Name: Baked Limas with Sour Cream
Ingredients: 1 pound dried baby lima beans; 3 teaspoons salt; 3/4 cup salted butter; 3/4-cup brown sugar; 1 tablespoon dry mustard; 1-tablespoon molasses; 1-cup sour cream

Why it works: Butter and cream are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 8% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 41,516 recipes. Both carry delta-dodecalactone, which smells sweet, creamy. The science ↓

Baked Limas with Sour Cream

Oven350

Time1 hour

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the beans

Soak lima beans overnight in water.
Drain and cover with fresh water.
Add 1 teaspoon salt and cook 40 minutes.
Drain and rinse under hot water.

Bake

Place in medium casserole. Dot with butter.
Mix brown sugar, dry mustard and remaining salt together and sprinkle over beans. Stir in molasses.
Cover with sour cream. Mix lightly and bake at 350 for 1 hour.

Nutrition, whole recipe (rough)

420Calories

25 gProtein

13 gFat

54 gCarbs

What these numbers assume: 7 portions

Ingredient	Portion assumed	kcal
Lima Bean	1/2 cup (85g) cooked	108
Butter	1 tbsp (14g)	102
Yogurt	170g plain Greek	100
Molasses	1 tbsp (20g)	58
Sugar	1 tbsp (12.5g) granulated	49
Mustard	1 tsp (5g) yellow	3
Salt	1 tsp (6g)	0

One typical portion per ingredient; the recipe's quantities are not counted. A rough guide only, not for medical or dietary planning.

Recipe from the Recipes Wiki (Fandom).

Steps grouped into stages for easier reading; the method is the source's own.

Explore the science

The flavor team

The pairs that carry this dish. Each one is judged two ways: how much their aromas overlap, and how often cooks already put them together.

Butter + creamtop 8% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together41,516 recipes

Shared aroma: delta-dodecalactone (sweet, creamy).
Sugar + creamtop 9% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together43,450 recipes

Shared aroma: 2,3-butanedione (butter, sweet).
Sugar + molassestop 11% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together9,225 recipes

Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).
Lima beans + mustardtop 12% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together56 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
Lima beans + buttertop 14% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together414 recipes

Shared aroma: trans-2-nonenal (cardboard, fatty).

Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs

What each ingredient does

Dried baby lima beans: Provide the starchy base that softens during soaking and cooking to form the body of the dish.
Salted butter: Adds richness and fat, carrying flavour and helping the beans brown on top.
Brown sugar: Adds sweetness and caramel notes that deepen as the dish bakes.
Molasses: Adds dark, slightly bitter sweetness and moisture to the sauce.
Sour cream: Adds creaminess and acidity that makes the sauce rich and tangy.

The step that matters

Drain and rinse the cooked beans before baking. Rinsing the beans after cooking removes surface starch and loose skins, helping the sauce stay clear and the texture stay tender rather than gluey.

Swap the lima beans

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (butter, sugar, mustard, molasses, cream):

Almondfits better
Chestnutfits better
Beansfits better
Lima beansthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against butter, sugar, mustard, molasses, cream. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.

“What each ingredient does” and “The step that matters” were written by Claude from this recipe’s own method and reviewed in samples by CompKitchen.

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Baked Limas with Sour Cream