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Bigilla (Maltese Broad Bean Dip)
Small dried broad beans soaked, simmered until soft and mashed with garlic, chilli, parsley, mint and olive oil into a rustic, spicy spread for crusty Maltese bread or galletti.
Maltese · easy · serves 8
prep 15 min · cook 90 min · plus 12 h hands-off time
~195 cal · 9g protein · 27g carbs · 6g fat · 7g fiber · 1g sugars · 1g sat fat (estimated, per serving)
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Bigilla is a thick, earthy dip of mashed beans, and it is one of the first things set on the table in a Maltese bar or restaurant, spread on ħobż, the crusty local sourdough, or scooped up with galletti, the crisp Maltese water crackers. Street vendors still sell it warm from vans that go round the villages.
It is made from ful ta' Ġirba, "Djerba beans", the name the Maltese give to tic beans: a small, dark, hard-skinned kind of dried broad bean. They are soaked overnight, simmered for a long time until they collapse, and then mashed with raw garlic, chilli, olive oil and salt, with chopped parsley and often mint, which cools the heat. Some cooks add a splash of vinegar.
Tic beans are hard to find outside Malta, and ordinary dried broad (fava) beans make a very good bigilla. It keeps well in the fridge and is eaten cold or just warm, often with a few olives and a plate of Maltese cheeselets alongside.
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Make it yours
✓ Naturally vegetarian, vegan and dairy-, nut-, egg- 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 8
- 350 g dried tic beans (ful ta’ Ġirba) or dried broad (fava) beansHard to find? 350 g dried whole brown broad (fava) beans - larger and a little milder; they may need longer to soften
- 3 cloves garlic, crushed
- 1 chilli or 1 tsp flakes fresh red chilli, finely chopped, or dried chilli flakes, plus flakes to finish
- 2 tbsp flat-leaf parsley, finely chopped, plus more to finish
- 1 tbsp fresh mint, finely chopped
- 3 tbsp extra-virgin olive oil, plus more to finish
- 1 tbsp red wine vinegar, optional
- 1 tsp salt
- 1/2 tsp black pepper
- plenty crusty bread (ħobż) or galletti crackers, to serve
Instructions
- 1Rinse the beans, cover them generously with cold water and leave them to soak overnight, topping up the water if they drink it all.
- 2Drain and rinse the beans, put them in a pot with fresh water to cover by 5 cm, bring to a boil and skim off the foam.
- 3Cover and simmer for 1 1/2 to 2 hours, until the beans are completely soft and crush easily between your fingers. Drain, keeping a cup of the cooking water.✎ Chef’s noteOld dried beans can take longer. Keep them just covered with water and cook until they collapse; half-cooked beans make a gritty dip.
- 4While the beans are warm, mash or pulse them with the garlic, chilli, salt, pepper, olive oil and vinegar if using, adding a few spoonfuls of the cooking water until you have a thick, coarse paste. Stir in the parsley and mint.
- 5Taste for salt and heat. Spoon into a bowl, pour olive oil over, scatter with parsley and chilli flakes and serve warm or at room temperature with bread or galletti.
Maltese bar and street-vendor tradition.
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🌏 While it simmers, know your destination
📍
Valletta. The rabbit habit is usually linked to the end of the Knights' hunting restrictions in the late eighteenth century, after which Maltese could take rabbits freely; reading the meal as a gesture of defiance is a theory rather than a documented fact. The rest of the pantry sits between Sicily and North Africa: capers, broad beans, sun-dried tomato.
🗺️
Malta. Pastizzi come with two fillings and no others: ricotta or mushy peas, folded into a diamond of flaky pastry and sold cheap and hot from small shops all day. Gbejniet are the tiny sheep's-milk cheeselets, eaten fresh, dried or rolled in cracked pepper, and they turn up in salads and baked pasta because the rocky island supports goats and sheep more easily than cattle.
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Europe. European cooking is built on the land and the seasons, wheat, butter, and cured pork in the north; olive oil, tomatoes, and seafood around the Mediterranean; preserved vegetables and hearty stews through long winters. Centuries of peasant tradition, guild craft, and royal courts refined techniques from French mother sauces to Italian fresh pasta and Central European baking. Regional identity runs remarkably deep, with a single dish often changing from one valley to the next.
The story behind this dish is up top, worth a read while the pot works.
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Good to know
You’ll need: Pot or saucepan.
Storing it: Best the day it is made. Wrap well and refresh in a warm oven, or freeze and reheat straight from frozen.
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Frequently asked questions
What is Bigilla (Maltese Broad Bean Dip)?
Small dried broad beans soaked, simmered until soft and mashed with garlic, chilli, parsley, mint and olive oil into a rustic, spicy spread for crusty Maltese bread or galletti.
Where does Bigilla (Maltese Broad Bean Dip) come from?
Bigilla (Maltese Broad Bean Dip) is a Maltese dish from Valletta, Malta.
Can Bigilla (Maltese Broad Bean Dip) be made vegan, gluten-free, or dairy-free?
This Bigilla (Maltese Broad Bean Dip) recipe includes substitution suggestions for vegetarian, vegan, gluten-free, dairy-free, nut-free, egg-free, and pork-free versions. Treat the substitutions as a starting guide rather than a guarantee, and see the allergen note below.
Is Bigilla (Maltese Broad Bean Dip) 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 still count coconut as a tree nut to be cautious, although the FDA stopped listing it as one in 2025), 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 Bigilla (Maltese Broad Bean Dip) take to make?
About 13 h 45 min in all: 15 minutes prep and 90 minutes cooking, plus 12 h of hands-off waiting the method needs, serving 8.
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