Quick Vegetable Paella Recipe from Spain

Southern Spain is filled with amazing alternatives to the classic paella: from Chorizo paella to Paella with pasta, you can find everything.

Fortunately, there is a version for the vegetarian and vegan folks out there: we are talking about the vegetable paella recipe.

This recipe stands out among other vegan Spanish recipes due to how easy it is to make, and how cheap the ingredients are in comparison.

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Background of the Dish

As soon as rice started to be traded from Asia, people from Spain created rice-centered recipes, the first one being the Spanish saffron rice.

After that, they added more toppings, creating the classic paella with seafood.

With the rise of vegetarian Spanish recipes, it didn’t take too long for the vegetable paella recipe to be created, and it quickly managed to stand out from other Spanish vegetable dishes due to its simplicity and amazing taste.

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Things You’ll Need for Vegetable Paella Recipe

To make this vegetable Paella recipe you will need Arroz bomba (rice for paella), store-bought vegetable broth, and a mix of paella verdura.

It is better to make the veggie paella with an authentic paella pan, but if you don’t have one you can use a wok or a regular pot.

Ingredients

• 2 cups (400 gr) rice for paella
• 3 ½ cups (840ml) Vegetable broth
• 5 garlic cloves
• 1 onion
• 1 zucchini
• 1 Eggplant
• 1 green bell pepper
• 1 red bell pepper
• 5 tomatoes
• 1 can (100 gr) precooked Peas
• 1 teaspoon Paprika
• 1 teaspoon saffron thread
• 1/4 cup (60ml) olive oil 
• Salt and pepper (to taste)

How to Make Vegetable Paella Recipe – Step by Step Guide

1. The first step in this vegan paella recipe is to wash and cut the peppers into strips removing the seeds. Do the same with the zucchini and eggplant but cut it into round slices.

2. Now put olive oil in a baking tray and roast these vegetables at 180°C for 20 minutes.

3. In the meantime, wash and cut the tomatoes (you can peel them too if you want to) and in a blender make a puree or thick sauce with them. Set it aside (you can skip this step if you use store-bought puree).

4. After that, chop the onion and mince the garlic. Grab a paella pan (you can replace it with a wok or large pot), and sauté them over medium heat for 5 minutes.

5. Then, add the tomato puree, saffron, and paprika. Stir and cook for 5 more minutes.

6. Next, pour in the vegetable broth and continue cooking until it boils. Mix everything to have a homogeneous mixture.

7. Once it boils, add the rice, then season with salt and pepper and continue cooking.

8. When there is little time left for the rice to be cooked, add the zucchini, eggplant, and half of the bell peppers.

9. Once everything is cooked, put the rest of the bell pepper strips and the pre-cooked peas to decorate the top of the tasty paella. You can now serve it on the same paella pan, or plate it.

Substitution of Ingredients

Most of the Spanish vegetarian recipes let you make replacements for the ingredients, and thankfully, the vegetarian paella recipe isn’t an exception.

For this vegetable paella recipe, you can use any vegetable of your choice: you can add artichokes hearts, corn, carrots, red onions, etc.

Besides that, you can use store-bought tomato puree (or thick sauce), and replace the broth with a homemade one.

We know that this is mostly a Paella for vegetarian people, but if you don’t have any dietary restrictions then you can add some seafood or even chorizo to this vegetable Paella recipe.

If you are looking for more healthy paella recipes, you can try and make it with brown rice, wild rice, or black rice.

And also make sure you try the Spanish black rice recipe, the black paella with squid ink and prawns.

Tips on Serving Vegetable Paella Recipe

Something that we love about this vegetable Paella recipe is that you can serve it as soon as you finish the last step.

The typical way of serving authentic paella is to serve it on the same paella pan, and you can do the same with this vegetarian paella.

The strips of bell peppers and peas work perfectly as the garnish for the dish, but you can copy some from other Spanish vegetarian dishes.

For example, you can boil some eggs, chop them in half, and put them on top of the paella (if you want it to be vegan rice then you can’t do this).

For garnishing a vegan paella you can leave it as it is on this recipe, or add other vegetables for more color; like corn, black beans, etc.

Try the Valenciana paella recipe, if you want a recipe with chicken and rabbit that’s very famous all over the world.

And to stay on the vegetarian side, try the Spanish rice with corn recipe that’s super easy to make.

How to Store Vegetable Paella Recipe

Among Spanish vegetable recipes, this is the one that can be stored for a longer amount of time.

You can make this vegetable paella recipe and store it in the fridge for 4 days, or in the freezer for 45 days.

In any case, you have to let the paella come to room temperature and place it in a covered container (with a lid or plastic wrap) before storing it.

Recipe Card: Vegetable Paella Recipe

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