I’m so excited about this paella recipe! I hope you are, too. Paella is a beautiful rice dish hailing from the east coast of Spain, near the port city of Valencia. I tried it for the first time in Barcelona about ten years ago, and none of the American versions I’ve sampled since then have come close—until now. Paella often includes seafood or meat, but I made this paella vegetarian by mixing chickpeas into the rice and adding extra vegetables. If you were to order this in a Spanish restaurant, it would be called paella de verduras (vegetables). My version is fresh, colorful, and hearty, thanks to brown rice and chickpeas.
This paella is a great party option if your guests are following special diets. It’s vegan/vegetarian/dairy free, gluten free, nut free, and soy free. Although, I’d say it’s a great party option in general! Just add a big green salad and Spanish wine (red or white would work).
How to Make Homemade Paella
If you’re a fan of my baked risotto recipes, you’re going to love this recipe. The method is similar—you cook some aromatics in a pot, then add the rice and bake the pot on the lower rack of the oven while roasting the vegetables on the upper rack. Layer the vegetables on top of the baked rice, and you’re basically done. The recipe might look long at first glance, but please don’t feel intimidated. The ingredients are basic, and the method is surprisingly simple. This is not a recipe to start when you’re starving, since it will require about 50 minutes in the oven. However, most of the cooking time is passive. If you’re making this for a party, you’ll have plenty of time to clean the kitchen before guests arrive. For this recipe to work, you’ll need to use the proper equipment. Paella is typically made in a paella pan (called a paellera), but I did my best to find a more common pan option. For this recipe, you’re going to need a large Dutch oven or a large skillet with a snug-fitting lid (both of which must be oven-safe). Baking the rice is the best way to ensure the proper texture—paella rice should be nice and tender, but far from soggy. You might be able to carefully pour the boiling rice mixture into a casserole dish, cover it tightly with foil, and bake as directed. I’m just not entirely sure it will work since I haven’t tried, and it sounds potentially dangerous.
Watch How to Make Vegetable Paella
Paella Ingredient Notes
Artichokes aside, you might not find this red bell pepper and Kalamata olive combination in authentic Spanish paella. They are common Spanish ingredients, though, and they’re the most feasible vegetarian alternatives to shrimp and mussels that I could come up with. You could use any vegetables you’d like, really. Just roast them until they’re nice and tender. Traditionally, paella is made with bomba rice, a Spanish variety of short-grain white rice. I don’t know where to buy bomba rice here in the States, and I personally can’t tolerate white rice (hypoglycemia) so I used short-grain brown rice instead. Check my recipe notes for other rice options, which may affect baking time. If you love smoked paprika and/or peas, I believe you could safely double the amounts below. Saffron is standard in paella, but it’s the most expensive of spices and I couldn’t really taste it in the end product, so I made it optional.
Socarrat Notes
Last but not least—to socarrat or not to socarrat? Socarrat is the irresistibly golden and crispy bottom you’ll find in awesome traditional paellas. It’s not easy to attain a perfect socarrat at home, since we’re using basic home equipment instead of a special paella pan over an open flame. If you want to give the socarrat a shot, just remove the lid on the baked rice and heat the rice over medium-high heat for about 5 minutes. It’s hard to know when exactly to pull the pan off the heat, and you might end up with some semi-burnt rice on the bottom—which I actually enjoy. If the socarrat leaves burnt bits on the bottom of your fancy Le Creuset, the easiest way to remove them is to scrub off what you can, then generously sprinkle baking soda and a splash of warm water on the pan. Let it soak for a while, then it should scrub right off.
As always, please let me know how this dish turns out for you in the comments! I hope you love it just as much as I do. I’m counting down the days until I get to eat paella again in Barcelona with my friends Ali and Barclay!
