Italian Paella – A Simple but Delicious Chicken and Rice Recipe

My mom Gloria always made a dish like this and called it Italian Paella (“pie-yay-yah”).  Her original way of making this calls for browning the chicken first.   You can certainly do that but I think it’s lighter and easier to just put it all in the pan and toss it in the oven.

This is an easy one-dish meal that takes only a few minutes to put together but it needs some time to cook in the oven so you’ll want to plan ahead a bit.  All the seasonings and juices of the dish get locked into the rice and give it a wonderful rich flavor. It’s also a great dish to make for a party because you can put it all together the night before. This isn’t any sort of traditional Spanish or Italian dish; it’s just a great tasting family favorite. For variations and make ahead suggestions, see Cook’s Notes below.

Serves about 8-10 people (see Cook’s Notes to cut recipe in half if desired)

Ingredients:

• 1 whole chicken cut into pieces; discard giblets and back (or you can use a package of breasts or thighs)
• 1 pound Italian sausage, sweet or hot, whatever you prefer
• 2 cups Italian Arborio Rice
• 2 cans stewed tomatoes (use the whole can, juice and all)
• 1 red bell pepper, sliced
• 1 green bell pepper, sliced
• 1 Vidalia onion, sliced
• 6 cloves of garlic
• 1-1/2 cups frozen peas
• 2 cups chicken stock
• 2 cups white wine (if you don’t cook with wine just double the chicken stock)
• 2 chicken bullion cube
• Seasoned salt
• Fresh black pepper
• Small bunch of fresh parsley or basil, chopped (you can use dry & just sprinkle over rice)

Directions:

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F

In a large roasting pan (about 12×16), spread uncooked rice evenly in bottom of the pan. Crumble the bullion cubes in your fingers and sprinkle over the rice.  Top with the green and red peppers, onion, garlic and peas.

Cut the chicken breasts in half to create a smaller portion.  Also, cut the sausage in half too. Evenly place the chicken and the sausage over the veggies.

Note: If you are making this ahead of time, stop here and see cook’s notes below. If not, continue.

Pour the wine and the chicken stock into the pan. Top the dish with the stewed tomatoes. Season the chicken with a good amount of seasoned salt and fresh ground black pepper, sprinkle with parsley or herb of choice.

Cover with foil and bake in oven for 1 hour and 30 minutes. Remove foil and continue to bake for another 30 minutes or until dish is browned (see photos below). Remove from oven and allow dish to cool about 15 minutes and absorb excess liquid before serving.

Cook’s notes:

If you are preparing this the night before or the morning before you cook it, follow these instructions.

Once you add the chicken and the sausage cover with foil and refrigerate. When you are ready to continue cooking, remove from refrigerator 30 minutes prior to baking so the pan isn’t ice cold when you put it in the oven.  Remove the foil and top the chicken with the remaining ingredients and bake as recipe calls for.

Don’t be afraid to get creative with this recipe and vary it. You can add mushrooms, a pinch or two of saffron, fresh or dried basil, parsley, oregano, and different colored peppers or wines. I even like to add a little red hot pepper flakes or sometimes use hot sausage.

If you don’t want to make such a large batch, you can cut the recipe in half and use a smaller baking dish. If you do that it will probably only need 1 hour and 30 minutes total to cook. Bake covered for 1 hour then remove foil and bake for another 30 minutes uncovered.