Country-Style Baby Lima Beans

A no-fail recipe for tender baby lima beans (butterbeans) cooked low and slow with bacon the Southern way.

TABLE OF CONTENTS:

1. JUMP TO RECIPE
2. WHAT IS THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN BABY LIMA BEANS, LIMA BEANS AND BUTTERBEANS?
3. HOW DO YOU SERVE BABY LIMA BEANS?

There’s a local meat-and-three restaurant chain here in my neck of the woods called Lizard’s Thicket that we go to a good bit. It’s the perfect place to go when you’re craving country cooking… especially vegetables!

They offer over 25 vegetables every day (plus daily and seasonal specials) which is why it’s my go-to when we need to pop out for a quick bite to eat.

I should probably point out that they lump other side dishes into their 'vegetable' category and that's fine by me! Seriously, it's a country girl's dream!

Because I’m used to ordering my favorites (black-eyed peas, squash casserole, macaroni & cheese, cabbage, cornbread dressing, collard greens and/or green beans) I rarely glance at the menu. A few weeks ago, a few of us from the office went for lunch and my work bestie, Brooke, ordered the baby limas.

As soon as she placed her order I got to thinking how long it had been since I’d had some good butterbeans so I changed my order and got some too! They were delicious and I’ve been craving them ever since so I made some this weekend!

This is exactly how I cook fresh peas too. You can use this recipe to cook fresh or fresh-frozen crowder peas, butter peas, black-eyed peas, field peas, speckled butter beans, purple hull peas, pink lady peas, etc.

WHAT IS THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN BABY LIMA BEANS, LIMA BEANS AND BUTTERBEANS?

The short answer? Age. They’re all the same beans.

BABY LIMA BEANS: These are characteristically small, greener in color and most tender because they are picked early - when they're "babies". These are served fresh (or canned/frozen when fresh).

LIMA BEANS: Regular lima beans are picked when at thier mature size. The mid-sized beans are paler in color (almost white but still slightly green). These are served fresh OR dried. Some are left to grow even larger/longer, past the point where they would be good served fresh, to be used exclusively as dried butterbeans.

BUTTERBEANS: Any of the above. Young, old, mature, fresh or dried - they're all butterbeans. What you call them mostly depends on where you live.

Being a recipe writer has taught me different regions of the country have different names for things (fried cubed steak vs. country style steak vs. chicken fried steak, for example). None of the names are wrong, though folks get awfully stabby about them.

I grew up simply calling the tender green variety 'butterbeans', though I’d certainly know what you meant if you called them 'lima beans', 'baby limas', or 'baby lima beans'. In my family, we just call fresh baby lima beans 'butterbeans' and we call dried butterbeans, well, 'dried butterbeans'.

HOW DO YOU SERVE BABY LIMA BEANS, LIMA BEANS AND BUTTERBEANS?

Baby lima beans and regular lima beans that are cooked fresh (or fresh frozen/caned) are served as a side dish and often put in Vegetable Beef Soup and Brunswick Stew. 

Dried butterbeans are usually cooked with ham trimmings until soft and creamy (almost like a thick soup). You can serve them as a side, in a bowl like a thick soup or over white rice. We serve dried butterbeans over rice, topped with diced onion, with cornbread as a meal. My mouth is literally watering as I'm typing this. My daddy would go back for a third bowl, let out a heavy sigh then say, "this is gonna hurt" before digging in. Mama would shake her head and mutter something about sleeping on the porch.

If you'd like to make dried butterbeans like I've described, use my recipe for Southern-Style Black-Eyed Peas then just substitute dried butterbeans for dried black-eyed peas.

Recipe for Country-Style Baby Lima Beans

Country-Style Baby Lima Beans

Yield: 8-10 Servings

Author: Mandy Rivers | South Your Mouth

Prep time: 15 MinCook time: 1 H & 15 MInactive time: 15 MinTotal time: 1 H & 45 M

A no-fail Southern recipe for tender baby lima beans (butterbeans) cooked low and slow with bacon.

Ingredients

• 4 slices bacon
• 1 lb. fresh or fresh-frozen baby lima beans
• 4 cups chicken broth or water
• 1/2 teaspoon salt (plus more to taste)

Instructions

1. Cut bacon into small pieces then cook until crisp in a large saucepan.
2. Add beans then add enough broth or water to cover the beans by a little less than an inch of liquid (you may not need all 4 cups).
3. Cook over medium heat until just boiling then reduce heat to low, cover and simmer beans for 45 minutes.
4. Add 1/2 teaspoon salt then continue cooking for 30-45 minutes or until beans are very tender (sometimes frozen beans take longer to get tender).
5. Taste for salt then add more if desired.
6. Turn off heat, uncover pan, then let beans rest for 15 minutes before serving.

Notes

• If I have chicken broth, I use it, but water is just as good so long as you have bacon (fatback, ham hocks, smoked turkey wings, etc.) to add flavor.
• The amount of salt you need depends on how salty your bacon is and whether you use water or broth. You’ll need at least 1/2 teaspoon and will very likely add more.
• I don’t salt the beans the first 45 minutes of cooking because salt can sometimes make peas and beans tough.
• You don’t want to drown these in water or broth when you’re cooking them but you may want to keep an eye on your pan to make sure you don’t need to add more liquid. The beans need to be submerged the entire time they’re cooking.
• Feel free to saute diced onion with the bacon for another layer of flavor.
• Once cooked, these can sit on the stove (with no heat) for a looooong time without getting mushy. The longer they set, the better they are! Just bring them back to temperature over low heat when you're ready to eat.

https://www.southyourmouth.com/2018/07/country-style-baby-lima-beans.html

Images and text © South Your Mouth LLC 2018

butterbeans, lima beans, butter beans, bean, limas, recipe, southern, bacon, country, fatback, beans, vegetable, best, easy, how to, classic, country, country-style, southern, lizard's thicket, cracker barrel

side dishes, vegetables

american, southern

Keep up with my latest shenanigans by following South Your Mouth!

FACEBOOK | PINTEREST | INSTAGRAM | TWITTER