Paella de Marisco

Paella de marisco (seafood paella) is the world's most popular paella recipe. It emerged in its modern version in Spain's Valencian coastal region in the early 1800s. Prior to the 19th century, the ingredients for seafood paella varied greatly with the most unusual being eel. Valencians consider seafood paella and paella valenciana (Valencian paella) as authentic. They view all other variations as imposters.
Ingredients
Broth
- 300 grams (11 oz) crab
- 300 grams (11 oz) shrimp heads
- 1 bay leaf
- 4–5 whole garlic cloves
- 500 g yellow onion, cut into quarters
- 4 liters water
Paella
- 12 live mussels with beards removed
- 400 g grated tomatoes
- 400 g diced squid mantles
- 400 g shrimp (deveined and shelled)
- 400 g Valencian rice
- 8 Norway lobsters (or very large crawfish or shrimp if Norway lobsters aren't available)
- 6 tablespoons olive oil
- 2 cloves minced garlic
- 1 tablespoon sweet paprika
- 8–10 strands of saffron (or 1½ teaspoons food coloring; see notes)
- Salt to taste
Steps
Broth
- Boil broth ingredients in water, reducing to 2 liters. Occasionally mash ingredients against pot bottom with ladle or potato masher.
- Strain broth. Set aside.
Paella
- Heat oil in paellera over medium flame.
- Add mussels. Cover with pot lid covering mussels but not entire paellera. Cook until open. Remove. Set aside.
- Add Norway lobsters. Sprinkle each with pinch of salt.
- Sear lobsters. Remove.
- Add diced squid. Sauté about 2 minutes.
- Add shrimp. Sauté about 2 minutes.
- Add garlic. Sauté until golden brown, about 1 minute.
- Add grated tomatoes. Sauté about 4 minutes for sofrito.
- Add rice. Braise until coated with sofrito.
- Add paprika. Sauté about 2 minutes.
- Add 2 liters seafood broth.
- Add saffron (or food coloring). Mix well. Simmer about 3 minutes.
- Taste broth. If bland, add salt a pinch at a time.
- Return lobsters and mussels. Continue cooking.
- After about 20 minutes simmering, start tasting rice and reduce heat a bit. Do not let rice get too soft. Taste every 10 minutes, reducing heat slightly each time, until center is slightly underdone. This takes 30 minutes to an hour.
- Done when rice is slightly firm (al dente), paella is a little moist but not soupy, and toasted rice is on the bottom.
- Remove paellera from heat. Cover with white towel (not foil). Rest 5 minutes before serving.
Notes from the original
- This recipe calls for live mussels. Here are some safety guidelines for buying, eating and cooking live bivalves (mussels, clams and oysters).
- Throughout history, saffron has been the natural ingredient used in Spain to color rice yellow. However, it's very expensive (a pound costs over US$1,500; a kilogram costs over $3,300) because it's labor intensive to process and each saffron crocus yields a minuscule amount of saffron. Consequently, supermarkets sell only a few grams per container for three or four US dollars. The best solution to this problem is to use commercially manufactured food coloring containing both natural and artificial ingredients (but usually no saffron). The two most popular US brands are Bijol and Badia. These companies sell containers each holding several ounces of coloring for less than five US dollars.
Source. Adapted from “Cookbook:Paella de Marisco” by Wikibooks contributors, revision of 2026-04-12, licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0.
Changes. Steps rewritten into short commands. Introduction shortened. Wiki formatting removed. This adapted recipe is shared under CC BY-SA 4.0.
Photo. Paella de marisco 01.jpg by Manuel M. Vicente from Spain, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia. Resized; otherwise unchanged.






