Name: Turkish White Bean Stew
Prep time: 5 min
Cook time: 1 h 20 min
Total time: 1 h 25 min
Yield: 6
Cuisine: Turkish
Ingredients: 2 cups white beans, uncooked or 4 cups cooked beans; 300 g/10.5 oz lamb, diced; 2 tablespoons olive oil; 1 onion, diced; 1/2 cup diced green or red bell pepper; 1 ½ tablespoons pepper paste; 1/4 cup water; 1 teaspoon cumin; 1 ½ teaspoon salt; 1 teaspoon black pepper; 1 teaspoon paprika or red pepper flakes; 3 cups hot water

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Turkish White Bean Stew is a classic dish in Turkish cuisine that is loved by everyone. White beans are cooked with tomato or red pepper paste, meat and spices. A super satisfying dinner for chilly days.

Turkish beans with lamb served in a white bowl with rice on the side.

This bean stew is a traditional Turkish dish that is loved in the country as much as Lamb Kabobs. Unlike kabobs, the ingredients are simple and cheap and it is way easier to make at home. We always serve it with Orzo Rice Pilaf.

Ingredients For Turkish Beans

White beans: Traditionally the beans we use for this stew in Turkey are called dermason, but you can use any white bean. For example, navy beans, cannellini beans or great northern beans are probably the best counterparts. The cooking duration of each might be different though, so just check them while cooking.
No white beans on hand? Use black beans, red beans or even mung beans. Okay, it would become a completely different dish, but I think it would still taste amazing.
Meat: We use either beef or lamb when making this stew. It is totally up to you, use whichever you like most. Although not something traditional, it can be made with diced chicken too. What’s more, you can take it to the next level when you use sujuk or pastirma as the substitute for meat. If you can’t find these, try it with spicy sausages or chorizo.
Are you vegetarian? This is a versatile recipe, so you can just leave the meat out and follow the rest of the recipe as it is. You will end up with one of the tastiest vegetarian dishes ever.
Onion and olive oil: These are staple in almost all the Turkish dishes and this stew is not an exception. Just make sure you chop the onion finely.
Peppers: This is totally optional but we love both the color and the flavor they add in the dish, so we highly recommend it. Use green or red peppers. Doesn’t really matter. Add diced peppers into the pot at the same time with onions.
Tomato/Pepper Paste: Use whichever you can find or a combination of both would be even better. Their concentrated flavors give a wonderful taste to the stew.
Spices: In the traditional Turkish kuru fasulye recipe, cumin and black pepper are staple. You can use these as much as you like. Also, we love to add paprika or red pepper flakes for an even spicier kick.

Alternative Add-Ins

Especially when making the bean stew vegetarian, you might want to add some more vegetables in it. For example, carrots, potatoes, spinach and kale definitely make the stew even tastier.

Turkish white bean stew with lamb called kuru fasulye served with orzo rice pilaf on the side in two white bowls. Bread slices, fresh mint, pickles and spices accompany.

How To Make Turkish Style Bean Stew

First, soak the white beans overnight. Rinse them well and cook in a deep pot with water until tender. Remove the foams coming out on the top while simmering. Drain and put aside.
Second, cook the diced meat in a pot with a little water covered over medium low heat until tender.
Third, add in olive oil, finely chopped onions and diced peppers when there is almost no water left in the pot. Cook these stirring occasionally until tender.
Fourth, in a small bowl, thin the tomato paste or pepper paste with a little water and pour it into the pot. Stir well and cook for one or two minutes.
Fifth, add in the cooked beans, salt and spices. Give it a good stir.
Finally, pour hot water into the pot and let it simmer covered for about 15 minutes so that all the flavors blend well together.

What To Serve With This Spicy Bean Stew

Kuru Fasulye and Rice Pilaf are like the best couple in Turkish cuisine. They are always served together at restaurants. However, we sometimes make a change and serve it with Bulgur Pilaf, which complements the stew as perfectly as rice.

Besides a type of pilaf, there are two more foods to serve with the traditional Turkish bean stew:

Hands holding a bowl with Turkish white bean stew with lamb and orzo rice pilaf on the side.

Turkish cacik
Pickles of any type

We also love eating onions with this flavorsome stew, which is another tradition of Turks. We just slice an onion into four and we shred it while eating. You will find it funny, but there is also a traditional way of eating onion as a side to pair with this stew. Put the onion on the table and hit just on top of it with your fist, you’ll see how it’s shredded without using a knife. That is called “breaking onion”. In fact, it used to be a habit of Turkish ancestors as a way of showing how strong they were. And today, of course we don’t do the same, but we remember this interesting act of serving onions whenever we eat white beans.

Imagine all these on the table. If this dinner doesn’t make you feel in heaven, I don’t know what will!

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