Greek Butter Beans (Gigantes Plaki) are a traditional, comforting, and deeply flavorful dish. Creamy beans that still hold their shape, baked in a luscious tomato-herb sauce.

Do you like beans? If you nodded yes to yourself, then you are at the right place. Butter beans, also known as Lima beans, are 100% tastier than plain white beans. They are bigger in size, that's why we call them 'Gigantes' in Greek, meaning Giants.

Table Of Contents

Dried Or Canned?
Preparing Dried Butter Beans
How Long To Cook Dried Butter Beans
Using A Pressure Cooker:
Instant Pot Method:
How To Make Greek Gigantes Plaki
Serve With
Recipe

And this Greek Butter Beans recipe (Gigantes Yahni) is sure one great way to enjoy them! Baked in a lush tomato sauce loaded with fresh herbs and sweet veggies like onions and carrots.

Dried Or Canned?

For Greeks, it's always dried. If you want to make Authentic Greek butter beans, then I suggest using dried butter beans. They only require a bit of overnight soaking and precooking before being baked together with the sauce.

Preparing Dried Butter Beans

To prepare dried butter beans, soak them in plenty of room-temperature water overnight (8-12 hours). The water should be plenty, about 4 cm above the beans, so they have enough to absorb and to grow in size. Soaking also reduces cooking time and makes the beans much more tender.

The next day, bring the cooking pot with the soaked beans to a boil. Skim the froth to remove dirt, then boil for a minute, and finally drain the beans in a strainer. The reason we drain this water is to remove any residual pesticides from the surface of the beans and to make them more digestible overall.

Next, you can proceed with cooking the beans. Legumes get soft and tender more easily when cooked at a low temperature, covered. The same goes for our giant beans here. Season them with some coarse, unrefined sea salt (adds more flavor), and cook covered over low heat. They should simmer gently, so adjust the heat according to your stovetop's power.

TIP: Do not add cold water to the hot beans. Because this will make their skin break.

You can cook the dried beans either with hot water or use hot vegetable or even chicken stock for more flavor (not very traditional Greek though).

Here are two Greek labels of Butter Beans / Giant Beans I use most of the time:

How Long To Cook Dried Butter Beans

That really depends on the age of the beans (old dry beans might take more than an hour), the quality, and the soaking. A rule of thumb is 40 minutes to one hour. If the beans don't seem to become any tenderer after the first 40 minutes, you can add half a teaspoon of baking soda to the pot to help them soften.

Using A Pressure Cooker:

To speed up the process of cooking dried beans, you can use a pressure cooker. First, soak the beans and give them a quick boil. Then, discard the water as mentioned above. I suggest not skipping this step, as it significantly affects the digestibility of the beans.

Then pressure cook the beans on high for 15 to 20 minutes (20 minutes for creamier, tenderer beans). Use the same amount of water as when cooking the beans on the stovetop.

Instant Pot Method:

Another way to save even more time is by using your Instant Pot to make Greek butter beans! Use the saute function and cook the onion and garlic for about 8 minutes. Add the remaining ingredients, including the beans, and pressure cook for 20 minutes. Transfer the contents to a baking dish and bake until the sauce is thickened.

How To Make Greek Gigantes Plaki

Plaki is a traditional Greek cooking method that involves baking the main ingredient with tomatoes or tomato sauce. See, for example, this delicious Baked Mackerel Recipe (Kolios Plaki).

To make Greek Gigantes Plaki, cook the beans until soft, then bake them with the sauce. You can simmer the beans slowly on the stovetop, use a pressure cooker (as mentioned above), or even use canned giant beans (I don't recommend it, but I understand there isn't always the time available to spare).

Meanwhile, to save some time, prepare the sauce and cook it for a couple of minutes on the stovetop. This reduces the acidity of the tomato and combines all the flavors.

Finally, combine the cooked beans and the tomato sauce in a large baking dish or baking pan and bake for 40 minutes or until the sauce is thickened.

Serve With

A favorite Greek way of serving Gigantes is with some feta cheese and olives on the side (like most legume recipes). Another way is with Greek sausage. The latter is preferred in the northern parts of Greece, where the weather is cooler.

Recipe

Greek Butter Beans Recipe (Gigantes Plaki)

4.10 from 208 votes

Greek Butter Beans, creamy-soft inside, baked in the oven with a deeply-flavored tomato-herb sauce.

Cook Time 2

Servings servings

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Ingredients

500 grams (1.1 pounds) dry butter beans (Lima beans)

For The Sauce:

1 small onion minced
2-3 large garlic cloves chopped
1 large ripe tomato, finely chopped or 150 grams canned diced tomatoes
2 tablespoons tomato paste
2 medium carrots cut in slices
1 stick of celery (⅔ cup) finely chopped
375 grams (1½ cups) tomato passata use only one cup of passata if you use canned diced tomatoes instead of fresh chopped tomato
1 bay leaf
1 teaspoon sweet paprika
1 teaspoon chopped fresh oregano or dry instead
2 tablespoons chopped parsley
2 tablespoons chopped dill
60 ml (¼ cup) extra virgin olive oil + extra splash for sauteing
2 liter (8 cups) hot water or stock
coarse, unrefined, sea salt
freshly ground pepper

To Serve With:

feta cheese
Kalamata olives

Instructions

Soak Beans Overnight:

Add the butter beans to a large cooking pot or stockpot. Pour enough room-temperature water to cover the beans by 4 cm, then soak them overnight.

Cook The Beans:

Bring the pot to a boil.
Skim the froth from the beans and cook for a minute.
Drain the butter beans in a strainer. (throwing away the water removes pesticides from their skins and makes the beans more digestible).
Transfer the beans back to the cooking pot along with 2 liters (8 cups) of hot water or stock.
Season with coarse sea salt.
Simmer the beans covered at low heat for 40 minutes to 1 hour (or until the beans are tender.
Preheat oven to 400°F / 200°C.

Prepare The Sauce:

In a saute pan, heat a good splash of olive oil.
Saute the onion and garlic until soft and translucent.
Add the fresh chopped tomatoes (if using canned, add them together with the passata) and tomato paste. Season with coarse sea salt. Cook for a minute or two until it looks mushy and drained.
Add the carrots and celery, then give it a few stirs.
Pour in the tomato passata, remaining seasonings (bay leaf, paprika, oregano, parsley, dill, pepper), and the extra virgin olive oil.
Pour 2 cups (500 ml) of hot water and cook the sauce over low heat, uncovered, until it thickens.
Transfer the cooked beans to a large baking dish or baking pan (I used a 14-inch /36 cm round baking pan) along with their cooking water.
Add the sauce and shake the pan to combine.
Bake for about 40-45 minutes, or until the sauce thickens (keep in mind that the beans will absorb more of the sauce as they cool, so don't let it get too thick). Stir once or twice while the beans bake.
Let the beans sit for 15-20 minutes before serving to absorb the sauce even further.
Serve with freshly ground pepper, a piece of feta cheese, and Kalamata olives on the side for a true Greek meal!

Nutrition

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Comments

4.10 from 208 votes (201 ratings without comment)