This seafood paella is so easy and quick to make! Perfect for a date night or dinner on a special occasion.
Having guests over for Christmas dinner that do not eat turkey or meat but love seafood? Seafood paella is a great choice! It’s easy, quick to make, colorful, and absolutely delicious!
This Christmas we will be celebrating at my parents house, we’re a huge group of 11 and as you can imagine, we all have different tastes when it comes to food. Most of us do eat turkey, but 2 people do not eat any poultry or meat, only seafood, and vegetarian options.
As it’s my Mom and me who will be cooking this year (and every year!), we had to sit down and plan the menu. We thought about a few seafood options and seafood paella was the winner. So I thought I’d share this recipe with my readers, as this is what will be on the menu in our house in less than 2 weeks time.
Paella is a traditional Spanish rice dish, and there are many different variations. There is a vegetarian paella, a seafood paella, chicken paella, and a meat paella. I also really like mixed paella which means that you can add anything that you like to it, for example, chicken, chorizo, beans, or whatever your heart desires!
I love how easy is this dish to make, but the result looks like you put a lot of effort into this. It only takes me 20 minutes to whip this up! One more reason why we chose a seafood paella, is because of how colourful this dish is, just perfect for the festive season!
One thing I always like to do is have a good store of frozen food. It means that I can just throw things together, whenever I need to. Frozen food is much fresher than “fresh” food – having been frozen fast, rather than sitting for ages till I get round to using it.
To make this paella, start by chopping up a yellow onion, and saute in a paella pan on medium heat (if you don’t have a paella pan, use a wok or a frying pan). When the onion is tender and translucent, add peas, and the seafood with the sauce, and let it cook on medium heat for a few minutes. Add water, 1 tsp of saffron, and 1 teaspoon of smoked paprika, and let it simmer until reduced. Meanwhile, microwave the steamed rice then add it to the pan to simmer for about 5 more minutes. You can add thin slices of red bell pepper at the end to make it more colorful and festive, salt to taste and garnish with chopped fresh parsley.
To make things even more interesting, we will be serving this with cranberry sauce on the side. Makes an interesting combination doesn’t it?
Did you make this? Be sure to leave a review below and tag me on Facebook, Instagram, or Pinterest!
Seafood Paella
Ingredients
- 1 medium (1) yellow onion diced
- 1 tablespoon (1 tbsp) vegetable oil for sauteeing
- 40 grams (¼ cup) peas frozen or fresh
- 450 grams (2 cups) mixed seafood Mussels, Squid, Clams & Shrimp
- Tomato sauce
- 250 ml (1 cup) water
- 1 teaspoon (1 tsp) saffron
- 1 teaspoon (1 tsp) smoked paprika
- 450 grams (2 cups) Cooked rice
- red bell pepper optional
- salt to taste
- chopped fresh parsley to garnish
- lemon wedges to serve
Instructions
- In a pan saute the onion.
- When the onion is tender and translucent, add peas, the seafood with the sauce and let it cook on medium heat for a few minutes.
- Add water, saffron, smoked paprika and let it simmer until reduced.
- Microwave the steamed rice then add it to pan to simmer for 5 more minutes. You can add thin slices of red bell pepper at the end.
- Salt to taste and garnish with chopped fresh parsley. Serve with lemon wedges.
Nutrition Information
This website provides approximate nutrition information for convenience and as a courtesy only. Nutrition data is gathered primarily from the USDA Food Composition Database, whenever available, or otherwise other online calculators.
© Little Sunny Kitchen
Luci {Luci's Morsels} says
I love paella, but usually don’t have the patience to wait hours while it cooks. This easy to make recipe is perfect for me!
Diana says
This paella can be ready in under 20 minutes!
Julie says
I love seafood and this dish sounds delicious and very doable.
Diana says
It is very easy to make!
Platter Talk says
I’ve seen similar packaged seafood like this before but never dared to buy them, being afraid that they me be dry or fishy tasting. Your dish has proved that theory not correct. Beautiful photo.
Diana says
I always buy this seafood mix and it tastes really good! You need to try it 🙂
Kathryn @ FoodieGirlChicago says
Paella is such a great dish for entertaining. This looks wonderful!
Bintu | Recipes From A Pantry says
Oh my gosh, what an awesome use of Iceland Foods seafood mix. So totally brilliant
Diana says
I love this seafood mix, instead of having to buy each kind on its own I buy the Frutti De Mare mix which is great for dishes like this paella.