Jump to recipeMain Course · Vegetarian

Vegetarian Gigantes Plaki with Feta

This Greek-style bean bake gets its luxurious texture from a tomato sauce reduced before it ever meets the oven.

Creamy gigante beans in a bronzed tomato sauce are topped with feta and dill in a dark skillet.

Gigantes plaki is built around contrast: beans turn creamy while their exposed edges bronze in a deep olive-oil tomato sauce. Dried gigantes offer the most plush result, but canned large butter beans make the same method accessible without giving up the character of the dish.

Choose your bean route

Start dried beans a day ahead, stopping their simmer while they are still a little firm so the oven can finish them. Canned butter beans skip that work; rinse them gently and fold them into the sauce without breaking their broad, tender shapes.

Reduce first, then bake

The sauce needs to be thick before the beans go in. A clear trail behind the spoon is the useful cue: it means the tomatoes will cling to the beans, concentrate as they bake, and leave enough exposed surfaces to brown.

Large butter beans are folded into a thick tomato sauce in an ovenproof skillet before baking. — Large beans are folded into a thickened tomato sauce before the skillet goes into the oven.

Let the skillet caramelize

A wide ovenproof skillet gives the plaki room for evaporation and creates the browned fringe that makes the dish feel complete. The beans should be soft and creamy when pressed, while the sauce bubbles slowly rather than looking soupy.

Finish with cool tang

Feta belongs on the beans after baking. The residual heat warms the crumbles just enough, preserving their salty tang against the sweet tomato sauce and grassy dill instead of turning them into a melted layer.

Creamy giant beans with browned sauce edges are finished with distinct feta crumbles and dill. — Tangy feta and fresh dill sit over creamy beans with bronzed tomato-sauce edges.

Vegetarian Gigantes Plaki with Feta

6 servings

100 minutes total

Ingredients

•
• 1/3 cup extra-virgin olive oil, divided
• 1 large yellow onion, finely diced
• 2 carrots, finely diced
• 2 celery ribs, finely diced
• 5 garlic cloves, thinly sliced
• 1 (28 oz) can crushed tomatoes
• 1 tsp dried oregano
• 1/2 cup chopped fresh dill, divided
• 4 oz feta, crumbled, plus lemon wedges and greens for serving

Method

Prepare the beans
For dried beans, soak the gigantes overnight, drain, and simmer in fresh water for 45 minutes until nearly tender; for canned beans, drain and rinse them gently. Use dried gigantes beans by default; use canned butter beans for the faster route.
Look for: Dried beans yield at the edges but remain firm enough to finish baking.
Heat the oven
Set a rack in the center of the oven and heat it to 375 F while you make the tomato sauce.
Look for: The oven indicator signals a full preheat.
Soften the vegetables
Warm 1/4 cup olive oil in a wide ovenproof skillet over medium heat, then cook the finely diced yellow onion, carrots, and celery with a pinch of salt until softened.
Look for: The vegetables are glossy, fragrant, and translucent without browning.
Build the sauce
Stir in the thinly sliced garlic and oregano, cook until aromatic, then add the crushed tomatoes and half the dill; scrape the skillet bottom clean.
Look for: The garlic smells sweet and the oregano is evenly dispersed through the tomatoes.
Reduce before baking
Simmer the tomato sauce uncovered for 15 minutes, stirring often, until it is thick enough to leave a clear trail when a spoon is drawn across the skillet.
Look for: The sauce is richly reduced and no longer pools thinly around the spoon.
Add the beans
Fold the prepared gigantes or butter beans into the reduced sauce, adding a splash of bean cooking liquid or water only if the skillet looks dry.
Look for: Every bean is coated and the sauce clings rather than floods the skillet.
Bake the plaki
Drizzle with the remaining olive oil and bake at 375 F for 25 minutes, until the beans are creamy within and browned at the exposed edges.
Look for: The sauce bubbles slowly and the top beans show bronzed, crisp edges.
Add feta and dill
Scatter the feta and remaining dill over the hot beans, then rest for 5 minutes so the feta softens slightly but stays tangy instead of melting into the sauce.
Look for: The feta is warmed at the edges and still visibly crumbled.
Serve the plaki
Spoon the gigantes plaki into shallow bowls and serve with crusty bread, lemon wedges, and a lemony greens salad alongside.
Look for: The beans are creamy, the sauce is thick, and bright feta remains distinct on top.