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Region

Alicante

Provincia de Alicante

01Overview

Alicante grows almost no rice, yet it may have the greatest diversity of rice dishes in the Comunitat. Alicante city markets itself as the "Ciudad del Arroz". Its cooking divides into three worlds:

  1. The coast (L'Alacantí, Marina Alta/Baixa, Santa Pola), built on fumet and the ñora-based salmorreta. Here you find arroz a banda, senyoret, caldero and arroz negro.
  2. The dry interior (Vinalopó, Alcoià), with sarmiento-fired rabbit and snail rices from the wine country of Pinoso, Villena, Monòver and Petrer.
  3. La Vega Baja del Segura, the Segura's irrigated huerta. Here you find arroz con costra, artichoke rices, serranas snails, pava borracha, and strong Murcian cross-influence (Calasparra rice, ñora).

The ñora (a dried round sweet pepper, grown especially around Guardamar and the Segura basin) is the province's culinary signature.

02Cultural Sub-Regions

Sub-region Rice personality Key towns
L'Alacantí Salmorreta seafood rices, arroz con pata de ternera Alicante, El Campello, Sant Vicent, Mutxamel
La Marina Alta & Baixa Two-course a banda, caldosos, fesols i naps Dénia, Xàbia, Calp, La Vila Joiosa, Pego
El Baix Vinalopó Arroz con costra (Elche), caldero (Santa Pola/Tabarca) Elx, Crevillent, Santa Pola, Tabarca
El Vinalopó Mitjà & Alt Vinalopó Sarmiento rabbit-and-snail rice Pinoso, Monòver, Novelda, Petrer, Villena, Biar
L'Alcoià / El Comtat Wood-fired rices, olleta country Castalla, Alcoi, Ibi
La Vega Baja del Segura Arroz y costra, conejo y serranas, artichoke rices, pava Orihuela, Almoradí, Redován, Callosa, Cox, Torrevieja

La Vega Baja in focus

The Vega Baja is a distinct culinary micro-region. It was part of the Kingdom of Murcia's orbit for centuries and speaks mostly Castilian rather than Valencian. Its huerta is irrigated by Andalusi acequias from the Segura. Its rice school is defined by Calasparra rice (D.O., from the neighbouring Murcian mountains), ñora picadas, serranas snails gathered in the Sierra de Callosa–Orihuela, the Alcachofa de la Vega Baja, embutido oriolano (longaniza blanca and roja), Christmas pelotas, and Almoradí's pava borracha.

03Recipes in this Province

Recipe Texture Zone
Arroz a Banda Seco Alicante coast
Arroz del Senyoret Seco Alicante city
Caldero de Santa Pola y Tabarca Meloso Santa Pola, Tabarca, Torrevieja
Arroz Negro Seco Coast
Arroz con Costra / Arroz y Costra Seco Elche, Orihuela, Callosa
Arroz con Conejo y Caracoles (y Serranas) Seco Pinoso, Villena, Redován, Almoradí
Arroz con Conejo ⚠️ Seco Alicante interior, Vega Baja (everyday, no snails)
Arroz con Pata de Ternera Meloso Alicante city
Arroz de Verduras de la Vega Baja Seco Orihuela, Almoradí
Arroz con Pava ⚠️ Meloso Almoradí, Vega Baja
Arroz de los Tres Puñaos / Arroz de Vigilia Caldoso Orihuela, Almoradí, Bigastro, Callosa
Arroz Clarico (con hierbabuena) ⚠️ Caldoso Orihuela, Vega Baja
Arroz y Gatet ⚠️ Caldoso Santa Pola
Arroz con Hígado de Toro ⚠️ Meloso Unlocated (Valencian Community)
Arròs de Renda ⚠️ Caldoso Xàbia
Arròs de Batre ⚠️ Caldoso Jesús Pobre (Dénia)
Arròs amb Fava Pelà ⚠️ Meloso Benitatxell, Xàbia, Pedreguer
Arroz Caldoso con Bogavante Caldoso Alicante coast
Arroz con Bacalao y Coliflor Seco Alicante city (Lent)
Arroz Meloso de Pulpo / Arròs amb Polp Sec ⚠️ Meloso Santa Pola, Alicante, Marina Alta
Paella de Verduras Seco Alicante huertas (shared)
Paella de Marisco Seco Coast (shared)
Arroz a la Alicantina ⚠️ Seco Alicante city
Arroz con Chipirones y Ajos Tiernos Meloso Alicante city
Arroz con Rape y Gamba Roja Seco Alicante city
Arroz de Boquerones y Espinacas / Espinacs i Aladrocs Seco Coast, Marina

⚠️ = low online documentation; see the file's confidence note.

04Lost & Endangered Rices Registry

These town rices are attested by name in local press or by recovery cooks, but no published recipe was found, so they have no recipe file yet. Field leads for anyone who wants to record them:

Dish Town What is known Source
Arròs amb granotes (frog rice) Pego "Antiguament també s'elaborava": a marjal (wetland) rice, now lost La Marina Alta – Ximo Carrión
Arròs amb anguila (eel rice) Pego Same source; marjal of Pego-Oliva La Marina Alta – Ximo Carrión
Arròs de guixa (grass-pea rice) Jesús Pobre Made with guixa/almorta (Lathyrus sativus). Heavy past consumption caused lathyrism, so it is recovered only as an occasional dish La Marina Alta – Ximo Carrión
Arròs amb fesols i penques Benigembla Beans + chard stalks; listed among comarca rices Valencia Plaza – Arròs amb ceba, ceba amb arròs
Arròs amb sípia i orella de porc Moraira Cuttlefish + pig's ear (mar i muntanya), served at traditional-food days Alicante Plaza – D'arròs caldós i cuina tradicional
Arròs amb espinacs i aladrocs Marina (unlocated) Spinach + fresh anchovies Alicante Plaza – D'arròs caldós i cuina tradicional
Calderos de Calp Calp Named as a local dish, no details La Marina Alta – Ximo Carrión
Arròs al forn del putxero de Nadal València (city & Horta) Baked rice made from the Christmas cocido on the second day of Christmas; "now rarely made" La Marina Alta – Ximo Carrión

Rice dishes from Alicante

Seco · dryPaella pan

Arroz a Banda

Fishermen's rice cooked in fish stock, served with allioli

Arròs a Banda

"A banda" means "apart" or "on the side". The dish was the fishermen's way of turning the unsaleable catch (morralla: rockfish, scorpionfish, weever, gurnard, small crabs) into two meals.

Alicante · Valencia
Seco · dryPaella pan

Arroz a la Alicantina

Alicante rice with chicken, squid and red pepper

Arròs a l'Alacantina

Alicante's own mar i muntanya (sea and mountain) paella.

Alicante
Caldoso · brothyClay casserole

Arroz Caldoso con Bogavante

Lobster rice soup

Arròs Caldós amb Llamàntol

Arroz caldoso con bogavante is the coast's celebration rice. It is ordered for Sunday lunches, Christmas and family gatherings, and one Alicante blog describes it as a festive staple of the comarca.

Alicante · Valencia
Caldoso · brothyStew pot

Arroz Clarico (con Hierbabuena)

Clear yellow rice soup with meat, chickpeas and fresh mint

Arroz Clarico de la Vega Baja

The name says it all: clarico is the affectionate Vega Baja and Murcian diminutive of claro ("thin, clear").

Alicante · Murcia
Seco · dryPaella pan

Arroz con Bacalao y Coliflor

Rice with salt cod and cauliflower

Arròs amb Bacallà i Coliflor

This is a Lent and Holy Week rice (Quaresma, Setmana Santa).

Alicante · Valencia
Meloso · creamyPaella pan

Arroz con Chipirones y Ajos Tiernos

Creamy rice with baby squid and green garlic

Arròs amb Xipirons i Alls Tendres

A spring rice of the Alicante coast. Small squid (chipirones, Valencian xipirons) are paired with young garlic (ajos tiernos), which appears in the huertas from late winter.

Alicante
Seco · dryPaella pan

Arroz con Conejo

Rice with rabbit and red peppers (no snails)

Arròs amb Conill

The rabbit was the countryside's most accessible meat: bred in every farmyard (conejo de corral) or hunted in the monte. Snails, by contrast, are seasonal and laborious.

Alicante · Valencia · Murcia
Seco · dryPaella pan

Arroz con Conejo y Caracoles

Wood-fired rice with rabbit and mountain snails

Arròs amb Conill i Caragols (Arroz con Conejo y Serranas)

This is the rice of the dry, vine-and-almond interior of Alicante.

Alicante
Seco · dryClay casserole

Arroz con Costra

Baked rice with rabbit and sausages under an egg crust

Arròs amb Crosta (Arroz y Costra)

Arroz con costra is one of the oldest documented rices in Spain. Elche and Orihuela both claim it. The Oriolan tradition places an early recipe in the Convento de la Santísima Trinidad de Orihuela.

Alicante
Meloso · creamyStew pot

Arroz con Habas Peladas

Thick rice with dried peeled broad beans

Arròs amb Fava Pelà (Fava Pelada)

Alicante
Meloso · creamyPaella pan

Arroz con Hígado de Toro

Creamy rice with bull's liver and offal, chickpeas and escarole

Arròs amb Fetge de Bou

This is an offal rice: liver, sweetbread (molleja), heart and entrañas of a bull, stretched with chickpeas and a large amount of escarole.

Valencia · Alicante
Meloso · creamyPaella pan

Arroz con Pata de Ternera

Creamy rice with calf's foot, chickpeas and sausage

Arròs amb Pota de Vedella

This is a working-class Alicante city classic and a winter rice. It uses the cheapest, most gelatin-rich cut, the calf's foot, together with chickpeas, botifarra de ceba (onion sausage) and chorizo.

Alicante
Meloso · creamyPaella pan

Arroz con Pava (Pavo)

Festive rice with turkey and meatballs

Arròs amb Titot

La Vega Baja has a long tradition of raising Spanish Black turkeys. In Almoradí the bird is finished on feed laced with wine, giving the famous pava borracha ("drunk turkey"), whose meat is richer and more marbled.

Alicante
Seco · dryPaella pan

Arroz con Rape y Gamba Roja

Rice with monkfish and red prawns

Arròs amb Rap i Gamba Roja

A modern Alicante classic in the "Ciudad del Arroz" canon.

Alicante
Seco · dryPaella pan

Arroz de Boquerones y Espinacas

Rice with fresh anchovies and spinach

Arròs amb Espinacs i Aladrocs

A thrifty sea and huerta rice. The two cheapest things a coastal family could buy were a handful of fresh anchovies and a bunch of winter spinach.

Alicante · Valencia
Caldoso · brothyClay casserole

Arroz de los Tres Puñaos

Meatless Lenten rice soup with beans, lentils and vegetables

Arroz de Vigilia (Arroz Clarico de Vigilia)

This is the Vega Baja's great Lent (Cuaresma) and vigil rice: a meatless dish of the poor huerta. Its name comes from the measuring system.

Alicante
Caldoso · brothyIron cauldron

Arroz de Renda

Xabia rice soup with snails and butter beans

Arròs de Renda

A humble inland-Marina rice of snails, lima beans and red pepper, with almost no oil (½ tablespoon for four people).

Alicante
Caldoso · brothyIron cauldron

Arroz de Trilla

Harvest-time rice soup with rabbit, snails and green chickpeas

Arròs de Batre

Alicante
Seco · dryPaella pan

Arroz de Verduras de la Vega Baja

Vegetable rice with broad beans and artichokes

Arroz de Verano (con Habas y Alcachofas)

La Vega Baja is the irrigated floodplain of the River Segura. It is one of Europe's oldest continuously farmed huertas, irrigated by Andalusi acequias and azarbes, and it is famous for the Alcachofa de la Vega Baja.

Alicante
Seco · dryPaella pan

Arroz del Señorito

Seafood rice with everything already peeled

Arròs del Senyoret

"Senyoret" means "little gentleman" or "young master". Everything in this rice comes already peeled, cleaned and boned, so the diner never has to touch a shell.

Alicante · Valencia
Meloso · creamyPaella pan

Arroz Meloso de Pulpo

Creamy rice with octopus

Arròs Melós de Polp (i Arròs amb Polp Sec)

Octopus (polp, Octopus vulgaris) is caught with pots and traps by the artisanal fleets of Santa Pola, Dénia and Xàbia.

Alicante
Seco · dryPaella pan

Arroz Negro

Black rice coloured with cuttlefish ink, served with allioli

Arròs Negre

Arròs negre has been documented in Valencia since at least the 17th century. It is the fishermen's response to cuttlefish (sepia) and squid (calamar), whose ink sacs were too valuable as flavour to throw away.

Valencia · Alicante · Castellon
Caldoso · brothyStew pot

Arroz y Gatet (Arroz con Pintarroja)

Santa Pola rice soup with small-spotted catshark and vegetables

Arròs amb Gatet

The gatet (small catshark, Spanish pintarroja) was a low-value bycatch of the Santa Pola trawlers. Like the morralla of the caldero, it fed fishing families rather than going to market.

Alicante
Meloso · creamyIron cauldron

Caldero de Santa Pola y Tabarca

Fishermen's rice from a cauldron of rockfish broth; fish and potatoes served first

Caldero Santapolero i Tabarquí

The caldero is the "mother" of arroz a banda. It is a two-service fishermen's meal cooked in a single iron pot.

Alicante
Seco · dryPaella pan

Paella de Marisco

Seafood paella

Paella de Marisc

The seafood version took hold as paella moved from the fields to the coast.

Valencia · Alicante · Castellon
Seco · dryPaella pan

Paella de Verduras

Vegetable paella

Paella de Verdures (Paella d'Estiu i Paella d'Hivern)

Before tourism and refrigeration, the Valencian paella followed the huerta calendar.

Valencia · Alicante