Melt-In-Your-Mouth Butter Beans (Lima Beans) | Easy & Delicious Recipe (2024)

FAQs

What's the difference between a butter bean and a lima bean? ›

Other than what they're called and sometimes their color, butter beans and lima beans are exactly the same. Their species is called Phaseolus lunatus and the difference in their name is only a matter of geography. In the American South and the United Kingdom, they're butter beans.

We'll get to what you can do instead in a second, but first, a note about why we soak beans. Soaking beans in the refrigerator overnight will reduce the time they have to cook drastically. And the texture of the beans will also be it their best, with fewer split-open and burst ones.

Blanching can help reduce bitterness and improve the overall flavor [2]. Cooking with Acidic Ingredients: Adding acidic ingredients like lemon juice, vinegar, or tomatoes to the cooking liquid can help counteract the bitterness of Lima beans. The acid helps to balance the flavors and reduce the bitter taste [2].

They're packed full of nutrients

A source of potassium, magnesium, folate, iron, and zinc, they also contain calcium and protein. Both plant-based foodies and meat-lovers can really benefit from adding butter beans to their diet.

Lima beans can be bitter because they weren't soaked before cooking. Soaking removes phytate, and boiling for a long time destroys lectins. Here are some ways to remove bitterness from lima beans: Quick soak: Cover the beans with water, bring to a boil, and then turn off the heat.

Legumes such as lima beans are a low-glycemic food, making them a great choice for people with diabetes. Beans are rich in soluble fiber, which helps your body absorb carbohydrates more slowly and regulates your blood sugar levels.

Cooking dried lima beans is simple. For a fast cooking time, just soak them in water overnight, drain and cover with fresh water and bring to a boil over medium-high heat. Simmer for an hour and then use the beans however you'd like!

According to Joe Yonan, author of the cookbook Cool Beans, you actually don't need to worry about it. "The biggest myth is the soaking," Yonan says. "It's one of the big reasons people haven't cooked beans as much as they could have, because they feel like it's too late.

Mexican cooks don't pre-soak beans. They just add beans to water and get on with the cooking. No soaking or draining for them.

Sweetness: From sugar, honey, fruits or otherwise, sweetness will counteract bitter and sour flavours. It can also be used to cut down the heat of a particularly spicy meal. Saltiness: Salt plays two very important roles in flavouring a dish. Firstly, it balances against bitterness.

Why won t my butter beans cook? ›

If you've ever cooked beans for hours without them softening, it's probably because you're using old beans, or you've got hard (mineral-rich) water, or there's an acidic ingredient in the pot, which can slow down cooking. Using distilled water solves the hard water problem.

Overcooked beans will have an undesirable texture, but they may not be harmful if eaten. Furthermore, most people will spit them out rather than swallow them and ingest overcooked food. So, [overcooking] certainly can take away from the flavor and make beans taste bad. But, if you overcook your beans, don't worry!

The high fiber content in lima beans may help in lowering the occurrence of common digestive problems such as indigestion, diarrhea, and acid reflux. They may also promote good bacteria in the colon.

Even though pulses contain carbohydrates, they don't give sharp rises to blood glucose levels compared to other carbohydrate-containing foods. The make-up of the carbohydrates in pulses, the fibre content and the fact that they are high in protein slows down the breakdown of the carbohydrates into glucose in the blood.

Besides a sometimes-differing color palette, butter beans and lima beans are exactly the same. Yes, they're the exact same thing. It's kind of a tomato/tomahto situation (except with beans) that's related more to geography than anything else.

The most important member [of the wild bean species group] is P. lunatus, the moon-shaped or the lima bean. Its name does come from the Peruvian capital of Lima, even though perversely it is pronounced 'lime-uh' in English.

Lima Beans. While they're all the same bean botanically, butter beans have different names depending on the region. In the South and in the United Kingdom, they're typically referred to as butter beans. Elsewhere in the U.S., they're known as lima beans (named for Lima, Peru, the bean's point of origin).

There is no difference between lima beans and butter beans, though you can find them for sale at different stages of maturity. The younger green-hued beans, usually identified as baby lima beans, have a starchy texture similar to raw fava beans (which some describe as mealy). You can consume them fresh or cooked.