Gigantes plaki recipe — traditional dish from Greece

Name: Gigantes plaki
Prep time: 200 min
Cook time: 400 min
Total time: 600 min
Yield: 4 servings
Cuisine: Greece
Ingredients: 300 g dried giant beans; 400 g ripe tomatoes; 1 onion; 1 carrot; 3 clove garlic; 1 bunch fresh parsley; 2 tbsp tomato purée; 5 tbsp olive oil; 1 tsp salt

Greek giant beans baked in an olive-oil tomato sauce until the top browns, eaten warm or at room temperature.

How to make Gigantes plaki

Soak the 300 g of beans overnight, at least 8 hours, in plenty of cold water. Drain and rinse.

Cover them with fresh cold water, add a pinch of the salt and simmer about 45 minutes, until tender but not bursting. Drain, keeping a cup of the cooking water.

Heat the oven to 180°C. Soften the chopped onion, the diced carrot and the 3 garlic cloves in the 5 tbsp of olive oil for 10 minutes.

Add the 400 g of grated tomatoes and the 2 tbsp of tomato purée and simmer 5 minutes.

Fold in the beans, the chopped parsley, the rest of the salt and enough cooking water to keep the sauce loose.

Bake uncovered in a wide dish for about 45 minutes, until the top browns and the sauce thickens.

Let it rest 10 minutes and serve warm or at room temperature.

What is Gigantes plaki?

Gigantes plaki is a traditional dish from Greece, simmered in one pot, and takes about 10 hours from start to finish. It is built around ripe tomatoes and dried giant beans. The recipe below uses 9 ingredients and is written out step by step.

How long does Gigantes plaki take?

At 600 minutes it is slower than 82% of the 586 dishes in Copper's atlas. Copper's atlas has 14 dishes built on ripe tomatoes. The method runs to 7 steps, the longest being 45 minutes.

Any tips for making Gigantes plaki?

Stop boiling the beans while they are still whole: they finish softening in the oven and must not burst.

How Gigantes plaki compares

Hard to find elsewhere: dried giant beans (1) and tomato purée (1).

Cooked with the same thing elsewhere

Other traditional dishes built on parsley, from other countries.

Escudella i carn d'olla 🇦🇩 Andorra
Asado 🇦🇷 Argentina
Milanesa 🇦🇷 Argentina
Sogan-dolma 🇧🇦 Bosnia and Herzegovina
Moules-frites 🇧🇪 Belgium
Waterzooi 🇧🇪 Belgium

Copper documents Greece alongside 197 other countries. Every recipe is free to read, with the full ingredient list and every step.