Recipe
🥙 LUNCH
Pasul
A slow-simmered white bean stew rich with paprika and onion, the everyday food of Kosovo.
Kosovar · easy · serves 4
prep 15 min · cook 90 min
~472 cal · 20g protein · 65g carbs · 15g fat · 16g fiber · 7g sugars · 2g sat fat (estimated, per serving)
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Pasul, a white bean stew, is one of the most everyday dishes in Kosovo, the kind of humble, filling food families have long relied on. Cheap and satisfying, it is genuine home cooking.
Dried white beans are simmered slowly with onion, garlic, and plenty of red paprika until soft and creamy and the broth thickens around them. A paprika-bloomed oil stirred in at the end gives it colour and depth. Served with bread, pickles, and often a fresh chili, a pot of pasul is the taste of a Kosovar kitchen.
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Make it yours
✓ Naturally vegetarian, vegan and gluten-, dairy-, egg-, nut- and pork-free. No swaps needed.
Toggle a diet and the ingredients rewrite themselves with regional substitutes.
🥕 Vegetarian
🌱 Vegan
🌾 Gluten-Free
🥛 Dairy-Free
🥜 Nut-Free
🥚 Egg-Free
🐖 Pork-Free
Dietary labels are a cooking guide, not allergen-safety advice. We track dairy, egg, gluten, tree nuts and peanuts (we count coconut as a tree nut, following FDA labeling), fish, and shellfish; we do not screen for sesame, soy, mustard, celery, or sulphites. If you have a food allergy, read the label on every product you use, and note that a kitchen can cross-contaminate in ways a recipe cannot control.
Ingredients
US
Metric
Serves 4
2 cups dried white beans, soaked
2 onions, chopped
4 cloves garlic, minced
2 tbsp sweet red paprika
1 carrot, diced
2 tbsp tomato paste
1/4 cup oil
1 handful fresh parsley
Instructions
1
Simmer the soaked beans with the carrot in plenty of water until tender, about 1 hour.
2
Soften the onion and garlic in the oil, then stir in the paprika and tomato paste off the heat.
✎ Chef’s note
Bloom the paprika in the warm oil away from direct heat. It should turn the oil deep red and fragrant, never scorch and go bitter.
3
Stir the paprika base into the beans and simmer until the broth thickens.
4
Season well, finish with parsley, and serve with bread.
Kosovar home cooking.
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🌏 While it simmers, know your destination
📍
Pristina. Pristina is famed for flija, a pastry built layer by layer under a heated lid until it stacks into dozens of thin crepes, brushed with cream. Kosovar cooking is Balkan and Ottoman: peppers, pite pastries, grilled meat, and abundant yogurt.
🗺️
Kosovo. Flija is built rather than baked. Thin batter is ladled on in strips under a sac, a bell-shaped iron dome covered with burning coals, one layer set before the next goes on, with kajmak brushed between, for two to three hours. Slow Food lists it in the Ark of Taste as endangered, because depopulation has taken away the people willing to spend an afternoon on it.
🌍
Europe. Europe has written a great deal of its food into law. A regulation of 1992 created the protected designation of origin and the protected geographical indication, tying a name to a place and a method, and an EU evaluation published in 2021 counted more than three thousand registered names across those schemes, from cheeses and hams down to particular shapes of bread.
The story behind this dish is up top, worth a read while the pot works.
More from Kosovo
FlijaA patient, many-layered pancake built up batter-by-batter under live coals, served with butter and cream.
Pite me SpinaqLayered thin-pastry pie filled with spinach and cheese, baked until crisp, a Kosovo staple.
SheqerpareSoft semolina cookies soaked in sugar syrup until melting, a popular sweet across Kosovo and the Balkans.
Browse all Kosovo recipes →
Good to know
Storing it: Stews and braises keep 3 to 4 days refrigerated and often taste better the next day. Reheat gently, adding a splash of water if it has thickened.
Make it a Kosovo meal
SheqerpareDessert
FlijaDinner
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Frequently asked questions
What is Pasul?
A slow-simmered white bean stew rich with paprika and onion, the everyday food of Kosovo.
Where does Pasul come from?
Pasul is a Kosovar dish from Pristina, Kosovo.
Can Pasul be made vegan, gluten-free, or dairy-free?
This Pasul recipe includes substitution suggestions for vegetarian, vegan, gluten-free, dairy-free, nut-free, egg-free, and pork-free versions, including several at once such as gluten-free and dairy-free together. Treat them as a starting guide rather than a guarantee, and see the allergen note below.
Is Pasul safe for people with food allergies?
Our dietary labels and substitutions are a cooking guide, not medical or allergen-safety advice. We track dairy, egg, gluten, tree nuts and peanuts (we count coconut as a tree nut, following FDA labeling), fish, and shellfish, but we do not screen for sesame, soy, mustard, celery, or sulphites. If you have a food allergy, always read the label on every product you use, and remember a home or commercial kitchen can cross-contaminate ingredients in ways a recipe cannot control.
How long does Pasul take to make?
About 105 minutes total (15 minutes prep, 90 minutes cooking), serving 4.
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