Sweet Corn Succotash is the best of summer in a bowl! With fresh corn, lima beans, and cherry tomatoes, this simple succotash recipe is a perfect way to utilize your farmer’s market haul.
Local produce season is in full swing! As is usually the case this time of year, I’ve been spending the weekends exploring farm markets, filling my burlap bags to the brim with summer’s best treasures.
Warm, lazy Sundays + fresh produce = perfection.
Juicy heirloom tomatoes are just starting to reach their prime and the Jersey-fresh corn has been extra sweet this year. My grandmother’s tomato salad has been in regular rotation in my kitchen, as has my Mexican Street Corn Soup. Let’s just say, we’ve been eating well!
I also love to combine two of my favorite market staples—corn and tomatoes—in this Sweet Corn Succotash recipe. It’s a colorful, flavorful dish that’s simple to make; less than 30 minutes from start to finish!
As I’ve mentioned several times before, I tend to be a minimalist when it comes to cooking with my farmer’s market haul. Beautiful produce plucked fresh from the field is so full-flavored, I like enjoying it as close to its original state as possible.
Here, a little shallot, some garlic, fresh herbs, and traditional lima beans, are all you need to add for a mic-dropping succotash.
I’ve written this recipe as a light vegetarian dish, but many succotash recipes (which vary by region) also include bacon. Sweet corn, tomatoes, and bacon? Can’t go wrong there!
To adapt the recipe below, omit the olive oil and sauté a few strips of chopped bacon just until crisp. Remove the bacon and all but 1 tablespoon of drippings from the pan.
Continue with the recipe as written, reducing the olive oil to 2 tablespoons and cooking the vegetables in the oil-bacon drippings mixture. Then, just add the crisped bacon back to the pan before serving.
Sweet Corn Succotash is a perfect side dish for grilled chicken, meat, or seafood. It is equally good served hot out of the pan as it is warm or at room temperature. Talk about a great addition to a picnic basket!
We’ve also been known to enjoy a bowl of this succotash on its own for lunch, with a hearty slice of grilled artisan bread and a frosty glass of iced tea or lemonade.
As quick as it is to make, it’s the kind of dish that begs to be savored slowly, under the sun, as a warm breeze flutters through the patio. Someone pass me a spoon!
Simple Sweet Corn Succotash
Ingredients
- 3 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
- 1 shallot , chopped (about 1/3 cup)
- 2-1/2 cups fresh corn kernels (stripped from 3-4 cobs; I use bicolor)
- 1 garlic clove , minced
- 1 cup halved cherry tomatoes
- 1-1/2 cups lima beans , cooked according to package directions
- 1/4 cup chopped fresh basil
- 2 tablespoons chopped fresh parsley
- kosher salt and freshly-ground black pepper
Instructions
- Heat olive oil in a large nonstick skillet (I use cast iron). Add shallot and corn to the pan. Season with 1/2 teaspoon each kosher salt and 1/4 teaspoon black pepper. Cook, stirring, until tender, about 7-8 minutes.
- Add garlic and cherry tomatoes and cook until garlic is fragrant and tomatoes are slightly softened, about 2-3 minutes. Remove from heat and stir in cooked lima beans, fresh basil, and parsley.
- Season to taste with additional salt and pepper. Serve hot, warm, or at room temperature.
Notes
Nutrition Estimate
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
About our recipes
Please note that our recipes have been developed using the US Customary measurement system and have not been tested for high altitude/elevation cooking and baking.
We enjoyed this simple succotash so much tonight! It was delicious even though I used 2 zucchini’s in place of the Lima beans. Didn’t have any limas on hand. Recipe worked well!
I loved this recipe. I didn’t have the lima beans. Added a little swiss chard to use it from our garden, but otherwise, kept the recipe the same. It was delicious! My husband loved it too!
I make everything from scratch but for some reason I’ve only thought of succotash as something that comes in a freezer bag! This recipe is so gorgeous that I must try it!
Simple, fresh and colorful salads like this are one of my favorite things about summer. I’m always guilty of buying too much produce this time of the year because it all looks SO good. This is a great way to use it and get a few meals out of it too!
This sounds amazing, we are always those people leaving the farmers markets with bag upon bag of fresh produce, I always get over-excited and buy all the things :) This sounds just perfect, and such a great way to use up beautiful fresh produce.
I’ll take it just like this, with no bacon! Yum! I love how sweet and delicious farmer’s market veggies are- I hate to mess with them too much. This looks delicious!