Vegan Spanish Paella (Week 1)

Paella is a beautiful rice dish originating from Valencia, Spain. It typically contains a variety of proteins and usually green beans cooked in a broth with short grain rice. If prepared correctly, it has a beautiful soccarat rice crust at the bottom of the pan. Traditional paellas often contain meats like rabbit, snails, duck, shellfish, and vegetables like onions, red bell peppers, and green beans. Since most paellas you’ll find usually aren’t vegetarian or vegan friendly I thought it’d be a great place to start.

This paella recipe is quite simple and in line with what most paella recipes I’ve come across are. The primary deviations you’ll find here is using vegetable stock and omitting any kind of animal protein. To replace the animal protein I could’ve gone two ways — either stick to local Spanish beans (such as judion or fabada), or go with a faux meat alternative.

Initially I wanted to focus on using beans to make it a bit more authentic, but I couldn’t find them in my local store. Plus, I was worried that they would give too mushy of a texture and wouldn’t provide enough contrast with the rice. Because of this, and since some paellas use chorizo, I opted to use Field Roast Mexican Chipotle sausages. This way I got a little spicy chorizo-like protein, and a little extra texture.

Before you start making paella you’ll want a large, shallow pan. I highly recommend using a paella pan, as it will help to quickly and evenly distribute heat throughout the pan. Paella pans increase your surface area with the heating source and are very shallow, which aids in quick cooking and achieving soccarat.

Since I don’t have a paella pan the primary challenge I ran into was using a cast iron skillet, paired with small electric burners. While this kept my paella piping hot, it was deeper than a standard paella pan and much larger than the burner I was cooking it on. Though I tried to move the pan as much around as possible to mitigate this, it did leave some uneven cooking, and prevented the development of soccarat. So if you’re a paella connoisseur, do yourself a favor and invest in a dedicated paella pan.

If you are using a cast iron skillet or similar pan as I was, I’d recommend potentially increasing the amount of cook time to achieve soccarat. Listen carefully for the rice to crackle in step 8, then complete the finishing steps with the peas.

Aside from that, this recipe is pretty straight forward. Let’s dig in!

Vegan Spanish Paella

Print

• 6 cups Vegetable Stock
• 2 cups Bomba, Arroz, or similar short grain rice
• 14.5 oz Canned Diced Tomatoes
• 1 Small Yellow Onion
• 1 Medium Red Bell Pepper
• 1 Lemon
• 1/3 cup Artichoke Hearts
• 1/2 cup Peas
• 2 Spicy Vegan Sausages (I used Field Roast Mexican Chipotle)
• 6 Garlic Cloves
• 2 tablespoons Olive Oil
• 1 tablespoon Smoked Spanish Paprika
• 1 tablespoon Hot Water
• 1 teaspoon Salt
• 1/4 gram Spanish Saffron

Print

• Soak saffron threads in 1 tablespoon of hot water. Set aside.
• Preheat a large, shallow pan on medium high heat.
• Dice red bell pepper and yellow onion into 1/4 inch pieces. Mince 6 cloves of garlic.
• Test pan with a splash of water. If water immediately evaporates, your pan is hot enough. Add 2 tablespoons of olive oil to pan and coat.
• Add bell pepper, onion, and garlic to pan with smoked paprika and salt. Saute for 5-8 minutes.
• Prepare vegan sausage by cutting into 1/4 inch coins and set aside. Heat up 6 cups of vegetable broth in pot until hot (do not boil).
• Once fragrant and onions are beginning to turn translucent add vegan sausage, diced tomatoes, and artichokes. Saute for 5 minutes, or until you’ve cooked off excess liquid from the tomatoes.
• Add 2 cups of rice to mixture and saute for 1-2 minutes. Add 6 cups of vegetable broth and saffron water. Mix until incorporated, then set aside. Cook for 20 minutes, uncovered.
• At this point taste test rice off the top to ensure it is fully cooked. If you want soccarat in your paella, also listen for the rice to start to crackle at the bottom. Once you rice is cooked and/or you start to hear the rice crackle you can move on to the next step. If not fully cooked or crackling, check in 5 minute intervals until you get the desired result.
• Reduce heat to medium. Scatter frozen peas on top of dish and cover for 5 minutes. Cut lemon into wedges while you wait.
• Remove lid from pan and remove from heat. Let sit uncovered for 10 minutes.
• Garnish with lemon wedges and serve.

I’m incredibly pleased with how my first paella turned out, and so is my omivore reviewer below.

Did you make this paella? Let me know what you think in the comments below!