Easy Gluten Free Paella
I love trying cuisine from different parts of the world. It has the ability to momentarily take you to that part of the world and experience a little of it right where you are. With the global pandemic, I’ve been trying lots of recipes from all over the world and today I’m taking inspiration from Spain and making this Easy Gluten Free Paella.
Paella is something that I’ve had from different people over the years, but never tried it myself. I love the flavors of sea food, sausage and spices that come together to form this delicious one pot dish that is best shared with family and friends.
For my Easy Gluten Free Paella, I’ve taking some of the traditional components, added my own little spin to create an easy recipe that is perfect for weeknight dinner or a quick dish when having a friend or two over.
What is Paella?
If you’ve never had, or you aren’t sure what it is, it is a Spanish rice dish that consists of saffron, chicken, seafood and sometimes other meats, that has been cooked in a large shallow pan. It is probably one of the most famous Spanish dishes.
How to make our Easy Gluten Free Paella
There are many Paella recipes out there, some that use only seafood, others use a combination of meats, and some that use both meat and seafood. According to Saveur there really is no one original paella recipe, but the ingredients and style of cooking has remained consistent over the years.
Rice
The rice that is traditionally used in Paella is Bomba rice. It is a short grain rice, similar to that or risotto rice, known as arborio rice. If you can’t get Bomba rice, arborio rice is a great substitute.
Meats & Seafood
For our recipe we used a combination or shrimp, chicken and sausage. The sausage that is usually used is chorizo sausage. It is a pork based Spanish sausage. I don’t traditionally eat pork so I used a smoked chicken sausage to replace, but the flavors was still super delish!
Saffron
This is one of the key ingredients in Paella. Not only does it add a nice color to the paella, but also great flavor and aroma. These days getting saffron is a little difficult, so I use it when I can get it, but I also add turmeric (sometimes called saffron in the Caribbean) which gives the paella its traditional yellow tint and also adds a great flavor to the dish.
Smoked Paprika
I love the flavor of smoked paprika. It gives the paella a great smoky flavor that is so traditional to the dish!
Stock
Because I’m adding chicken to my paella, I used chicken stock which I always have on hand. But you can use seafood stock for a deeper seafood flavor to your paella.
Sweet Peas
I’m all for adding a veggie to my dishes, and since you can basically add almost anything you want to paella, I added in some sweet peas with give a nice color and extra texture to my paella
Equipment
If you’re familiar with paella, it is made in a shallow pan, known as a paella pan. It has a wide surface and allows you to cook everything evenly and in one layer. I don’t have a paella pan, I definitely want one though, but if you’re like me and don’t have one, I use a large 12 inch cast iron skillet.
This recipe feeds about 4 and the 12 inch skillet works perfectly for the amount of ingredients we used.
For me Paella reminds me of Pelau a traditional Caribbean rice dish that is cooked down with coconut milk and other great additions. It is comforting just like this Easy Gluten Free Paella and a great weeknight dinner or lunchtime dish!
For more comforting dishes from around the world try our Easy Gnocchi.
Easy Gluten Free Paella
Enjoy the flavours of Spain right where you are with this Easy Gluten Free Paella inspired by the traditional Spanish dish!
Ingredients
- 6 oz Chicken Smoked Sausage or Chorizo
- 6 oz Shrimp, large
- 8 oz Chicken Breast, cut in chunks
- 1 cup Bomba Rice or Arborio Rice
- 1/2 teaspoon smoked paprika, heaped
- 1/4 teaspoon turmeric, heaped
- 1/2 teaspoon saffron (optional)
- pinch red pepper flakes
- 1 1/2 tablespoon tomato paste
- 3 cloves garlic, finely chopped
- 1/2 large onion chopped (about 1/2 cup)
- 1/2 cup frozen peas, thawed
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- 2 - 3 cups chicken or seafood stock
- Fresh parsley for garnish
- Salt and pepper to taste
Instructions
- In a large cast iron skillet or paella pan, add olive oil and heat over medium until shinny.
- Add add chicken and sausage, sprinkle with salt and cook until no longer pink about 7 minutes. Remove from skillet and and set aside.
- If needed add a little more oil to the skillet, add onions, saute until tender about 2 mintues, then add garlic and cook with onions until fragrant.
- To the onions and garlic, add tomato paste, turmeric, paprika, saffron and red pepper flakes. Stir to mix with onions and garlic.
- Add rice, stir with onions and spice mixture until the rice is completely coated.
- Sitr in 2 1/2 cups of stock and stir to combine with rice mixture, then add meat back to the skillet, along with peas.
- Sitr again to mix, bring to a boil, then reduce heat to a simmer and cook for 10 minutes uncovered.
- After 10 minutes, add shrimp to the top of the mixture, by gently pressing into the liquid so that it is almost covered with the liquid. If the liquid has dried up and there isn't enough, add a little more stock.
- Cook for 10 more minutes until the shrimp is cooked, the rice is tender and the liquid has been absorbed.
- Season with salt and pepper to taste if needed, then sprinkle with fresh parsley before serving.
Notes
- Different types of rice can cook at different times and use more or less liquid. When using arborio rice i've found that it uses less liquid than the Bomba. Read your rice packaing to help determine how much stock you may need.
- We used Smoked Chicken sausage instead of the traditional chorizio, but you can use chorizo if you want.
- Saffron is sometimes a little difficult to get, so we've used only Turmeric with great results.
- If you can't find smoked paprika, regular works great too.
