The hubs and I have been wanting to make paella on our Big Green Egg for months now. We researched recipes for what seemed like forever. Well, we finally took the plunge and made this incredible seafood dish. And, we had so much fun making it together! The key to making this dish is to have everything ready ahead of time. The flavor from making the paella on the Egg is phenomenal. We wrote out our recipe ahead of time and made notes while cooking. It was a success the first around. We will make this again and again.
Notes
We are thinking we will omit the chicken next time we make this. If we omit the chicken we will do a full pound of shrimp.
Your rice may cook faster or slower depending on how well you maintain your Egg’s temperature.
You do not want to add in your mussels and shrimp until almost all the liquid is absorbed into the rice. In other words, you don’t want to over cook your seafood.
Ingredients
- 2 chicken breasts, grilled & cubed (Optional)
- 3 beef sausage links, grilled & sliced
- 3 TBS olive oil
- 1 1/2 cups chopped onion
- 1 1/2 cups chopped celery
- 4 chopped garlic cloves
- 1 TBS creole seasoning
- 1/2 tsp saffron threads – soak in 1/2 cup white wine
- 5 bay leaves
- 1 1/2 cups basmati rice
- 3 medium tomatoes, peeled & chopped
- 3 cups chicken stock (maybe a bit more, if rice looks like it needs it)
- 4 dashes of Worcestershire
- 2 TBS hot sauce
- 1 cup frozen peas
- 18 – 24 mussels
- 1/2 – 1 pound medium to large shrimp peeled with the tail on
- Parsley and sliced lemons, for garnish
Instructions
- Preheat Big Green Egg to 450 degrees. Lightly grease your paella pan. I sprayed mine with avocado oil spray. We use the Big Green Egg 4 quart/3.8 liter Stir-Fry/Paella grill pan.
- Put paella pan on hot surface, add olive oil, and then the onions, celery & garlic. Sauté until the veggies start to brown (3-4 minutes).
- Add saffron & water mixture, creole seasoning and bay leaves. Sauté for another minute or two.
- Now add the tomatoes and chicken stock. Mix well.
- Stir in the rice to combine. Bring to a low boil. Close the lid to the green egg to allow the rice to absorb the liquid. This will take around 20-25 minutes. Check every 5-8 minutes to make sure it remains on a low boil. If after 20-25 minutes your rice looks like it is not tender enough, and most of the liquid is already absorbed, add another 1/2 cup of chicken broth.
- Just before all the liquid is absorbed into the rice, add the Worcestershire, hot sauce, frozen peas, and prepared chicken and sausage. Give it a quick stir to combine. Now, add your mussels on top. Cook for 2 minutes, and then add your shrimp.
- Continue monitoring until all liquid is absorbed. This should only take a couple of minutes at this point in the cooking process. Thus, giving your mussels and shrimp just enough time to cook, but not over cook..
- Remove from heat. Let stand for 5 minutes.
- Serve in a shallow bowl with rough chopped parsley & lemon slices, for garnish.
Thanks for the recipe! I am inspired!! Any tips if you are making this dish for more than 8-10 people—like double? Or maybe two pans and keep one on warming drawer/in warm in oven?
Thanks!
1 LB of shrimp for 8 is not enough for 8 in our opinion but otherwise this was very good and you can just increase the size accordingly
So glad you enjoyed it! And for sure, add in or subtract seafood & other proteins to your taste.