Fresh or Frozen Southern Butter Beans cooked to melt in your mouth tender in the slow cooker. Serve with fried chicken, fried okra, and cornbread for a very traditional southern dinner.
Fresh, green butter beans. What a southern summertime delight! This traditional side dish, served along with fried chicken, fried okra, cornbread, and sliced tomatoes, is a perennial favorite at many Southern tables.
I’ve read many opinions about butter beans and lima beans and whether they are the same thing. It appears that they are. Green butter beans are simply immature lima beans. Technically, the same vegetable, but two very different flavors, textures, and even a significant difference in size.
— This post was originally published on June 28, 2009. It has been updated with new photos and additional information.
Recipe Snapshot
Cuisine: Vintage
Cooking Method: Slow Cooker
Total Time: 30 Minutes
Servings: 4
Primary Ingredient(s): Green butter beans (aka baby lima beans), bacon fat, chicken bouillon
Skill Level: Easy
WHAT PEOPLE ARE SAYING …
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
“I love butter beans. If we go to a “meat and three” type place, and if they have butter beans on the menu, you can probably count on those being on my plate.“
— Miss P
What’s the Difference Between Lima and Butter Beans?
Butter beans and lima beans taste nothing alike to me. Lima beans, in my opinion, have a distinctly mealy quality that I dislike. Butter beans, on the other hand, have a fresh, creamy texture. Limas are pale grey to white when cooked, and butter beans keep their pretty green color.
Because butter beans are the immature version (hence the green color) of the mature (white/beige) lima bean, it only makes sense that the texture, flavor, and overall appearance contribute to them being identified as two separate beans.
Update
Since this post was originally published in 2009, many people have emailed me with comments about the differences between lima beans and butter beans. Many people insist that the big, white, mealy beans are known as butter beans, and the small, green, tender beans are called lima beans.
Well, where I come from in the South, it’s the exact opposite. The big white beans are called lima beans, and the little green ones, as I have shown in the blog post, are called butter beans. That’s what I’ve heard them called all my life. Everyone that I know calls them the same thing.
Perhaps the post wasn’t written clearly, but the point I was trying to make is how different they seem. Not that they are actually two different, unrelated things. Can we let this issue rest, please?
Butter Beans Are A Southern Staple
We always had a garden when I was a child, and we always grew butter beans. We shelled and cooked them fresh during the summer and froze the excess to enjoy the rest of the year. I still “put up” some when I can get them so that I have them on hand year-round.
Old-time Southern cooking has a bad reputation when it comes to preparing fresh vegetables. We tend to cook our vegetables for a longer time and season them more highly than other regions of the country. I like them both ways. I like the bright taste of quickly cooked vegetables, but I also enjoy the homestyle taste of longer cooked, well-seasoned vegetables. In my opinion, butter beans are one vegetable that really benefits from the hours-long cooking time.
Because of the long cooking time needed, I cook mine in a slow cooker. They can happily simmer away for the afternoon with little to no attention from me.
In traditional southern cooking, we would season with a bit of fatback, salt pork, smoked ham hock, or bacon fat. If you want to cut back on the fat, try substituting a mixture of chicken bouillon and butter substitute. They’ll still be great, but will lack the smoky background flavor.
You’ll also find this recipe in my cookbook!
You can see this recipe on page 130 of my cookbook, My Southern Table! Get your signed copy today.
Ingredient Notes
- Butter Beans — If you don’t have access to fresh ones, you can certainly use frozen; look for “petite” or “baby” lima beans in your grocery store’s frozen section. In my opinion, both PictSweet and McKenzie’s brands frozen petite lima beans are good size and taste matches for fresh.
- Bacon Fat — Doesn’t everybody keep a jar of bacon grease in the refrigerator? Most southern cooks do. But if you don’t have it on hand, you can either render the fat from about 4 slices of bacon or add a nice smoked ham hock or even smoked turkey wings to approximate the correct flavor.
The complete ingredient list with detailed measurements is included in the printable recipe card at the bottom of this post.
How to Cook Southern Butter Beans
- Place the butter beans (no need to thaw if frozen), bacon fat, bouillon, salt, and enough water to cover in a small slow cooker.
- Cook on high for 1½ hours.
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- Turn the cooker to low and cook for another 2-3 hours or until the butter beans are tender.
- Add a small amount of additional water during cooking only if needed.
These cooked all afternoon and are still pretty and green and firm. If you can get your hands on some fresh or frozen green southern butter beans, give this method of cooking a try. It also works great for field peas.
Questions About Slow Cooked Southern Butter Beans
Absolutely! That’s the more traditional method, actually. To cook butter beans on the stovetop, place all the ingredients in a medium pot, bring it to the boil and then reduce the heat to a low simmer. Cook for 2-3 hours stirring periodically. Add a little more water if needed to prevent scorching.
Store any leftover butter beans in an airtight container in your refrigerator for 3-4 days.
To reheat your butter beans, I recommend using the stovetop. A quick reheat on medium-low heat will work perfectly.
You can freeze cooked butter beans, but their texture will be degraded. Place in airtight containers and freeze for no more than three months.
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Recipe
Southern Butter Beans
Ingredients
- 4 cups fresh or frozen green butter beans or substitute baby lima beans – also called "petite" lima beans
- 2 tablespoons rendered bacon fat
- 1 ½ tablespoons granulated chicken bouillon such as Maggi brand, or 1 cube of Knorr chicken bouillon
- 1 ½ teaspoons salt
- Water to cover butter beans by one-inch
Instructions
- Place butter beans, bacon fat, chicken bouillon, salt, and enough water to cover the butter beans by one inch in a small slow cooker.4 cups fresh or frozen green butter beans, 2 tablespoons rendered bacon fat, 1 ½ tablespoons granulated chicken bouillon, 1 ½ teaspoons salt, Water
- Cook on high for 1 ½ hours.
- Turn cooker to low and cook for another 2-3 hours or until butter beans are tender.
- Add a small amount of additional water during cooking only if needed.
Notes
- If you don’t have access to fresh butter beans, you can certainly use frozen; look for “petite” or “baby” lima beans in your grocery store’s frozen section.
- For the bacon fat, if you don’t have it on hand you can either render the fat from about 4 slices of bacon or add a nice smoked ham hock or even smoked turkey wings to approximate the correct flavor.
- Store any leftover butter beans in an airtight container in your refrigerator for 3-4 days. To reheat your butter beans, I recommend using the stovetop. A quick reheat on medium-low heat on the stovetop will work perfectly.
Nutrition Information
Nutrition information is calculated by software based on the ingredients in each recipe. It is an estimate only and is provided for informational purposes. You should consult your healthcare provider or a registered dietitian if precise nutrition calculations are needed for health reasons.
Lana, GOYA has a product called Ham [Jambon] Seasoning that has saved me 1000’s of calories with no loss of flavor……..I use it in Blackeyed Peas, green beans & new potatoes, and ALL kinds of my cooked greens………..as well as Butter Beans. Usually in Hispanic area in grocery store but I order from Amazon because I use so much of it.
Oh yes, I use that seasoning too. It’s very good!
Big ones are Limas. Of course you knew that. :-)
I did :-)
Do the butter beans break down cooking them this long? I like butter beans that are not mushy. Anxious to try this recipe.
The fresh/frozen, green butter beans like I use in the post do not get mushy. That’s exactly why I don’t use the dried, white type of butter beans.
How many pounds of beans is this recipe for?
As stated in the recipe, this is for one quart of fresh or frozen green butter beans.
Whoever says the big white beans are called butter beans and the small greens ones are called Lima’s are completely incorrect. It’s a southern recipe, stick with what we call it!!!! BUTTERBEANS!!!!
Also love the recipe. This was my first time doing it in a crock pot, my gramma always cooked her butter beans on the stove with tons of chicken buillon, but to try to make it a bit healthier for the kids (…. okay fine for myself, i probably shouldn’t be consuming so much sodium) I used chicken broth instead. So they are in the crock pot right now and we will see how this goes!!!!
Anyone who is arguing with you about a butter beans vs a Lima are obviously not blessed to be Southern and have no idea what they are talking about. I don’t care what anyone says, the butter beans my Papa grew in his garden are nothing like Lima beans. My Memaw would boil them and drain the water and salt and pepper them and add butter to melt. That’s how we ate them and now that I am an adult who no longer lives in the South (I’m hurrying back just as soon as I can) I can tell you that I miss butter beans, hot water cornbread and sweet tea — these folks here have no idea what they’re missing.
#teambutterbean
I grew up North of the Mason-Dixon line and now live South of it. You are correct – the smaller ones are butter beans, the larger are limas. Either way, they’re delish!
Butter beans and lima beans are the same thing butter beans u use the large lima beans instead of the navy beans (small lima) and this recipe is interesting bc this is no where near how we cook butter beans in the south
Yes, they are the same thing. One is a more mature version of the other. I have lived in the deep south my entire life (63 years worth) and have always known the green, young version to be butter beans and the large, white, mature ones as lima beans. And this method, with a few adaptations, is how everyone I grew up with cooks butter beans. I never knew anyone who cooked the large white lima beans so I can’t comment on them.
Lana,
Honey you just ignore those haters out there making rude comments to you about whether or not butter beans and lima beans are the same!
I grew up in the south as well and I am in a hundred percent agreement with you. They ARE VERY different! These are southern butter beans!!!
Delicious recipe! I made some today. Yummmmy! Thanks so much for sharing!
:-)
I am a Southern gal myself and have always considered “butterbeans” to be the big whitish beans and the smaller green ones as Limas. You can buy frozen Limas here at the grocery store and add a bag of frozen Limas with a bag of frozen corn and voila you have succatash. My grandmother raised me and she would cook and serve a big pot of Butter beans (the big whitish bean. We never heard the term Lima back then (in my family that is).
The best beans! The chicken bouillon made all the difference. Thank you
Hi Lana! My grandparents always grew butter beans every summer, and my mom and I would always bring back loads whenever we went to visit them; first time my mom made butter beans for my father (a Yankee from western NY state), he sucked down his bowl of beans and asked her “Where’s the rest of dinner?” She just looked at him like he had two heads, because whenever she had butter beans for dinner as a kid… That was usually it. Just a bowl of butter beans!
I would like to know what variety of butter bean you plant, and where you get the seed – I’ve been looking for butter bean seed for the last few years, and everyone directs me to lima beans (blerg). No one believes me when I insist that butter and lima are NOT the same!
Hi Charlene – I don’t grow them these days. I get my yearly supply when I go home to south Georgia during the summer. Fortunately, there are several places there where I can buy as many as I want already shelled!
I’m from Georgia. At the foot of the Appalachia mountain range. Butter beans have always been the larger, more “buttery” looking and Lima beans are the younger, greener and firmer texture. I was always told they were the same, one a younger variety of the other.
Yet there is still no clear answer if they are the same or two varieties of the same type bean.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phaseolus_lunatus
Can these be done in an Instant Pot?
Hi Martha. I would think they could be, but I’ve never tried that so I don’t have info on times or anything.
You have stirred up great memories of my mothers wonderful home cooking. She cook large white Lima beans with a creamy gravy that we all called butter beans. Seasoned with smoked pork, preferably ham or bacon. Being good Texans we then spooned them over tamales with corn bread on the side. Don’t laugh until you try it. Oh what a grand meal.