Baked Greek Giant Beans (gigantes plaki)

This recipe for Baked Greek Giant Beans (gigantes plaki) is a classic Greek recipe that highlights the famous Greek “giant beans” (gigantes) which are baked in a flavorful tomato sauce along with onions, garlic, potatoes, carrots, and plenty of fresh herbs.  After slowly baking in the oven, these buttery beans emerge soft, creamy, caramelized, and full of earthy flavors.

This is a traditional vegetarian main dish.  It is hearty, filling, and extremely satisfying; especially when paired with some Greek Feta cheese and homemade crusty bread on the side!  Baked Greek Giant Beans are usually served on their own as a vegetarian dish, but they can also be part of a rustic meze spread, which are especially popular at rustic tavernas throughout Greece.

The recipe for Baked Greek Giant Beans calls for dried Greek giant beans (gigantes). Gigantes are large beans from northern Greece which are prized for their meaty-but-tender flesh and their extraordinary health benefits.  Outside Greece, it is well worth trying to find them at Mediterranean and ethnic markets, or, online.

Ingredients to Make the Baked Greek Giant Beans

Besides the Greek giant beans, you only need a handful of basic ingredients to make this dish:

• Beans:  if Greek giant beans are not available where you are, you can substitute with the Italian Corona beans, or, dried butter beans (but not lima beans).   When I run out of my supply, I prefer to substitute with dried cannellini beans.  As a last resort, use the largest, good quality canned beans you can find (see recipe notes)
• Tomatoes:  unseasoned, crushed tomatoes
• Onion:  one large onion, sliced or chopped
• Garlic:  five to six cloves
• Carrot:  a medium-sized carrot, cut on the diagonal
• Potato:  a medium-sized potato, cut into 1/4″ slices.  This is optional, but I always add it to this dish
• Olive Oil:  lots of extra virgin olive oil
• Fresh Herbs:  parsley and dill
• Seasoning:  dried Greek oregano, sea salt and freshly ground black pepper

How to make it

There are three steps to make this dish:

• The beans.  First, soak the beans overnight, then cook the beans on their own
• The tomato sauce.   A flavorful tomato sauce is simple to prepare with lots of good olive oil, onion, garlic, the tomatoes and the seasoning
• The oven bake.  For the final step of the recipe, the cooked beans are combined with the tomato sauce, the carrots and the potato and slowly cooked in the oven at a low temperature until most of the liquid is absorbed

How to serve it

When the pan with the succulent beans comes out of the oven, sprinkle with some more fresh herbs and allow it to sit for a few minutes.  Top with some Greek Feta cheese and serve with some nice, hearty bread to mop up the delicious sauce.  This dish can be enjoyed warm or at room temperature.

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Greek Baked Giant Beans (gigantes plaki)

 

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Prep time

10 mins

Cook time

2 hours

Total time

2 hours 10 mins

 

A traditional Greek vegetarian dish, that is hearty, filling and very satisfying. Made with just a handful of ingredients this flavorful dish is a healthy and comforting dish for every day of the week.

Author: Marilena Leavitt

Recipe type: Main Vegetarian

Cuisine: Greek

Serves: 4

Ingredients

• 8 oz. dried Greek giant beans (gigantes)
• 1 large onion, finely sliced
• 6 cloves garlic, chopped
• ½ cup extra virgin olive oil (plus more for the pan)
• 8 oz. crushed tomatoes, unseasoned
• ½ cup fresh parsley, finely chopped
• ½ cup fresh dill, finely chopped
• 1 medium carrot, sliced on the diagonal
• 2 tsp. dried Greek oregano
• 2 tsp. sea salt
• ¼ - ½ tsp. freshly ground black pepper
• 1 medium Yukon gold potato, thinly sliced (optional)

Instructions

1. Soak the giant beans in plenty of water overnight.
2. The next day drain the beans in a colander, place them in a medium pot, and add fresh water to cover. Bring to a boil and cook for just a few minutes. Remove and discard any froth, using a slotted ladle and remove from the heat. Drain the beans again (this is optional, but it helps with digestion). Add enough fresh water to cover the beans and bring to a boil again. Lower heat, cover, and cook until tender (and almost completely cooked. This can take 45 minutes to an hour, depending on the beans).
3. While the beans are cooking, prepare the tomato sauce. Heat 3 TBSP. of the olive oil in a deep frying pan, add the onions, cook for a couple of minutes and then add the garlic. Cook until the onions are translucent. Add the crushed tomatoes, salt, pepper, and oregano and cook until the sauce thickens slightly. To the pan add the sliced carrot, the potatoes, and most of the fresh herbs. Turn off the heat and set aside.
4. Preheat oven to 350° F.
5. Transfer the beans to a baking dish (about 9" x 13" x 2"), along with their cooking liquid (about 1.5 cups).
6. Pour the contents of the pan with the tomato sauce over the beans and drizzle with 3 more TBSP. of the olive oil.
7. Cook the beans low and slow for about 1 hour, or, until the beans and the potatoes are soft and the sauce is thickened, mixing everything at regular intervals. If your bake is drying out before the beans and vegetables are completely soft, add some more hot water as it bakes.
8. Remove from the oven, sprinkle with the rest of the fresh herbs and drizzle with the last 2 TBSP. of olive oil and set aside for 5 minutes to set. Serve with some Greek Feta cheese and a hearty bread to mop up the delicious juices.

Notes

-- Greek giant beans are considered a super food because they are high in protein and fiber, they are full of antioxidants, rich on slow-digesting carbohydrates and rank low on the glycemic index.

-- Cooking dried beans from scratch might require some extra time, as you need to soak them overnight and cook them the next day, but this is the traditional way of making this dish. It is worth the extra effort as it adds a true depth of flavor to the final dish.

-- If you are short of time, however, you can still make a version of this dish using a can of good quality Cannellini beans. In this case, drain the beans, add them to the flavorful tomato sauce, cut the potatoes in smaller pieces, and bake the dish for about 30 minutes or until everything is cooked through. Adjust the liquid as needed.

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