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Chicken Paella
Meats

Chicken Paella

⏱ 1 hr 🍽 6 people 🟡 Medium

Golden rice with chicken, bell pepper, carrot and onion, perfumed with saffron, paprika and turmeric. The vegetable sauté is the heart of this paella.

Ingredients
  • 3 large cups of rice
  • 5 chicken breasts
  • 3 onions
  • 5 cloves garlic
  • 1 bell pepper
  • 2 carrots
  • 2 bouillon cubes
  • Water (3 cups per cup of rice)
  • Saffron, thyme, paprika and turmeric or curry powder
  • Oil, butter and salt
Preparation
  1. 1

    Cut the vegetables

    Peel and cut the onions, garlic, bell pepper and carrots into small cubes.

  2. 2

    Make the sauté

    In a pot over medium heat, cook the carrots, bell pepper, onion and garlic, stirring until lightly browned (about 15 min).

  3. 3

    Brown the chicken

    Cut the chicken breasts into cubes. In another pot with oil and butter, cook the chicken with salt until browned.

  4. 4

    Add the rice

    Add the rice to the pot with the vegetables. Stir in the chicken and keep cooking for 15 more min.

  5. 5

    Make the stock

    Prepare the stock: 9 cups of boiling water with 2 bouillon cubes dissolved in it.

  6. 6

    Add the stock

    Add the hot stock to the pot. Stir so the rice picks up flavor. Add saffron, thyme, paprika and turmeric or curry powder.

  7. 7

    Cook and rest

    Place the chicken pieces on top of the rice. Cook over the lowest heat for 15 min. Cover with a lid or foil and let it rest off the heat for another 15 min.

  8. 8

    Socarrat (optional, but it's the best part of paella)

    Right before covering it to rest, crank the heat to maximum for 1 minute. You'll start hearing a crackling sound and smell toasted rice from underneath: that's the socarrat, the crispy, caramelized layer of rice at the bottom that gets scraped up and served as the most sought-after bite of the paella. Take it off the heat as soon as you smell toasting, before it turns into a burnt smell.

Tips
  • The vegetable sauté is what gives it depth of flavor.
  • Keep a bit of extra stock in case the rice absorbs too much.
  • Don't stir the rice while it cooks, so it stays loose.
  • The socarrat at the bottom is what separates a good paella from an excellent one: don't be afraid of that last minute of high heat.
See the interactive recipe (with serving scaler and checklist) →