Gigantes plaki is a Greek dish of butter beans stewed in a rich tomato sauce (the literal translation is ‘giant baked beans’). I love this recipe because it’s so quick and easy but still packs so much flavour and richness. Using tinned butter beans saves all the time of soaking and boiling, but if you’d rather cook up some dried butter beans to use then simply replace the tins with two cups of cooked beans.
To make it even easier, I’ve made this into a one-pan dish, so there’s hardly any washing up! It goes incredibly well served with gemista (Greek stuffed peppers and tomatoes) and a simple green salad. Or for a really simple dinner just mop up these gigantes plaki with some toasted garlic bread. This dish is freezabe so feel free to double up the amounts to store some for a rainy day (in fact they taste even better once they’re reheated).
Vegan Gigantes Plaki Recipe (Greek Giant Butter Bean Stew in Rich Tomato Sauce)
Ingredients (serves 4):
4 Tbsp olive oil
2 red onions
5 cloves garlic, minced
1 medium carrot, finely diced
1 tsp smoked paprika
2 x 400g tins butter beans
2 x 400g tins chopped tomatoes
4 Tbsp tomato puree
2 tsp caster sugar
2 tsp dried oregano
Large handful fresh parsley
Small handful fresh mint
Salt and pepper to taste
Method:
Heat the olive oil in a large pan over a medium heat, then add the onions to saute for around 5 minutes.
Add the diced carrot, minced garlic, and paprika, and continue to saute, stirring for another 2 minutes to release the flavours.
Now add the drained butter beans, tinned tomatoes, tomato puree, oregano and sugar. You can add a splash of hot water to get the sauce to your desired consistency (I like my gigantes plaki quite thick so I just add around 1/2 a cup of water).
Season with the salt and pepper, then simmer gently for around 20 minutes. Add the chopped fresh herbs just before serving.
Nutrition (per serving):
Protein: 12.8g (Women:25.6% / Men: 23.3%)
Iron: 5.4mg (Women: 36.5% / Men: 62.1%)
Calories: 343 (Women: 17.2% / Men: 13.7%)
Sugars: 13.7g (Women: 15.2% / Men: 11.4%)
Total Fats: 14.8g (Women: 21.1% / Men: 15.6%)
Saturated Fat: 2.0g (Women: 10.0% / Men: 6.7%)
Salt: 0.5g (Women: 8.3% / Men: 8.3%)
Fibre: 12.6g (Women: 42.0% / Men: 42.0%)
See the Nutrition Info page for more details on % of Dietary Reference Values for men and women.