Gigantes Plaki Greek Baked Beans The Mediterranean Dish

Gigantes plaki is a classic Greek dish of tender baked beans, swimming in a chunky tomato sauce with lots of good extra virgin olive oil. The term plaki, pronounced Plah-KEE, refers to a Greek cooking method where the food is baked or roasted with plenty of tomatoes, veggies, and extra virgin olive oil. Remember this Greek baked fish with tomatoes and onions called psari plaki? Well, these Greek beans also belong to the plaki genre. It’s basically the Greek version of classic butter beans. I’m grateful to Dorothy, a reader who e-mailed me about a baked bean casserole that her favorite Greek restaurant in Vancouver served. She turned me on to Gigantes plaki, or giant Greek baked beans, which is truly a textbook Mediterranean diet meal where a couple humble cans of beans are transformed into dinner that is satisfying and healthy. You can never have enough bean recipes to save dinner! I loved it so much that I included the recipe in my cookbook.

Ingredients to Make Gigantes Plaki

Gigantes plaki take just a handful of simple ingredients. There are three simple components to this recipe: the beans, the chunky tomato sauce, and the garnish or finishing touches. Here is what you need to make giant Greek beans:

Beans

Because traditional gigantes beans are not as easy to find, unless you have access to a Greek or Mediterranean grocery store near you, you can use large butter beans, lima beans, or the largest white beans you can find. And yes, canned beans are fine in this quick recipe.

Tomato sauce

You’ll need some good extra virgin olive oil (like our peppery Early Harvest EVOO), a can of diced tomatoes, and chopped onions, carrots, celery, and garlic, which make the tomato sauce hearty and delicious. To season the sauce, you’ll need bay leaf, oregano, thyme, parsley, and a dash of cinnamon.

Garnish

I like to finish this dish with a good drizzle of extra virgin olive oil and some crumbled creamy feta. Or, omit the feta if you want to keep it vegan.

How to Make this Recipe

This simple baked beans recipe begins with the chunky tomato sauce in a big cast iron skillet or oven-safe pan. You’ll toss the onions, carrots, celery and garlic in a bit of extra virgin olive oil until softened, then you’ll add the diced tomatoes from a can (with their juices) and season. From there, just add the drained and well-rinsed can of beans (I used butter beans)to the sauce. Transfer the pan to the oven and bake at 350°F for about 20 to 30 minutes or until the mixture thickens and the beans are super tender. When the gigates are ready, top them with a good drizzle of olive oil and finish with some crumbled feta cheese.

Gigantes Plaki: Light Dinner or Snack

I’m a big fan of gigantes beans as a simple vegetarian dinner with nothing more than a side of crusty bread and maybe a big Greek salad. This white bean recipe also makes a great side next to other things like keftedes or baked chicken drumsticks.
But gigantes plaki are also often served as mezze or an appetizer at room temperature over some bread. Simple and delicious!