Chicken paella
Smoky, golden saffron-style rice with chicken, peppers and peas, cooked in one wide pan until a crackly crust forms on the bottom.
- 60 min total
- 35 min hands-on
- A little more hands-on
- Serves 4
- About $3.51 a serving
- 610 calories
- Good the next day
- Gluten-free
- Dairy-free
Dolly says: Make the full amount. It’s just as good for lunch the next day.
Ingredients
For 4 servings.
- 1¼ lb chicken breasts, cut into 1½-inch pieces
- 1 yellow onion, diced
- 1 red bell pepper, diced
- 3 cloves garlic, minced
- 2 tbsp tomato paste
- 1½ cups arborio rice
- 3½ cups chicken broth
- 1 cup frozen peas
- 1 lemon, cut into wedges
- 2 tbsp fresh parsley, chopped (optional)
From your pantry
- 1½ tsp smoked paprika, divided
- 1¼ tsp salt, divided
- ½ tsp black pepper
- 3 tbsp olive oil
- ½ tsp ground turmeric
Each serving has about 610 calories, 41 g protein, 76 g carbs and 15 g fat, and costs about $3.51 at typical US grocery prices. Both are estimates from what the recipe uses.
Missing something?
- No chicken breasts? Boneless chicken thighs or chicken tenderloins work.
- No yellow onions? White onions or red onions work.
- No red bell peppers? Yellow bell peppers work.
- No chicken broth? Vegetable broth or bone broth works.
- No frozen peas? Frozen mixed vegetables work.
- No lemons? Limes work.
- No fresh parsley? Cilantro works.
Steps
Tap an underlined word for a quick explanation.
the chicken with ½ teaspoon of smoked paprika, ½ teaspoon of salt and the pepper, and wash your hands and board.
Season. Seasoning means adding salt, pepper or spices to bring out a food’s flavor. A little at a few stages tastes better than a lot all at the end.
How you’ll know: When you taste it, it tastes bright and like itself, not flat and not salty.
Food safety: Wash your hands, the board and the knife with hot soapy water after touching raw meat, and don’t rinse raw chicken in the sink.
Heat the oil in your widest over medium-high and the chicken 4 to 5 minutes, until on most sides. Move it to a plate.
Skillet. A skillet is a frying pan: wide and flat with low, sloped sides. The shape lets steam escape, so food browns instead of stewing.
How you’ll know: It’s the pan you’d fry an egg in, and a 10 or 12 inch one handles most recipes.
Brown. Browning means cooking until the outside turns brown, which is where a lot of savory flavor comes from. Give food room and time without stirring, or it steams and stays gray.
How you’ll know: The food looks brown rather than gray, and the kitchen smells toasty and savory.
Golden brown. Golden brown is the color of good toast, somewhere between yellow and light brown. It means the outside is cooked and crisp but not burnt.
How you’ll know: It looks like toast and smells toasty; dark brown with a bitter smell means it went too far.
Medium-high heatTimer: 4 min 30 sec
Dolly’s tip: It won’t be cooked through yet. It finishes on top of the rice.Turn the heat to medium, add the onion and pepper, and cook 5 minutes, until .
Softened. For vegetables it means cooked until they bend and lose their crunch; for butter, left out until it dents easily. Soft onions taste sweet, and soft butter mixes in smoothly.
How you’ll know: Onions squash easily against the pan with your spoon, and butter dents under a finger without looking greasy.
Medium heatTimer: 5 min
in the garlic, tomato paste, turmeric and the rest of the smoked paprika for 1 minute, and brick red.
Stir. Stirring means moving food around with a spoon or spatula so it cooks evenly and doesn’t stick. Unless the recipe says constantly, every so often is plenty, and it gives food time to brown.
How you’ll know: When you drag the spoon across the bottom, nothing is sticking or scorching.
Fragrant. Fragrant means cooking until you can clearly smell it, usually garlic or spices, often in about 30 seconds. That’s the moment the flavor is ready, just before it can burn.
How you’ll know: You can smell it from a step back, and garlic is pale gold, not brown.
Medium heatTimer: 1 min
Dolly’s tip: Turmeric gives the golden color saffron usually brings, for a fraction of the price.Add the rice and for 1 minute until every grain is coated.
Stir. Stirring means moving food around with a spoon or spatula so it cooks evenly and doesn’t stick. Unless the recipe says constantly, every so often is plenty, and it gives food time to brown.
How you’ll know: When you drag the spoon across the bottom, nothing is sticking or scorching.
Medium heatTimer: 1 min
Pour in the broth with the rest of the salt, bring it , and shake the pan so the rice settles in an even layer.
Bring to a boil. It means heating a liquid on high until it’s fully boiling before you move on. A lid on the pot gets it there faster, which makes it a good moment to chop something.
How you’ll know: Big bubbles break all over the surface, and they keep coming when you lift the lid.
High heat
Nestle the chicken into the rice, turn the heat to medium-low, and uncovered 18 to 20 minutes without , until the rice is tender and the chicken reads 165°F.
Simmer. Simmering means keeping a liquid just below a boil, with small bubbles rising gently. It cooks food evenly and lets a sauce thicken without scorching on the bottom.
How you’ll know: Small, lazy bubbles break the surface every second or so, and nothing is churning.
Stir. Stirring means moving food around with a spoon or spatula so it cooks evenly and doesn’t stick. Unless the recipe says constantly, every so often is plenty, and it gives food time to brown.
How you’ll know: When you drag the spoon across the bottom, nothing is sticking or scorching.
Medium heatTimer: 19 min
Dolly’s tip: Don’t stir. Paella is supposed to sit still so the bottom can toast.Food safety: Chicken and turkey are done at 165°F in the thickest part. A thermometer is the only sure check. Without one, cut into the thickest piece: it should be white all the way through, with no pink.
Scatter the peas over, turn the heat to medium-high for 1 to 2 minutes, and listen for a gentle crackle as the bottom crisps.
Medium-high heatTimer: 1 min 30 sec
Cover with foil, let it 5 minutes off the heat, then serve with lemon wedges and parsley.
Rest. Resting means letting cooked meat sit for a few minutes before you cut it. It keeps cooking gently, and more of the juice stays in the meat instead of running onto the board.
How you’ll know: Loosely covered with foil, it stays hot, and very little juice runs out when you slice it.
Timer: 5 min
Plan this in Dollop, and get the grocery list
Dollop puts this dinner on a night that suits your week, lists only what you still need to buy, and walks you through each step while you cook.
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