Spanish Sunday Rice with Plant-Based Sausage

This version of Spanish Sunday rice combines plant-based sausage with green beans and lima beans. Tomato and smoked paprika give the rice a savory base, and saffron perfumes the broth.

Choosing saffron for this recipe

If you need to buy saffron online, choose whole threads so you can measure the amount listed in the recipe.

Brown the plant-based sausage first so it can keep its shape when returned to the pan. If you want a rice dish built entirely around vegetables and beans, use vegan paella Valenciana.

How to Make Spanish Sunday Rice with Plant-Based Sausage

1. Pour 2 tablespoon of extra virgin olive oil into a paella pan or a large sturdy skillet one which is over a medium-high heat.
2. After one minute, add 2 beyond sausages which are cut into ½ inch thick rounds. Mix them with the oil for 5 minutes. Then transfer sausages into a bowl.
3. Use the same pan, and add in ½ an onion which is diced before, mix it continuously for 30 seconds.
4. Now it’s time to add ½ a red bell pepper which is diced, and combine with fried onion for 2 minutes.
5. Grab 15 green beans and cut each one in half, add them to the pan and mix contiguously for 2 minutes.
6. 3 cloves of garlic, which are minced roughly, need to combine with the mixture.
7. After 30 seconds, add ½ teaspoon of sweet smoked Spanish paprika, sea salt, and freshly cracked black pepper. Mix everything together.
8. ½ cup of canned tomato sauce, sea salt, and the sausages which are cooked before should be added to the pan.
9. After one minute, pour 2 ½ cups of vegetable broth, add in ½ cup of frozen lima bean, and pinch in ½ teaspoon of high quality saffron threads. Give them a gentle mix. The best way to infusing saffron into broth is letting it boil for one extra minute.
10. Sprinkle 1 cup of round rice around the pan and mix them gently. The rice would disrupt, if you mix them after this step. Give the pan quick shake from time to time, instead of mixing.
11. After around 8 minutes, lower the fire to a low-medium heat and let it simmer between 3-4 minutes once there is no broth left in the pan.
12. Heat the pan for 1-2 minutes over medium-high heat to create Socarrat, the famous layer of caramelized burnt rice underneath.
13. Remove the pan from the heat, and let the rice, which is covered with aluminum foil and a dish cloth, rest for 4-5 minutes, then uncover the pan and serve it.

Cut the green beans and pepper before heating the pan so each addition can go in on time. For a lighter saffron rice without sausage, try Spanish widowed rice.