Paella came out of Valencia, and the basic idea hasn’t changed: short-grain rice goes into a wide, shallow pan, soaks up the broth, and the bottom layer toasts into a crust called socarrat.
Traditional paella valenciana uses ten ingredients: rice, water, olive oil, salt, saffron, tomato, flat green beans, garrofó, chicken and rabbit.
A Universidad Católica de Valencia study (2022) set that list after surveying about 400 home cooks in 266 towns and cities of Valencia province.
No law fixes the rest. Decreto 176/2021 names rice as the only required ingredient, which is why seafood and chorizo versions circulate under the same name, and mixed ones too.
What Goes Into Paella?
Rice, olive oil, saffron and some kind of liquid show up in nearly every version, all cooked together in one wide, shallow pan.
The rice is short and round, so it takes on liquid without collapsing. Saffron brings the color and aroma. Salt goes in with the water or stock.
What changes is the protein and the vegetables. Paella de marisco swaps the meat for seafood, and paella mixta puts meat and seafood in the same pan and adds vegetables (Wikipedia).
The Real Academia Española defines the word twice: as a dry rice dish typical of the Valencian region, and as the pan it is cooked in (quoted by The Objective, 2023).
So any rice dish cooked in that pan can be called paella. Only one ingredient list earns the name paella valenciana, according to Directo al Paladar’s 2022 coverage of the Valencian research.
The history and cultural role sit outside the ingredient list, and a broader look at what paella is covers them.
That split between the dish and the pan-cooked category is why ingredient lists online contradict each other.
What Does a Traditional Paella Valenciana Contain?
The ten ingredients are rice, water, olive oil, salt, saffron, tomato, flat green beans, garrofó, chicken and rabbit.
That list comes from a survey of home cooks, not from a law.
The Universidad Católica de Valencia study (Vidal, Medrano and Sáez, 2022) interviewed about 400 non-professional cooks over 50, spread across 266 towns and cities of Valencia province. Nine of the ten ingredients were used by more than 90% of them, with rabbit trailing at 88.9%.
The cooks also named 38 further habitual ingredients and 50 occasional ones.
The study appeared in the International Journal of Gastronomy and Food Science, and Valencia Plaza reported the figures when the university presented it in March 2022.
Two of the ten need explaining. Ferraura is the wide, flat green bean, and it goes by rotjet too (University of Valencia conference abstract).
Garrofó is the harder one to picture. It’s a large, buttery white bean, described as a variety of lima or butter bean (Wikipedia).
Popular references describe a wider dish. Wikipedia’s entry adds duck, snails, rosemary and seasonal artichoke, while the survey treats them as occasional, not core.
The Wikipaella association surveyed cooks years before the university and arrived at the same ten (Directo al Paladar, 2022). Two surveys, one list, even though rabbit sits just under the 90% line.
Decreto 176/2021, signed on 29 October 2021, declared paella valenciana a Bien de Interés Cultural Inmaterial. It names rice as the only required ingredient and leaves the rest of the recipe open (Directo al Paladar).
So the ten-ingredient list is the reference most Valencian cooks agree on. It is not a legal definition.
Paella Rice Varieties Compared
Bomba and Senia are the two standard paella rices in Valencia, and Bomba is the more forgiving of the pair.
Both are short, round grains, fully pearled. The DOP Arroz de Valencia specification ties flavor absorption and firmness to amylose content, and says uniform grain size gives an even cooking point (Spanish Ministry of Agriculture, April 2024 text).
| Variety | Grain length | Amylose | In the pan |
|---|---|---|---|
| Bomba | 5.2 mm | 24.9% | Absorbs the most liquid, resists overcooking |
| Senia | 5.6 mm | 16.3% | Strong absorption, a step below Bomba |
| Bahía | 5.6 mm | 19.1% | Close to Senia |
| Albufera | 5.2 mm | 25.6% | Senia absorption with Bomba’s cook tolerance |
Grain and amylose values are averages from the DOP specification. The cooking notes follow Agencia EFE’s June 2024 summary of the varieties.
Amylose roughly tracks how cooks describe the grains. Senia has the lowest value of the four, and Bomba sits near the top.
Albufera breaks the pattern. Its 25.6% is higher than Bomba’s, yet EFE describes it as a blend of Senia and Bomba.
The specification links amylose to the balance between flavor absorption and firmness in general, not to a variety-by-variety texture ranking. Read the numbers as a direction, not a prediction.
The DOP lists 14 authorized varieties after the June 2024 amendment (EU Official Journal, C/2024/3986), which added Campanar PV, Regina and Hispasur. Cooks still reach for Bomba and Senia first, with Bahía close behind.
Can another rice replace Bomba?
Recipe sources substitute Calasparra rice and Arborio. RecipeTin Eats calls risotto rice the closest alternative.
Neither the DOP specification nor the Valencian studies compare those rices with Bomba, so the swap rests on cook reports, not measurements.
Medium-grain rice absorbs less, and one tested recipe (Robin Miller) lowers the broth when it replaces short-grain.
For brands, labels and what to look for on the bag, there is a separate guide to choosing rice for paella.
What Gives Paella Its Color and Flavor?
Saffron does the color and the aroma. The savory base comes from tomato fried in olive oil, and the cooking liquid carries both into the rice.
Paprika and rosemary are optional extras.
Saffron
Saffron threads turn the rice yellow-orange and add the dish’s signature aroma. Sources disagree on whether a substitute counts.
The Universidad Católica de Valencia survey (2022) accepts saffron or food colorant as satisfying the ten-ingredient list. Purists want real saffron threads and never artificial colorant (que.es, 2025).
Under ISO 3632, labs grade saffron on coloring strength, flavor and aroma. Researchers have criticized the method as imprecise (Kyriakoudi, Ordoudi and Tsimidou, IMEKO 2017).
Sofrito
The Valencian base is grated fresh tomato in olive oil. Onion and garlic appear in none of the ten core ingredients.
Many recipes abroad start with onion, garlic and tomato instead, and some add bell pepper or white wine.
The Food Network and Williams-Sonoma recipes follow the onion, garlic and tomato pattern. For when the base goes in relative to the rice, see this walkthrough on making paella step by step.
Water or stock as the cooking liquid
Valencian cooks use water. Most recipes elsewhere use stock.
Water is on the ten-ingredient list and stock isn’t. Wikipedia’s description goes with olive oil and chicken broth, and RecipeTin Eats uses store-bought chicken stock for seafood, letting the seafood add its own liquid.
The rice absorbs all of it. The liquid goes in at once, unlike the spoonful-by-spoonful feeding of risotto (Lieferando food wiki).
Paprika and rosemary
Fine Dining Lovers, reporting on the Universidad Católica de Valencia study, puts paprika at 62.5% and rosemary at 52.2% among the extra ingredients.
Neither sits on the ten-ingredient list. Some cooks add paprika, rosemary or artichoke (Infobae, 2023, citing the university findings).
Rosemary goes in as whole branches (Wikipedia). Leave both out and the dish still counts as paella valenciana under the survey list.
How Seafood, Mixed and Vegetable Paella Differ in Ingredients
Valencians don’t agree on which of these deserve the name paella at all.
Seafood versions lean on shellfish and fish stock. Vegetable paella goes with artichoke and other seasonal produce, and mixta puts land and sea in the same pan.
| Version | Main ingredients | Valencian view |
|---|---|---|
| Paella de marisco | Shrimp, mussels, squid, calamari | Disputed |
| Paella mixta | Chicken or pork with shrimp and mussels | Often called a tourist invention |
| Paella de verduras | Artichoke hearts, asparagus, mushrooms, bell peppers | Menus say paella or arroz con verduras |
| Arroz negro | Squid or cuttlefish ink, aioli on the side | Not called paella in Valencia |
Ingredient lists follow Hektoen International (2026). The Valencian views come from Directo al Paladar and the travel site Will Fly For Food.
Wikipedia says Valencians accept only paella valenciana as the true recipe. Will Fly For Food reports that purists also let paella de marisco carry the name.
Decreto 176/2021 stays out of the argument and notes only that the recipe has many versions.
Seafood goes in late, because RecipeTin Eats found it overcooks when it cooks alongside the rice.
Canned artichoke is a flaw in vegetable paella, since fresh artichoke supplies much of the flavor (Directo al Paladar).
And vegetarians should ask about the stock, because the rice in a vegetable paella can have cooked in fish stock (View from La Vila).
Where paella ends and other Valencian rice dishes begin
Arroz a banda is rice cooked in fish stock and served apart from the fish, and its present character was set in Dénia (Directo al Paladar). Barceló’s guide to Valencian rice notes that it is two dishes, not one.
Arroz del senyoret takes the same idea and has everything peeled, shelled or boned, which is why it also goes by arroz ciego (Barceló).
Fideuà uses noodles where the others use rice (Lieferando food wiki).
All three come from the same Valencian rice tradition, which is why menus blur the names.
Which Additions Do Valencians Say Do Not Belong in Paella?
Valencian purists reject chorizo and other sausage, seafood cooked alongside meat, peas and onion in paella valenciana. The annex of Decreto 176/2021 calls paella with chorizo or sausages controversial.
In the same passage it names a second foreign habit, which is stirring the rice like a risotto.
- Chorizo and sausage are out, and que.es (2021) adds morcilla to the list of ingredients outside the original recipe.
- Euronews reported in 2022 that Valencian cooks allow no seafood in paella valenciana, and Directo al Paladar calls paella mixta an invention for tourists.
- Directo al Paladar’s editorial rule is no peas, because they signal a cook reheating something frozen. That is opinion, not regulation.
- The same editorial says onion pushes the rice toward overcooking. None of the sources reviewed backs the claim with a cooking test.
Where the rule does not apply
Pork rib is the local norm in parts of Castellón and Alicante, according to Directo al Paladar, which limits it to the rib and excludes lean cuts, bacon and sausage.
Outside Valencia the rule has even less force. Santos Ruiz of the DO Arroz de Valencia (Euronews calls him its president; other sources call him its manager) told Euronews he has no wish to stop a good-natured chef in Madrid, New York or Miami from using the name paella.
The historical record cuts against the purist list too. An 1857 recipe often cited as the first for paella, “Sartén a la valenciana” by Manuel Garciarena and Mariano Muñoz, listed 15 ingredients, including pork loin, sausages, peas, eel and snails (Infobae, 2023, citing Biografía de la paella).
The decree annex dates clear divergences from the original recipe to 1885, citing the Novísimo manual práctico de cocina española.
Treat the exclusions as a naming rule for paella valenciana, not as a history of what cooks actually put in the pan.
How the Paellera and Socarrat Shape the Finished Rice
The paellera spreads the rice in a thin layer over a wide base, so liquid evaporates fast and the bottom layer toasts into socarrat.
The word comes from the Valencian verb socarrar, to scorch (Foods and Wines from Spain).
Valencian rice chef Luis Arrufat says socarrat comes from starch, fat and collagen concentrating at the bottom of the pan. Quique Dacosta puts the weight on fire control in the final minutes (El Español, June 2026).
That contradicts the popular belief that longer time on the heat makes more socarrat. The chefs in El Español’s report describe the gap between toasted and burnt as a matter of seconds.
- The pan is bare polished carbon steel, which rusts if left wet (Garcima).
- A 42 cm Garcima pan covers about 10 portions of thin rice, 14 at medium depth and 17 at full depth, and a 50 cm pan covers 14, 20 and 25.
- Decreto 176/2021 says it is important that gas rings heat the whole pan evenly, and notes that orange wood is widely held to be the best fuel on a fire.
- A pot or wok fails because the rice needs a large evaporation surface (Directo al Paladar).
Deeper rice feeds more people per pan, but it departs from the thin layer the decree describes.
Terminology is disputed. Wikipedia calls both paella and paellera correct for the pan, while Directo al Paladar insists the pan is a paella, not a paellera.
Material choices, diameters and seasoning are covered in this explainer on the paella pan.
Paella Ingredients FAQ
How does paella differ from risotto?
The liquid goes into paella all at once and the rice is left alone. Risotto gets its broth a little at a time and a lot of stirring, which is where the creaminess comes from (Lieferando food wiki).
Decreto 176/2021 advises against stirring paella because the rice’s starch thickens the liquid and blurs the loose grains.
Should saffron be steeped before it goes into paella?
Yes. A Universidad de Córdoba study for the DOP Azafrán de La Mancha regulator found saffron should be infused in pure water first, then poured over the rice it colors (elDiario.es).
Amounts vary by recipe, from a pinch (Robin Miller) to half a teaspoon of threads (Williams-Sonoma).
Is paella gluten-free?
Yes, when it is made from rice, water and fresh ingredients, since rice is naturally gluten-free.
Bouillon cubes and processed sausage can contain gluten, and shared kitchen surfaces add cross-contamination risk (Spain Handbook).
Does paella contain wine?
Not paella valenciana. Wine is absent from the ten-ingredient list, and The Foodie’s Larder makes the same point, placing wine in risotto but not in paella.
Recipes outside Valencia often add it anyway, as the Food Network’s paella valenciana does with dry white wine at assembly.
What do Valencians call paella made with other ingredients?
Many call it arroz con cosas, rice with things (The Olive Press, 2022).
The Universidad Católica de Valencia researchers propose “something with rice” or plain paella, without the word valenciana (Valencia Plaza, 2022).
Choosing an Ingredient List for Paella
The ingredient list should match the name on the plate. That means the ten Valencian ingredients for paella valenciana, and a seafood or vegetable list for every other version.
Version first, because it fixes the protein and the liquid. Rice second, since the grain sets how much liquid the pan takes. Then the pan, whose diameter caps the portions. Do them in that order and you avoid redoing work.
The Valencian list costs variety. Seafood and chorizo are out, so chicken, rabbit and tomato carry the flavor.
This advice changes if Valencia legislates a full ingredient list, since Decreto 176/2021 names rice alone (position as of October 2026).
With the list settled, the method in how to make paella covers heat and timing.
