Campfire Paella – A Delicious & Traditional Spanish Camp Dinner

Paella is a meal we love to cook while camping, especially when we can have a fire. And if we don’t have a fire, we still love to cook this traditional Spanish dish on the gas. This isn’t a difficult dish to make, but there is some chopping (very therapeutic) and trust us, it’s worth it for the end result!

This hearty and delicious rice dish that is known around the globe has its origins in Spain. Paella is said to have originated in Valencia. Hungry farm workers supposedly invented the dish when they combined whatever they had on hand to create the first paella.  The farmers took the rice they grew and added rabbit, snails, vegetables. They often gathered the food and cooked it in the middle of the field they were working.

The dish took on a new look in the 1800s as more people became aware of it, and it then gained popularity. Rabbits and snails were replaced with more expensive chicken. It didn’t stop there! As the dish spread along Spain’s coasts, fresh seafood was added to create yet another version of this incredibly versatile dish.

For this recipe a sofrito (or flavour base) is required. It is a mixture of diced vegetables, herbs and spices and is used in a variety of dishes. In Spanish cuisine, the sofrito is gently cooked over a low flame. It is commonly used as the foundation and flavour base of tomato sauces, paella, and other dishes. Sofrito originated in the Catalan region of Spain, where it appears to have been mentioned in a cookbook from the 14th century. The ingredients in a sofrito can vary. Sofrito is commonly used in Mediterranean, Caribbean and Latin American cuisines.

Get your recipe sheet from the File/Resources menu tab at the top of this page. It can be downloaded and printed.

Head across to our YouTube channel if you would like to watch us cooking this delicious dish – https://youtu.be/uWymSGjaK_I