Barbunya Pilaki (Turkish Borlotti Beans)

Barbunya Pilaki is one of Turkey's classic olive oil dishes, the family of recipes we call zeytinyağlı. Borlotti Beans simmer with onion, carrot, and tomato paste until creamy. It tastes even better the next day, so I usually cook it a day ahead. I serve it cold or at room temperature, with lemon squeezed over and bread for the sauce.

In Turkey, when barbunya is in season, you can find them at street markets, usually sold in their pods.

Jump to:

• What is Barbunya Pilaki?
• Why This Recipe Works?
• Ingredients You'll Need
• Fresh, Dried, or Canned Borlotti Beans?
• How To Make Barbunya Pilaki (Turkish Borlotti Beans)
• Recipe Tips From the Chef
• Serving Suggestions
• Storage Instructions
• Make Ahead
• Recipe FAQs
• Related Recipes
• Barbunya Pilaki (Turkish Borlotti Beans)

As the season for these delicious beans is quite short, people tend to buy them in bulk and pod them, portion them in plastic bags, and keep them in the freezer to use throughout the year. Podding them takes a little work, but it is worth the effort.

What is Barbunya Pilaki?

In Turkish, barbunya is also the name of a fish, the red mullet. Put the fresh beans next to one at the market and you see why. They share the same rosy pink speckles. The fish had the name first. The bean was named after it. On Turkish menus, it usually appears simply as barbunya, since this is the dish everyone makes with these beans.

Pilaki isn't one recipe. It's a whole family of dishes going back to Ottoman kitchens, named after the shallow pan they were once cooked in. We make pilaki with beans, with mussels, with fish, even with octopus. All of them cook gently in olive oil with garlic. None of them come to the table piping hot.

Old Istanbul cooks had a simple rule for telling their pot dishes apart: a yahni wants plenty of onion, a pilaki wants plenty of garlic.

Why This Recipe Works?

• The whole dish happens in one pot with everyday vegetables. Nothing needs your attention beyond an occasional stir.

• It is dairy-free, gluten-free, low in calories, and high in fiber as well as vegan.

• It is budget cooking at its best. A bag of beans and a few vegetables feed the whole table.

• Barbunya Pilaki is very easy to make with step-by-step pictures and instructions.

• It belongs to the same zeytinyağlı family as my Zeytinyağlı Pırasa Yemeği (Turkish Braised Leeks), Stuffed Artichokes,, and Zeytinyağlı Kereviz Yemeği - Braised Celeriac. Cook two of them together and you have a proper Turkish spread.

• Kids eat it happily. The beans are soft, mild, and gently sweet from the carrots.

Ingredients You'll Need

Please scroll down to the recipe card below for the full ingredients list with measurements, complete recipe method, recipe notes, and nutritional information.

• Borlotti Beans - Canned, dried, or fresh all work. The next section covers how to handle each one.

• Carrots - They add extra texture, color, and sweetness to Barbunya Pilaki.

• Tomato paste - When in season, it is best to use juicy, ripe summer tomatoes instead of tomato paste. Substitute it with 2 small or 1 large red and juicy tomato.

• Garlic - Use finely chopped fresh garlic.

• Celery - It is not one of the traditional ingredients for Barbunya Pilaki but I love the aroma it adds to the dish. You can omit it if you prefer.

• Lemon juice - I strongly advise generously squeezing fresh lemon juice on top of Barbunya Pilaki before serving to lift the flavor up.

Fresh, Dried, or Canned Borlotti Beans?

It is also known as Roman beans or Cranberry beans. Fresh beans are the best option when you can get them. Dried or canned beans both make a very good pilaki too.

If you find fresh beans in their pods, 2 pounds (about 1 kilo) of pods gives you roughly 1 pound (450 to 500 grams) of beans. Boil the podded beans for 5 to 10 minutes, until just tender, then use them exactly like canned. If the pods feel tight and are hard to open, leave them in a cloth bag for a day or two and they loosen up.

How To Make Barbunya Pilaki (Turkish Borlotti Beans)

Drain and wash canned borlotti beans and set them aside. Put olive oil in a large saucepan and place it on low-medium heat. Add the onions and gently sauté for a few minutes, until soft and translucent.

Add the carrots along with the celery, and sauté for another couple of minutes.

Stir in the tomato paste, salt, sugar, and garlic.

Stir for a minute and then add the borlotti beans along with the vegetable stock or water, stir all together to combine.

Bring the pan to a boil and gently simmer for 30-40 minutes, until the carrots are softened. Remove the pan from the heat, let it cool down, and transfer it to a serving plate.

Squeeze some lemon juice on top and garnish with chopped parsley and lemon slices.

Recipe Tips From the Chef

• If you want to cook Barbunya Pilaki with dried beans, soak them in water overnight. Boil until soft, approximately for an hour, before adding to sauté onions&carrots.
• If you have a pressure cooker you can skip the soaking process. Simply pressure-cook dried beans for 35 minutes, drain, and rinse. They are then ready for the pan.
• Let the pot cool down with the lid on. The beans keep drinking in the sauce as they cool, and the texture settles.
• The small amount of sugar is traditional in olive oil dishes. It softens the sharpness of the tomato paste.
• Simmer gently and stir as little as possible, so the beans stay whole instead of breaking into the sauce.
• Finish with a drizzle of good extra virgin olive oil just before serving.
• Many cooks in Turkey add a cubed potato to the pot. Green pepper is another common addition. If you add potato, eat the dish within a couple of days, since potato shortens its fridge life.

• A spoonful of Biber Salçası - Turkish Red Pepper Paste in place of the tomato paste gives the sauce a deeper, sweeter base. Use the sweet kind rather than the hot one.

• If you cook dried beans, throw away the soaking and boiling water. It carries the compounds that make beans hard to digest, so the dish sits lighter.

• Check the pot once or twice during the simmer. Top it up with a splash of hot water if it looks dry.

Serving Suggestions

There are many ways to enjoy this simple yet delicious dish.

You can serve it as a vegetarian/vegan main meal with a rice dish such as Bulgur Pilaf, Turkish Rice, or Mujadara.
It is delicious as a side dish as well.

It goes perfectly alongside grilled & roasted fish, meat, or chicken dishes such as Lamb Kofta Recipe, Rice Stuffed Chicken, Orman Kebabi, Et Sote, or Lamb Shish Kebab.

Storage Instructions

Let the pot cool to room temperature, then move the beans to an airtight container. They keep in the fridge for up to 5 days. For longer storage, freeze them for up to 3 months and thaw overnight in the fridge.

The beans reheat gently on the stove, though in Turkey we would just eat them cold from the fridge.

Make Ahead

This is the ideal dish to cook one or two days before you need it. Keep it covered in the fridge and take it out about 30 minutes before serving, so it comes back to room temperature.

Give it a fresh squeeze of lemon and a little chopped parsley just before it goes to the table.

Recipe FAQs

Related Recipes

For more tasty and healthy vegan dishes, why not try:

Did you make this recipe? Please let me know how it turned out! Leave a comment below and tag @cookingorgeous on Instagram and hashtag it #cookingorgeous.

I hope you enjoy the process of making this healthy and delicious Barbunya Pilaki as much as you enjoy eating it! 🙂