What a paella session looks like

The first 20 minutes are hands-on: frying the meat, cooking down the sofrito and toasting the rice. Once the stock is in, the job changes to watching the pan and adjusting the flame, which leaves time to talk with whoever is waiting to eat. A pan for four to six people is the usual weekend-afternoon size, and clean-up is a single pan rather than a sink full of pots.

Choosing your pan and burner

Size the pan to your crowd: about 13 to 14 inches feeds four, 15 to 16 inches feeds six, and 18 inches feeds eight. Measure across the top rim, since that is how pans are sold.
Polished carbon steel is the traditional choice. It heats fast and evenly and is cheap, but it rusts without care. Enameled steel needs no seasoning or oiling, which suits anyone who cooks paella only a few times a year.
Check that the base is flat or has a slight dimple pattern, with two sturdy loop handles. A warped base pools oil and stock on one side.
Match the burner to the pan. A pan much wider than about one and a half times the burner cooks unevenly at the rim unless you turn it every few minutes; a two-ring burner around 12 inches across avoids that for pans up to about 18 inches.
Buy a burner with its own leg stand and a hose with a regulator rated for standard propane tanks, and make sure the legs lock firmly.
Before each session, wipe a carbon steel pan with a thin film of oil to lift any surface rust, and set the stand level so the oil does not pool to one side.

A large seafood paella cooking outdoors in a wide pan on a ring-burner stand against a brick wall — A big pan on a ring-burner stand

A cook in a Spanish-flag apron tending a big paella pan on a street gas burner, with the regulator and hose in front

Cooking safely over an open flame

Level ground, clear space, extinguisher in reach

Set the burner on stable, level ground like a patio or packed earth, never on a wooden deck, dry grass or a slope. A full pan of boiling stock tips easily.
Keep the burner at least 10 feet from the house, fences, overhanging branches and anything that burns, and never use it in a garage, a tent or under an awning or eaves.
Keep an ABC fire extinguisher within reach before you light up, since the likeliest fire is a pan of hot oil and water spreads burning oil. A bucket of water or a garden hose nearby is still useful for sparks landing in grass.
Check the propane hose before every session: look for cracks or brittle spots, tighten the fitting by hand, then brush soapy water over the connections and open the tank. New bubbles mean a leak, so shut the valve and fix it before lighting.
Light the burner as the instructions say (usually match or lighter first, then open the gas slowly), and close the tank valve first when you finish so the hose burns off its gas.
The pan handles get as hot as the pan. Use heat-resistant gloves to move it, and keep children and pets well clear of the burner legs.

How to cook your first paella

A cook pouring olive oil into a wide paella pan set over an open wood fire, with squid and peppers frying — Olive oil going into a pan over a wood fire

The tested starter recipe

Paella by Janet Mendel (Food Network) Serves 4. Needs olive oil, bomba rice, saffron, salt and 8 cups of chicken stock from the kit, plus fresh chicken thighs, garlic, green pepper, a tomato, prawns, squid and a lemon.

What you can cook in your first month

Chicken and seafood paella

The tested starter recipe, a good first pan because chicken thighs forgive a little too much heat.

Chicken-only paella

Drop the seafood and focus on frying the meat golden and getting an even simmer across the whole pan.

Vegetable paella

Green beans, peppers and artichokes cooked in the same chicken stock, which shows how much flavor the sofrito adds with no meat in the pan.

Socarrat practice pan

A plain half batch where your only goal is listening for the crackle and catching the crust before it burns.

A full pan for six guests

The same method in the same pan, timed so the rice rests while everyone sits down.

Diners spooning paella straight from the pan, the toasted socarrat crust showing on the bottom

What trips beginners up

Crackle, wind, rice and rust

Socarrat is easy to overshoot. The line between crisp and burnt is about a minute, so trust the crackle and the smell more than the clock.
Wind matters outdoors. A breeze pushes the flame to one side, so cook somewhere sheltered or turn the burner so the wind hits it evenly.
Stop stirring once the stock is in. Stirring releases starch and turns paella into risotto.
Do not overfill the pan. The rice should sit in a thin layer about half an inch deep, or the top stays hard while the bottom burns.
Use the right rice. Long-grain rice goes mushy and does not absorb stock the same way; short, round Spanish rice holds its shape.
Never leave a carbon steel pan soaking or wet. Dry it on the heat and oil it straight after washing, or it rusts by morning.

Why the kit looks like this

Most of the money goes to the pan and burner, which last for years, and neither needs to be expensive to cook well. The pantry lines are the shelf-stable part of the starter recipe, so the kit doubles as its shopping list; fresh meat, seafood and vegetables come from the grocery store. The propane tank ships empty, and a grill tank you already own fits the same burner.

Red saffron threads spilling from a small glass jar onto white linen — Saffron threads from a glass jar

Load the paella kit

Clicking a card selects it in the kit, and clicking the selected card again takes that line out.

Paella pan (15 to 16 inch)

Essential · Core equipment

Paella is defined by its pan: wide and shallow so the rice cooks in a thin layer and forms a crust on the bottom.

budget

4.5(1.9K)

$38.81

Paella Cooking

What a paella session looks like

Choosing your pan and burner

Cooking safely over an open flame

How to cook your first paella

What trips beginners up

Why the kit looks like this

Load the paella kit

Paella pan (15 to 16 inch)

Propane paella burner with leg stand

20 lb propane tank

Bomba rice

Saffron threads

Spanish extra virgin olive oil

Fine sea salt

Chicken stock (32 oz carton)

ABC fire extinguisher

Heat-resistant cooking gloves