Gigantes Plaki, Giant Baked Beans in Garlicky Tomato Sauce

It is Saturday night, the beans have been soaking since Friday, and you are about to be the kind of person who plans ahead. Gigantes plaki is about 100 minutes of mostly waiting once the beans have soaked, and what you get is giant white beans in a garlicky tomato sauce that bakes down until it is thick and a little jammy. It is a slow burn, and worth the commitment.

Big, creamy beans that take on the sauce instead of fighting it.

You soak 1 pound of dried gigantes overnight, then simmer them for 45 minutes until just tender. Onion and garlic soften in olive oil, tomato sauce and oregano join them, and the beans go in. Everything bakes at 350 degrees for 45 minutes until the sauce thickens.

How to make it

1. Soak 1 lb dried gigantes beans overnight then drain and rinse.
2. Boil beans in fresh water for 45 minutes until just tender then drain.
3. Chop 1 onion and mince 4 garlic cloves about 5 minutes.
4. Saute onion and garlic in 3 tbsp olive oil for 5 minutes until soft.
5. Stir in 15 oz tomato sauce, 1 tsp dried oregano, salt and black pepper then add beans.
6. Transfer to a baking dish and bake at 350 degrees for 45 minutes until sauce thickens.

Notes

This dish starts the night before, with the soak, and the cooking happens the next day. The hands-on time is short, and the rest is the beans doing the slow work while you get on with your Saturday.

Plan the soak the night before. Dried gigantes beans need the time to hydrate, and the recipe starts with the overnight soak. Drain and rinse them before they go into fresh water.

Boil the beans for 45 minutes, until just tender. They will cook more in the oven, so do not push them until they are soft. A bean that is slightly firm when it leaves the pot is a good sign.

Mince the garlic and chop the onion while the beans boil. Soften them in the olive oil for 5 minutes until the onion is translucent and sweet, not browned.

The 45 minutes in the oven is what turns a thin tomato sauce into something thick and glossy. If the top starts to dry out too fast, cover the dish with foil for part of the bake.

Cooked leftovers keep three to four days refrigerated, per USDA FSIS. Gigantes plaki improves on day two, once the beans have drunk up the sauce. Reheat gently, with a splash of water if it has tightened up. It also freezes reasonably well, though the beans may soften a little.

Swaps that actually work

Leave the beans and the olive oil alone. Gigantes are large, creamy and meaty in a way smaller beans are not, and three tablespoons of olive oil is part of the sauce, not a garnish.

The ingredient list names both dried and canned gigante beans. The recipe is written for dried beans, so follow it as written. Dried beans are the commitment, and canned beans are the situationship: quick and perfectly fine, but not what this dish is built for. If you start with canned, you can skip the soak and boil, though the texture and timing will differ from the recipe.

Tomato sauce can be swapped for crushed tomatoes, though the sauce may be a little chunkier. Dried oregano is the herb here. If you have fresh dill or parsley, a handful stirred in at the end brings a fresh note.

If you cannot find gigantes, large lima beans or butter beans are the nearest substitute, and they cook in a similar way. Check them for tenderness a little earlier.

What costs you the dish: skipping the soak. Dry beans that have not soaked cook unevenly and may stay hard in the middle.

If you like a sharper edge, a spoonful of red wine vinegar stirred in at the end brightens the sauce without changing the method. A few sliced carrots or a stalk of celery softened with the onion is a fair addition, though it takes the dish further from the recipe as written, so add them in small amounts. Keep the oregano dried here, since it holds up to the long bake.

One more note on the beans: salt them in the sauce, not in the soaking water, so you can taste as you go and avoid overdoing it.

If it goes wrong

Beans reward patience and punish hurrying, so most fixes here involve a little more time. Check the dish at the 30 minute mark of the bake, and adjust from there.

The beans are still hard. They did not soak long enough, or they are old. Return them to a pot of fresh water and simmer until tender, then proceed. Dried beans that sit on the shelf a long time can take longer.

The sauce is watery. It has not baked long enough. Leave the dish in the oven uncovered, and check every 10 minutes until it thickens. A spoon dragged through the sauce should leave a trail.

The beans have turned to mush. They were overcooked in the boil. Serve them as a thick stew, or mash a few and stir them in to turn the sauce into something richer.

It tastes flat. Salt is the likely cause, and then acid. Add a pinch of salt, then a splash of red wine vinegar or lemon juice, and taste again.

What to serve with it

Serve gigantes plaki warm or at room temperature, in a shallow dish so the sauce can spread out. It is a dish that holds well on the table, so you can put it out and let people help themselves.

The default is a spoon, a plate, and some bread. Gigantes plaki is hearty enough to be the main event.

The better version: crumbled feta over the top, and a simple salad of cucumber, tomato and red onion on the side. Warm pita or crusty bread is made for the sauce.

The thing in the fridge that lifts it: a spoon of plain yogurt, a handful of olives, or a drizzle of good olive oil right before serving.

It makes a very good lunch the next day, warm or at room temperature.

Why this one earns its place

This is a slow burn that pays you back for planning: you do the thinking on Friday and collect on Saturday. It is vegetarian and filling, and the effort is mostly in the planning. Gigantes plaki is a fine choice for a quiet night in, or for a meal you can make ahead and serve a few days in a row.

Swipe it into your week, and let the agent put the beans on your list in time for the soak. If you want more plant-forward dinners, try Chickpea Tagine, Chana Masala Weeknight, or build the list with a budget grocery list app.

More like this: all Greek recipes in Crave Corner.