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Easy And Flavorful Black Seafood Rice Recipe

  • EspaƱol
Portions: 6 servings

Calories: 744kcal

Not only does this Spanish black seafood rice look stunning, but it also tastes heavenly and is packed with delicious shellfish. If you love seafood and you love rice, then you’re going to love this, one of the most delicious, easy, and flavorful recipes you’ve ever tasted.

Why I ā¤ļø it • Recipe • Ingredients • Preparation

Spanish blackĀ seafood rice.

Spanish black seafood rice.

Why I ā¤ļø it

This stunning Spanish seafood black rice is one of my favorite dishes. For a seafood lover such as myself, it's just perfect: jam-packed with seafood and intense ocean flavors. 

This rice dish is known in some circles as black paella and speaks of summer and lazy days to me.

Black seafood rice recipe

This free recipe contains Amazon affiliate links, and I receive a small commission when you purchase, at no cost to you. Thank you!

Learn how to make this seafood black rice and impress your guests and family with a flavorful Spanish-inspired juicy and flavorful seafood rice dish.

Course: Dinner, Lunch
Inspiration: Mediterranean, Spanish
Category: how to make arroz negro, spanish black rice, spanish rice dish with seafood, spanish seafood
Author: Clara Gonzalez

Prep Time15 mins
Cook Time1 hr 45 mins
Total Time2 hrs

Utensils and tools

  • Medium pot or large saucepan
  • Large skillet with lid
Spanish seafood black rice.
Spanish seafood black rice.

Ingredients

For the fish broth

  • 2 fish heads, (about 1 pound [0.48 kilo] in total)
  • Peels and heads of the whole shrimp listed below
  • 12 strands of saffron threads
  • 3 bay leaves
  • 3 garlic cloves, crushed
  • 1 red onion, chopped
  • A handful of chopped parsley
  • 1 ½ teaspoon of salt, (or more, to taste)
  • ½ teaspoon of freshly-cracked black pepper (or more, to taste)

For the rice

  • ¼ cup of olive oil
  • 1 red bell pepper
  • 1 large tomato, diced
  • ¼ cup of peas
  • ā…“ cup of pitted black olives
  • 1 ounce of cuttlefish ink, [30 mililiters], or squid ink (about 1 tablespoon)
  • 3 cups rice
  • 2 pounds of shrimp (large, uncooked, and peeled), [1.8 kilo]
  • 2½ pounds of seafood mixture with mussels, and clams [1.8 kilo]
  • 1 quart of fish broth, (per instructions below)

Preparation

Before starting, please make sure you have all the ingredients and utensils ready.

1. Combining ingredients for the broth

Place fish heads, shrimp peels and heads, saffron, bay leaves, garlic, onion, and parsley in a large stockpot.

Add 1 quart [1 liter] of water.

2. Simmering the seafood broth

Cook over low heat for an hour, adding water as it becomes necessary to maintain the same level.

Once finished simmering, season with salt and pepper to taste (this is the level of salt the rice will have).

Seafood broth.
Seafood broth.

3. Sieving the broth

Sieve to get rid of solids. Set it aside.

4. SautƩeing ingredients

In a large skillet that has a lid, heat oil over medium-high heat. Add bell pepper, tomato, and peas. SautƩ for 30 seconds, or until heated through.

Add olives and ink, and mix well.

5. Adding the rice

Pour in broth (one quart [1 liter]) and lower the temperature to medium heat. When it breaks the boil add rice and mix well. Simmer until almost all the liquid has evaporated.

Add shrimp and seafood medley. Mix well.

6. Cooking the rice

Lower temperature to low, cover with a tight-fitting lid and simmer for 20 mins. Uncover and stir, moving rice from the top to the bottom and vice-versa.

Cover again and simmer for another 5 minutes. Rice should be firm but cooked through. If it becomes necessary cover and simmer for another 5 minutes.

7. Serving

Remove from the heat once cooked, and serve hot.

Variations

If you want to add more seafood, calamari and scallops are also great in it.

For a different but still lovely flavor, you can add a bit of chopped Spanish chorizo to the pan when you sautee the tomato and peas.

Top tips

The type of rice used in the original traditional Spanish is arborio rice (short grain rice), but I prefer using long-grain rice (or Carolina rice) instead. The instructions here would not work for arborio.

If your supermarket or fishmonger sells those mixed seafood packs, those are great and a less expensive way to make this black seafood paella.

Instead of a paella pan, you will need a large skillet for this recipe, which makes it more accessible to most people.

Black Spanish seafood rice.
Black Spanish seafood rice.

Serving suggestions

Garnish it with lemon wedges if you want. This rice is typically served alone, but you can have a salad as starters if you wish.

Inspiration

The original dish, by which this recipe was inspired, is the Arròs Negre from Catalunya. One thing you must know is that, as expected, there isn't just one recipe for this dish in its native Catalunya, but a connoisseur would immediately spot some differences between this one and theirs, but also the similarities:

"Arròs negre nicely demonstrates the lack of herbs, the flavour coming from the cuttlefish, stock, the onions and the ink. [...]  

I use only cuttlefish, but you could add monkfish or tiny peeled shrimp for a different flavour and texture, but just one or the other. Additional flavours come from the decorations. Mussels work fine if you cook them first (save the water for stock); their shells and yellow flesh add to the ā€˜look’.  

Roasted red peppers [...] look great but can add a very sweet taste that somehow doesn’t taste ā€˜black’. I use them, but let your taste dictate. I used prawns as decoration in this example, but I usually leave them out [...]."

Surf, turf, fin, skin, feet, and bleat: Catalan food and Arròs Negre

Nutritional information

Calories: 744kcal - Carbohydrates: 87g - Protein: 60g - Fat: 15g - Saturated Fat: 2g - Cholesterol: 491mg - Sodium: 2180mg - Potassium: 705mg - Fiber: 3g - Sugar: 3g - Vitamin A: 1005IU - Vitamin C: 46.5mg - Calcium: 290mg - Iron: 7.8mg

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    How to Cook Brown Rice
  • Mejadra rice (mujaddara).
    Mejadra Recipe - Vegan Rice with Lentils and Fried Onions
  • Cranberry rice.
    Festive Cranberry Rice Recipe

See more: rice recipes seafood recipes lunch recipes

FAQs

How to cook seafood rice?

Seafood rice is typically cooked by making a seafood broth beforehand, then sauteing seafood, vegetables, herbs, and spices, and adding the broth. The rice is then cooked in the broth.

What goes well with seafood rice?

Typically, seafood rice is served alone, as it contains enough vegetables to need nothing else. You could serve a salad if you still want another dish in your meal.

Print card

This is just a printer-friendly summary, some useful details are found in the recipe above.

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Spanish Black Seafood Rice

Ingredients

For the fish broth

  • 2 fish heads (about 1 lb [0.48 kg] in total)
  • Peels and heads of shrimp listed below
  • 12 Ā strandsĀ saffron threads
  • 3 bay leaves
  • 3 garlic cloves crushed
  • 1 red onion chopped
  • 1 bunch parsley chopped
  • 1½ teaspoon of salt (or more, to taste)
  • ½ teaspoon of freshly-cracked black pepper (freshly-cracked, or ground), (or more, to taste)

For the rice

  • ¼ of olive oil
  • 1 red bell pepper
  • 1 tomato (large), diced
  • ¼ cup peas
  • ā…“ cup of pitted black olives
  • 1 once of cuttlefish ink [30 ml], or squid ink (about 1 tablespoon)
  • 3 cups rice
  • 2 pound of shrimp (large, uncooked and peeled), Ā [1.8 kg]
  • 2½ pounds of seafood mixture with mussels and clams [1.8 kg]
  • 1 quart of fish broth (per instructions below)

Instructions

Step 1: Combining ingredients for the broth

  • PlaceĀ fish heads,Ā shrimp peels and heads,Ā saffron,Ā bay leaves,Ā garlic,Ā onion, andĀ parsleyĀ in a large stockpot.
    Add 1 quart [1 liter] of water.

Step 2: Simmering the seafood broth

  • Cook over low heat for an hour, adding water as it becomes necessary to maintain the same level.
    Once finished simmering, season withĀ saltĀ andĀ pepperĀ to taste (this is the level of salt the rice will have).

Step 3: Sieving the broth

  • Sieve:Ā Sieve to get rid of solids. Set it aside.

Step 4: SautƩeing ingredients

  • In a large skillet that has a lid, heatĀ oilĀ over medium-high heat. AddĀ bell pepper,Ā tomato, andĀ peas. SautĆ© for 30 seconds, or until heated through.
    AddĀ olivesĀ andĀ ink,Ā andĀ mix well.

Step 5: Adding the rice

  • Pour in broth (one quart [1 liter]) and lower the temperature to medium heat. When it breaks the boil addĀ riceĀ and mix well. Simmer until almost all the liquid has evaporated.
    AddĀ shrimpĀ andĀ seafood medley. Mix well.

Step 6: Cooking the rice

  • Lower temperature to low, cover with a tight-fitting lid and simmer for 20 mins. Uncover and stir, moving rice from the top to the bottom and vice-versa.
    Cover again and simmer for another 5 minutes. Rice should be firm but cooked through. If it becomes necessary cover and simmer for another 5 minutes.

Step 7: Serving

  • Serving:Ā Remove from the heat once cooked, and serve hot.

Nutrition

Calories: 744kcal

Publicado por Tia Clara - May 31, 2013

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  1. Xee Xyan

    October 31, 2018 at 8:55 pm

    This looks delightful and I plan on trying this soon.

    Reply
  2. Carlos Rojas

    July 30, 2015 at 11:23 pm

    The black rice recipe looks very appetizing and sumptuous, except the shrimp will look beter if they are cleaned and deveined. Love your Dominican recipes!

    Reply
    • Tia Clara

      August 03, 2015 at 4:50 pm

      These are not wild shrimp, they don't need to be deveined, they're clean, the black stuff is from the ink.

      If the shrimp you use need it, then yes, do. šŸ™‚

      Reply
  3. Eric

    November 30, 2013 at 1:47 am

    5 stars
    What a wonderful dish. I didn't add all the ingredients in the recipe (no mussels or clams or pepper) but it tasted very nice and looked very beautiful. i'll make it again.

    Reply
  4. Boniche

    October 15, 2013 at 11:46 pm

    5 stars
    Ah, this is like a spanish paella? It looks very good, i love seafood.

    Reply
  5. leaf (the indolent cook)

    June 01, 2013 at 2:46 am

    Looks good - I can almost taste those ocean flavours over here!

    Reply

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Hi, I'm TĆ­a Clara! I have been a recipe developer, and recipe writer for 20+ years, and here I share my easy recipes you'll love.

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