Roast fennel and aubergine paella

Name: Roast fennel and aubergine paella
Prep time: 19 min
Cook time: 35 min
Total time: 54 min
Yield: 4 servings
Cuisine: Spanish
Ingredients: 6 small Baby Aubergine; 4 small Fennel; 1 thinly sliced Red Pepper; 1 medium Courgettes; 1 finely chopped Onion; 300g Paella Rice; 1 tsp Paprika; pinch Saffron; 200ml White Wine; 700ml Vegetable Stock; 100g Frozen Peas; 1 chopped Lemon; Handful Parsley; pinch Salt; pinch Black Pepper

By The Spice & Simmer Kitchen · Published May 3, 2026

A one-pot Vegan recipe with Spanish flavors, built for busy weeknights when you want real food without a sink full of dishes. Comes together in roughly 49 minutes, serves about 4, and uses ingredients you can find at any normal grocery store. The technique is simple: build a base in your pot, layer in the main ingredients, simmer until everything has had time to talk to each other, and serve straight from the pan. If you're cooking for picky eaters, this one tends to land — the flavors are recognizable, the texture is comforting, and there's nothing weird hiding in the ingredient list. Perfect for the kind of evening where you want dinner on the table by 7pm and the kitchen empty by 7:30.

Ingredients

Makes 4 servings · 54 min total

6 small Baby Aubergine
4 small Fennel
1 thinly sliced Red Pepper
1 medium Courgettes
1 finely chopped Onion
300g Paella Rice
1 tsp Paprika
pinch Saffron
200ml White Wine
700ml Vegetable Stock
100g Frozen Peas
1 chopped Lemon
Handful Parsley
pinch Salt
pinch Black Pepper

Step-by-step instructions

Put the fennel, aubergine, pepper and courgette in a roasting tray. Add a glug of olive oil, season with salt and pepper and toss around to coat the veggies in the oil. Roast in the oven for 20 minutes, turning a couple of times until the veg are pretty much cooked through and turning golden.
Meanwhile, heat a paella pan or large frying pan over a low– medium heat and add a glug of olive oil. Sauté the onion for 8–10 minutes until softened. Increase the heat to medium and stir in the rice, paprika and saffron. Cook for around 1 minute to start toasting the rice, then add the white wine. Reduce by about half before stirring in two-thirds of the stock. Reduce to a simmer and cook for 10 minutes without a lid, stirring a couple of times.
Stir in the peas, add some seasoning, then gently mix in the roasted veg. Pour over the remaining stock, arrange the lemon wedges on top and cover with a lid or some aluminium foil. Cook for a further 10 minutes.
To ensure you get the classic layer of toasted rice at the bottom of the pan, increase the heat to high until you hear a slight crackle. Remove from the heat and sit for 5 minutes before sprinkling over the parsley and serving.

Why this works on a weeknight

Roast fennel and aubergine paella lands at about 54 minutes total — a little longer than our 30-minute target, but most of that time is hands-off simmering, which is why it earned a spot in our Rice & Grain Bowls collection. The technique is forgiving, the ingredient list is grocery-store standard, and the active cooking time is short enough that you can answer a text message in the middle without ruining dinner.

Cleanup notes

This is a single-pan recipe, so the cleanup is exactly one pan, one cutting board, and one knife. While the dish rests, fill the pan with hot soapy water — by the time you are done eating, the residue lifts off with a single pass of a sponge. Skip the steel wool on cast iron; a stiff brush and warm water are all you need to keep the seasoning intact.

Make-ahead and leftovers

Leftovers keep covered in the fridge for up to three days. Reheat in a dry pan over medium-low with a splash of water or stock to loosen the sauce. Roast fennel and aubergine paella actually improves overnight as the flavors keep talking to each other, so doubling the recipe and packing tomorrow's lunch is a high-leverage weeknight move.

Filed under 🍚 Rice & Grain Bowls Vegan Spanish Vegan Paella