Lima beans + Butter
A good pairing. Cooks put them together in 414 recipes, and they share 61 flavor molecules: the top 14% of all ingredient pairs.
Do lima beans and butter go together?
Yes. 414 recipes in our collection combine them, and they share 61 flavor molecules. That places them in the top 14% of every ingredient pair we score.
Why they work
They overlap on 61 flavor molecules: 36% of lima beans's 169. Among the shared key aromas are trans-2-nonenal (cardboard, fatty) and 2,3-pentanedione (butter, sweet).
What each one brings
lima beans
The floral side. Floral notes make up 19% of its labelled aroma molecules, against 12% for butter. It carries 108 molecules butter doesn't have.
butter
The fruit. Fruity notes make up 24% of its labelled aroma molecules, against 18% for lima beans. It carries 135 molecules lima beans doesn't have.
Add a third ingredient
- Green beans: the best fit for both, top 1% of pairs with lima beans, top 21% with butter.
- Beans: top 1% of pairs with lima beans, top 19% with butter.
- Kidney beans: top 1% of pairs with lima beans, top 22% with butter.
- Peas: top 2% of pairs with lima beans, top 16% with butter.
Ranked by the average of its two pairing scores. Only foods used in at least 100 recipes are suggested.
Recipes with lima beans and butter
Almost always mains: 29 of the 30 recipes with a course label are mains.
Can you swap one for the other?
Not really. Each has a lot the other lacks: lima beans has 108 molecules butter doesn't, and butter has 135 that lima beans doesn't. Treat them as partners, not stand-ins. This compares flavor only; texture, moisture and the job each does in a dish matter too.
All 61 shared molecules
See every shared molecule grouped by chemical class, with key aromas marked, plus the 108 only in lima beans and the 135 only in butter.
Lima beans and butter questions
Do lima beans and butter go together?
A good pairing. Cooks put them together in 414 recipes, and they share 61 flavor molecules: the top 14% of all ingredient pairs.
Why do lima beans and butter taste good together?
They overlap on 61 flavor molecules: 36% of lima beans's 169. Among the shared key aromas are trans-2-nonenal (cardboard, fatty) and 2,3-pentanedione (butter, sweet).
What goes with lima beans and butter?
Green beans is the best third ingredient: top 1% of pairs with lima beans and top 21% with butter. Beans and kidney beans also fit both.
What can you make with lima beans and butter?
Almost always mains: 29 of the 30 recipes with a course label are mains. Common dishes include Cream of Lima Bean Soup, Lima Beans, Lima Beans Bretonne, Saucy Lima Beans.
Can I use butter instead of lima beans?
Not really. Each has a lot the other lacks: lima beans has 108 molecules butter doesn't, and butter has 135 that lima beans doesn't. Treat them as partners, not stand-ins. This compares flavor only; texture, moisture and the job each does in a dish matter too.
Compare other ingredients
Ranks compare this pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. Molecule counts are what the studies and databases we aggregate have reported for each ingredient: a measure of coverage, not a full census. How we score pairs
Cite this analysis
Compound Kitchen (2026). Compound similarity analysis: Lima Beans vs Butter. https://compkitchen.com/compare/lima-beans-vs-butter. Accessed 2026-11-03.
@misc{compkitchen_compare_compound_similarity_analysis_lima_beans_vs_butter_2026,
title = {Compound similarity analysis: Lima Beans vs Butter},
author = {{Compound Kitchen}},
year = {2026},
url = {https://compkitchen.com/compare/lima-beans-vs-butter},
note = {Accessed: 2026-11-03}
}
Methodology DOI: 10.5281/zenodo.19719459 · CC BY 4.0 · Citations are a request, not a requirement.