
Shrimp paella
Golden rice with smoky paprika, sweet peppers and juicy shrimp, cooked in one wide pan with a crisp crust on the bottom.
- 55 min total
- 30 min hands-on
- A little more hands-on
- Serves 4
- About $5.02 a serving
- 550 calories
- Gluten-free
- Dairy-free

Dolly says: Read the steps once before you start. Everything goes smoother after that.
Ingredients
For 4 servings.
- 1 yellow onion, finely chopped
- 1 red bell pepper, chopped
- 4 cloves garlic, minced
- 1 can diced tomatoes, drained
- 1½ cups arborio rice
- 3½ cups vegetable broth, hot
- 1 lb raw shrimp, peeled and deveined, tails on, thawed if frozen
- ¾ cup frozen peas
- 1 lemon, cut into wedges
- 2 tbsp fresh parsley, chopped (optional)
From your pantry
- 3 tbsp olive oil
- 2 tsp smoked paprika
- ½ tsp ground turmeric
- 1 tsp salt
Each serving has about 550 calories, 32 g protein, 79 g carbs and 12 g fat, and costs about $5.02 at typical US grocery prices. Both are estimates from what the recipe uses.
Missing something?
- No yellow onions? White onions or red onions work.
- No red bell peppers? Yellow bell peppers work.
- No diced tomatoes? Crushed tomatoes work.
- No raw shrimp? Frozen raw shrimp 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.
Heat the oil in your widest , 12 inches or more, over medium heat. Cook the onion and pepper for 6 to 7 minutes, until soft.
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.
Medium heatTimer: 6 min 30 sec
Add the garlic, smoked paprika and turmeric and for 30 seconds, .
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: 30 sec
in the tomatoes and cook for 3 minutes, until they break down and most of the liquid is gone.
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: 3 min
Add the rice and for 1 minute to coat every grain.
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 hot broth and salt, once to spread the rice evenly and . From now on, don’t stir.
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.
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.
Medium-high heat
Dolly’s tip: Paella isn’t risotto. Leaving it alone lets the rice cook evenly and form a crust.uncovered for 15 minutes, until the rice has soaked up most of the liquid.
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.
Medium heatTimer: 15 min
Press the shrimp into the rice, scatter the peas over and cover the pan loosely with foil. Cook 5 to 7 minutes, until the shrimp are pink and opaque and the rice is tender.
Medium heatTimer: 6 min
Food safety: Shrimp are done when they turn pink and opaque all the way through and curl into a loose C. A tight O means overcooked, not unsafe.
Take off the foil and turn the heat to medium-high for 1 to 2 minutes, until you hear crackling and smell toasty rice.
Medium-high heatTimer: 1 min 30 sec
Dolly’s tip: That crackle is the crisp crust Spaniards call socarrat. Stop when it smells toasty, not burnt.Take the pan off the heat, cover it with a clean towel for 5 minutes, then scatter the parsley over and serve with lemon wedges.
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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