Gigantes plaki (Greek baked butter beans)
140 min · 16 g protein · 286 cals / serving
Big, creamy butter beans baked slowly in a thick tomato sauce with onion, carrot, celery, garlic, oregano and a lot of dill until the top catches and caramelises. A Greek taverna favourite, here with enough olive oil to taste like it and not the usual cupful. Serve warm or at room temperature with feta and bread.
Ingredients
- 1 1/2 cups dried lima beans, large lima (butter) beans or Greek gigantes, soaked overnight
- 1 tbsp + 1 tsp olive oil, extra virgin, divided
- 1 large onion, chopped
- 2 medium carrots, finely diced
- 1 stalk celery, finely diced
- 4 cloves garlic, sliced
- 2 tbsp tomato paste
- 2 cans (14 oz each) canned crushed tomatoes
- scant 1/2 cup water, bean cooking liquid or water
- 1 tsp dried oregano
- 1 bay leaf
- 1 tsp salt
- 1/2 tsp black pepper
- 1/2 cup fresh dill, chopped
- 1/2 cup fresh parsley, chopped
To serve
- 1/4 cup feta cheese, crumbled
Steps
- Drain the soaked beans, cover them with plenty of fresh water and bring to a boil. Skim off any foam and simmer for 45–60 minutes, until just tender but not falling apart; big beans vary, so start tasting at 40 minutes. Drain, keeping a scant 1/2 cup of the cooking liquid.
- Heat the oven to 350°F. Warm 1 tbsp of the olive oil in a large ovenproof pan or flameproof dish over medium heat and cook the onion, carrot and celery for 8–10 minutes, until soft and starting to colour. Add the garlic for the last minute.
- Stir in the tomato paste for 1 minute, then add the crushed tomatoes, the reserved cooking liquid, oregano, bay leaf, salt and pepper. Simmer for 5 minutes.
- Stir the beans, dill and parsley into the sauce. If you used a pan that cannot go in the oven, tip everything into a baking dish. The beans should be just covered by sauce.
- Drizzle the remaining teaspoon of olive oil over the top and bake uncovered for 50–60 minutes, stirring once halfway, until the sauce is thick and jammy and the beans on top are blistered and browned. Add a splash of water if it dries out before then.
- Let it rest for 15 minutes; gigantes taste best warm rather than hot. Scatter with the feta and a little more dill to serve.
Good to know
Can I use canned butter beans?
Yes. Use three 15 oz cans, drained and rinsed, skip step 1, use water in step 3 and bake for 35–40 minutes. Canned beans are softer, so stir them in gently.
Isn't it usually much oilier?
Taverna gigantes often swim in olive oil, and it does taste lovely. With 6 tablespoons in place of just over 1, it scores about 49 instead of 65. The long bake and the browned top bring most of the richness without it.
Can I leave out the feta?
Yes, and the dish is then vegan, at about the same score. The beans keep 4 days in the fridge and freeze well.
Alternative
Per
- Calories
- 95
- Protein
- (23%)
- 5 g
- Fat
- (17%)
- 2 g
- Carbohydrates
- (60%)
- 16 g
- of which sugar
- 5 g
- Fiber
- 5 g
- Sodium
- 220 mg
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Computed from the ingredients with our published formula, not yet kitchen-tested. How
As written, 1718 kcal goes into the pot and 1689 g of ingredients comes out as about 1800 g of food: 95 kcal per 100 g. Cooking moves water and energy density is the score's biggest lever, so the dish is scored as cooked, not as an average of its parts. Every ingredient links to its food page, with the same data and score. The label's percentages are each macronutrient's share of the calories. The full formula.