Fasolakia is Mediterranean eating at its best. This Greek green bean stew is richly flavoured with olive oil, tomatoes and oregano. Topped with salty feta and accompanied by a slice of fresh sourdough bread, and you have a dish they would have eaten in Ephesus.
Simple Food with Full Flavour
Simple food is absolutely amazing if it is served with fresh and flavourful ingredients. This stew is a good example of that. It is ideal for summer and fall, when green beans are abundant. Traditionally it would be made with fresh tomatoes, but I use canned in this recipe because I generally don’t have time to blanch and peel tomatoes. However, the key to making this soup stand out is:
- Good quality extra virgin olive oil
- Fresh feta – Though I won’t peel tomatoes, I love making feta. It is so easy and affordable.
- Sourdough bread – Again homemade is best!
Fasolakia: Greek-style green beans

Fasolakia is a delicious Greek green bean stew that is amazing when paired with salty feta cheese. It is really simple to make, yet impressive enough to serve at a dinner party.
- Prep Time: 15 minutes
- Cook Time: 1 hour
- Total Time: 1 hour 15 minutes
- Yield: Serves 4-6 1x
- Category: Main Dish
- Method: Stewed
- Cuisine: Greek
Ingredients
- 1/2 cup olive oil
- 1 lbs onions, sliced (about 2 large onions)
- 4 cloves of garlic, chopped
- 6 whole peppercorns
- 28 oz can of diced tomatoes in juice
- 1 1/2 tsp salt (or more to taste)
- 1 tsp ground pepper
- 2 tbsp oregano
- 1 lbs of potatoes, sliced (about 3 large potatoes)
- 2 lbs green beans (about 8 cups loosely packed)
- 1 lbs feta
- 1/2 cup chopped parsley
Instructions
- Cover the bottom of a pot with olive oil and saute the onions on high for 5 minutes.
- Add the garlic, peppercorns, tomatoes, salt and ground pepper and and cook for another 5 minutes.
- Stir the sliced potatoes and oregano into the sauce. Then, layer the green beans on top of the tomato mixture. Do not stir them in!
- Add enough water to make the liquid come halfway through the layer of beans.
- Cover and simmer on the stove for 1 hour.
- Top with parsley and crumbled feta, and serve with sourdough bread.
Notes
- You could replace the feta with homemade halloumi or well pressed and salted kefir cheese.
- Use crumbled tofu for a vegan alternative to feta.
- This dish is perfect for my cast iron dutch oven
(affiliate link), but you could use a regular stainless steel pot.
Keywords: vegan, vegetarian, gluten free, paleo, keto, summer, fall, side dish, Turkish, Mediterranean
This dish is great summer-time fare that you can pull together from your garden. We had some feta that was over salted, but this dish tamed it well.
★★★★★
This green beans recipe tastes best with some cheese. It’s the perfect food for the hot months of the summer.
★★★★★