Find me a hearty southern dish that serves as an easy side for a potluck dinner, or stands just as easily alone for dinner on a weeknight, and I’ll love you forever. My Vegetarian Southern Succotash is one of those I-can’t-believe-it’s-that-simple dishes I turn to time and time again.
Like any traditional succotash recipe, my Vegetarian Southern Succotash calls for lima beans and sweet corn combined with a splash or two of heavy cream to create a fresh, seasonal and rich dish. You can really use any kind of shell bean here, but I always prefer butter or lima beans for their buttery taste and texture. And the beauty of succotash is you can add a whole slew of other ingredients to the mix, like garlic, sweet vidalia onion, crisp celery, red peppers, jalapenos and herbs (and any of you who follow me on Snapchat know I have an herb garden ripe for picking these days!).
My favorite herb to use with my Vegetarian Southern Succotash is freshly cut thyme and flat leaf parsley; it adds a bright, warm flavor to the summertime veggies. And while traditional succotash typically has bacon, I made mine vegetarian with “faux” bacon which I promise still delivers that hint of smokey, meaty taste that we all crave. Seriously SO simple and SO good…and dare I say it’s a semi-healthy comfort food?! Truly, MKR
- 4 cups of fresh lima or butter beans
- 1 vidalia or sweet onion chopped
- 3-4 celery ribs chopped
- 1 red bell pepper chopped
- 2 cups fresh or frozen corn
- 4 green onions chopped
- 1 jalepeno de-seeded and finley diced
- 4 garlic cloves minced
- 4 strips of faux bacon cooked and chopped
- 2 tbsp. unsalted butter
- 1 cup heavy cream
- A few sprigs of fresh thyme and flat leaf parsley chopped
- salt and pepper
- In a large dutch oven melt 1 tabelspoon of butter over medium high heat. Add in onion and garlic and cook 2-3 minutes or until onions become translucent. Stir in celery, bell pepper, and jalepeno cooking about 5 minutes.
- Add in beans, corn and 1/2 of the green onions and cook an additional 5 minutes.
- Add cream, remaining butter, 1/2 fresh herbs, salt and pepper to taste and cook on low for 5 minutes or until the cream has started to thicken. Right before removing from the heat add faux bacon and cook for an additional 1 minute.
- Remove from heat and top with remaining green onions and fresh herbs. Enjoy!
