The sun's just dropped behind the gums, the kettle's already on for the espresso, and there's a chill in the air that says autumn's properly here. This is the night you want a pan that does everything — protein, carbs, vegies, all in one go, all on a single burner.
One-pot camp paella is the trick. Spanish in origin, dead simple in practice, and the kind of dinner that gets a quiet “bloody hell, mate” out of the people sat around the table. The chorizo throws the smoke and the colour. The prawns sit on top looking the part. The saffron rice does the heavy lifting underneath. And there's exactly one pan to clean.
What you need
Ingredients (serves 4)
- 2 tbsp olive oil
- 200 g cured chorizo, sliced into 5 mm coins
- 1 brown onion, finely diced
- 1 red capsicum, sliced into thin strips
- 3 cloves garlic, minced (or 1 tsp from a jar)
- 1½ cups (300 g) medium-grain rice (paella, arborio, or even SunRice medium-grain works fine)
- 1 tsp smoked paprika
- ½ tsp saffron threads (or 1 tsp turmeric for the budget swap)
- 3½ cups (875 ml) chicken stock, hot
- 1 punnet (250 g) cherry tomatoes, halved
- ½ cup (75 g) frozen peas
- 500 g raw green prawns, peeled and deveined (tails on for presentation)
- 1 lemon, cut into wedges
- Small bunch flat-leaf parsley, roughly chopped
- Salt and cracked black pepper
Gear
- Wide cast-iron pan or stainless steel paella pan, 30–34 cm (anything shallow and wide will do — even a deep frypan)
- Single-burner camp gas stove or caravan cooktop
- Wooden spoon or spatula
- Sharp knife and cutting board
- Small saucepan for warming the stock
How to make it
- Get the stock hot first. Warm the chicken stock in a small saucepan and keep it simmering on the side. Cold stock added to a hot pan will halt the rice-cooking dead — this is the most common camp paella mistake.
- Render the chorizo. Heat the olive oil in the wide pan over medium-high. Add the chorizo coins and cook for 3–4 minutes until they're crisp on the edges and have released their orange oil. Lift them out with a slotted spoon, leaving the oil behind.
- Sweat the base. Add the diced onion and capsicum to the chorizo oil. Cook for 5 minutes over medium heat until soft and lightly caramelised. Add the garlic and cook another minute.
- Toast the rice. Add the rice, smoked paprika and saffron. Stir for 1–2 minutes so every grain gets coated in the oil and you can smell the spices.
- Add the stock. Pour the hot stock in slowly, give it one stir to settle the rice evenly, then resist the urge to stir again. From here on, no more stirring — that's how you build the crispy bottom layer (the soccarat) that makes a paella.
- Simmer 12–15 minutes. Reduce the heat to medium-low and let the rice absorb the stock. About halfway through, scatter the chorizo back in along with the cherry tomatoes and peas — just press them gently into the surface.
- Add the prawns. When most of the stock has been absorbed and you can see the rice surface, arrange the prawns on top in a single layer. Cover loosely with foil or a lid for 4–5 minutes — they're done when they've curled and gone bright pink-and-white.
- Rest, garnish, serve. Take the pan off the heat and let it rest for 5 minutes (this finishes the rice). Scatter parsley across the top, arrange lemon wedges around the edges, and bring the whole pan to the table.
Camp tips
- Prep at home if you can. Dice the onion and capsicum, slice the chorizo, and pre-portion the rice and saffron into a snap-lock bag. Five minutes of chopping at home saves twenty at camp.
- Frozen prawns work fine. Thaw them in the Engel overnight, drain on paper towel before adding. The Aussie supermarket banana prawns from Coles or Woolies are excellent value.
- No saffron? Turmeric. A teaspoon of ground turmeric gives you the colour and a mild earthy note — won't taste authentic, but no one at the camp will care.
- Make the soccarat happen. Once the prawns are pink, crank the heat up to high for 60 seconds. Listen for the rice crackling on the bottom — that's the crispy layer everyone fights for.
- Leftovers are a winner. Cooled and stored in a sealed container in the fridge, this re-heats brilliantly in a camp jaffle iron the next morning. Add an egg on top and you've got Spanish breakfast.
Why this one earns its spot
One pan. One burner. About 35 minutes of actual work. It pulls off the trick of feeling like a proper occasion meal without needing a camp oven, a fire, or any planning past “did I remember the saffron”. For caravan kitchens it works on the gas cooktop with no modifications. For 4WD touring it works on a single-burner Coleman stove on the tailgate.
If you're running a caravan kitchen and want a wider induction-friendly pan that fits this kind of one-pot job, the caravan accessories collection has the kind of cookware that earns its keep. For the off-grid 4WD setup, a 12V accessory rig with a decent fridge means the prawns and chorizo travel safely from the city all the way out to the bush.
Got a recipe like this one in your own camp rotation? Drop it in the comments below — the best camp meals are the ones nicked from someone else's mate.
