Seafood Paella
Spain's great sharing dish — saffron-gold rice cooked in a wide pan with a rich seafood stock, crowned with prawns, mussels and squid. The prize is the socarrat: the caramelised, crackling layer of rice at the bottom of the pan.
Servings
Ingredients
Nutrition
Per serving
Steps
Soak the saffron
Crumble the saffron into 100 ml of the hot stock and let it steep. Keep the rest of the stock hot on another burner so the rice is not shocked by cold liquid later.
- 1 pinch (0.4g) saffron
- 100 ml stock
✅ Done when: the stock turns deep golden-orange
Cook the seafood
Heat the olive oil in a 34-38 cm paella pan over medium-high heat. Cook the prawns about 1 minute per side until just pink, then remove them. Add the squid to the same oil and cook 2 minutes.
- 6 tbsp olive oil
- 12 prawns
- 250g squid
✅ Done when: prawns are pink and squid is opaque and slightly curled
Make the tomato base
In the same pan, cook the red pepper 4 minutes until soft, then stir in the garlic for 30 seconds. Add the grated tomato and paprika and cook, stirring, about 6 minutes.
- 1 red bell pepper
- 4 cloves garlic
- 2 tomatoes
- 1 tsp paprika
✅ Done when: the tomato is darker and thick like jam
Add the rice and stock
Sprinkle the rice over the pan and stir for 1 minute to coat it. Pour in the remaining stock and the saffron water, add salt, then stir once more to spread the rice evenly. Do not stir again after this point.
- 320g rice
- 1.1 L stock
- 100 ml saffron water (from step 1)
- to taste salt
✅ Done when: rice is spread in one even layer
Cook without stirring
Let it bubble steadily for 10 minutes, turning the pan now and then if it is bigger than your burner. Push the mussels into the rice hinge-side down, lower the heat, and cook 8 more minutes; add the cooked prawns on top for the last 3 minutes.
- 500g mussels
- 12 prawns (reserved from step 2)
✅ Done when: liquid is gone and rice is tender
Crisp the bottom and rest
Raise the heat to high for 60-90 seconds until you hear a soft crackle and smell toasting, not burning; this forms the crispy on the bottom. Remove from heat, cover with a clean towel, and rest 5 minutes before discarding any unopened mussels, sprinkling with parsley, and serving with lemon.
- 1 small bunch parsley
- 1 lemon
✅ Done when: crackling sound and toasty smell with a crisp golden crust underneath
Soak the saffron
Crumble the saffron into 100 ml of the hot stock and let it steep. Keep the rest of the stock hot on another burner so the rice is not shocked by cold liquid later.
- 1 pinch (0.4g) saffron
- 100 ml stock
✅ Done when: the stock turns deep golden-orange
Cook the seafood
Heat the olive oil in a 34-38 cm paella pan over medium-high heat. Cook the prawns about 1 minute per side until just pink, then remove them. Add the squid to the same oil and cook 2 minutes.
- 6 tbsp olive oil
- 12 prawns
- 250g squid
✅ Done when: prawns are pink and squid is opaque and slightly curled
Make the tomato base
In the same pan, cook the red pepper 4 minutes until soft, then stir in the garlic for 30 seconds. Add the grated tomato and paprika and cook, stirring, about 6 minutes.
- 1 red bell pepper
- 4 cloves garlic
- 2 tomatoes
- 1 tsp paprika
✅ Done when: the tomato is darker and thick like jam
Add the rice and stock
Sprinkle the rice over the pan and stir for 1 minute to coat it. Pour in the remaining stock and the saffron water, add salt, then stir once more to spread the rice evenly. Do not stir again after this point.
- 320g rice
- 1.1 L stock
- 100 ml saffron water (from step 1)
- to taste salt
✅ Done when: rice is spread in one even layer
Cook without stirring
Let it bubble steadily for 10 minutes, turning the pan now and then if it is bigger than your burner. Push the mussels into the rice hinge-side down, lower the heat, and cook 8 more minutes; add the cooked prawns on top for the last 3 minutes.
- 500g mussels
- 12 prawns (reserved from step 2)
✅ Done when: liquid is gone and rice is tender
Crisp the bottom and rest
Raise the heat to high for 60-90 seconds until you hear a soft crackle and smell toasting, not burning; this forms the crispy on the bottom. Remove from heat, cover with a clean towel, and rest 5 minutes before discarding any unopened mussels, sprinkling with parsley, and serving with lemon.
- 1 small bunch parsley
- 1 lemon
✅ Done when: crackling sound and toasty smell with a crisp golden crust underneath
The Story Behind the Dish
Rice has been grown around Valencia's Albufera lagoon since the Moorish period, and it was there, among farmworkers cooking over orange-wood fires, that paella took shape in the 19th century. The name comes from the pan itself — 'paella' is the Valencian word for the wide, shallow, two-handled pan, from the Latin patella.
The original Paella Valenciana was a countryside dish of rice, chicken, rabbit, green beans and butter beans. Along the coast, fishing communities made their own version with whatever the boats brought in, and paella de marisco — seafood paella — was born.
In the 20th century, tourism carried paella far beyond Valencia, and the seafood version in particular became a symbol of Spanish cooking around the world.
⭐ Why It's Famous
Paella is a social ritual as much as a recipe — traditionally cooked outdoors on Sundays and eaten straight from the pan, each person working inward from their own edge.
💡 Fun Fact
In Valencia, the crispy layer of toasted rice at the bottom — the socarrat — is so prized that diners scrape the pan clean for it. A paella without socarrat is considered unfinished.
Valencia, Spain
39.47°N, -0.38°W
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