No fancy pans, unusual ingredients or complicated techniques needed in this Easy Peasy Prawn Paella! It’s easy to make, tastes amazing and is ready in under 45 minutes – perfect for busy weeknights.
Easy Peasy Prawn Paella
I love paella. I have very happy memories of it from Spanish holidays and restaurants. The trouble is, most paella recipes are long and complicated. There are usually a lot of ingredients and steps and special pans involved and some of the recipes I’ve looked at seem to take forever…
Not so with this Easy Peasy Paella recipe! I’ve worked hard to create for you a simplified, but no less tasty version of this classic. Not only is it quicker and easier to make, but also it only involves one pan – meaning much less washing up and no pan-juggling!
Just prawns…
To make this extra easy, this Easy Peasy Prawn Paella just features prawns… no chicken or chorizo. Not only does this make the dish quicker and simpler… it also makes it much lower in calories too!
But if you would prefer a meaty paella just add in some cooked chicken and/or chorizo at the end.
Alternatively, you might like to check out my Easy Peasy Chicken and Chorizo Paella
Make it veggie/vegan
This recipe is also very easy to adapt to make it vegetarian, and indeed vegan. Simply leave out the prawns and use vegetable stock instead!
Incidentally, this is a great dish to do if you are cooking for a mixture of vegetarians and non-vegetarians (the kind that get grumpy if there’s no meat or fish in the meal).
Make the paella using vegetable stock and don’t put the prawns in at step 4. Take the veggie portions out and then thrown in the prawns (and/or whatever cooked meat) you like. Cook until the prawns are done and the meat is piping hot and then serve the non-vegetarians.
Alternatively, check out my Easy One Pot Vegetable Paella (Vegan)
What to serve with Prawn Paella?
Personally, I feel like this is a complete meal in it’s own right… But if you feel the need for a little extra something, serve with crusty white bread and/or a green side salad.
What to drink with Prawn Paella?
This goes brilliantly with a Rioja rosado (AKA rosé Rioja!) or, in fact, pretty much any other Garnacha or Tempranillo based rosé. If you prefer red, go for a Rioja Riserva or a Cotes du Rhone. And if white is more your thing, a white Rioja would be a great choice here.
Can you reheat paella?
Yes, you can. But be very careful. Both rice and prawns can give you food poisoning if not stored or reheated correctly.
Get the cooled paella into the fridge as soon as possible. It will keep in the fridge for up to 3 days. Take care when you reheat the paella to reheat it until it is piping hot all the way through. Only reheat once.
To reheat paella, simply place it in a large frying pan with a splash of water and cook over a medium heat, stirring occasionally, until piping hot.
Can you freeze paella?
Yes, it freezes surprisingly well. But again, you must take care to avoid food poisoning. Get the cooled paella into the freezer as soon as possible. It will keep in the freezer for up to 1 month.
Defrost overnight in the fridge and reheat as above. Only reheat once.
If you like this recipe…
…you might also like:
Easy Peasy Prawn Paella
Ingredients
- 1.2 litres chicken stock from cubes is fine, I use 2 Kallo organic chicken stock cubes
- Pinch of saffron
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- 1 onion sliced
- 1 red pepper sliced
- 3 cloves garlic crushed or grated
- 2 medium sized tomatoes finely chopped
- 300 g paella rice
- 2 teaspoons smoked paprika
- ½ to 1 teaspoon chilli flakes or to taste
- 75 g green beans trimmed and cut in half
- 100 g frozen peas
- 450 g uncooked prawns (defrosted if frozen)
- 2 lemons cut into quarters
- 1 tablespoon parsley (plus extra for garnish)
Instructions
- First make up your stock using the chicken stock cubes and boiling water. Add a pinch of saffron to the stock and stir.
- Put the olive oil in a wide, deep sauce pan and add the sliced onions and peppers. Cook on a low heat with the lid on for 5 minutes, stirring occasionally, until softened but not brown.
- Add the chopped garlic and tomatoes and cook for another minute with the lid off, stirring occasionally.
- Add the smoked paprika and chilli flakes. Stir and cook for another minute.
- Add the rice, stir everything together and cook for 2 minutes.
- Add the stock and bring to the boil. Give everything one last stir and cook for 20 minutes on a low heat, with the lid off.
- After 20 minutes add the green beans, prawns and peas. Give everything a quick stir and cook for 5 minutes, until the prawns are pink and cooked through.
- Add the juice from two of the lemon quarters and the parsley. Stir one last time and serve garnished with more parsley and the remaining lemon wedges.
Notes
- Suitable for freezing.
- Nutrition information is approximate and meant as a guideline only.
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Lucy @ BakingQueen74 says
It looks delicious, I will have to try it for my kids, they love rice and are bound to like this 🙂
Eb Gargano says
My kids loved this! Hope yours do too!! x
Alison says
Yum, not had paella for ages and you make it look lovely
Eb Gargano says
Thanks, Alison! x
Honest mum says
Oh yum, one of all my all time favourite dishes. Thanks for linking up to #tastytuesdays
Eb Gargano says
Thanks, Vicki! It’s one of mine too – can’t believe I’d never made it before. I’ll be making it lots more now, though!! x
Kirsty Hijacked By Twins says
I used to live in the Canary Islands and fell in love with all Spanish food but paella was and still is a favourite of mine. This looks delicious, I would love this for dinner! Thank you for sharing with #CookBlogShare x
Eb Gargano says
Wow! How long did you live in the Canary Islands for? That sounds lovely! Spanish food is amazing, isn’t it? Thanks for commenting!! x
Maureen says
I love a good paella and was very disappointed when I lost the recipe for one I used to make. So a replacement has always been at the back of my mind! Knowing that picky eater 1 does not do shellfish – but was dining elsewhere, I took the opportunity to make this for husband and I this week. Another success! I am in awe of you Eb! The whole family has been eating from your recipes this week and they have been a huge success almost without exception. I made a small error and put in a qtr teaspoon of crushed chillies, but to be honest it gave a little pep without too much heat. I thought this would be too generous for 2, but we both cleared our plates and had very satisfied tummies! Thanks for a lovely meal
Eb Gargano says
Thank you so much for taking the time to write this lovely comment! I am so pleased you enjoyed my Paella and all the other meals you tried 🙂 And now you will never lose the recipe for it will always be here! This could be very easily adapted to make a veggie paella or you could sub in some leftover roast chicken, if that would work better for your picky eater 🙂 Eb x
Steph G says
Thank you so much for this recipe – It really is easy peasy and delicious! I added a sliced chorizo at the tomato stage, which gave it an extra kick and took me back to my time as a uni student being forced (not!) to spend 3 months in Spain as part of my course. I love the Spanish cuisine and your take on paella is a winner. (oh by the way, I couldn’t get the real Spanish paella rice here in Australia – at least not in my local shops – so I substituted arborio : worked pretty well)
Eb Gargano says
Aw, yay! So pleased to hear you enjoyed this so much and how lovely that it transported you back to your student days in Spain! Thanks for taking the time to leave such a lovely review… and thanks especially for the 5 star review! Eb 🙂
Pen says
Love this and am currently making this for the second time. Found I had far too much liquid the first time – maybe I had it on too low a heat so have put less in this time. Very easy and delicious.
Eb Gargano says
Really pleased you liked it so much! Sorry to hear you found it a bit liquidy the first time – yes, being on too low a heat sounds like a likely explanation. Either that or maybe you used a pan with a smaller surface area than mine? Less surface area would mean less liquid evaporates. Either way, it’s an easy fix! Eb 🙂