By Published Aug. 9, 2023.
This is Technique #84 from our 100 Techniques Every Home Cook Can Master.
Each technique is broken into three sections: why it works, key steps, and recipes that use it. Learn these recipe building blocks and you'll be set up for a lifetime of cooking success.
Though nowadays there are all sorts of paella recipes that use multicookers, stovetops, the oven, and even slow cookers, paella was originally made on the grill—and many Spanish cooks still prepare it that way.
Live fire gives paella a subtle smokiness and provides the opportunity for an extra-large cooking surface that encourages even and thorough development of one of the hallmarks of paella—the prized caramelized crust known as socarrat.
But grilling presents challenges. Quicker-cooking proteins overcook while they wait for heartier items to cook through, and keeping a charcoal fire going strong is tricky.
We developed a technique for grilled paella using an efficient, reliable grilling method involving no special equipment. It produces a uniformly crisp, golden crust topped with tender-chewy rice strewn with perfectly cooked moist chicken, sausage, shellfish, and vegetables.
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You need even, long-lasting heat that doesn’t require refueling.
That’s easy enough to achieve on a gas grill. For a charcoal grill, we use a whopping 7 quarts of charcoal (instead of our usual 6 quarts) and cover the lit coals with 20 fresh briquettes, which gradually ignite during cooking.
A sturdy stainless-steel roasting pan is grill safe, deep enough for all the food, and easy to maneuver; plus its large surface area maximizes the amount of socarrat.
To cook everything to perfection, it’s best to not only stagger the addition of ingredients but also pay attention to how to place them in the pan.
Brown chicken thighs directly on the grate and then arrange the thighs around the pan’s cooler perimeter to keep them from overcooking. Sauté chopped onion, roasted red peppers, and tomato paste, add the rice to coat with oil, and then pour a hot broth mixture into the pan.
Arrange the shrimp and clams in the middle of the simmering rice, partially submerging them so they won’t overcook, and scatter small pieces of chorizo on top. Quick-cooking green peas are the final addition, at which point let the paella cook until the rice grains are perfectly plump and the crust sizzles invitingly.
Follow these steps to learn how to perfectly stagger and place your ingredients to produce the best grilled paella.
Build large, hot, single-level grill fire. Grill chicken until lightly browned on both sides.
Heat oil in roasting pan on grill and cook onion and roasted red peppers. Add rice and stir until grains are well coated with oil.
Arrange chicken around edge of pan and pour in broth mixture. Smooth rice into even layer, making sure nothing sticks to sides of pan and no rice rests atop chicken. Bring to simmer.
Arrange shrimp in center of pan. Arrange clams in center of pan, evenly distributing with shrimp and pushing hinge sides of clams into rice slightly. Distribute chorizo evenly over top.
When rice is almost cooked, sprinkle peas evenly over paella and cook until liquid is fully absorbed and rice on bottom of pan sizzles.
Continue to cook until even golden-brown crust forms on bottom. Check bottom of pan frequently with metal spoon, rotating and sliding pan around grill as necessary to ensure uniform crust formation.
Give our grilled paella recipe a try and taste the difference that a live fire can make.
If you don't have access to a grill right now, try one of our other trusted paella recipes that use a different piece of equipment.
Ready to learn another technique? Choose from our list of 100 Techniques Every Home Cook Can Master.
