Lima Bean (boiled)

Why lima bean (boiled) is rated high

Lima beans, sold in many shops as butter beans, are low only at a small amount, about 20g, which is a few beans rather than a side. Larger portions are moderate, and the helping that usually lands on a plate is high. GOS and fructans are the groups behind that climb. Their soft, floury texture comes from starch, but the GOS stored in the seed is what sets the level, and boiling them from dried keeps it in the bean.

What changes your risk

• Serving size about 20g is low, larger portions are moderate and much larger portions are high. A spoonful of beans in a mixed dish is very different from a bowl of gigantes.
• Draining and rinsing GOS dissolves readily in water, so limas packed in a can give up some of it to the liquid around them. Emptying the can into a colander and rinsing under cold water for a good half minute removes part of that GOS. Canned and rinsed butter beans are a different preparation from the boiled-from-dried beans described here.
• The cooking water Cooking dried limas in plenty of water and discarding it, rather than letting them absorb the lot, carries some GOS away. Heat on its own does nothing: mashing them, baking them into a gratin or freezing a batch leaves the GOS and fructans untouched.
• Stacking GOS Succotash with a side of baked beans, or a mixed bean salad that pairs limas with chickpeas, hits the same groups twice in one sitting. Low servings add up across a meal, and GOS stacks quietly because the individual helpings look reasonable.
• How the dish is built Limas usually arrive in something savoury: gigantes baked in tomato, a brothy stew, a warm salad. Those bases lean on onion, garlic and stock, so the surrounding dish often carries more fructans on top of the bean's own. Garlic infused oil and the green tops of spring onions cover that flavour without them.

Swaps

Trading one legume for another does not solve a GOS problem, so chickpeas, lentils and kidney beans are not the softer option they look like. What lima beans really contribute is creamy starch, and boiled or mashed potato reproduces that better than any bean, with cooked polenta a good second for a soft, savoury base. Firm tofu, cut into thick cubes, carries the protein role in a stew and takes on the sauce the way the beans did. In a cold salad, quinoa with green beans, cucumber and a dressing made with garlic infused oil gives you the same fresh, substantial plate. If a Greek-style baked bean dish is what you are after, the tomato and herb sauce is the part worth keeping, spooned over potato instead.

How to lower the load

Frozen and canned limas are both sold widely, and the canned ones at least let you drain and rinse, which puts some GOS down the drain rather than on the plate. If the household eats them, cook the sauce separately and add the beans to their bowls at the end, since once the beans have simmered into a stew there is no way to separate the portions. If you want a taste, weigh about 20g once so you know what it looks like. Watch menu names: butter bean, gigantes and succotash all mean lima beans are in the dish. A useful ordering habit is to treat any warm bean side as off the list and go for a potato or rice side instead.

Common questions

are lima beans low fodmap

Only at a small amount. About 20g is low, larger portions are moderate and much larger portions are high, with GOS and fructans behind the climb.

are butter beans and lima beans the same for fodmaps

They are the same bean under two names, so the same serves apply to both: about 20g is low and a normal side portion is not.

how much lima bean is safe on a low fodmap diet

About 20g is low. Larger portions are moderate and much larger portions are high, so the low amount is a few beans rather than a side dish.

what is a good swap for lima beans

Boiled or mashed potato gives the same creamy starch, and firm tofu covers the protein in a stew. Other legumes such as chickpeas or kidney beans are not a fix, since they carry GOS as well.