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Quick Chicken Paella for Beginners with a Refined Palates
Paella—that’s a big deal. When it comes to this dish, you could almost say that Valencian paella is an institution.
Not today, though. Today we’re making a variation: chicken rice made with chicken broth and a paella base. It’s a quick, delicious recipe that anyone who’s just starting to cook, loves paella, and wants to impress can make.
Ingredients (serves 8)
- 17.64 oz / 500 g Round rice
- 5 Chicken thighs (or 10 chicken wings)
- Extra Virgin Olive Oil
- 3 Garlic cloves
- 1 Onion
- 2 Tomatoes
- To taste Saffron or food coloring
- 0.53 oz / 15 g (1 tbsp) Smoked “Pimentón dulce de la Vera” (sweet paprika)
- To taste Pepper
- To taste Salt
- 33.81 fl oz / 1 liter Poultry broth (El Paeller or other high-quality brand)
- Optional:
- Soy sauce
We recommend making this recipe in a paella pan; a 42-cm one would work well (16.5 in). If you don’t have one, you can use a skillet with the same diameter. Let’s get started with this recipe, which my kids love. It saves us on more than one Sunday when we don’t know what to eat for lunch or don’t feel like cooking, allowing us to serve up a splendid, traditional Spanish meal.
Step-by-Step Chicken Paella Recipe
- In a paella pan or skillet, coat the bottom with extra virgin olive oil; for this recipe, I recommend any oil from the “everyday cooking” section, or “Alma Bio” if you’d like to use an organic option. Sprinkle coarse salt around the entire edge of the pan. Once the oil is hot, add the chicken and brown it—be careful of splatters. It should be nicely browned.
- Once it’s browned enough, push it to the edges, then add the finely chopped onion and garlic, along with the cayenne pepper. This way, you can sauté the vegetables in the center of the pan.
- Add the smoked Pimento de la Vera, let it cook for a few seconds, then stir in the crushed tomatoes, and season with salt and pepper. Reduce the tomato liquid until it begins to thicken, being careful not to let it burn.
- Prepare the paella broth: you should use 2.5 parts liquid for every part of rice. Since one liter of paella broth isn’t enough, I usually add a little water and soy sauce until I reach those 2.5 parts. Bring it to a boil, then add the saffron or food coloring.
- Over medium-high heat, add the rice and spread it evenly across the entire surface of the paella pan. Boil for 15 minutes over medium-high heat, adjusting the heat as needed and stirring as little as possible to distribute the rice evenly across the bottom.
- After 15 minutes, check the liquid level, and adjust the heat up or down depending on whether you want it drier, creamier, or dry with a crispy crust (socarrat)—which is what we like at home.
If you prefer, you can remove it after 15 minutes and let it rest, or leave it in until 18 minutes—it will depend on how high you’ve set the heat and how much liquid you’ve added, so keep an eye on it.
And that’s it—enjoy it with some good bread or some authentic roscos, which you can find in our snacks section.
La Dalia smoked paprika from La Vera, Tartana rice, Antonio Sotos saffron, and El Paeller broth—you’ll soon be able to find them in our paella section.
Ready to serve and enjoy
I hope you like it.
