Spanish Gigante Bean Salad

This salad is lovely served warm, but it's also wonderful after it's had a chance to marinate for a few days in the fridge. This is a budget-friendly recipe made with easy to find pantry ingredients, and it's perfect to keep on hand to munch on during busy days.

5 from 1 vote

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Course: Side Dish

Cuisine: spanish

Keyword: butter bean salad, gigante beans, vegan bean salad

Prep Time: 5

Cook Time: 35

Total Time: 40

Servings: servings

Calories: 454kcal

Author: Nicole Gaffney (ColeyCooks.com)

Ingredients

½ lb dried gigante beans butter beans, or giant lima beans, soaked overnight in salted water
1 bay leaf
1 sprig fresh thyme or ½ teaspoon dried thyme
4 cloves garlic divided, 2 smashed and 2 sliced
2 medium shallots divided, one left whole and one minced
Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
8 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil divided
2 heaping tablespoons tomato paste
1 teaspoon mild smoked paprika
4 stalks celery thinly sliced plus 2 tablespoons celery leaves
2 tablespoons plus 2 teaspoons sherry vinegar or red wine vinegar
¼ cup minced fresh parsley leaves

Instructions

Drain the soaked beans and place in a large saucepan and cover with water. Add the bay leaf, thyme, whole shallot, smashed cloves of garlic, and a generous amount of salt and freshly cracked black pepper. Bring up to a boil, then reduce to a low simmer and cook until the beans are just tender, about 30-45 minutes. Be sure to test more than one bean to be sure they are all cooked through. Drain and set aside.
Heat 3 tablespoons olive oil in a pan and saute the minced garlic and shallot until they just start to turn golden, about 2 minutes. Stir in the tomato paste and smoked paprika and cook for another minute or two until fragrant. Add the beans, celery, vinegar and remaining 5 tablespoons olive oil, then turn off the heat. Stir until everything is coated and season with salt and pepper to taste. Serve warm, or let marinate in the fridge for a few days.

Notes

This dish is great served as a salad or side dish, but also works fabulously as an appetizer served with crusty slices of bread.
To speed things up a bit, you can use 2 cans of beans in place of the dried beans and omit the step of cooking them. Just be sure to thoroughly drain and rinse the beans before using.

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