This Lima Bean Soup recipe is warm and comforting when it’s cold outside! Made with dry lima beans, but you can use canned if you prefer, plus vegetables such as carrots, celery, and leeks. Frugal & delicious!
Lima Bean Soup is an excellent way to feed the family. Our family has been making and enjoying this soup for many years now. Not only is it delicious, but it’s also comforting and frugal. One of the things I love about having soup for dinner is that it’s a one-pot meal. A bowl of this soup and some cornbread or a slice of crusty bread and your meal is complete!
This soup is made with the common ingredients of many soups — such as carrots and celery — but rather than onions, this recipe uses leeks. They are more mellow than onions and add an excellent flavor to the soup. This recipe also uses dry lima beans, which helps to keep this recipe inexpensive.
How to Soak Dry Lima Beans
If you are about to cook this fresh Lima Bean Soup, you may be wondering how you cook those dry beans!
First, go through the beans and remove any that are discolored or look a little funky. Then take the beans and rinse them very well. The next step is to decide how you will take your beans from hard and dry to tender and delicious!
When it comes to cooking your lima beans, there are two important processes. The first one is soaking your limas in water and the second is the actual cooking process. However, while these processes are simple, there are a few different ways you can go about doing each of them.
Option #1: Quick Soaking Lima Beans
For this Lima Bean Soup recipe, we recommend the quick soaking method. This method involves heating up the beans and then letting them soak in the hot water. It’s a great method if you don’t have time to soak overnight. And, this method is perfect for people like me who didn’t plan ahead for soaking overnight! LOL
To use the quick soaking method, place your 1 pound of lima beans in a large pot with 10 cups of water. Bring the water to a boil and boil the lima beans for 5-10 minutes. Turn off the heat and cover the pot. Let the lima beans soak for 2 – 2 1/2 hours. Drain and rinse beans and return to the pot. From here, you can add the sauteed vegetables, the broth, and make the soup according to the instructions.
To use this method, you’ll put the lima beans in a large bowl or pot that will allow enough room for the beans to double in size. Then, cover the beans with 10 cups of cold water. Cover up the container and put it in the fridge overnight.
When you’re ready to make your soup, drain the water from the beans and rinse them. Put your drained beans in a large pot. From here, you can add the sauteed vegetables, the broth, and make the soup according to the instructions.
How to Thicken Lima Bean Soup
If you like a thicker soup, you have a couple of options:
When I make this Lima Bean Soup recipe, I smash some of the beans with my spoon or a potato masher at the end of the cooking process. You can also blend up some of the beans with an immersion blender.
You can add less of the broth to ensure that your soup is thicker. If you wish to use this option, add only 6 cups of broth at first. Add more broth later for thinning out the soup, if needed.
We hope this Lima Bean Soup is a recipe that your family can enjoy for many years to come. It’s a favorite of ours and will most likely become a favorite in your household too. Let us know what you think!
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Lima Bean Soup
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Ingredients
Scale
1 pound dry large lima beans
8 cups water
2 tablespoons olive oil
4 carrots (chopped)
2 leeks (white bulb only, chopped)
2 tablespoons minced shallots
2 stalks celery (chopped)
8 cups chicken broth (two 32 ounce cartons)
Salt & pepper (to taste)
Instructions
Bring 8 cups of water to a boil. Add lima beans and boil for 5 – 10 minutes. Remove from heat, cover. Let beans soak for 2 – 2.5 hours. Drain and rinse beans; return to pot.
In a large pan, heat olive oil and saute all the vegetables until carrots and celery are tender-crisp.
Add 8 cups of chicken broth to the beans in the pot. Add the vegetables. Stir to combine and simmer on low for 1.5 hours; stirring frequently. Season with salt and pepper as desired.
Notes
THICKER SOUP TIPS: If you wish this soup to be thicker, you can add only 6 cups of broth at first. Add more broth later for thinning out the soup, if needed. Another option is to smash some of the beans with a spoon or a potato masher at the end of the cooking process. You can also blend up some of the beans with an immersion blender.
Note: Towards the end of the cooking, I smashed some of the beans a bit with my spoon to help thicken the soup. This is purely optional, but I was happy with the result.
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. But like we said, you don't have to commit this hard.
As they are rich in protein, fiber, vitamins, and minerals, Lima beans make a delicious and healthy addition to your meals. Whether in soup, stew, salad, or as a side dish, you'll thank yourself for choosing this nutritious legume.
Wait until the beans are tender but not quite done to add a splash of apple cider vinegar and a couple teaspoons of salt to the pot. The apple cider vinegar breaks down indigestible sugars to help digestion and also brightens the flavor of the beans without the need for excess salt.
Beans should not be soaked for longer than 12 hours.
If you soak the beans for longer than 12 hours, you run the risk of the beans losing both their characteristic flavor and texture. At that point, you'll be dealing with a gritty, tasteless bean that does no one any favors at dinnertime.
Garlic and onions will bolster the taste of bean soup. Be sure to take a portion of the beans and mash or purée them for extra texture. Aromatics like celery or carrot will add more complex flavor notes. Despite being expensive, both mushrooms and Parmesan cheese will add some real umami (i.e., mouth feel) to the soup.
Sometimes soup just needs to simmer longer to reach the perfect consistency. Check to see if the vegetables are tender, and then taste the broth. If the soup tastes a bit watery, give it more time.
Remove a quarter of the beans from the soup and purée them in a blender or food processor. Add the puréed beans back into the soup to thicken it. You can also use an immersion blender or potato masher to purée a portion of the bean soup.
However, they may contain harmful compounds like anti-nutrients and linamarin, which may cause digestive issues if eaten in high amounts. Always soak raw or dried lima beans before you cook them. Like other legumes, lima beans can enjoyed in moderation as part of a healthy, well-rounded diet.
A diet that's high in fiber can prevent constipation, which can lead to hemorrhoids. Also, the resistant starch in lima beans feeds "good" bacteria in your intestines, which improves digestive health.
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.
Soaking overnight and then discarding the soaking water leaches out sugars in beans that are responsible for gas production. But if you don't have time for a traditional overnight soak, a quick soak is just as beneficial. Rinse the beans and then place them in a pot with three cups of water for each cup of dried beans.
Baking soda creates an alkaline environment which reduces soaking and cooking time and preserves the beans' skin. As a result, the old bean's color comes to life, keeping them vibrant instead of dull. Compared to the grainy texture offered by old beans, baking soda beans can yield a creamy and smooth texture.
But that's exactly why you don't want to simply transfer your pot of soaked beans to the stove and start cooking them: By cooking the legumes in their soaking water, you'll ultimately still be ingesting the raffinose that transferred to the water.
Apply this method to any recipe that calls for dried beans. Just take your favorite beans (pinto, black eyed peas, chickpeas, lima beans) and cover them with your favorite broth or stock or even water seasoned with salt, spices, herbs and other aromatics like onion and garlic, and cook on low for 3 to 4 hours.
Others, like Joe Yonan, the Food and Dining Editor of the Washington Post and author of Cool Beans, insist that in most cases, soaking is unnecessary– and may even lead to flavor loss. The only consensus is that soaked beans take less time to cook than unsoaked.
While not every recipe calls for soaking beans before cooking them, if beans give you gas, soaking can help. Soaking overnight and then discarding the soaking water leaches out sugars in beans that are responsible for gas production.
Soaking thoroughly cleans accumulated buildup on the surface of the bean, such as dirt, pesticide residue or contamination from rodents and insects. Soaking also allows beans to cool evenly. Like grains, soak at room temperature for 4 hours or overnight in the refrigerator.
Introduction: My name is Domingo Moore, I am a attractive, gorgeous, funny, jolly, spotless, nice, fantastic person who loves writing and wants to share my knowledge and understanding with you.
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