Butter Bean
Butter beans are the creamy, satisfying legume that makes every pot of soup or stew feel like a hug.
In a nutshell
Butter beans are large, ivory-colored lima beans with a smooth, buttery texture and mild, slightly earthy flavor. They’re a Southern pantry staple available dried, canned, or frozen, and they shine in slow-cooked dishes. Their creamy interior makes them almost starchy enough to act as a side dish on their own.
Nutrition
≈ 45 Calories and 0.1g fat per tablespoon.
Butter beans are a solid source of plant-based protein — cooked beans deliver roughly 7–8 grams per 100-gram serving — making them a legitimate meat alternative for vegetarians and flexitarians alike. They’re rich in complex carbohydrates that digest steadily, helping to keep energy levels stable. They also deliver meaningful amounts of iron, magnesium, potassium, and B vitamins like folate, which supports cell repair and is especially important during pregnancy. Their naturally low fat content makes the protein and carbohydrate calories very clean, and the sodium level is modest, particularly in the dried form. Nutrition per 100 g.
Culinary uses & pairings
Butter beans are a cornerstone of Southern American cooking, most famously simmered low and slow with smoked ham hocks, bacon, or fatback until they’re fall-apart tender and the pot liquor turns silky. They hold their shape better than smaller beans, so they work beautifully in chunky vegetable soups, minestrones, and hearty stews where you want a visible, satisfying chunk of bean rather than mush. Toss them into pasta dishes or grain bowls for a protein boost, or roast them in a hot oven with olive oil and smoked paprika for a crunchy snack.
Beyond slow cooking, butter beans mash and purée exceptionally well. Blitz them with garlic, lemon juice, and good olive oil for a quick hummus-style dip that’s noticeably creamier than chickpea versions. They also make an elegant rustic side dish when roughly mashed with herbs and butter, standing in confidently for mashed potatoes. In Mediterranean-inspired cooking, whole butter beans are braised in tomato sauce with herbs and served as a main course or mezze.
Pairs well with
Substitutions
Buying & storage
For dried butter beans, look for plump, uniformly ivory or pale green beans with no shriveling, cracks, or discoloration — older beans take forever to soften no matter how long you cook them, so check the harvest or best-by date when possible and buy from stores with good turnover. Canned butter beans should have a short ingredient list (beans, water, salt) and ideally low or no added sodium; rinse them well before using to cut the canned flavor. Frozen butter beans are an underrated option that closely mimics the texture of freshly cooked dried beans and comes pre-cleaned, making them a weeknight-friendly choice.
Varieties
- Large Lima (Butter Bean): The classic flat, ivory bean most Americans call a butter bean; mealy and rich when cooked, ideal for Southern-style slow cooking.
- Baby Lima Bean: Smaller, greener, and slightly less starchy than the large lima; cooks faster and has a lighter, grassier flavor.
- Fordhook Lima: A thick, plump variety developed in the late 19th century and bred for sweetness and meatiness; commonly found frozen and widely considered the best-tasting large lima.
- Christmas Lima (Calico Bean): A stunning heirloom variety with burgundy and cream marbling that fades during cooking; chestnut-sweet flavor and excellent for special presentations.
Recipes using butter bean
2 recipes across our recipe sites use butter bean. A few favorites:
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History & origin
Butter beans belong to the species Phaseolus lunatus, which was domesticated at least 4,000 years ago in the Andes of South America and independently in Mesoamerica. Spanish and Portuguese explorers carried them to Europe and Africa in the 16th century, where they quickly became dietary staples. In North America, the large lima variety took on the name ‘butter bean’ primarily in the American South, where it became synonymous with slow-cooked comfort food, while the name ‘lima bean’ — referencing Lima, Peru — remained more common in the North and Midwest. The bean’s reputation suffered in the mid-20th century thanks to overcooked, mushy school cafeteria servings, but a renewed interest in legumes and plant-based eating has brought butter beans back into the spotlight.
How it’s made
Butter beans are a warm-season annual legume that thrives in well-drained soil with consistent warmth — they’re sensitive to frost and need soil temperatures above 65°F (18°C) to germinate reliably. Plants grow as either bush varieties or climbing pole varieties and produce flat, papery pods that are harvested when fully mature and dry for dried beans, or earlier when still green for fresh and frozen products. For the dried form, pods are left on the plant until they rattle, then harvested, threshed to separate the seeds, and dried to a low moisture level for shelf stability. Canned butter beans are cooked under pressure in the can, giving them their characteristic soft, ready-to-eat texture.
Good to know
- Despite their different names, butter beans and large lima beans are botanically identical — the name you use often reveals which part of the United States you grew up in.
- Raw lima beans contain small amounts of linamarin, a compound that can release cyanide; cooking destroys it entirely, making properly cooked butter beans completely safe.
- Butter beans are one of the few legumes that hold their shape well enough to be roasted whole until crispy, making them a high-protein alternative to croutons or chips.
- Thomas Jefferson grew lima beans at Monticello, and his garden records show they were among the many legumes he cultivated and valued.
- In the UK and parts of Europe, ‘butter bean’ almost always refers to the large, pale yellow dried or canned lima bean sold in supermarkets, so the name has stuck globally even outside the American South.
