Healthy Chicken Paella
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One Pan Healthy Paella recipe is a quick, delicious dinner! This chicken paella recipe is packed with protein, veggies and brown rice.
This post was originally shared in 2018 but has since been updated.
If you’re looking for an easy, delicious one pot dinner that is full of flavor- try this Chicken Paella recipe. Made with no seafood, it’s a rich and yummy one pan meal that is simple to make!
Need more ideas for dinner? Check out Homemade Orange Chicken and these 40+ Healthy Dinner Recipes.
Why You’ll Love This Paella Recipe
- perfectly balanced meal- This recipe has a lot of protein from the chicken, is loaded with bright, colorful veggies, and it has whole grain brown rice in it for some good carbs!
- great for meal prepping – This meal gets more delicious as it sits and the flavors meld making it perfect for meal prep.
- seems fancy but is secretly super easy to make
- one pan = less clean up! If you want more one pot meals, check out these Healthy One Pot Meals!
Ingredients
What rice is used for paella? I used brown rice in this recipe but short grain bomba rice is typically used in paella.
How to Make Paella without Seafood
Making healthy paella is super easy!
- Brown the chicken, then remove and set aside. Sauté onion and garlic.
- Add in bell peppers, sugar snap peas, rice, chicken stock, lemon juice, spices and cooked chicken.
3. Cover and cook over medium high heat for 30-35 minutes.
4. Once the rice is cooked, discard bay leaves, stir in frozen peas.
Substitutions
Meat: Typically paella is made with chicken, chorizo, and seafood. You can add chorizo to this recipe – brown it with the chicken, set it aside with the chicken, and add it back in when you add the chicken in. If adding shrimp, add it at the very end when there are about 5-10 minutes so that it cooks. Do not add the shrimp in at the beginning because it will overcook. You can also substitute chicken thighs for chicken breasts in this recipe.
Veggies: You can substitute in carrots, sugar snap peas, green beans, more peppers or even mushrooms interchangeably. This is a flexible recipe. You can also add more peas if you like.
Saffron: Saffron is pricey and can often be difficult to find. You can substitute with 1/2 teaspoon of Sazon Goya but omit the extra salt from this recipe as that has a lot of salt.
Rice: You can use white or brown rice in this recipe. White rice will cook much quicker, and you may need less broth
Lemon Juice: Use fresh squeezed lemon juice for the best taste.
Broth: Chicken broth, chicken stock and bone broth can all be used interchangeably. You can also use vegetable or beef broth.
Vegetarian: We have not tried making this recipe without the meat. The chicken does absorb some of the broth, so the ratios might be off.
Storing Chicken Paella
Refrigerator: You can store this paella in the refrigerator for up to 4 days.
Freezing: I haven’t tried freezing paella, but I think it might work. The chicken might get a little bouncy when defrosted and the rice could get soggy.
Can this recipe be made ahead? Sure! When you’re ready to reheat, you may want to add a little broth. Heat on the stove until warm
Can this recipe be reheated? Yes, this paella recipe tastes great when reheated. You can reheat in the microwave, in the oven set at 350°F until the center is cooked through, or sauté on the stove until warm.
What goes well with chicken paella?
This chicken paella is a complete meal in itself. There’s no need to make anything to serve it with. If you do want to serve it with something, here are some ideas:
Important Note: This is not an authentic paella recipe. My goal is always to share recipes that are a bit healthier and made with affordable, accessible ingredients so everyone can enjoy them regardless of their food allergies or dietary restrictions. Check out this authentic paella recipe.
Other healthy one pan dinner recipes:
Check out these healthy chicken recipes or click here to download a free 30 minute dinners guide!
Easy Chicken Paella Recipe
Ingredients
- 1.5 lbs boneless skinless chicken breasts cut into ½ inch cubes
- 1 tablespoon olive oil divided
- ½ cup diced onion
- 1 tablespoon minced garlic
- 3 cups chicken broth
- 1 cup short grain brown rice
- 2 cups thinly sliced red bell peppers about 2 peppers
- 2 cups sugar snap peas
- ¼ cup lemon juice
- 3 bay leaves
- 1 tablespoon paprika
- ½ teaspoon black pepper
- ½ teaspoon dried thyme
- ½ teaspoon salt
- ¼ teaspoon saffron threads
- 1 cup frozen peas
Instructions
- In a large sauté pan heat ½ tablespoon of olive oil. Add the chicken to the pan and cook for 10 minutes until lightly browned.
- Once browned, remove the chicken from the pan and set aside.
- Add the remaining ½ tablespoon of olive oil to the pan. Sauté the onions and garlic until translucent, about 2-3 minutes.
- Add the chicken broth, rice, peppers, sugar snap peas, lemon juice, bay leaves, paprika, black pepper, thyme, salt and saffron to the pan. Stir together. Cover and cook over medium heat for 30-35 minutes, stirring every 5-10 minutes
- Once the rice is cooked, remove the bay leaves and discard. Stir in frozen peas.
This paella is delicious. I usually make seafood but tried this and it’s a winner.
People need to know if you use LONG grain brown rice it will take an extra 20 minutes. Also, brown rice has more texture than white.
Great recipe. I use Paella stock instead of chicken.
Flavors are great. I used the rice linked in the recipe. The bag of rice says it takes 45 minutes to cook. Once I read that I adjusted my expectations of how long this recipe should cook.
I followed the directions carefully and this recipe is quite a bit of work. It is healthy and tastes good – but it’s not a very visually appealing dish. The vegetables are overcooked (except for the peas, added at the end). The only way I varied from the directions was waiting to add the cooked chicken towards the end – otherwise, the chicken would have been overcooked and dry.
I should have been wary when I saw this recipe had no written reviews other than ratings. In hindsight, I would have preferred to serve it like a stir fry – first the rice, then the chicken and vegetables As it is, it looks like a gloppy stew.
Hi Christina- I’m sorry you felt that way. Adding the chicken in and letting it cook with the broth/rice actually rehydrates the chicken and makes it fall-apart tender! The recipe actually has multiple written reviews (most of them 5 stars!) from over 20 readers. It seems like paella might not be the dish for you, as this is how it is traditionally cooked – all together in one pan, not separately like fried rice. Sorry you didn’t enjoy it!
Delicious! But when I doubled the recipe, it took a while for the rice to soak up the liquid. The veggies came out overcooked and the rice a little mushy. Would you suggest dialing back the chicken stock if doubling or tripling the recipe?
What kind of rice did you use? The veggies should be soft, but not overcooked! I would not scale back the chicken stock if doubling/tripling the recipe – you need the broth to cook the rice!
Hi I was wondering how much it would alter the cook time if I added mussels? This looks great can’t wait to try : )
I haven’t tried this with mussels so I’m not sure how long they need to cook. You could try finding another paella recipe with mussels to see how long they cook them for and then add that time to this 🙂 Hope that helps!
Thank you, Clean Eating Couple! I made this last night, and it was delicious! Like some other reviewers, I had trouble with the brown rice; I simmered the dish an extra 40 minutes and it was still crunchy, so I ate it anyhow. That said, the chicken was still juicy and delicious, and the flavors were wonderful but next time I will use Jasmine or another kind of rice. I will definitely make this again (just not with brown rice).