Lima beans are a great option for quick soaking beans. They're a large and relatively soft bean that retains moisture fairly quickly. I actually overcooked these slightly because they took so much less time than I anticipated! I used this batch for Avocado Dip w/ White Beans & Walnuts, though. So, it's entirely fine that they were a tad overdone. I wouldn't recommend that for eating them in a salad or other dish where you're going to want them to retain a certain amount of crunch. Although this works just fine for when you're blending them into a dip. The large size and soft texture of lima beans is perfect for using as a chickpea substitute when you want something a little bit easier to work with! As much as I love Chickpeas? They're incredibly daunting to work with and I hate them. In my defense, a properly cooked chickpea takes 14 hours from start to finish. If you still want to make your own beans? Lima beans are my personal go-to.
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My cat was particularly fascinated with the lima beans. I'm not entirely sure why that is. It's likely just because I was paying attention to them. Especially since she just sniffed them, instead of actually wanting to eat them. But cats can eat cooked beans. Just don't feed them raw beans or beans with salt, garlic, or other spices that they're not going to be able to handle!
Variations of Lima Beans
I make plenty of quick soak beans. If you don't need them to be completely softened, like with hummus, I highly recommend that you do an overnight soak. For, a quicker version, though, quick soak white beans are ideal.
Mayocoba Beans are a great bean to quick soak. They're a little bit softer than chickpeas or pinto beans, which do better with an overnight soak. If you're looking for a bean that will keep its shape (i.e. whole in a soup or salad) or using a softer bean that tends to cook with a smoother consistency (i.e. lima beans and mayocoba beans), then a quick soak is doable. A lot of beans recommend soaking overnight and I absolutely recommend it! Like with chickpeas meant for hummus. Mayocoba beans meant for Avocado Dip w/ White Beans & Walnuts are a great opportunity to skip the lengthy soak and go for a quicker method!
Add white beans to a pot and fill with 8 cups of water. Bring, uncovered, to a boil.
Once the water comes to a rolling boil, add the lid and remove from heat. Let sit for an hour.
Cook Beans
After the beans have soaked, drain and rinse.
Return the beans to the pot and cover with another 6 cups of water.
Bring to a boil and then reduce heat to a simmer.
Simmer for 1½-2 hours, or until tender. You may need to adjust the temperature to keep them from boiling as they cook down.They should still keep their shape and not turn to mush. But theoretically putting a fork in them would split them in half.
Drain the beans immediately after cooking. Serve or refrigerate.
This Page Contains Edited Images
As a general rule, I don't like to edit my images and I am firmly against alteration of images in food blogs. It's not something that we generally think about when it comes to recipes. But food styling, editing, alteration, and even faking entirely is just as rampant a problem in the recipe realm as anything else! Cooking is a very visual art and you can tell when a lot of foods are cooked based on the color. So, when this is altered and you can't use the coloration as a gauge, it makes it quite difficult to follow some recipes. I have an entire article about Food Styling and Unrealistic Expectations of Recipes.
Because of this, I try very hard not to alter any of my photos. I like to take photos with natural sunlight during the day. Ordinarily this is very true to color and I don't edit the photos at all. However, since my place is very warm with a lot of yellow lighting, sometimes my camera overcompensates and ends up with an unnatural blue tone. In the following images on this page, I adjusted the levels and hue to try and make this more true to color. In the interest of transparency, these are the before and after photos.
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