Paella pans - What are they?

Paella pans are flat, shallow, wide metal dishes with sloped sides and two handles like the one you can see in the picture. This traditional shape allows the rice to cook evenly, which is essential for cooking an authentic paella recipe properly.

Authentic paella pan from Valencia

The traditional shape of paella pans maximizes the amount of rice touching the bottom. This, in turn, allows for an even and rather quick evaporation of the cooking liquids. Both conditions are necessary for cooking an authentic paella.

In short, paella pans are designed in a way that keeps the rice layer thin. We could say that they allow the rice to cook in extension instead of height. This is one of the essential elements that distinguishes paella recipes from other rice recipes.

An extra bonus of paella pans is that they form the socarrat, which means lightly toasted in Catalan. Socarrat is a delicious sweetish brown crust of rice. It gently sticks to the bottom of paella pans when cooking paella over an open fire. With some experience, you will also get it on a gas burner. Most paella enthusiasts love socarrat, and I agree It certainly tastes great, and I'm sure you'll love it too.

Sizes of paella pans

Paella pans come in different sizes, according to the number of guests.

In the table below you can see the number of guests or servings in the first column. The second column shows the diameter of the paella pan. Finally, the third one, shows the amounts of rice you need for cooking a paella for 1, 2, 4, etc.

For example, if you have four guests, you would choose a paella pan of 13 inches (33 cm) in diameter. For cooking this paella you would use 14 ounces of short, round-grain rice.

Traditional
paella pans Paella servings Diameter of
paella pans Rice amount
for a paella

For 1 guest 8 inches

20 cm 3.5 ounces

100 g

For 2 guests 10 inches

25 cm 7 ounces

200 g

For 4 guests 13 inches

33 cm 14 ounces

400 g

For 6 guests 15 inches

38 cm 1 � pounds

600 g

For 8 guests 17 inches

43 cm 1 � pounds

800 g

For 12 guests 22 inches

55 cm 2.6 pounds

1200 g

Tasty paella recipes

My favorite paella recipe, Mediterranean diet food at its best.

The original paella valenciana.