My Mother's PA Dutch Style Baked Lima Beans

Mom's PA Dutch Style Baked Limas

My mother came from Pennsylvania Dutch roots.  Her idea of baked beans had always been baked limas or otherwise known as baked butter beans.

Our Uncle Clarence who was married to my dad's oldest sister Marge hailed from New England and he always said that my mother made the best baked beans! 

Whenever I take them to a gathering I always receive compliments and just the other day someone asked me for the recipe. So here it is:

• High in dietary fiber
• Kosher (non-Passover) certified
• 26 (1/2 c.) servings per can

Many cooks prefer to use dried beans that have to be soaked overnight. I choose Furmano's in a can and for a picnic I use the restaurant size, the average cost is less than $5.00 for a *26 serving can.


Drain the butter beans add to aluminum pan or pan of your choice.  Cut up and on medium heat saute 1/2 lb of bacon in a fry pan, remove add to beans, then to the bacon grease add 1 medium chopped Vidalia onion, reduce heat saute until onion is transparent. Scrape all contents of pan onions and grease into the beans.  Add 1 cup of brown sugar, 1/4 cup of molasses, 1 small can of tomato sauce, 1 cup of ketchup, 1 heaping tablespoon of mustard, 1 tablespoon of onion powder, 1 tablespoon of garlic powder. Stir ingredients through.  Bake for about an hour until thickened stirring occasionally.  My mother always added a few strips of bacon toward the end as garnish to the top.



*You can obviously double this recipe for large picnics.  Everyone loves these beans!