Any Southerner worth their salt has eaten so many butter beans in their lifetime it’s hard to know whether to list it as a main dish or a side dish. If you haven’t made a meal of butter beans over some fresh cornbread, you haven’t spent much time in the South.
Southern Butter Beans
Any Southerner worth their salt has eaten so many butter beans in their lifetime it’s hard to know whether to list it as a main dish or a side dish. If you haven’t made a meal of butter beans over some fresh cornbread, you haven’t spent much time in the South.
Ingredients
- 1 lb bag of large lima beans
- water to cover, plus an inch
- 1 cube chicken bouillon
- ¼ cup butter (½ stick)
- 1 tbsp salt
- ¼ tsp black pepper
- 4-6 cups water
Instructions
- Rinse and sort beans.
- Place beans into stockpot with just enough water to cover them, plus about an inch.
- Bring to a boil.
- Cover and turn off the burner.
- Let the beans soak covered for one hour, drain and set aside.
- Pour 4-6 cups of fresh water over the beans.
- Add chicken bouillon.
- Bring to a boil, reduce heat to medium and let simmer for about 1 hour.
- Stir in the butter.
- Continue cooking on a low simmer an additional hour to 1 hour and 30 minutes, or until beans are tender and sauce thickens.
- Add additional chicken stock or water only if needed.
I haven’t tried the recipe yet, but they all look great!
I found this site when I was looking for real butter bean seeds to grow in SC.I haven’t had any decent butter beans since both grandpa’s grew them in their gardens.Sorry to hear mama Peggy is no longer here.Bless her heart.Will anyone reading this please advise me on where to get butterbean seeds,and I don’t mean lima beans(I cant stand limas).Butter beans are the smaller,light green as opposed to limas being larger and white.
I’m from Texas and the large lima’s were called butter beans and the small were called lima beans. Exactly opposite of yours.
I love butter beans. My mom would make it after Christmas using the ham bone and left over bits of ham to make the stock before cooking. They came out GREAT! With cornbread on the side of course.
My mother’s family was from PA and they cooked butter beans, butter peas, or black eyes served over rice with deep fried okra and diced tomatoes with a dollop of mayo. They just called it Concoction.
Sounds great Vicki.I love okra that is fried(shall I say burned).In fact butter beans and okra are the only two healthy deviations from my usual meat and sweets diet.
I remember eating these as a kid ….thank you for this recipe . These wonderful southern recipes are so awesome, wish I would have known mama Peggy her smile makes my heart sing.
my mom made butter beans with evaporated milk –more like a soup–ever heard of this???
My mother did them this way too and I would love to have the recipe. I have tried to make something like she did, Just by cooking the beans in water and chicken or vegetable broth and when they are done adding butter and the milk, but the taste is not exactly like I remember
My mum makes hers with evaporated milk, butter and garlic. Our family is having a get together today and she asked me to bring the butter beans. ☺️
My mom and her family ate these with mayo added at serving with a side of cornbread. Yum–a meal in itself!
Mayo…..I’ve never known anyone to do that. Where was she from?
I like a spoonful of mayonnaise on mine too. Daddy was from north Alabama, and he liked that. Mama was from south Alabama, and she had never heard of that. I would use ham hocks or Bacon or ham to flavor, so I gave this 4 stars.
Oh yes! We love any beans with mayo
(preferably Dukes Mayo) and butter milk made cornbread! So good!!
This recipe was easy and so delicious! My family gobbled it up! Thank you mama Peggy!
One more instruction. Add the salt only after the beans have softened. Adding before can thicken the skin and result in longer cooking time.
Great tip! Thanks, Guy.
Thank you! I’ve been looking for this. ^_^