Butter beans, also called lima beans and sieva beans, are the seeds of the plant Phaseolus lunatus. They are available fresh, frozen, or dried, and are sold in both younger and mature forms.
What Are Butter Beans?
Butter beans are large, creamy beans that are filling and nutritious. These legumes originate in South America and are used in a wide variety of dishes. They're available fresh during the late-summer growing season or as fresh-frozen or dried beans year-round.
Fresh young beans (sometimes called baby limas) have a thin skin surrounding a pale green bean that can be removed after cooking or left intact, depending on the application. Mature, dried butter beans have a thicker, beige-colored skin that becomes tender when fully cooked.
How to Use Butter Beans
Dried butter beans are a dependable pantry staple that can be used in soups, stews, braises, casseroles, dips, spreads, and salads, just to name a few applications. They can also be cooked on their own and served with a simple dressing of butter, salt, and a squeeze of lemon juice.
Dried butter beans can be boiled and then simmered on the stovetop or braised in the oven over a few hours. They can be soaked for several hours or overnight to shorten the cooking time. Butter beans are also an excellent option for crock pot and pressure cooker recipes. Fresh or frozen butter beans can be cooked much more quickly, typically in around 30 minutes, and are best prepared on the stovetop.
Butter beans should not be eaten raw because they contain a compound called linamarin that breaks down into poisonous cyanide when the bean is chewed or damaged. Wild butter beans have a higher concentration of this compound, but beans cultivated in the U.S. are regulated to contain very low amounts. Boiling butter beans for five to 10 minutes reduces the amount of cyanide.
What Do They Taste Like?
Butter beans have a smooth, creamy texture and mild, buttery flavor. They hold sauces and soak up the flavors they're cooked with well. Fresh butter beans will have a slightly grassy, more vegetal flavor than cooked, dried beans.
Butter Beans Recipes
Where to Buy Butter Beans
You'll find dried butter beans, often labeled as lima beans, in the pantry aisle of most grocery stores and supermarkets. They're also available precooked in cans in the canned goods aisle. Baby or mature lima beans are also available frozen in the freezer aisle.
Fresh, never-frozen, butter beans are harder to come by and are typically only available in season, typically late summer to early fall in the United States. Look for them at farmers' markets and farm stands during this time of year. Fresh beans may be sold already shelled or still in their green, fuzzy pods, which must be removed and discarded before cooking.
Butter Beans vs. 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).
Storage
Store dried butter beans in an airtight, food-safe container and keep them in a cool, dry place. Use them within one year of purchase. Beyond that point, dry beans lose moisture and may take longer to cook.
Frozen butter beans can be kept in their original packaging in the freezer for up to nine months or vacuum-sealed in a deep freezer for up to 14 months. If you plan to freeze your own fresh lima beans, blanch for two to four minutes, depending on the size of the bean. Shock, strain, and cool before packaging and freezing.
Nutrition and Benefits
One cup of dry beans contains 40 grams of carbohydrates, nine grams of dietary fiber, and 12 grams of protein.
FAQs
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).
Are butter beans protein or carbs? ›
Butter Beans are a fantastically healthy ingredient – they're high in protein and fibre, and they're an excellent source of carbohydrates. Low in fat and calories but high in folate, starch and iron, they're one of the best store cupboard ingredients there is.
Are butter beans like kidney beans? ›
No they aren't. Butter beans are lima beans AKA sieva beans or madagascar beans. Cannellini beans are white kidney beans. If you are asking because you need to substitute, you can use regular kidney beans if the recipe wants cannellini.
What are butter beans good for? ›
Butter beans are rich in vitamins and minerals, which are important for overall health. 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.
Are butter beans just white beans? ›
There are actually several different types of beans that fall into the category of “white beans.” The first are navy beans (also called pea beans, if you want to further confuse matters), then there's great northern beans (for all you Twin Peaks fans), cannellini beans (we'll get to that one a little later), and ...
Are butter beans healthy to eat? ›
Butter beans are low in calories but extra filling for their size, making them a great food to support weight loss as part of a balanced diet and healthy lifestyle. Not to mention that they're full of antioxidants which are key in protecting the body from free radical damage.
Can diabetics eat butter beans? ›
Also known as butter beans because of their creamy texture, lima beans are high in soluble fiber. “Soluble fiber slows digestion and prevents blood sugar from rising too quickly after you eat,” says Angela Ginn-Meadow, R.D., a diabetes educator and spokesperson for the American Dietetic Association.
Are butter beans good for kidneys? ›
Beans are in the legume family which includes dried lentils and split peas. Recent research shows the benefits of plant-based foods in the kidney diet. Beans are great for people with kidney disease to enjoy. Beans are affordable and easy to get!
What are butter beans called in America? ›
In the American South and the United Kingdom, they're butter beans. For the rest of the United States, they're typically called lima, after the bean's origin city of Lima, Peru, where they've grown for over 9,000 years.
Are butter beans fruit or vegetable? ›
If you're not from the south, you may not be familiar with the vegetable known as a “butter bean”. Technically they are what other parts of the nation call lima beans and belong to that genus and species Phaseolus lunatusis. They are sometimes called sieve beans, calico beans or Madagascar beans.
Well, rest assured; the two are actually one in the same. There's no difference between lima beans and butter beans, though sometimes they're sold at different stages of maturity. As a matter of fact, our Large Lima Beans packaging actually states Butter Beans in parentheses, just to clarify.
Why do they call them butter beans? ›
Folks in the American South and the United Kingdom typically call them butter beans (Southerners do love their butter). In the rest of the U.S., they're known as lima beans, after their origin in the city of Lima, Peru.
What are queen butter beans? ›
WHAT MAKES THEM A QUEEN? These are a subspecies of phaseolus coccineus (The same family of beans as the Greek Gigante and the Spanish Judion de la Granja). They have thinner skin and are far creamier than the phaseolus lunatus (conventional butter bean) which you'll find in most tinned butter beans.
What are butter beans called in the US? ›
In the American South and the United Kingdom, they're butter beans. For the rest of the United States, they're typically called lima, after the bean's origin city of Lima, Peru, where they've grown for over 9,000 years.
Are butter beans just lima beans? ›
Lima Beans vs. Butter Beans. Well, rest assured; the two are actually one in the same. There's no difference between lima beans and butter beans, though sometimes they're sold at different stages of maturity.
What is another name for a butter bean? ›
A lima bean (Phaseolus lunatus), also commonly known as butter bean, sieva bean, double bean or Madagascar bean, is a legume grown for its edible seeds or beans.
Is a butter bean a pinto bean? ›
Lima Beans
Lima beans are also commonly called butter beans for their buttery, rich flavor, and velvety texture. Popular in Southern American dishes, lima beans are the main ingredient in a classic succotash and are common to add to casseroles, soups, or simmered with pork to serve as a savory side dish.
