Skillet-and-Oven Seafood Paella with Chicken and Chorizo

By Sprig Originals ✓ · cooked up in Sprig

A restaurant-grade paella built for a home kitchen: no paella pan, no live fire, no stirring. A 12-inch skillet builds the sofrito, the oven does the even cooking that a wide flame normally handles, and a final blast on the burner crackles the bottom layer into socarrat — the toasted rice crust that separates real paella from rice pilaf with shrimp on top. Chicken, chorizo, shrimp and mussels go in on a staged schedule so nothing overcooks.

Ingredients

• 4 1/2 cups low-sodium chicken broth
• 1/2 tsp saffron threads, crumbled
• 1 cup bottled clam juice or seafood stock (use in place of 1 cup of the broth)
• 1 tsp kosher salt, plus more to taste

• 4 bone-in, skin-on chicken thighs, halved crosswise through the bone or left whole
• 6 oz cured Spanish chorizo, sliced 1/4 inch thick
• 12 large shell-on shrimp (16/20), deveined through the shell
• 1 lb mussels, scrubbed and debearded
• 1 1/4 tsp kosher salt (for the chicken)
• 1/2 tsp black pepper

• 4 tbsp extra-virgin olive oil
• 1 yellow onion, finely chopped
• 1 red bell pepper, cut into 1/2-inch strips
• 5 garlic cloves, minced
• 3 tbsp tomato paste
• 1 cup canned crushed tomatoes
• 2 tsp sweet Spanish paprika (pimentón dulce)
• 1/2 tsp smoked paprika
• 2 cups bomba rice (or Calasparra)
• 1/2 cup frozen peas

• 1 lemon, cut into wedges
• 2 tbsp chopped flat-leaf parsley
• 1 tbsp extra-virgin olive oil, for drizzling

Instructions

1. Heat the oven to 425°F with a rack in the lower-middle position. Combine the chicken broth and clam juice in a saucepan, add the crumbled saffron and 1 teaspoon salt, and bring to a bare simmer over medium heat. Turn the heat to low and hold it hot — pouring cold liquid over rice is the fastest way to a gummy paella.
2. Pat the chicken dry and season all over with 1 1/4 teaspoons salt and the black pepper. Heat 3 tablespoons olive oil in a 12-inch cast-iron or heavy stainless skillet over medium-high until it shimmers. Add the chicken skin side down and sear undisturbed for 6 to 7 minutes, until the skin is deep golden. Flip and cook 3 minutes more, then move to a plate. It will not be cooked through.
3. Lower the heat to medium and add the chorizo. Cook 2 to 3 minutes, stirring, until the edges curl and the fat runs bright orange. Transfer the chorizo to the chicken plate, leaving the rendered fat in the pan.
4. Add the bell pepper strips to the fat and cook 3 minutes, until just softened at the edges, then set aside with the meats — they go back on top later so they stay glossy instead of collapsing.
5. Add the remaining 1 tablespoon olive oil and the onion with a pinch of salt. Cook 6 to 8 minutes over medium, stirring often, until soft and lightly golden. Add the garlic and cook 45 seconds, then stir in the tomato paste and cook 2 minutes, until it darkens to brick red and sticks to the pan.
6. Add the crushed tomatoes, sweet paprika and smoked paprika. Cook 6 to 8 minutes, stirring occasionally, until the mixture is jammy, glossy and reduced enough that a spoon dragged across the pan leaves a clear trail. This is the sofrito and it carries most of the dish's flavor — do not rush it.
7. Add the rice and stir for 1 to 2 minutes to coat every grain in the sofrito. Spread it into an even layer. Pour in all of the hot saffron broth, shake the pan gently to level the rice, and bring to a strong simmer. Taste the liquid now and adjust salt — it should taste slightly saltier than you want the finished rice. From this moment on, do not stir the rice again.
8. Nestle the chicken (skin up), chorizo and pepper strips into the rice, keeping the chicken skin above the liquid line. Simmer on the stovetop for 5 minutes, then transfer the uncovered skillet to the oven and roast 15 minutes.
9. Pull the pan out. Scatter the peas over the surface, then arrange the shrimp and mussels on top, pressing them just into the rice with the mussels hinge-down so they open upward. Return to the oven for 8 to 10 minutes, until the mussels have opened, the shrimp are opaque, and the rice has absorbed nearly all the liquid.
10. Set the skillet back on the stovetop over medium-high heat, uncovered, for 2 to 4 minutes to build the socarrat. Listen closely: you want a steady crackle and a toasted-nutty smell. At the first hint of anything acrid, pull it off. To check, nudge a spot of rice aside with a spoon tip — you're looking for golden-brown, not black.
11. Turn off the heat, cover the skillet loosely with foil or a clean towel, and rest 8 minutes. Uncover, drizzle with olive oil, scatter the parsley, and serve straight from the pan with lemon wedges, scraping down to the crust with each portion. Discard any mussels that stayed shut.

Chef's tips

Nutrition (per serving, estimated)

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