Spain’s most loved dishes ask for surprisingly few ingredients, which is exactly why the details matter.

Here, drawing on the published advice of Michelin-recognised chefs including Nieves Barragán Mohacho and Adam Byatt, Tapas Revolution founder Omar Allibhoy and baker Nicola Lamb, we round up what the experts say about getting paella, tortilla, pan con tomate and Basque cheesecake right at home.

Go wide, not deep, with paella

Allibhoy, whose book Paella (Quadrille, 2024) collects more than 50 rice recipes, is firm about the pan. “You cannot cook a paella in a frying pan or in a pot,” he told the American food radio programme The Splendid Table, explaining that “you don’t want a paella that is more than a finger thick”. Too deep, he said, and the top dries out while the base overcooks.

The rice matters too. Spanish bomba, Allibhoy told the same programme, is “a short, round grain which absorbs more water than any other grain in the world”, which is also why it costs more. And he advised caramelising the chicken, squid or artichokes hard before the liquid goes in, so the browned bits dissolve into a richer stock.

In the Paella Valenciana recipe he shared with the website Flush the Fashion, Allibhoy added one last rule: once the rice has had its first stir, don’t touch the pan with the spoon again. If that has you reaching for a pan, our paella recipes are a good place to start.

Patience makes the tortilla

Barragán Mohacho, whose Sabor won a Michelin star in its first year and whose latest restaurant Legado was awarded a star for 2026, according to the Michelin Guide, gave a tortilla masterclass to the hospitality journal CODE. Her advice there: “the trick is to have the pan hot but not too hot”, load the mix right to the top of the pan, keep the edges neat, and season with white pepper, “always only white”. She also builds in a 20-minute rest for the mixture before the final cooking.

In Time Out London’s Three-Ingredient Recipe series, she encouraged experimentation once the basics are in hand: “A tortilla welcomes anything,” she said, suggesting peppers, asparagus, leftover roast vegetables or chorizo once the potato and onion version is mastered.

Grate your tomatoes for pan con tomate

The Catalan classic of bread, tomato, olive oil and salt depends on ripe fruit, but chef José Andrés offers a fix for less than perfect tomatoes in his book Spain My Way (2026): “You can grate the flesh of any tomato into a bowl and add olive oil and salt, then spoon it over toasted bread.”

Don’t fear the burn on Basque cheesecake

Lamb, the pastry chef behind the Kitchen Projects newsletter and the baking book Sift, has written at length about the burnt Basque cheesecake, describing it in her newsletter as “a cheesecake that you were actually encouraged to burn”. The result she aims for is “dense yet smooth, with a deeply caramelised outer layer that breaks through the creaminess”, and she notes it needs no water bath, the step that puts many home bakers off baked cheesecakes.