Chicken and Chorizo Paella
Chicken and chorizo paella is a flavorful comfort dish with amazing flavors! Tender pieces of chicken and sliced chorizo sausage are combined with rice, a hearty tomato base, saffron, and peas for a meal that is satisfying and so flavorful.
Paella is one of those dishes that people assume is complicated and out of reach to make at home. But this easy version made with chicken and chorizo sausage in a cast iron iron skillet is totally doable, even for weeknight meal!
Paella is an amazing meal from Spain, and there are a lot of different versions of it. It usually has a lot of seafood, and in Spain it is made with a special paella pan. This version is perfect if you live in the landlocked Midwest like me without great access to fresh seafood and don’t want to stock your small kitchen with tons of single use tools.
Try these other amazing recipes from Spain:
How to make Paella with chicken and chorizo
This recipe is fun to make and not hard! For the full set of directions, make sure you scroll down to the recipe card below.
- In a small bowl, mix 1/4 cup of chicken broth and the saffron threads and set aside. This will “bloom” the saffron and help bring out the flavor.
Brown the meat.
- Heat a large 14″ cast iron skillet over medium heat with 1 Tablespoon of olive oil.
- Sauté the sliced chorizo until browned on both sides, about 3 minutes. Transfer to a plate.
- Season the chicken with salt and pepper and transfer to the pan.
- Sauté the diced chicken until browned on both sides, about 7 minutes. Transfer to the plate and set aside.
Make the base.
- To the pan, add the onion and bell pepper, and sauté until tender, about 5 minutes, stirring occasionally.
- Stir in the garlic and paprika, and allow to become fragrant, about 30 seconds.
- Stir in the tomatoes and rice. Stir frequently until most of the tomato water has been absorbed, about 2 minutes.
- Add in the saffron infused broth and the remainder of the broth.
- Turn the heat up enough until the pan starts to simmer.
Finish cooking.
- Return the meat to the pan evenly. You don’t need to stir it back in, just place it on top evenly.
- Sprinkle the frozen peas on top. Do NOT stir them in.
- Cook on a low simmer, uncovered, for 20 minutes. Do NOT stir. Just let it be!
- Remove from the heat and allow to sit for 5 minutes.
- Garnish with chopped cilantro and serve with lemon wedges.
Storage Information
Leftover paella can be stored in an airtight container in the fridge for up to 4 days.
To reheat, warm in the microwave until the desired temperature is reached.
Frequently Asked Questions
What kind of rice do I need for paella?
To cook paella, you need a special kind of rice. Using a long grain rice like you typically do for Asian recipes will result in mushy rice because it cooks for so long. For this recipe you need a hearty short grain rice like bomba rice or even arborio rice. If you cannot find that, sushi rice will work in a pinch.
Also, in contrast to Asian recipes, you do NOT want to rinse your rice before cooking. You want to keep those extra starches on the rice grains.
Do I need a paella pan to make this recipe?
No. A paella pan is a large, flat pan with handles on the sides that are designed to be cooked over a grill or a fire. They also help the paella to form a traditional crust on the bottom of the pan. They are great pans, but you do not need to go out and buy one. A large 14″ cast iron skillet will work just fine.
Do I need to use Saffron?
Yes. Saffron is a KEY flavor component to paella. You cannot skip it or substitute it.
What kind of chorizo do I use?
You want to make sure you get the correct kind of chorizo. Mexican chorizo is a softer, fresh sausage. Think about if you were to take the casing off of a pork sausage, how it would be ground inside. That is not what we want. Spanish chorizo is more of a cured meat like pepperoni or what you would add on a charcuterie board. I often find it in the fancy cheese case at the grocery store. You may not substitute Mexican chorizo in this recipe.
Try these other great comfort food recipes:
Love and links are always appreciated! If you’d like to share this post, please link to this post directly for the recipe, please do not copy and paste or screenshot. Thanks so much for supporting me! xoxo
Chicken and Chorizo Paella Recipe
Ingredients
- ½ teaspoon saffron threads
- 3 ¼ cup unsalted chicken stock divided
- 1 Tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
- 6 ounces Spanish chorizo sliced into 1/4″ thick slices
- 1 lb boneless skinless chicken thighs cut into 1 1/2″ thick pieces
- ½ teaspoon black pepper
- ½ teaspoon salt
- 1 small yellow onion diced
- 1 small red bell pepper dice
- 4 cloves garlic minced
- ¾ teaspoon smoked paprika
- 14 ounce can diced tomatoes
- 1 ½ cup short grain rice – Bomba or Arborio
- 1 cup frozen peas
- ⅓ cup chopped fresh parsley
- 1 lemon sliced into wedges
Instructions
- In a small bowl, mix 1/4 cup of chicken broth and the saffron threads and set aside. This will "bloom" the saffron and help bring out the flavor.
- Heat a large 14" cast iron skillet over medium heat with 1 Tablespoon of olive oil.
- Sauté the sliced chorizo until browned on both sides, about 3 minutes. Transfer to a plate.
- Season the chicken with salt and pepper and transfer to the pan.
- Sauté the diced chicken until browned on both sides, about 7 minutes. Transfer to the plate and set aside.
- To the pan, add the onion and bell pepper, and sauté until tender, about 5 minutes, stirring occasionally.
- Stir in the garlic and paprika, and allow to become fragrant, about 30 seconds.
- Stir in the tomatoes and rice. Stir frequently until most of the tomato water has been absorbed, about 2 minutes.
- Add in the saffron infused broth and the remainder of the broth.
- Turn the heat up enough until the pan starts to simmer.
- Return the meat to the pan evenly. You don't need to stir it back in, just place it on top evenly.
- Sprinkle the frozen peas on top. Do NOT stir them in.
- Cook on a low simmer, uncovered, for 20 minutes. Do NOT stir. Just let it be!
- Remove from the heat and allow to sit for 5 minutes.
- Garnish with chopped cilantro and serve with lemon wedges.
Your paella looks PERFECT. I wish I'd had sausage to add to mine. Seriously great job! 🙂
Your paella is beautiful 🙂 I love the green bean addition.
I love your adaptation without seafood! It is so hard to get fresh seafood in Colorado that won't break the bank 😉 I can't wait to try it!
The tomatoes and green beans gave your paella such beautiful color! Next time I'm going to add some chorizo as well.
Your paella looks beautiful! Great job!
Your paella looks lovely. I'm with you on omitting the seafood 🙂
your paella looks terrific. we also prefer to skip the seafood though if ever in Spain..
Your paella looks so delicious, I didn't put seafood too. Great job!
I love the chicken paired with the sausage in your paella. I usually order (I've only made it twice in my life) seafood paella, but sometimes I get lucky and they add chicken and sausage. If I make it again..that's exactly how I'm doing it. Yours looks incredible!