Fideuà

Fideuà is a dish from Gandia that’s cooked like a paella but with noodles instead of rice, simmered in fish stock until dry and served with alioli (garlic mayonnaise). The RAE dictionary defines it, under the Spanish spelling fideuá, as a “dish similar to paella made with noodles instead of rice”. It’s made in the same paella pan, over the same flame and with the same respect as any rice dish on this coast.

How fideuà began

The story they tell in Gandia starts at sea. According to oral tradition, in the early 20th century the cook on a fishing boat ran out of rice mid-trip. He already had the sofrito and fish stock ready, so he broke up some noodles and used those instead. Once ashore, the recipe made its way into the kitchens of the fishing families of the Grau de Gandia and, little by little, into the restaurants of the quarter.

The details vary depending on who’s telling it, but the heart of the story never changes: a fishing-boat stock, like the one used for arroz a banda, with noodles taking the place of rice. That’s why fideuà has so much in common with a seafood rice.

A dish with its own competition

Gandia is proud of its invention. The Concurs Internacional de Fideuà de Gandia (International Fideuà Competition) is more than half a century old: the 51st edition, in 2026, was announced for 10 June on the Moll dels Borja, by the harbour, and the Asociación Cultural y Gastronómica Fideuà de Gandia took part in its presentation. It’s good proof that fideuà is no longer just food from the boats but one of the hallmarks of La Safor, the district around Gandia.

What goes into fideuà de Gandia

The traditional recipe for six published by València Turisme, the tourism brand of the Diputació de València (the provincial council):

• Stock: morralla (small rockfish) from Gandia fish market with tomato, onion, leek, carrot, parsley and a ñora (dried sweet pepper), strained. An old-school fumet.
• Sofrito: garlic, grated onion, sweet paprika and tomato.
• Fish and seafood: monkfish, red prawns and langoustines.
• Noodles: number 3 noodles, and saffron threads.
• Pan: a wide paella pan.

The prawns and langoustines go on top at the end. Alioli is always on the table.

Fideuà or fideuada: the name

In Spanish, the RAE spells it fideuá, with an acute accent, and explains that it comes from the Valencian fideuà. The Diccionari normatiu valencià lists the full word, fideuada, and describes it as a dish cooked in a paella pan with curved noodles thicker than usual, simmered in fish stock “fins que queden secs” (until they’re dry). In everyday speech and on menus, it’s fideuà every time.

How it differs from paella

	Fideuà	Paella valenciana
Base	Noodles	Rice
Liquid	Fish stock	Water, simmered with the meat
What goes in	Fish and seafood	Chicken, rabbit, flat green beans and garrofó
Served with	Alioli	Nothing: eaten just as it is
Origin	Grau de Gandia	The Albufera, Valencia

In its ingredients and its stock, fideuà is closer to a seafood rice than to paella valenciana.

Fideuà at an event

If you fancy fideuà instead of rice, ask us about paella catering and show cooking. It fits nicely into a show cooking set-up because it is cooked in a paella pan in front of your guests.