8 raw shrimp ((optional)); 1 tbsp olive oil; 8 threads of saffron ((optional)); 1/2 tbsp Paprika; 1 tsp Salt; 1/2 tsp Ground black pepper

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Transport yourself into a world of flavour with this incredibly easy and delicious Spanish paella with chicken and chorizo.

This paella with chorizo and chicken is one of my favourite one-pot meals. This recipe is ready in just 45 minutes. But don’t worry, all the work stops after the first 20 minutes so you can set the table and wrangle the kids while it cooks itself.

It’s easy and I think it’s pretty close to authentic paella.

There are two key differences between this paella recipe and authentic paella.

One is that I don’t use, ironically, Spanish rice, also called bomba. It’s not easy to come by where I live so I use regular short grain rice, which is readily available.

The other is that I don’t use a paella pan. Paella pans are usually made from carbon steel with two short handles, one on each side. I use a skillet instead, or a cast iron pan which may not distribute the heat in the same way.

Though the pan may not be as critical, the bomba is the secret to authentic paella. It absorbs more liquid than regular short grain rice, reducing the liquid while absorbing all the flavours without ever becoming mushy.

Our recipe doesn’t yield mushy rice and has a lot of flavour but I will leave it to the Spaniards to authenticate our version.

Preparing Paella with Chorizo and Chicken

Ingredients

Produce

Onion: Onion is a very common vegetable that is used both raw and cooked in food preparation. It has a sharp flavour raw that often sweetens once cooked. There are many varieties of onions, some that are milder than others. We use the common onion or yellow onion in this recipe.

Red bell pepper: Bell peppers are the fruit of a plant of which there are many varieties. The most common are red, green, yellow, and orange. The sweetness of red bell pepper is unbeatable in this recipe. Red bell peppers are high in vitamins C and A.

Garlic: Garlic is a bulb that is edible and is grown in soil. Though the green shoots it sprouts, called garlic scapes, are also edible, we are referring to the actual bulb that the scapes grow from. Garlic bulbs are made up of multiple cloves and depending on the variety you may have anywhere from 4 to 10 cloves, if not more. This is important because recipes often call for a specific number of cloves.

Protein

Chicken breast: Chicken breasts are considered the white meat of a chicken. They are thick and tender when cooked just right. When overcooked, however, they become dry and tough to eat.

Chorizo sausage: Chorizo typically comes in two varieties. The Mexican variety is usually ground raw pork with seasoning whereas the Spanish version is usually smoked.

Shrimp: Shrimp are shellfish with long bodies, skinny legs and a shell all around them. They are swimmers and can be found in both fresh and salt water. We use small shrimp for this recipe. If you are using jumbo shrimp or giant prawns you may need to give them a bit more time to cook. They should be pink on all sides when cooked.

Pantry

Canned diced tomatoes: These tomatoes are chopped and cooked then canned. Canned doesn’t necessarily mean in a can although this is how you are most likely to find them in the grocery store. Canning is a process of preserving food like the ones I used which are in a jar that I canned myself.

Short grain white rice: Short grain rice is more starchy than long-grain rice and is, therefore, a bit more sticky when cooked. In this dish, we don’t want the rice to be too sticky so we have specified a cooking time that ensures it is not overcooked.

Chicken stock: Any stock will be great in this recipe. If you want to keep this recipe vegetarian use vegetable stock.

Olive oil: Olive oil is the fat extracted from olives. The least processed is extra virgin olive oil, which I use in this recipe.

Spices

Saffron: Cultivated from the saffron crocus flower, this spice is very labour intensive. The threads are hand-picked from inside each flower and are coal dried. As a result, this spice is also very expensive.

Paprika: I use sweet paprika for this recipe. It is not sweet in the sugary sense, but it is definitely the sweetest of them all compared to its spicy and smoked siblings.

How to Make Paella with Chorizo, Chicken and Shrimp

Prep the Veggies

Start with peeling the onions and garlic. Once peeled, dice each into small pieces. If you have a garlic press, you can press the garlic instead.

Next prepare the bell pepper. Core, wash and dice the bell pepper into quarter-inch pieces. You don’t want the pieces to be too small so that you really taste the pepper in each bite.

Chop the Meat

If you have frozen the chorizo sausage you can use it unthawed. Simply slice it into relatively thin slices, approximately 1/8 of an inch. I thawed mine because it’s easier to slice but the choice is yours.

Lastly, cube the chicken breast into 1-inch cubes. I like to slice the chicken breast lengthwise and then dice the strips.

Now you are ready to cook.

Cook the Paella

There is a little bit of prep cooking for a few minutes to bring out all of the best flavours of the ingredients. Then the paella cooks itself.

Warm the oil on medium heat. Once hot, add the onions and sauté for two minutes.

Next, add the peppers and cook for another couple of minutes.

Press in the garlic, or add the chopped garlic, and stir well. Then add the chorizo and sauté everything for another minute or two. Open the can of tomatoes in the meantime.

After a minute, pour in the diced tomatoes and bring everything to a soft boil.

Now we need the spices. Add the saffron, paprika, salt and pepper and stir well.

Add the chicken and rice and spread it out ensuring it’s evenly distributed throughout the pan. The rice needs to spread out well so that it cooks evenly. Since you will not stir it after this point this is the last chance to get it into a nice even layer throughout the pan.

Finally, gently pour in the chicken stock. Try not to disturb the rice you just distributed.

Let everything cook untouched and uncovered for 25 minuteson medium-low heat.

If you are adding shrimp, place it on top of the rice after 15 minutes of cooking. They will cook through in the last 10 minutesof cooking.

Substitutions

Chicken Breast: You can use boneless skinless chicken thighs instead of chicken breast. Prep and cook as indicated above.

Bell Pepper: You can use red, yellow or green peppers. The point is to add a peppery sweetness to this dish so stay away from green bell pepper.

Canned diced tomatoes: you can use uncooked roam tomatoes as well in this dish you will just need to add an extra 1/3 cup of stock or water. Alternatively, you can add 1/3 cup of crushed tomatoes.

Serving Paella

Paella with chorizo and chicken is truly a one-pan dish. Everything you need is right in the skillet, and serving it with anything on the side is frankly unnecessary.

Just scoop out some paella onto a plate or into a bowl and enjoy! You can sprinkle some fresh parsley on top if you are really missing a green component. That’s all there is to it.

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Paella with Chorizo and Chicken