A Healthy Seafood Paella that’s easy to put together with just 10 ingredients. This Spanish family favorite only takes less than 30 min to make and is great to enjoy all-year-round!
Spanish Paella has been on my to-do list for ages, but I’ve never had the courage to venture into making this traditional recipe. To my surprise, making the real traditional paella is not that difficult as I thought, but it does require quite few ingredients and some time. This super simplified version instead, only takes a mere half an hour to prepare and makes the most of just a bunch of ingredients, so you don’t have to jump off to the next flight to Valencia ( where you can find the best paella ever).
Choosing the right ingredients, as regular readers will know, is important for me just as much as cooking them. Whilst fresh and local products are always a first choice when you have the chance, personally going frozen can be a better option for so many reasons.
First of all increasing use of frozen food helps reduce food waste, benefiting the family budget and the environment. Not only, I firmly believe that keeping healthier options in the freezer, such as fruit, vegetables, lean meat and fish, can be a BIG help into choosing a more balanced and nutritious diet (and save some money at the same time). Talking about nutritional value, modern freezing methods lock in valuable nutrients while retaining the quality and taste you would expect from fresh products. Researches have shown that the vitamin, mineral and other nutrients content of frozen produce is typically similar and even higher than the fresh counterpart.
If that’s not enough, using frozen food can be a massive help in terms of meal planning when you have a busy life. Frozen food often involves no chopping or peeling, which saves a great deal of time in the kitchen, plus the added benefit of cutting down on food waste, because you use only what you need and conveniently store back the rest in the freezer.
Being a big fan of frozen food, when Iceland asked me to partner together on the #PowerofFrozen campaign, I immediately jumped on board. I regularly stock up the freezer with their high-quality products, so for me it’s a pleasure to recreate a healthy balanced meal using my favourite ingredients from Iceland.
For this Easy Seafood Paella, I’ve used very simple ingredients, all of which are available at Iceland: Italian risotto rice ( a great substitute for traditional paella rice Bomba), frozen squid tubes and whole raw Black Tiger prawns, frozen garden peas and tinned tomatoes. Other than that, you’ll just need some basics such as olive oil, aromatic herbs and good-quality Spanish saffron.
To make this Healthy Seafood Paella all you need is one pot – it’s best to use the traditional paella pan, but a cast-iron skillet will do the job just fine.
Start by softening the onion, then add in tomatoes, saffron and rice. Give it a nice mix, pour in the stock and simmer until all the liquid is absorbed. Try not to over-stir the rice, remember paella is not risotto and you’re aiming for a tender, but not creamy result. So you should avoid stirring if possible.
Seafood and peas are added when the rice is almost tender, to make sure they don’t overcook and become chewy. Once paella is ready, I like to sprinkle some fresh parsley on top and drizzle with a squeeze of lemon, a refreshing touch that gives paella the extra zing that makes it absolutely irresistible.
Serve it family-style directly from the pot and pair it with a good wine if you like. No need to catch a flight to Spain, when you can make this super Easy Healthy Seafood Paella at home wherever you are in the world!
I really hope you give this easy and healthy seafood paella a try. If you do, make sure to comment here below and share with me your thoughts and your favorite ingredients to use. Don’t forget to snap a picture, tag it #thepetitecook and #PowerofFrozen and share it with me and all your friends on Instagram!
- 1 tbsp olive oil
- 1 white onion, finely chopped
- 1 tsp saffron
- 300g Bomba or Carnaroli/Arborio rice
- 1 tin whole plum tomatoes, deseeded
- 1l hot fish or vegetable stock
- 200g frozen garden peas
- 200g frozen squid tubes, defrosted
- 200gr frozen Black Tiger prawns, defrosted
- Sea salt and black pepper to taste
- a bunch of fresh parsley, chopped
- 1 lemon, cut in wedges (optional)
- Heat the oil in a paella or cast iron pan, add onion and cook for 5 mins without browning.
- Add in the tomatoes, then stir in the saffron and rice and mix well.
- Pour in the stock and bring to the boil, then simmer for 15 mins, stirring as little as possible. Season with salt and pepper to taste.
- Tip in the peas and cook for 5 mins, then stir in the seafood to cook through for a final 3-5 mins cooking or until rice is cooked.
- Check for seasoning and sprinkle fresh chopped parsley on top.
- Serve immediately directly from the pan with lemon wedges.
This post is sponsored by Iceland, and as usual all opinions are my own. I’ve been regularly shopping at Iceland for a long time, and can only recommend it to all of you! Thank you for supporting the brands that support The Petite Cook.