Recipes

Summer Vegetable Paella

Serves 4

| Prep Time: 15 mins

| Cook Time: 25 mins

| Total Time: 40 mins

You may need: Spanish Paella

Discover The Recipe

Paella is one of the best-known dishes in Spanish cuisine. From a baseline classic recipe of rice with seafood, Paella can go in many delicious directions with the regional additions of meats, fresh vegetables, and seasonings. The name Paella comes from the wide shallow pan used to cook the dish over an open fire, creating a layer of crispy rice on the bottom and infusing smoky flavor into every bite.

Our version, a vegan Summer Vegetable Paella, is a lively mix of seasonal vegetables drenched in golden-colored and richly flavored broth. Our proprietary Spanish Paella seasoning adds a perfect combination of spicy and savory to your dish with traditional flavors from smoked paprika, black pepper, oregano, onion powder, garlic powder, cayenne pepper, and bay leaf. When cooked properly, the finished paella rice will be al dente and never soft or overcooked.

Making Paella is all about taking it slow and allowing the short grain rice (called Spanish bomba or Calasparra varieties) to caramelize into a crust on the bottom of the pan. The brown crust, known as Soccarat, enhances the overall flavor of the Paella and is considered one of the essential elements to this perfectly executed traditional Spanish meal.

Ingredients

1/4 cup olive oil
1/2 onion, diced
4 cloves garlic, minced
4 vegan sausages, cut into 1/2" slices
1 bell pepper, seeded and chopped
2 Tbsp tomato paste
1 yellow squash, sliced
1 zucchini, sliced
1 cup paella rice
3 cups vegetable stock
1 Tbsp Piquant Post Spanish Paella Blend
1 tsp sea salt
Black pepper to taste
1/4 cup frozen peas
1/2 cup cherry tomato
Garnish: parsley, lemon or lime wedges

Notes

We recommend using traditional Spani paella rice varieities called Bomba or Calasparra if you can get them! If you can’t find it locally, order online. Or, Calrose rice is a great substitute that is readily available in most supermarket stores.

For the vegan sausage, we tried to find one with a Mediterranean flavor profile and just a hint of spice. This recipe is also super tasty with a spicy chorizo as well.

It’s really important to not stir the rice during the cooking process! Stirring makes the rice mushy while cooking, and you’ll miss out on the crispy layer of rice on the bottom of the pan called soccarat. Read more about soccarat here.

Instructions

Preheat your oven to 450°F. Heat the olive oil in an oven proof sauté pan or paella pan over medium heat. Add the onion, garlic, sausage and bell pepper to the pan. Sauté until the onions are browned, about 3-5 minutes. Add the tomato paste and stir well. Cook until the tomato paste has caramelized or 2-3 mins.

Add the yellow squash, zucchini, paella rice, vegetable stock, Piquant Post Spanish Paella blend, sea salt, and black pepper. Stir well and make sure there is just enough to cover the rice. Bring to a simmer and add the frozen peas and cherry tomatoes distributed evenly around the top of the paella.

Transfer the paella pan to the oven and bake the paella for 20 minutes, until all the liquid has been absorbed.

Remove from the oven and cook on the stovetop over medium high heat for 3 minutes to crisp the bottom. To serve, garnish with parsley and lemon.

Alternatives & Substitutions

Paella is a wonderful blank palette for many different kinds of veggies and across all seasons. Try it with butternut squash and mushrooms in the fall, or asparagus and fennel in the spring! We love our recipe for Tomates Farcies, a fantastic vegan dish featuring our Spanish Paella.
Traditionally paella is made with seafood. Try our traditional Paella Mixta with chorizo, or our Spanish Cod. Here's another version with calamari, shrimp and clams.
For a slightly faster dish with similar flavor profile, try our Spanish Seafod Fideua recipe, made with fideo noodles, which are very similar to angel hair or vermicelli noodles.
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