Paella is a truly famous Spanish dish, but there are so many different ways to make it.
In the traditional way, paella can take ages to cook - but who on earth has time for that?!
Instead of spending hours in the kitchen, this Chicken and Chorizo Paella recipe is super quick so can be perfect for a mid-week meal.
It's also a great dinner if you're not a fan of washing up!
Paella is simply cooked in one big pan. It's known as a paellera, but I guess you don't have one of them knocking around in the back of your kitchen cupboard? I know I don't!
A paellera is a round, shallow dish, with two handles on either side. In Spain, paella is usually served from the same pan it's cooked in.
Instead of using a traditional Spanish paella pan, a regular larger pan, a big pot or even a wok works perfectly well.
Whatever you use, if you hate multiple pots heading to the sink after dinner, this dish will be a winner for you 🙂
Chicken and Chorizo Paella
One thing to not worry about is the kind of rice you need. Yes, I know you can buy fancy paella rice in the supermarket, but why spend out more money than you need to?
"Normal" rice works just as fine and holds all the flavours just as well.
Other than rice, the whole basis of paella is the stock. A stock cube (chicken or vegetable) works fine, but if you've had a roast chicken for Sunday dinner, you can make your own chicken stock very easily.
Chicken and chorizo is an easy pairing for a paella. The flavours work really well together.
We choose to use chicken thighs for this paella recipe. Not only are thighs a cheaper cut that using chicken breasts, but the thighs also end up being tastier too as they absorb the flavours perfectly!
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Chicken and Chorizo Paella
Ingredients
Stock
- 600 ml chicken stock
- Small pinch saffron
Paella
- 3 tablespoons olive oil
- 125 g chorizo chopped
- 600 g chicken thighs
- 1 large onion chopped
- 2 garlic cloves chopped
- 1 red pepper sliced into strips
- 1 large carrot chopped
- 1 teaspoon paprika
- 500 g rice paella rice is best but normal rice works
- 4 tomatoes chopped
- 1 tablespoon tomato puree
- 100 g frozen peas
- handful flat leaf parsley roughly chopped
- 2 lemons cut into wedges
Instructions
- In a jug mix the chicken stock with the saffron and leave to infuse.
- Heat 1 tablespoon olive oil in a large wok and add the chorizo for 2-3 mins until crispy. Leave the oil in the pan and lay the chorizo on a paper towel to absorb excess oil and leave to one side.
- Add chicken to the wok and cook on high heat until cooked thoroughly, remove chicken and leave to one side
- Add 1 tablespoon olive oil to wok, add onion and garlic and soften for 4 mins. Add pepper, carrot and paprika, another tablespoon olive oil and cook for a couple of minutes. Don’t worry if there are burnt bits on the bottom of the pan – these add flavour!
- Add the rice and the infused stock, plus another 450ml boiling water and gently stir.
- Add chicken, chopped tomatoes and tomato puree, then cover the pan and cook over medium heat for 10 mins.
- Add peas and chorizo to the pan and leave to simmer for 5 minutes – the rice should have absorbed most of the liquid.
- Take off heat and leave for further 5 minutes with the lid on. Add parsley, lemon wedges and serve.
Paella is one of those dishes you make the same every time you cook, or you can look to add in extra vegetables if you've got something looking a little limp in the bottom of the fridge.
So, use this Paella recipe as a base and add in a few extra bits (or even some seafood, like scallops or prawns, if you fancy) to give your dinner a totally different flavour!
On the other hand, if you're a vegetarian or are considering meat free Monday meals, why not look to remove the meat and just cook up your veggies instead.
Irene
We tried this it was really nice and easy to cook changed the olive oil for sunflower a it's all I had, next time I will try olive Oil
Ricky Willis
Great to hear you enjoyed it, Irene. All oils will work in the same way, so perfect for a substitute.
Sharon
Looks lovely and really easy to follow recipe... this is definitely going to be tried very soon, thanks for the page, I think this will be really popular!
Ricky Willis
Thanks, Sharon - hope you enjoy 🙂
If you're on Instagram, do tag us @SkintChef in a photo once you've cooked it 🙂