Have you ever heard of Paella? Are you looking for a Paella pan? This here is your definitive guide to buying the best Paella pan in the market today.
This delicious dish is one of Spain’s most popular recipes and is also the kind of food that has something for everyone. Paella Pan is one of the best option when we're looking for a frying pan.
But what’s the history of this famous dish? What is it made from? Is it good for your health and can you make it at home? Find your answer and the best Paella pan below.
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What is a Paella Pan?
Paella comes from the Valencia region in Spain, and while it’s known as a Spanish dish through the world, in Spain they call it a Valencian dish, even if it’s cooked all through the country.
The traditional recipe calls for a mixture of ingredients: Chicken, rabbit, beans, tomatoes, rice and a variety of spices.
However, there are several variations of the recipe, to the point where you can be sure to find something to suit your taste.
Seafood paella is a rather popular choice that’s also described as “traditional” by the people of Valencia and mixed paella, which involves both seafood and meat, is one of the most popular variations in the rest of the world.
While paella might seem to be the kind of dish that welcomes just about any ingredient, it’s not and famous chefs from all over the world who have dared to alter the recipe have been bombarded with heavy criticism by Spaniards and the Valencian community.
Paella isn’t just rice with stuff tossed on it. It’s a cultural dish with as much history as it has flavor and, as such, respecting the original recipes as much as possible is highly encouraged.
With red copper pan, Paella pan is one of the best frying pan the market has offered today.
With that in mind, let’s take a look at what paella has to offer.
Does a Paella Pan Work?
Whether a food is good for you or not, often depends on how much of it you’re consuming.
However, different foods can do different things for your body and that’s where the multiple ingredients in paella can give a big boost to your diet:
- Rice: This is the main ingredient of the dish and is full of fiber and different types of vitamins, such as B1 and B2. This carbohydrate can be quite high in calories, but coupled with other ingredients in paella you’ll find that it makes for a satisfyingly filling and nutritious dish.
- Meat and Fish: While there are paellas made only with seafood, you’ll be hard pressed to find paellas made only with meat. This means that just about any type of paella out there will have a healthy serving of omega-3, vitamin D and vitamin B, not to mention a large dose of proteins.
- Vegetables: If you’re not a big fan of veggies on their own, but don’t mind them when mixed with other delicious flavors, you’ll be happy to know that paella is often full of them, which means you get all the vitamins, minerals and nutrients of veggies coupled with everything we just mentioned.
Health Benefits of a Paella Pan
We mentioned a lot of vitamins but do you know what those can do for you?
- The fiber in paella can help you improve your digestion.
- The Omega 3 acids, found in fish and other types of seafood, can help you control your cholesterol.
- Meats, such as chicken and red meat, contribute to your daily protein intake, which in turn can help prevent anemia.
- The oils used to cook paella, as well as the seasonings (such as garlic, onion and saffron) can act as antioxidants, helping you reduce inflammation of the body.
- Finally, the vegetables found in the dish help balance everything out with powerful vitamins that are absorbed by your body.
In short, you could even say paella makes for one of the most nutritional sound dishes out there and, as such, it’s definitely one you need to try at least once in your life.
But what if paella is something you already include in your diet?
What if what you’re looking for is not someone telling you what paella is but rather, what the best paella pans in the market are?
Well, if that’s the case with you, don’t worry!
You’ve come to the right place.
We’ve looked through several paella plates from all kinds of manufacturers in order to find the best of the best. This way, you can skip all the hard work and choose only from the winners.
Things to Consider Before Buying a Paella Pan
To the untrained eye, all paella pans are the same, but there are a couple of things you need to consider before purchasing yours:
Paella pans can be either big or huge.
There are a lot of ingredients involved in paella so having plenty of room to cook them all is necessary.
Because of this, you should always measure your oven and stovetop in order to make sure your paella pan is the right size for your kitchen.
Not only that, but you should also keep in mind the heat sources, particularly if you’re cooking in a stovetop, as you want to make sure the heat is properly spread all over the pan.
If your stovetop or oven isn’t large enough, or you notice the heat source won’t heat up the paella pan evenly, consider purchasing two smaller ones instead of a larger one.
The size will also determine whether you’ll be able to wash it easily or not. Keep in mind that most paella makers simply won’t fit in a dishwasher, so prepare yourself for that.
Paella pans can be made with a variety of materials, though the most popular are carbon steel, enameled steel and stainless steel.
Each material has certain advantages and disadvantages that you’ll have to keep in mind before making our choice.
- Carbon Steel: This is the most traditional material, as well as the most affordable. It works well when it comes to conducting heat, but it tends to rust if you don’t take good care of it.
- Enameled Steel: Relatively affordable, this material is one of the best when it comes to heat conduction, and ease of cleaning. However, they’re rather delicate and the enamel coating can be scratched or chipped off quite easily.
- Stainless Steel: The most expensive material out of the list, it looks amazing and it makes great paellas, thanks to how good it is at conducting heat and how easy it is to clean.
What material your paella pan was made with will also determine what kind of stovetop they can be used on.
Stainless steel paella pans, for example, can be used with induction stovetops as well as gas ones.
A shallow paella pan is a good paella pan, which also explains why paella pans tend to be so large.
Make sure yours isn’t too deep, or else you’ll risk buying a wok instead of the paella pan you’re looking for.
We’ve looked through several paella plates from all kinds of manufacturers in order to find the best of the best. This way, you can skip all the hard work and choose only from the winners.
TOP 5 BEST PAELLA PAN REVIEWS
1. Panderno World Cuisine Paella Pan
When it comes to paella pans, you really want to buy the ones that are made to last and Paderno World Cuisine certainly delivers in this area with this amazing 18.5 inch paella pan made with carbon steel.
This material is not only resistant but also boasts incredible heat conduction and circulation, which not only helps the pan get hot really fast but also minimizes the appearance of hot spots, which can result in your paella being overcooked in certain areas and undercooked in others.
There’s a big disadvantage to this material, though, and that’s that it rusts very quickly if you’re not careful with it. So, in order to prevent this, you need to clean your pan immediately after use, re-season it after every wash and never, ever, leave water overnight on it.
This pan comes with zinc handles, which are designed to stay cool through the entire cooking process, allowing you to move the paella pan as you please.
Large enough to serve up to 12 people an affordable without sacrificing quality, this pan certainly gives you quite a lot of bang for your buck.
Take into consideration the size of this pan before buying it, though, as 18.5 inches is nothing to scoff at, and many buyers have bought this pan only to find out it doesn’t fit in their ovens or dishwashers.
Talking about dishwasher, this pan is not dishwasher safe and needs to be hand washed.
Pros
- Large
- Sturdy
- Affordable
- The handles stay cold
Cons
- Rusts easily if not properly cared for
- Comes with a sticker in the center that’s hard to get rid of
- Might be too large for conventional ovens
If the best way of making paella is following the traditional recipes, it makes sense that the best paella pans out there are the ones made in Spain, don’t you agree?
This beautifully crafted ‘paellera’ is large enough to feed up to 16 people and it’s made with carbon steel, which means it gets really hot, really fast.
There is an issue with carbon steel, though, and it’s the fact that it needs to be seasoned constantly to prevent rust and needs to be hand washed and dried immediately after every use.
The size of this pan can be both a good and a bad thing. Its large size means you’ll be able to produce all kinds of paellas and serve a lot of people, but this pan will take up a lot of space in your kitchen, both when cooking and when storing it.
Despite its large size, it works well on a stove and its excellent heat conductivity means you can safely use a single burner to get things done.
That said, you’ll probably want to use more than one, if only because this pan takes up so much room.
Pros
- Beautiful to look at
- Sturdy
- Made in Spain
- Comes with recipes for different paellas
Cons
- Takes up a lot of space
- Needs to be hand washed and dried after every use
- Needs to be seasoned before every use
- Will rust quickly if not properly cared for
You’ve probably noticed that carbon steel paella pans need a lot of care to stay in top shape, but what if you can’t afford the time to do that?
Cook N Home answered this question by creating a beautiful nonstick paella pan made out of aluminum and ceramic. This amazing combination of materials means that you won’t have to season your pan as often and you can use a dishwasher to clean this baby.
But how does it perform?
Overall, this paellera is very good. The materials used in its construction allow for fast and even heating and the riveted handles stay cool to the touch even after use.
As the name implies, this paella pan is nonstick so cleanup is very easy. That said, it makes achieving ‘soccarat’, what some regard as one of the best parts of paella, completely impossible. As the rice at the bottom simply doesn’t toast as nicely as it does when using other materials.
At 15”, this paella pan is a large one, though it has a better chance of fitting in your oven and your dishwasher, making it a great option for those who are thinking about using their paella pan to cook a variety of dishes.
The best thing?
This paellera is definitely affordable, which means you’ll be making a great investment even if you only use it for paella.
Pros
- Affordable
- Dishwasher safe
- Nonstick
Cons
- Can’t make soccarat
- Despite using aluminum, it’s not induction compatible
Just looking at this paellera lets you know there’s something special about it and the ‘what’ becomes apparent when you realize this paella pan is made entirely out of cast iron.
Cast iron cookware can retain heat and distributes the heat evenly, eliminating hot spots even if you’re using a single burner when cooking.
Made in Turkey, the manufacturers of this paellera are so sure of its quality that they offer a solid lifetime warranty, and having seen this paella pan at work, it’s easy to see why they’re so confident.
This pan is as sturdy as they come and you’ll get years of use out of it before even experiencing a scratch, thanks to the quality of the cast iron used to make it.
That said, this is a 14” cast iron product, so you know it’s going to be heavy.
Very heavy.
There’s one construction problem we noticed, though, and we simply can’t ignore it.
This pan is rather shallow, which can be a problem, as rice and other ingredients will fall off unless you’re careful.
If you’re not cooking for a lot of people this pan is ideal, but if you plan on cooking for large groups of people, you’re better off with a pan with a little more depth than this one.
Pros
- Excellent quality
- Conducts heat wonderfully
- Looks fantastic
Cons
- Very shallow
- Very heavy
26 inches. Let that sink in for a moment.
This paella pan is absolutely enormous and there’s no way you’ll be able to use it in your kitchen, unless your kitchen has been designed to feed an army.
Why are we including it in this list, then? Because this paellera is simply amazing.
Made with carbon steel, with a flat base, a dimpled surface, zinc handles that stay cool even when in use, this paella pan shows you exactly how paella pans are supposed to look like, which comes as no surprise considering this pan was made in Valencia, the land where paella originates from.
As with every other carbon steel product, this paellera needs to be seasoned before every used and hand washed after every use in order to prevent rusting. We’d take some points off for not being dishwasher safe but, let’s face it, they don’t make dishwashers big enough for this baby anyway.
If you’re planning a huge dinner or you’re considering feeding an army, this is definitely the paellera for you.
And the best thing?
It’s super affordable.
Pros
- Authentic Valencian Paellera
- Great quality
- Amazing heat conduction
- Affordable
Cons
- HUGE
- Rusts easily if not properly cared for
- It’s oven safe, but it won’t fit in an oven
- Takes up a lot of space in your kitchen
What's The Best Paella Pan?
And there you have it!
Now you know all you need to know about paella, as well as the best paella pans in the market. From above reviews, we choose Garcima 26-Inch Carbon Steel Paella Pan as the best paella pan:
- It's safe for stovetop, oven, or grill.
- Easy to clean
- Great quality
Factoring in your budget, kitchen, and foreseeable diners, you now have all the information you need to choose the best paella pan for you!
Happy cooking!! You may also enjoy reading: Best cookware for glass-top stoves.