Chicken and Chorizo Paella

Prep Time: 20 mins
Cook Time: 25 mins
Serves: 4

Chicken and chorizo paella is quickly becoming one of our favourite recipes for supper. It’s so easy and quick to chuck everything in the Ninja pot and pressure cook it. I’ve made it for entertaining guests and they love it, my family are asking me to make it the next time they come round. Who doesn’t love a quick-prep meal without then standing in the kitchen watching it cook? I love pressure-cook meals, because I can walk away and get on with all the other evening chores before supper.

I didn’t use Saffron until recently, but after trying it, I realised it was worth the flavor for how little you use for each recipe. It is the first step in the recipe, as the saffron needs to soak and release its flavor into the water before pouring into the pot.

  • Ingredients
  • Steps
  • Leftovers
  • 450g boneless chicken thighs, breasts, cut into small pieces
  • 6 saffron threads
  • 1 tablespoon olive oil
  • 2 garlic cloves
  • 1 medium onion, diced
  • 1 pepper, cut into strips
  • 1 tablespoon tomato puree
  • ½ teaspoon salt
  • 1 teaspoon paprika
  • 375 ml chicken stock
  • 225g chorizo, sliced
  • 270g short-grain white rice
  • 110g frozen peas
  • 2 tablespoons fresh parsley (optional)
  1. Heat the chicken stock and saffron together in the microwave for 3 minutes on high.
  2. Select the Saute function on the Ninja and turn the temperature to medium. Saute the chicken until almost cooked.
  3. Add the onion, garlic and pepper and saute for about 3 minutes until the onion has started to cook.
  4. Stir the tomato puree, salt, paprika and sausage into the pot and saute for about 3 minutes.
  5. Stir the rice into the mixture and pour the stock/saffron in, making sure everything is covered in stock.
  6. Lock the Pressure Cooker Lid into place and turn the valve to Seal. Change Function to Pressure Cook and set time to High for 15 minutes. 
  7. When the cooking time has finished, let the pressure release naturally for 10 minutes, then move the valve to Vent to finish off releasing the pressure. Once the lid unlocks, open the pot and add the frozen peas. Stir and wait for a couple of minutes until the peas are heated through
  8. Serve the paella with parsley sprinkled on top.

How to Serve: By itself! Just serve the rice straight out of the pot onto plates. With the peas and pepper in the paella, there is no need to prepare extra vegetables alongside the dish.

 

How to Freeze: As freezing food means saving time in the kitchen, this dish is great to make a double batch. For a double batch, you do need to add slightly more water than just doubling the recipe as the Ninja pot will ask for more water. The only thing that takes slightly longer is cutting the chicken up and you can buy diced chicken from the supermarket to save time. If you are going to keep leftovers/freeze it, I would recommend cooling it down as soon as possible.

 

How to Store: The same as with freezing, cool the rice down as soon as possible and put in airtight containers in the fridge. Heat up thoroughly and eat within the next couple of days.