How To Make Seafood Paella (Properly)

Paella is more than just a recipe; it’s a collection of essential cooking techniques! Learn how to make this iconic Spanish dish with my easy-to-follow paella recipe. From selecting the right rice recipes to mastering the perfect socarrat, this tutorial covers all the bases for amazing seafood paella.

In Spain, this recipe is usually called arroz de marisco, while “paella” traditionally refers to the Valencian version with chicken and rabbit. But outside of Spain, “seafood paella” is the name everyone knows — so today I’ll teach you how to cook it step by step, with all the tips to make it taste just like the ones by the Mediterranean.

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In this video, you’ll learn:

– How to make a proper sofrito with onion, garlic, peppers, paprika, and tomato
– The technique of nacarar (toasting the rice before adding the stock), which adds a deep nutty flavor
– How to toast saffron to bring out its full aroma
– The secrets to perfectly cooked seafood: shrimp, mussels, cockles, cuttlefish, and cigalas
– How to achieve a balanced rice texture and deep seafood flavor

Even if you’ve never made paella before, this recipe will guide you to success. It’s rich, colorful, and packed with the flavors of the Spanish coast.

🥘 Recipe – Arroz de Marisco (Seafood Paella). Serves 4–6.

600 g bomba rice
1.8 L seafood fumet (stock)
4 cigalas (Norway lobsters)
12 shrimps
1 cuttlefish, cut into cubes
10 mussels
A handful of cockles
1 onion, finely diced
2 garlic cloves, finely diced
1 green bell pepper
1 red bell pepper
1 tbsp smoked paprika
3 tsp pimiento choricero paste
250 g shredded tomato
0.1 g saffron
6 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
Salt

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Hey guys, today we’re making arro de Marisco. I wish you guys could smell it. The bomba rice is anyway ready to soak all that flavor, all that moisture. And the final result is just spectacular. The joy of getting one of these shells and get an explosion on your mouth. And even this is like the perfect spoon for this arisco, right? really one of the best ways to enjoy this style of Spanish rice. All right guys, let’s go with the ingredients. Okay, let’s start with the ingredients of the soprito. And today we have a special guest here in the soprito. It’s the onion. Okay, I would normally not add onion in my paella if I want the result to be a dry rice. With that, I mean this traditional paella from Valencia, you know, with with rabbit and chicken and so on. For those cases, onion would make the rice a little bit too soggy and we don’t want that. But in this case with seafood paella, the addition of these seafood ingredients is going to make the final result already pretty different. It’s not going to be a dry rice anymore. It’s going to have a little bit more moisture. And for this case, I actually like to add a little bit of onion. Okay, in this case, red onion because it’s the one I found, but any onion would be fine. We’re also going to add some garlic at the same time. That’s why I have it in the same bowl. And the same amount of green bell pepper and red bell pepper. Okay, fresh tomato already shredded. Okay, around 250 g. And as usual, some extra virgin olive oil of a good quality. In this case, you already know my option. Panto Ortiz from Cordova. Got to be honest. This is one of the best extra virgin olive oils that I’ve ever tried and that’s why I keep it in my kitchen. And of course, well, some salt. I have some pasta pimento cho. We already talked about this in the previous video, but it’s basically a sweet bell pepper paste. Not any bell pepper. It’s pimento chero. Those pimentos that we traditionally use for making chi. That’s why we call it pimento cho. Right. This has a really special flavor and it’s really nice for paellas, especially for this style of seafood paella. Almost forgot about the of course saffron. Okay, it’s always gives a really nice color and a really nice aroma to the whole paella. The rice that we’re using today is bomba rice, an option that I love for seafood paella because it’s really resistant. It’s capable of absorbing so much flavor and also so much humidity because as I said, when adding these seafood ingredients, we’re also adding some extra moisture and we want a variety of rice that holds this properly. Okay. And then the proteins, toppings or everything together, muscles, a little bit of bervettos. I don’t even know what’s the name of this in English. I got bervettos because they are really common and easy to find here in Galithia where I find myself. If not, any other sort of clam would perfectly also work. Okay. And also I have here some shrimps, some figalas. I also don’t know what’s the name of this kind of shrimp in English, but uh well in Spanish it’s called figala. And I also have a little bit of cuttlefish. Okay, squid will also work. But basically, as I always say, these kind of recipes are to use whatever you find around, to keep in mind seasonality, to keep in mind where are you and where you can find from the area. And that’s all. Let’s go with the recipe. As usual, first thing is to put some oil in our paella and balance it. Make sure that it’s even so we can cook all the rest of the recipe with no problems. What are you trying to say? Yes, I am going to add some onion in my paella. Okay. And garlic also. And garlic also. Yeah, also garlic is kmic. We’re going to have a little bit of a problem here with the wind. While this warms up, let me explain. If I were speaking in Spanish, probably I would not even call this video seafood paella because in Spanish a little bit more complicated. Whatever is not the Valencian one with chicken rather than so on. We directly call it arro. Okay, this is a roariscoco seafood rice. We call it a rode. This way you don’t piss off the Valencians which you know you got to respect sometimes because they were indeed the the creators of this style of recipes right or I don’t know international audience is just easier to say paella because you already picture this kind of style of rices as paella okay but anyway the good way to say would be arro said that in my arisco I do whatever I want and I don’t have to follow any certain specific traditional recipe to not offend I like to add onion in this case and Actually with garlic also sometimes even in the traditional one. Garlic is actually something that I don’t see why not using it. You know this is not hot. This is not heating up. No, but it’s the wind. New setup. I almost forgot to put salt all over the edges of the paella just in case it does something. I don’t really think so, but whatever. We’re going to give a quick Thai massage to the tagalas. Wea. I only got four because I’m a cheap bastard. We are aromatizing the oil that’s going to be the sole later of our uh soprito. But it has to be fast, okay? We don’t want to cook the seafood now. Otherwise, it’s going to get dry later. I think it was even not 3 minutes, but this is already enough in my opinion. Okay. Quick searing. All the aroma gets into the oil. The difference between one of these served on the grill or on a plant to one of these just simmered in in salted water, it’s crazy. It looks actually like a different animal. And in this case, in this kind of paella, we want the plant vibe there. So, as you can see, okay, we have there already this soil that is extremely aromatized. Now, is the time for the cutish. It’s going to release a lot of water at the beginning. So, I’m going to decide while doing at some point it may happen that too much water is going to start simmering it instead of getting those Maya reactions that we’re looking for. So, in case that happens, I will probably light up the second ring and we’re going to try to um evaporate all that water. Long story short, we want caramelizations. You already know this. I love my reaction. Should I get a tattoo? Let’s actually light up the other one so we can make sure we get all that excess of water. It’s again getting attached. That means all the water is gone. And that’s actually what we’re looking for in this case. Now, I’m going to light off the outside ring. Again, by the way, I forgot to mention in the ingredients at the beginning, the broth, of course, for Valencian traditional paella, you’re not supposed to use broth. But in seafood, I guarantee you, in my opinion, it’s essential. You need a broth. So, this is already caramelized and nice. Now, we’re going to take it out. Time for the soprito. My favorite moment. We’re going to start with the onion and the garlic. This instantly gets a super nice smell from all that seafood that left the essence. We’re going to give it a couple of minutes. And then we instantly put the paprika. Little bit of salt to help that paprika release all the goodness. And this is already asking for a little bit more of fat. Okay. We don’t want to poach. We don’t want to just like it just needs a little bit more oil. This is what I meant because I don’t want to poach the vegetables. That would be boring for my paella. I want to fry them a little bit. Now, a pretty common mistake I would say when like not experienced people are cooking this style of paella is not cook the sofrito enough. In this case, I decide to use paprika, red and green paprika. Some people are going to criticize that for sure. If you decide to do so, just like me, make sure before adding the tomato, that your paprikas and onion are super super poached, super caramelized. If you leave them raw or not concentrated enough, it’s probably one of the main difference between a proper paella in this case and one that is not so good. After around, I don’t know, 20 minutes. Looks already nice and fried. Right before the moisture of the tomato, we want to add a little bit of smoked paprika. Forgot to mention this in ingredients, but guys, this is cooking from Spain. Every single time I cook, I have a little bit of smoked paprika, and I’m always ready to just pull it out a little bit. Okay, something like half a tablespoon. And this before the moisture of the tomato because we want to slightly toast it but not so much. We got to be really fast and really careful because it burns super fast before the tomato even to taste. One, two, and three. That already brings a little bit of humidity. So our paprika is already safe. Now I like already to include my cuttlefish into the soprito. Cuttlefish also demands a long time of cooking. So, it’s actually perfect to include now on this slow cooking of our soprito. If I had now a little bit, if I were just chilling with my family and drinking a little bit of white wine, I may add a little bit. In this case, I don’t have it, no problem. But a little bit, something like half a cup of white wine now before the tomato will also be a nice idea. The tomato in this is the beginning of what’s going to be our sofrito. As I already said in a couple videos, is the soul of these recipes, okay? You got to have a strong a concentrated soprito. Full of color, full of flavor. And I’m going to lower the heat, okay? Because with the sofrito, we should not be in a hurry, okay? If you’re making pa for your family, remember this. No matter how good you think you are, no matter how fast you think you are, make it 2 hours in advance. 2 hours before you want to eat, you’re going to start this already with the ingredients cut and everything, okay? Because otherwise, you’re going to have everybody waiting in the table, and I guarantee you that’s stressful as hell. And it’s better to stop while everything’s ready and wait for everyone to sit. And then from the moment you add the broth, you calculate like around 15 20 minutes having now already everybody in the table and I being like, “Hey guys, but you know the sophrito cookie from Spain said that the soprito is supposed to think in advance.” While the soprito is slowly cooking, let’s do the saffron. Okay, we’re going to use something like this. Okay, I think that’s a reasonable amount. We’re going to make an envelope like this and we’re going to toast it directly into the flame. Wait, let’s see if this is not burning. This is indeed not burning but almost ready. Evaporated most of the humidity and this is now like a super concentrated paste. Look at the color of the oil itself. You can see it in my spatula. I put it directly into the frame for 1 2 3 4 5. And you kind of smell it. Maybe a little bit more. But this like literally burns in seconds. In milliseconds. Let’s see. Let’s see. Let’s see. A little bit more though. Yeah. The last time you said a little bit more it burns. But you really see the difference. Like when you smell it, you know. Yeah. It’s perfect. So now we get this and we put all our saffron into the mortar. Now with this and now we just put a little bit of cold water and our infusion of saffron is ready. Okay. Now when it looks like this, it means it’s in the right moment. Without Nina seeing me, I’m going to put a little bit more oil because now is the moment of the rice. There’s actually two ways of making this style of rice. And the traditional Valencian style is to first put the water in and then after the water put the rice already directly into a watery matrix inside here. Right? But in this case, what we’re going to do is different. We’re going to put now first the rice on a medium high heat. I’m going to try to slightly stir fry the rice with the soprito. In Spanish is called nakar. We’re going to now move it so every single grain gets its part of that beautiful sofrito. Now there is no water. I can touch it as much as much as I want. And actually, I have to because I’m looking for this slightly toasting of every rain. And for that, I’m going to have to touch it. That rule of never touching the paella is actually whenever the water and the rice both things are in. And not even at the very beginning, like when you put the water in, you still have 5 minutes to move it a little bit to spread the rice all over the paella. Do you hear it? That sound is the rice indeed still frying a little bit. The broth. Okay, already like boiling hot. And I’m going to, as usual, give it a try. It’s pretty decent. But as I always say, we want it a little bit overs salted. A little bit more. Okay, now both are on. Both are high heat. And the rule with rices more or less is always the same. 5 minutes high heat, then another 5 minutes or six or seven at low heat. And then the next five, six, seven, depending on the variety of the rice. depends also on the amount of humidity that we got back there. I’m going to drop all the broth. Okay guys, now Riot, I don’t finish this video. We cancel everything because I have heard that you are not subscribed to this channel. I cannot understand why. It’s free and you would help us a lot. So please, if you haven’t yet, hit the subscription button and you will help us a lot. Still haven’t subscribed? Now we we cancel. Nina, close it. Now, we’re also going to put our saffron infusion in. We’re going to distribute all the grains a little bit all over the paella. One part of rice, three parts of broth. And I’m still going to add some more moisture because I’m going to add the muscles. And I’m going to wait until they open. Only until they open because they are also full with um water inside. So, I want to have them open already. We’re going to wait those first 5 minutes. Okay? And as soon as they open, we take them out this way. Then we can plate them a little bit more beautiful later. So we just want them to be open enough. All this water is flavor. And we’ve got that already. Drop this verbos. And the verbos are also full with liquid. Let’s try to do it good. And this is now the last 10 minutes more or less 10 to 5 that we are putting back all the toppings to finish them. Now it has been around 13 minutes more or less. And I see that the water is almost gone. because this part of the pa is still uh sizzling quite a lot. The thing is that I’m going to give it uh another five timer of 5 minutes at low heat because this water is almost gone. Even though also got to say look how the verbto for example they still have all this amount of water to release. That’s why I’m not going to panic. The water is going to be the humidity is enough. I’m just going to keep it as low as possible and wait for the right time of cooking that the variety of the rice demand around 17 minutes already complete. Now it’s the moment for maximum heat. So we finish evaporating all the rest of the humidity that it still has. So we hear the singing of the baya as you can hear now. Ready to identify that those caramelizations. But be careful not to burn it. It would be a mess if you burn it. Now this is it. This is not ready yet. The chilling time is super important because it’s now when all the humidity that is left there finish cooking the whole thing. those grains that were a little bit more up and didn’t have the time enough to soak and to get a little bit bigger is now when they get bigger. If you don’t let it chill and you directly put this in the table, you’re going to feel how those grains at the top of the baya are not so cooked as the ones underneath. That’s also why it’s important to always keep it not so fat the layer of rice. And that’s all, ladies and gentlemen. Here we have it. Oh, it smells extremely amazing. I wish you guys could smell it. The beast also smelling it. It’s good, I told you. Anyway, let’s give it a try. First of all, what I was talking about at the beginning of the video, this rice has a little bit more moisture than a normal Valencian style rice. The bomba rice is anyway ready to soak all that flavor, all that moisture. And the final result is just spectacular. The cuttlefish is right in the exact point as we wanted it. And well, the joy of getting one of these shells and get an explosion on your mouth. One of the best ways to enjoy this style of Spanish rice. Well, of course, I also cannot wait for getting what’s on the best parts of this pie. You see, it’s still super juicy. Look, there you go. [Music] Once again, thank you very much for watching. Hope you like the video. Let me know if you have any doubt in the comments and I’ll be happy to answer. And if not, see you in the next one. Ciao.