LIMA BEANS WITH HAM OVER RICE – (BUTTER BEANS)
Lima Beans, also known as Butter Beans, are delicious. This easy dish is comfort food at its best and a fantastic way to enjoy a hearty meal.
If you love this hearty dish, you will also love this delicious Pork Roast and White Beans. It’s one of our most popular crock pot dishes. Of course both require cornbread!
❤️WHY WE LOVE THIS RECIPE
We love easy recipes with lots of taste and won’t keep you in the kitchen for hours. This is one of those recipes, and it’s budget-friendly too. This Butter Bean recipe is perfect on a cold day and it reheats well too. This recipe can be made in the crock pot too!
ARE LIMA BEANS AND BUTTER BEANS THE SAME?
Yes, they are the same bean, but they are sometimes picked at different stages of maturity. They also go by different names depending on the region. In the South, they are known more as Butter Beans. (source)
🍴KEY INGREDIENTS
- Bag of large dried lima beans
- Ham hock with some meat still on the bone or 1 cup chopped ham of your choice
- Onion, chopped
- Minced garlic
- Pepper
- Salt
- 2 – 4 cups rice, cooked according to package directions depending on how many people you are serving (See Tip Section)
SWAPS
You could always use bacon as the meat source and add other seasonings your family likes. You can just eat these as soup beans and not serve them over rice, that is your decision.
⭐TIP
When making rice, 1 cup of uncooked rice, will make 2 cups cooked. So remember that when making rice for this dish. If you want 2 cups of cooked rice for this dish, then you will only need to make 1 cup of rice.
RECIPE VARIATIONS – SOUTHERN BUTTER BEANS
SERVE THIS WITH
❓FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS
You rinse them in cold water.
Some people like their beans really cooked and others like them with less mush. It’s really up to you to find what you like best.
STORING AND REHEATING
We store these in a big pot in the fridge and reheat on the stove. If we made them in the crock pot, we just put them back on low until they are warm.
💕MORE POPULAR RECIPES TO ENJOY
SERVING SIZE
This makes around 8 servings and you can always stretch this meal with the rice.
Lima Beans with Ham over Rice
Ingredients
- 1 1 pound bag of large dried lima beans
- 1 large ham hock with some meat still on the bone or 1 cup chopped ham of your choice
- 1 medium onion chopped
- 1/2 teaspoon minced garlic
- 1/2 teaspoon pepper
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 2 – 4 cups rice cooked according to package directions depending on how many people you are serving
Instructions
- Rinse and sort beans, soak overnight in a large pot of water. Next morning, drain the water and rinse beans. Add six cups of fresh water, the chopped onion, garlic, pepper, and ham or ham hock.
- Simmer beans with lid tilted on pot for about 3 hours until tender, then add salt. (I always salt dried beans after they are done. They take longer to cook if you salt them during the cooking process.)
- If using a ham hock, remove it from pot and take the ham from the bone and add back to the beans. Serve over rice. These beans can be cooked in the crock pot as well. Cook on high for 4 hours or low about seven hours until tender.
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Hello Ladies, This is Rosa from golden4245@aol.com, I have made another one of your dishes , first was the cabbage dish and now this one Lima Beans and Rice of which I sent you ladies 2 pics after I made it! I hope you get it, thx Rosa
I love lama beans going to do this recioe for sure thanks ladys
My Mom who was raised in Biloxi use to make this when I was a kid. She cooked the lima beans until they split and the soup was more like the consistency of split pea soup. We loved it. I still make it that way.
Good Evening,
I’m confused about some of the comments on this recipe, so I posted a few questions to your Facebook Fan Page. Hope that’s okay. Thank you!
Hi Diane, I don’t think you would have to soak the beans if making this in the crock pot but it may take longer to cook. Also, I have always heard adding baking soda would make the beans mushy. Hope this helps and you enjoy the recipe.
When my sister and I were cleaning out Mom’s condo, I asked for two bowls: a large squarish one she served potato salad in, and a dark green one she used for our family’s favorite jello salad.
This recipe brings back so many fond memories. My mom used to cook large dried lima beans in this manner, but without garlic. She always made a fried “hoecake” to go with the beans and ham hock. I’m going to have to make this now and since I love garlic I will be adding it as well. Thanks for sharing all the great recipes.
So glad you have such wonderful memories! Thank you for the message Shirley.
When my sister and I were cleaning out our Mom’s condo I asked for two things : the large squarish Pyrex bowl, and a dark green one she always made the family’s favorite jello in.
When adding limas to crock pot how much water do u use
I would add enough to cover the beans at least or add more if you want more soup with your beans.
Thanks for the salt tip. I wondered why mine took so long to cook!
I’ve never eaten them over rice, just in a bowl with cornbread on the side. Think ill make these this week!
Buy the big white limas (butter beans) not the small green ones.
could you use chicken instead of ham?
OK, I’ve never cooked lima beans; Northern, cranberry, and pinto I’m familiar with. When you soak lima beans prior to cooking, do they become quite mushy? Also, if you add them dry to the crockpot do they remain whole even after several hours of cooking? I know Northern beans don’t remain whole if soaked overnight and then cooked, which I why I only do the quick soak method with them. Pinto & cranberry are heartier and will stand up to soaking overnight.
I don’t think Lima’s will become mushy. I don’t usually soak mine first.
Would these large lima beans be the same type of bean my grandma used to call ‘butterbeans’?
Yes, a lot of people call them butterbeans.
I happened across a recipe in Southern Living last winter for butter beans. I was thinking lima….hmmmm…not a lot of interest here. However, there is a slight difference; I did some research. Lima, butter, calico, Madagascar, and sieva beans are all known as Phaseolus lunatusis. Lima beans are small and green whereas butter beans are large and yellow. I thought butter beans also had light-colored spots on them. (I have no idea what the others look like.) It’s no wonder most of us are confused when recipes call for a bean we have never heard of, yet it turns out it just has another name…or two.
Renee, there are also speckled butter beans as well as the large white/off white ones.
They are also FABULOUS!
I’m putting the ingredients on my shopping list. My health is not good and now that the weather is turning colder, crock pot recipes seem to be the way to go. Thank you for sharing this recipe. I love beans, rice and ham so I’m really looking forward to making this.
Made these for the hubby tonight. He went back for seconds. The only thing I did different was not put quite so much onion in it. Recipe is A+.
These are also good if you use smoke sausage cocktail weenies instead of ham give them a good smoky flavor.That is a old firehouse recipe from years ago we would put thm on in the morning run calls while they cooked and ate at supper time.
I am crazy about Dried Lima beans. Our family had a meal of lima beans …no ham.;;;just butter and a little canned milk after they had cooked down. She served them over drop biscuits…with a side dish or two. I could never could make them taste like hers so creamy and delicious…..later found she added a tablespoon of sugar too. Loved that meal.
I have never heard your not suppose to add salt while cooking dried beans. Thanks for the tip!
Thank you! I’ll be making this soon!
Does the lid need to be tilted if using the crock pot method?
Hi Alison, No, it doesn’t need to be tilted on the crockpot.
no
NEEDS TO BE SEALED TIGHT.
In a crockpot you don’t even have to soak them. Put in pot with all seasonings cover with enough water to cover them after they swell up. You can check after about 2 hours to make sure. Stir and put lid back on and cook for another 5 hours at least on low.