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Cooking adventures in a small, closet sized, kitchen. - I came to realize that my meals were boring and that I had been eating the same few dishes over and over again for years. It was time for a change! I now spend my free time searching for, creating and trying tasty new recipes in my closet sized kitchen.

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Gigantes Plaki (Greek Baked Beans)

[heart_this] · Jan 15, 2010 · 28 Comments

Gigantes Plaki (Greek Baked Beans)

While I was on vacation in Greece I saw a dish consisting of huge beans baked in a tomato sauce that looked good but I did not end up getting a chance to try it while I was there. A quick search of the internet revealed that the dish was gigantes (or yigantes) plaki or Greek baked beans, that uses gigantes beans (also known as elephant beans, large lima beans or butter beans). The beans are baked in a simple tomato sauce that reminds me a lot of a marinara sauce that uses plenty of fresh herbs. This recipe takes a bit of time with the soaking the beans over night followed by simmering them and then making the tomato sauce and finally baking everything but it is worth it. The gigantes plaki turned out really well! The beans were nice and tender and creamy and they had a great meaty texture. The tomato sauce had reduced down until it was nice and thick and full of flavour! I made sure to leave the beans in the oven until the top just started to charred and those caramelized bits were the tastiest part of all. I served the gigantes plaki with some crusty bread to wipe up all of the tasty tomato sauce and a garnish of feta. The gigantes plaki also works well as an appetizer in crostini form.

Gigantes Plaki (Greek Baked Beans) Crostini

Gigantes Plaki (Greek Baked Beans)

Gigantes Plaki (Greek Baked Beans)

Prep Time: 8 hours Cook Time: 2 hours 15 minutes Total Time: 10 hours 15 minutes Servings: 4
ingredients
  • 1 pound dried gigantes beans (or butter beans or elephant beans or large lima beans, etc.)
  • 3 bay leaves
  • 1 tablespoon olive oil
  • 1 onion (diced)
  • 1 carrot (diced)
  • 2 ribs celery (diced)
  • 4 cloves garlic
  • chili pepper flakes to taste
  • 1 (28 ounce) can diced plum tomatoes
  • 1 teaspoon paprika
  • 1 teaspoon oregano
  • salt and pepper to taste
  • 1/4 cup parsley (chopped)
  • 1/4 cup dill (chopped)
directions
  1. Soak the dried gigantes beans in water with the bay leaves over night.
  2. Bring the water to a boil and simmer until the beans are tender, about 30-40 minutes.
  3. Heat the oil in a pan.
  4. Add the onions, carrot and celery and cook until tender, about 10-15 minutes.
  5. Add the garlic and chili pepper flakes and cook until fragrant, about a minute.
  6. Add the tomatoes, paprika and oregano and simmer until the sauce thickens, about 20 minutes.
  7. Season the tomato sauce with salt and pepper to taste.
  8. Mix the parsley, dill, beans and 1/2 cup of the liquid that the beans were cooked in into the tomato sauce.
  9. Pour the mixture into a casserole dish.
  10. Bake in a preheated 350F/180C oven until the top is browned and most of the liquid has evaporated, about 50-60 minutes.
Similar Recipes:
Baked Shrimp and Feta Pasta
Mediterranean Fish Stew
Shrimp Linguine in a Tomato and White Wine Sauce
Gemista (Greek Stuffed Tomatoes and Peppers)
Bouyiourdi
Greek Green Beans in Tomato Sauce with Feta (Fasolakia)

Appetizer, Food, Gluten-free, Greek, Main Course, Recipe, Vegetable, Vegetarian

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Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. Sook says

    January 15, 2010 at 2:17 am

    Greek baked beans sound very interesting. Looks great on bread, too! Yum!

    Reply
  2. Celeste says

    January 15, 2010 at 2:29 am

    My goodness.
    Keep this up and I will not have to search anywhere else on the net for my recipes. You are doing the work for me.
    Great picture. I will include that recipe in my next weeks menu.

    Reply
  3. Anonymous says

    January 15, 2010 at 2:37 am

    Can you use cannellini beans?

    Reply
  4. Cynthia says

    January 15, 2010 at 3:20 am

    Hi Kevin. Happy New Year!

    Reply
  5. Rachael says

    January 15, 2010 at 3:53 am

    This looks SO good! I am making this as soon as I can get my hands on all of the ingredients!

    Reply
  6. Kathleen says

    January 15, 2010 at 4:17 am

    Man these sound good! Did you have to mail order the beans? My local market can be dismal.

    Reply
  7. Rambling Tart says

    January 15, 2010 at 4:22 am

    Mmmm, love that feta crumbled on top! 🙂

    Reply
  8. Rosa's Yummy Yums says

    January 15, 2010 at 4:43 am

    That looks soooo good!

    Cheers,

    Rosa

    Reply
  9. Nina Timm says

    January 15, 2010 at 5:58 am

    I love beans in any form and this dish is as close to perfect as I have ever seen…..Wow, Kevin even as an appetizer it looks scrumptious!!!

    Reply
  10. screwdestiny says

    January 15, 2010 at 6:36 am

    So elephant beans are pretty much the coolest food I've seen in a while.

    Reply
  11. Jan says

    January 15, 2010 at 6:49 am

    Ooohh those beans look good.
    Kevin I have to make this!!

    Reply
  12. The Duo Dishes says

    January 15, 2010 at 7:28 am

    Oh, they looked like white beans at first, but butter beans are nice. Haven't seen those in a long time.

    Reply
  13. Sophie says

    January 15, 2010 at 10:14 am

    Waw,…a fabulous & very inviting bean dish!

    MMMMMM,… it feels so summery too,…

    Reply
  14. Joanne says

    January 15, 2010 at 11:15 am

    I really like that this doesn't seem as heavy as baked beans. It's light, almost like a pasta marinara, but with beans as the carb base. Love it!

    Reply
  15. All Our Fingers in the Pie says

    January 15, 2010 at 4:20 pm

    This is a nice low fat recipe and delicious. Great pictures.

    Reply
  16. lunardancer says

    January 15, 2010 at 6:55 pm

    I've always loved beans cooked in tomato sauce. But this one is different in the sense that you used large elephant beans and baked them to perfection. I ought to try this in place of the traditional fabada my mom makes.

    Reply
  17. monica says

    January 15, 2010 at 8:47 pm

    you are amazing! great blog…

    you insprire fellow crafty/cook bloggers like myself:)

    keep up the good work!

    Reply
  18. Mila says

    January 15, 2010 at 8:59 pm

    Peter! I had this dish at one of my favorite Greek restaurants in Chicago…and I looooved them! I was actually able to find these beans jarred in my grocery store and it turned out great!

    Reply
  19. Peabody says

    January 16, 2010 at 1:05 am

    Yum, I love how hearty this looks. Would be a great weeknight meal.

    Reply
  20. Kevin says

    January 16, 2010 at 1:26 am

    Anonymous: Thought the bigger beans may be meatier in texture the cannellini beans version would taste just as good!

    Reply
  21. mare says

    January 16, 2010 at 2:43 am

    Hi Kevin,

    I like you site and trust your taste and recipies and I wonder, is there a reason you've not made tiropeta yet?

    Reply
  22. Kevin says

    January 16, 2010 at 2:45 am

    Mare: The cheese pie is definitely on my list. I keep seeming to get side tracked by adding veggies to it every time I plan on making it.

    Reply
  23. Queenie says

    January 16, 2010 at 4:04 am

    yummy!!!

    Reply
  24. Anonymous says

    July 9, 2012 at 10:50 pm

    Excellent recipe. Please allow one remark :
    In Greece some vegeterian dishes are called ''ladera'' which means oil based meals. Gigantes plaki , is one of those, so the dish needs at least a cup of good olive oil.

    Reply
  25. Anonymous says

    November 23, 2012 at 10:57 pm

    Anonymous is technically correct, but for those of us Greeks who cannot afford the calories or stomach one whole cup of oil (and that would be most modern Greeks in Greece), a few tablespoons of really good EVOO either with or after cooking will do the trick! The days of 'one cup of oil' to oil based Greek dishes are long gone. 🙂

    Reply
  26. Sara says

    March 4, 2015 at 10:53 pm

    Can this be made in the slow cooker?

    Reply
  27. Vaughan Spurdle says

    September 24, 2015 at 7:41 am

    I combined this with Rick Stein's version. It's in the oven now. Fingers crossed!

    Reply
  28. Greek recipe says

    April 28, 2019 at 12:33 am

    These big beans look delicious. Thanks for sharing this awesome recipe!

    Reply

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Kevin: I came to realize that my meals were boring and that I had been eating the same few dishes over and over again for years. It was time for a change! I now spend my free time searching for, creating and trying tasty new recipes in my closet sized kitchen.
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