Easy Paella Recipe with Chicken and Shrimp

This easy paella recipe with chicken and shrimp is perfect for a quick weeknight meal. Simple to make, healthy, gluten-free, and clean up is a breeze, with just one pan to wash!

 

  I had the privilege of living in Alicante, Spain for a few months in 2002. Alicante is a beautiful little city on the Costa Blanca in southern Spain and while I was there I enjoyed more than my fair share of authentic Spanish Paella. Sometimes it was vegetarian paella, sometimes with chicken and shrimp, but most of the time with prawns, mussels, scallops, squid, and whatever other seafood was freshly available. Authentic Paella is a labour of love, slowly cooked in a massive cast iron pan over a grill, with finicky ingredients like a special short-grain pearl rice (a specific variety grown in the region near Valencia, Spain) and saffron.

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One Pan Easy Paella Recipe

This ‘one-pan-wonder’ version of paella with chicken and shrimp is a staple in our meal plan because it’s simple to make, healthy, gluten-free, and easy to modify according to whatever kind of chicken or seafood you have on hand.

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To make the chicken and shrimp paella recipe, you’ll need:

• olive oil (or other oil of your choice)
• white wine (optional)
• chicken breasts
• fresh or frozen shrimp
• onion
• green bell peppers
• garlic
• chicken broth
• canned diced tomatoes
• brown rice (short grain is best)
• turmeric
• garlic powder
• paprika
• oregano
• salt and pepper
• cilantro (optional)

Easy Paella Recipe Cooking Tips:

• The way to keep this recipe as simple as possible is to prepare all your ingredients ahead of time: Chop your onion, mince your garlic, and slice your bell peppers. I usually use green bell peppers for this recipe because I have a strange obsession with making sure the colours of foods in a recipe are balanced, and since this recipe contains tomatoes and turmeric I’d have a hard time using red or yellow bell peppers. However, if that’s what you have on hand I’m sure they would taste just fine!
• Whenever you’re slicing previously frozen raw meat for a recipe like this, it’s a good idea not to completely defrost it. Partially frozen meat is much easier to slice thinly than meat that’s been defrosted completely. And if you don’t happen to have chicken breasts, chicken thighs would work just as well in this recipe.

Doesn’t it look delicious??

  I hope you enjoy! Let me know in the comments below what you’re cooking this week!

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I’ve adapted this easy paella recipe from the Dietitians of Canada Great Food Fast cookbook to make it Weight Watchers friendly and to make it even healthier (and yummier!).

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Easy Paella Recipe with Chicken and Shrimp

This one pan easy paella recipe is packed with flavor, but unlike traditional paella recipes, it doesn't take hours to cook, and there's just one pan to wash!

4.34 from 3 votes

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By Chrissie (thebusybaker.ca)

Yield 6 servings

Prep 15 minutes mins

Cook 45 minutes mins

Total 1 hour hr

Recipe: Ingredients 

0.5x1x2x

• ▢ 2-3 tbsp olive oil or other oil of your choice
• ▢ 2 tbsp white wine optional
• ▢ 12 oz chicken breasts (2 breasts)
• ▢ 3 cups raw shrimp
• ▢ 1 large onion chopped
• ▢ 2 green bell peppers sliced into thin strips
• ▢ 2-3 cloves garlic minced or pressed
• ▢ 3 cups chicken broth
• ▢ 28 oz canned diced tomatoes
• ▢ 1 1/4 cups brown rice short grain is best
• ▢ 1 tsp turmeric
• ▢ 1/2 tsp garlic powder
• ▢ 1 tsp paprika divided
• ▢ a pinch of oregano
• ▢ salt and pepper to taste
• ▢ chopped cilantro optional

Recipe: Instructions 

• Chop your onion, mince your garlic, and slice your bell peppers.
• Slice your chicken breasts by butterflying them first. To do that, place your hand on top of the chicken breast and slice horizontally straight into the middle until you can unfold the chicken breast and its width doubles, and then slice into thin pieces. 
• Once your chicken has been sliced, ensure your shrimp has been completely defrosted and rinsed. Pat it dry with some paper towel to remove excess water.
• Heat a large skillet over medium heat. While the skillet is heating, season the chicken breast slices with sea salt and pepper and 1/2 tsp paprika. Add 1 tbsp of your oil to the pan and after the oil is heated, add the chicken and cook until browned. Be careful not to turn the chicken too often. This prevents the browning process (which adds flavour).
• When the chicken is fully cooked, remove it to a bowl and place the pan back on the heat. Add 1 tbsp of oil and when it's heated, add the shrimp. While they're cooking, season the shrimp with the turmeric, garlic powder and a pinch of pepper (if you wish). You'll know they're done when they turn pink (a few minutes). Transfer to the same bowl as the chicken.
• Next, add the last tablespoon of your oil to the pan and add the onion and garlic. Cook for 2-3 minutes or until the onions soften slightly.  Add the few tablespoons of white wine to the pan. It will start bubbling vigorously right away, so stir it around with the onions and garlic and let the wine soften the browned bits (leftover from the chicken and shrimp) stuck to the bottom of the pan. If you don't have any wine on hand, a few tablespoons of chicken broth will do the trick. Once you've deglazed the pan, add the rice, tomatoes (in their juice! Don't drain them!), chicken broth, and spices.
• Once it starts to boil, turn down the heat just slightly and simmer (covered) for about 15-20 minutes.
• Feel free to throw in your bell peppers at any time while the mixture is simmering. Since we have two small children I added the bell peppers right away in order to make sure they were soft. If you prefer them only slightly tender, leave the peppers out at this stage.
• The mixture will reduce considerably after 15-20 minutes. At this time, add the chicken and shrimp (and the peppers if you haven't yet) and continue simmering for 4-6 more minutes, or until rice is tender. Add salt and pepper to your taste (approx. 1/4 tsp each). The amount of salt you add will largely depend on what type of chicken broth you used; mine was homemade broth that contained no salt, so I added just under 1/2 tsp. If yours is store-bought, consider the amount of sodium in the broth before adding salt.
• Garnish with a little bit of chopped cilantro if you wish, and serve!

Recipe: Notes

• The way to keep this recipe as simple as possible is to prepare all your ingredients ahead of time: Chop your onion, mince your garlic, and slice your bell peppers. I usually use green bell peppers for this recipe because I have a strange obsession with making sure the colours of foods in a recipe are balanced, and since this recipe contains tomatoes and turmeric I'd have a hard time using red or yellow bell peppers. However, if that's what you have on hand I'm sure they would taste just fine!
• Whenever you're slicing previously frozen raw meat for a recipe like this (mine was), it's a good idea not to completely defrost it. Partially frozen meat is much easier to slice thinly than meat that's been defrosted completely. And if you don't happen to have chicken breasts, chicken thighs would work just as well in this recipe.

Course: Dinner, Main Course

Cuisine: American, Spanish

Keywords: chicken and shrimp recipes, easy paella recipe, one pan chicken dinners, one pan meals

Recipe: Nutrition

Nutrition Facts

Easy Paella Recipe with Chicken and Shrimp

Amount Per Serving (1 serving)

Calories 368 Calories from Fat 81

% Daily Value*

Fat 9g14%

Saturated Fat 1g6%

Cholesterol 198mg66%

Sodium 1187mg52%

Potassium 832mg24%

Carbohydrates 41g14%

Fiber 4g17%

Sugar 5g6%

Protein 30g60%

Vitamin A 483IU10%

Vitamin C 58mg70%

Calcium 168mg17%

Iron 4mg22%

* Percent Daily Values are based on a 2000 calorie diet.

Notice: Nutrition is auto-calculated, using Spoonacular, for your convenience. Where relevant, we recommend using your own nutrition calculations.