7/16/18

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!

Country-Style Baby Lima Beans! A no-fail recipe for tender baby lima beans (butterbeans) cooked low and slow with bacon the Southern way.

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.

Country-Style Baby Lima Beans! A no-fail recipe for tender baby lima beans (butterbeans) cooked low and slow with bacon the Southern way.

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.

Country-Style Baby Lima Beans! A no-fail recipe for tender baby lima beans (butterbeans) cooked low and slow with bacon the Southern way.

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'.

Country-Style Baby Lima Beans! A no-fail recipe for tender baby lima beans (butterbeans) cooked low and slow with bacon the Southern way.

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

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.
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
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27 comments:

  1. I love Baby Lima beans!

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  2. These look good but the best lima beans I've ever had was when I was a manager with Golden Corral. We made them with a hame base & were delicious.

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  3. I visited a Lizard's Thicket in lexington. SC and never forgot it. Wonderful food. I live in SE Ohio and have always called them baby limas when fresh or frozen and then when dried they become butter beans. Delicious either way and with corn added to the green version they become succotash which I cream in white sauce.

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    1. I live in Lexington! What a small world!

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    2. That is is and who knew? I thought Lexington was a delightful town. My son has a good friend who lives there and as we traveled between Florida and Ohio we always stopped there as she graciously saved us motel costs. We always left there thinking we would never mind living there. Small town appeal and yet close enough to Columbia for city needs and services.

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    3. I'm so happy to hear our neighbors have made you so welcome :) Lexington is growing a bit too quickly for me but we're very lucky in that our home is on the Columbia side of Lexington so we're close to the interstates and don't have to navigate all the Lexington traffic quite as much.

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  4. Hi Mandy, I love lima beans... but have never seen fresh ones around here ( I live in upstate NY). If I use frozen beans, do I cook them for the same aount of time as indicated in the recipe. Thank you.

    Bernice P

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    Replies
    1. Hi Bernice! Yes, you cook them just the same. This pot was made with frozen beans!

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    2. I also live in upstate NY we usually find them in the ethnic isle of the grocery store.

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  5. I have cooked green beans this way but never lima/butter beans. Can't wait to try these!

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  6. Lisa L. Thomas7/17/18, 10:38 PM

    I simply love butterbeans. My Granny could take the healthiest thing in the garden and turn it into something fattening. She prepared them exactly like you described then added more lquid and dumplings. Butterbeans and peas almost always had dumplings. Oh how I love them with or without the dumplings. This time of year we have fresh sliced tomatoes and tall glass of sweet tea on the side. Thank you for sharing this recipe. I have been thinking about making a pot of fresh butterbeans for a few weeks and hadn’t gotten around to it but now I know I’ll be definitely doing it tomorrow. ��

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    1. The dumplings sound amazing! I've had cornmeal dumplings cooked over a pot of greens and they were ta die for!

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  7. I think we need one of those restaurants in Virginia! Any place that has creamed chipped beef and corned beef hash on the menu has my vote!

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  8. I grew up in Georgia. We called them butter beans. Hey, my ancestors are from Saluda County (Leesville mailing address). Still got kin in Gilbert.

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  9. Can I cook frozen baby Lima beans in Crock-Pot? If so how long? I don't want to massacre them. Thanks

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    1. I often use frozen beans (just haven't ever made any in a crock pot). I'd cook on low for 6-8 hours or high for 3-4. You just want to get them tender then switch the setting to 'warm'.

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  10. Do you drain the fat after cooking the bacon or keep it in there?

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  11. I'm a 4th generation Texan living for the past 30 years in Tennessee, but prior to Texas my folks were from So. Carolina. We called them Limas if they were still green, but butterbeans if they were cream colored. A funny thing happened when I fixed some dried butterbeans for a nephew who had moved here from Illinois. Completely foreign to him but he loved them (who wouldn't). He even asked me how to make them and I told him. Then he asked me when I added the gravy. What gravy? He meant the creamy texture of the beans after they cooked down. He thought it was gravy! We have laughed about that often.

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  12. We moved to the countryside of NC three-years ago, but did not have the chance to cook a Southern dish until now. Our garden produced so many lima beans that I thought, well why not cook a Southern dish. I found your blog and oh my goodness!!! I just finished cooking this dish and when my husband came home he said, I smell a bacon!! I told him I found a new dish to do with lima beans and I hope you like it. He said, I already like it if that has bacon in it. Thank you so much for this delicious dish. I am sure we will love it and will make this dish for years to come!!! Blessings.

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    Replies
    1. Well, I hope my recipes will make you feel at home out in the country! I'm glad you found your way here :o)

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  13. Hi! How could you alter the recipe and cook times with dried beans?

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  14. DELICIOUS. Served these last night with chicken and noodles, carrots with brown sugar and butter, and biscuits on the side to sop everything up. Thanks for the recipe!!

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  15. I've been wondering where you were located in the South, especially since most of your recipes are so similar to the ones I grew up with, and now I realize why! As soon as I saw "Lizard's Thicket," I knew we were kindred souls! Lol I'm from Greenville. We always stop there on the way home from the beach or whenever we can when visiting Cola. Thank you for all of your wonderful posts! Makes my heart happy <3

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  16. Beans cause gas. Add a bit of baking soda to the cooked beans. Just a healthy pinch. The pot will foam instead of the beans in your belly. Anyone around you will thank me.

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Hi there! While I’m not able to respond to every comment, I try hard to answer any questions that haven’t been addressed in the post, recipe or in other comments.

I can tell you now 1) I have no idea if you can substitute Minute Rice or brown rice in my recipes because I’ve never used them and 2) If I know how to convert a recipe to a Crock Pot version, I will make a note about it (otherwise, I don’t know).

And though I may not respond to them all, I do read each and every comment and I LOVE to hear from you guys! Thanks, y’all! - Mandy