For busy week nights, it’s nice to have a few dishes in your back pocket that come together quick, use only one pan, and act as protein, main dish & side dish all together. Paella is one of those things for me, and I love how versatile it is.
Paella is traditionally a seafood dish, made with shrimp, clams, mussels, squid – really any number of things a fisherman might have left over from trying to sell the day’s catch. But for my kids, they’re keen on chicken, and I always toss a few clams in or myself.
Chicken & Sausage Paella
Servings:
An easy dinner made in one pan that eats as a complete meal all by itself. Also it's super good.
Ingredients:
- 1 medium yellow onion chopped
- 1 red bell pepper chopped
- 1 pasilla pepper (or green bell pepper) chopped
- 4 cloves garlic finely chopped
- 2 links Spanish chorizo (or smoked sausage) sliced
- 3 boneless skinless chicken thighs diced
- 1.5 Tbsp smoked paprika
- 1-2 tsp saffron threads
- 3 cups medium grain rice Spanish Bomba, or Italian Arborio
- 14oz can fire roasted diced tomatoes
- 1 cup clam juice
- 3.5 cups chicken stock unsalted
- 1 medium lemon cut into 6 wedges, seeds removed
- 1 lb clams little neck or Venus
- 1/2 cup Italian parsley roughly chopped
- olive oil
- salt
- pepper
Directions:
- Place your cast iron skillet or paella pan on medium heat. Add about 2 Tbsp olive oil and bring to temperature. Add the onion, peppers, garlic, and a couple pinches of salt and black pepper. Saute until the onions begin to turn transluscent.
- Add another 2 tsps of olive oil. Then add the sausage and chicken, cook until the chicken is almost cooked through. Add the paprika and saffron, season again with a few pinches of salt and pepper and toss together.
- Add the rice, stir and cook for 2-3 minutes. Add the canned tomatoes, clam juice and chicken stock. Stir together, season again with salt and pepper and add the lemons.
- Bring to a boil, reduce heat to medium low and cover. Simmer 5-10 minutes, then add the clams and cover again. Simmer for 20-25 minutes until all water is absorbed. Let sit for 5 minutes, then add the parsley on top. Serve warm and enjoy!
I am Latina and I’m not offended by this dish being called a Paella. It’s nice to see different adaptations of dishes from around the world to fit your specific dietary needs/restrictions. I’m going to try this later on this week! I love how the rice is perfectly cooked (which to me is when you see each individual grain). I’ll report back how mine turned out :)
I will be making this tonight – Chris’ recipes never disappoint!
Looks gorgeous…and delicious!
Isn’t Julia grain free? Im also grain free and I’d love to see a version of this recipe with some sort of norgrain – like cauliflower rice and how it changes the recipe.
When I make this for Jules, I cook all the ingredients in a pan together, the cauliflower rice in a separate pan, and just toss them together before serving. That helps get rid of any excess moisture and gives the final dish its best texture.
Well I don’t care what is right or wrong about the name of this recipe, it looks amazing and I can’t wait to try it! I’ve wanted a different kind of recipe to make for Valentine’s Day- this is perfect! Thank you ❤️