The Whole Ingredient

Vegan, wholefood, delicious: easy recipes for healthy comfort food.

  • About
  • Recipes
  • blog
  • Press
  • FAQ & Terms

Greek Butter Bean Pie

22/01/2016 By Laura Hemmington 7 Comments

Butter Bean Pie 1

It’s finally turned to winter here in London, so I thought it was about time I shared a super comforting, delicious and hearty dinner recipe. This Greek Butter Bean Pie will warm you up and have you dreaming of bright sunshine and bleached skies before it’s even out of the oven and onto your plate.

One of my absolute favourite Greek mezes is Gigantes Plaki, or baked giant beans. It’s an earthy, filling, butter bean dish cooked in a light tomato sauce; seasoned with a few simple vegetables and fresh herbs.

I’ve always enjoyed Gigantes cold, with Hummus and Baba Ghanoush (or, to be Greek, Melitzanosalata), toasted pita bread and olives; but I wondered if it could be turned into the main event.

Butter Bean Pie 2

Happily, it can – and wonderfully so! With a few tweaks to the recipe this turned out to be just as delicious as I’d hoped. This dish is:

  • hearty;
  • rich;
  • juicy;
  • fresh;
  • wholesome; and
  • really, really easy to make!

If you love the flavours of Greece – tomatoes, lemon, dill and oregano – you’re going to fall head over heels for this recipe. The layer of wilted spinach adds a delicious, nutrient-rich element, and soaks up the rich flavours of the sauce. But! Sprinkling on extra dried oregano and a little extra olive oil before baking the pie really takes it from humble to special. So simple, yet so, so good.

Butter Bean Pie 3

I’ve called this a pie because the baking really thickens up the sauce and creates something almost sliceable in thickness, but you could cook it for less time and enjoy it as a stew. Some other variations include:

  • leaving it to cool (if you can hold yourself back) for a week’s worth of meze, salad toppings or sandwich fillings;
  • spooning it onto toast for a tasty variation on baked beans;
  • scooping it into jacket potatoes with some hummus; or
  • simmering it in a big pot with some extra water or stock for the base of a wondrous sausage casserole.

You really can do a lot with a simple bean recipe! I used dried butter beans, soaked overnight, because I think they’re much nicer in taste and texture. But feel free to use tinned beans if you’re in a hurry (or indeed, if you want to go home right now and make this for dinner).

Keep an eye out for next week’s recipe – I’ll be sharing something really tasty that’s just perfect sprinkled on top of this pie.

4.5 from 2 reviews
Greek Butter Bean Pie
 
Print
Preparation time
20 mins
Cooking time
30 mins
Total time
50 mins
 
A hearty baked version of a Greek meze classic. This Butter Bean Pie is simple to make, full of delicious savoury flavour and packed with wholesome ingredients.
Author: The Whole Ingredient
Recipe type: Main
Cuisine: 60 minutes or less, Vegan, Gluten Free
Serves: 2-4
Ingredients
  • 200g dried butter beans, soaked overnight (or 2 tins of pre-cooked butter beans)
  • 2 tsp olive oil
  • 1 white onion
  • 1 carrot
  • 2 celery stalks
  • 4-6 garlic cloves
  • 1 tin chopped tomatoes
  • 2 tbsp tomato purée
  • 1 tbsp lemon juice
  • 1 tbsp + 2 tsp dried oregano
  • 1 tsp cinnamon
  • Salt & pepper, to taste
  • 30g fresh dill
  • 200g fresh spinach
Method
  1. If you haven't already pre-cooked the butter beans, put them on to boil in a large pan of water. Leave to simmer for 20-30 minutes - about the same time it takes to prepare the sauce.
  2. While the beans are cooking, make the sauce. Chop the onion, carrot and celery small, all to a similar size.
  3. Heat 1 tsp of olive oil in a large frying pan and add these to the pan.
  4. Cook for 5-10 minutes, or until the onion is translucent. Slice the garlic and add this to the pan, giving it all a good stir.
  5. Now stir in the chopped tomatoes, tomato purée, lemon juice, 1 tbsp of oregano, cinnamon, salt and pepper. Chop the dill (discarding any thick or tough stalks) and stir this in too.
  6. Leave the sauce to simmer for 10 minutes.
  7. While this is cooking, wilt the spinach in a separate pan until there is no water remaining from the leaves.
  8. Heat the oven to 180°C / 350°F / Gas Mark 4.
  9. You can now assemble the pie. Line the bottom of an oven dish or pie tin with the spinach. Drain the butter beans and stir these into the tomato sauce. Gently pour this over the spinach and level it out. Sprinkle on the rest of the oregano and olive oil.
  10. Cook on a middle shelf for 30 minutes.
3.5.3208

 

Pin on Pinterest
Pinterest
Share on Facebook
Facebook
Tweet about this on Twitter
Twitter
Email this to someone
email
Print this page
Print
Share on Yummly
Yummly
Share on Reddit
Reddit

Related

Filed Under: mains Tagged With: butter beans, gluten free, greek, healthy, nutritious, plant-based, vegan, vegan recipe, wholefoods

« Blueberry Lemon Spelt Loaf
Lemon Almond Parmesan »

Comments

  1. Paula says

    26/01/2016 at 9:09 pm

    This looks brilliant! I’m constantly looking for new ways to get plant based proteins into my little boy’s diet (he’s 15 months), and I think this will be perfect, thank you! P.S. He loves your lentil shepherd’s pie recipe!

    Reply
    • Laura, The Whole Ingredient says

      27/01/2016 at 9:24 pm

      Hi Paula! Wow, what a lovely thing to hear. I’m so touched your little boy loves the Shepherd’s Pie – no doubt you made it delicious 🙂 I can’t wait to hear what you both think of this one. Thank you for the kind words Lx

      Reply
  2. Paula says

    04/02/2016 at 1:58 pm

    Hi Laura, we both loved it! I used it as a posh and healthy beans on toast and it was amazing! Thanks again, your recipes are definitely becoming family favourites x

    Reply
    • Laura, The Whole Ingredient says

      04/02/2016 at 2:04 pm

      Hi Paula! I’m so pleased you both loved the beans! Putting them on toast is a brilliant idea – this could be a new breakfast classic 🙂 I’m thrilled to hear my recipes are being enjoyed Lx

      Reply
  3. Jo bodkin says

    23/07/2016 at 11:51 am

    Please help! What is 200g of butter beans equal to in weight or cup measurement?
    Can’t wait to make this.
    Thanks.

    Reply
    • Laura Hemmington says

      23/07/2016 at 11:56 am

      Hi Jo! I’m not sure how to equate it to the cup system… Do you have digital scales? Could you Google weight equivalents to whatever measurement you usually use? Perhaps grams to ounces? I hope you like it! 🙂

      Reply
  4. Shila Phillips says

    28/02/2020 at 2:06 pm

    Hi Laura I loved making this dish it was brilliant, i put some mashed potatoes on top it worked well. Thanks for sharing, love and peace.

    Reply

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Rate this recipe:  

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

Subscribe for recipes & get your downloadable guide to Vegan London for free!

Welcome to The Whole Ingredient! Simple recipes for delicious & healthy vegan comfort food.

Read more here

BREAKFAST & BRUNCH

Smoky Maple Tofu Bacon

MAINS

SALADS

Aubergine Muhammara Traybake

SIDES

Sticky Chilli Cauliflower Wings

SWEET

Sweet Potato Popcorn Pie

VEGAN CHEESE

Rosemary-Baked Almond Cream Cheese

SNACKS, SAUCES, JARS

Store Cupboard Muhammara

AUTUMN

Fettucine with Squash, Sage and Pecans

CHRISTMAS

FINDING VEGAN FOOD IN LONDON

Finding Vegan Food in London
Foodies100 Index of UK Food Blogs
Foodies100
Privacy & Cookies: This site uses cookies. By continuing to use this website, you agree to their use.
To find out more, including how to control cookies, see here: Cookie Policy

© 2014-2016 The Whole Ingredient · About · Press · FAQ & Terms



All content is subject to copyright. Recipes, text and photographs can only be used with prior permission, credit and a link back to the original.
This website uses cookies to improve your experience. We'll assume you're ok with this, but you can opt-out if you wish.Accept Read More
Privacy & Cookies Policy

Privacy Overview

This website uses cookies to improve your experience while you navigate through the website. Out of these, the cookies that are categorized as necessary are stored on your browser as they are essential for the working of basic functionalities of the website. We also use third-party cookies that help us analyze and understand how you use this website. These cookies will be stored in your browser only with your consent. You also have the option to opt-out of these cookies. But opting out of some of these cookies may affect your browsing experience.
Necessary
Always Enabled

Necessary cookies are absolutely essential for the website to function properly. This category only includes cookies that ensures basic functionalities and security features of the website. These cookies do not store any personal information.

Non-necessary

Any cookies that may not be particularly necessary for the website to function and is used specifically to collect user personal data via analytics, ads, other embedded contents are termed as non-necessary cookies. It is mandatory to procure user consent prior to running these cookies on your website.