This! This is summer comfort food. A late summer succotash recipe - fresh sweet corn, butternut squash and lima beans lightly cooked in a sweet, lovely broth. Serve with roasted potatoes to soak up all the juices and turn this traditional side dish into a vegetarian main meal. Preserve the summer harvest with this recipe - this makes a large pot, save half and stash in the freezer to brighten up your winter.
Before you know it the garden will be bursting with all the fresh veggies. This recipe is coming at you just as we are starting to see fresh sweet corn in the stores. Soon sweet corn will be everywhere. And when it comes, I wanted you to be ready.
What is succotash?
Succotash is traditionally served as a side dish. It's a southern dish that basically describes sweet corn and lima beans simmered together. Often succotash is served as a side dish. For me, it's any medley of tomatoes, sweet corn, lima beans and other vegetables. And because it is so full of good for you veggies, succotash makes a filling and healthy vegetarian main dish.
This succotash is vegan. A healthy plant-based dish. I've served this one with roasted potatoes, keeping it gluten-free as well.
Note: Not all succotash recipes are vegan or vegetarian. Often traditional recipes call for a heavy fat or like lard. To keep this recipe vegetarian I've used good ol' olive oil. Simple and easy.
THIS Succotash recipe is vegan!
Butternut squash and sweet corn are the stars of this succotash summer stew. Sweet and warm, sunny... golden, because it is late summer. Summer succotash highlights all the beauty of these late summer vegetables. When made with fresh vegetables at their peak of flavour, there is little else needed to make a beautifully flavoured meal.
Serving this stew over top of a bowl of crispy roasted potatoes turns this into a hearty vegetarian main meal.
This recipe is more of a succotash soup or stew. Sweet end-of-summer vegetables are simmered in a light broth which takes on all their rich flavours. Adding roasted potatoes will "fill-up" the bowl, the potatoes soaking up some of that sweet broth. Of course, you can serve with a stick of crusty bread if you like, or just slurp up all that yumminess with your spoon.
⏰ The "stew" will cook in about the time it takes to roast the potatoes in a hot oven, which means you can have this meal on the table in just over 40 minutes.
Make-ahead summer succotash
This is a generous recipe. I've intentionally made this summer succotash recipe big enough so you can serve some today for dinner and save some for another night. It freezes well. In the middle of winter, you will love that you have a batch stashed in the freezer to remember summer.
Leftovers also make a very quick meal. Just reheat in a medium saucepan until steamy. Serve with potatoes again, or just with a crusty loaf of bread.
I've used butternut squash in this version. Often you will see succotash made with summer squash - a yellow or green zucchini. I like butternut because its sweetness compliments the sweet corn. And its long shelf life means I always have one ready to go.
Also, we planted butternut squash in the garden this year, so I'm in butternut recipe collection mode.
🔪 Instructions
Start by prepping the potatoes.
Preheat the oven and then scrub and cut potatoes into bite-sized pieces. Toss the potatoes on a rimmed baking sheet with some olive oil and salt and pepper. They will need about 30 minutes in a hot oven. While they cook, make the stew.
While the potatoes cook, heat a large pot or dutch oven over medium heat. Melt butter and or heat olive oil then saute leeks until tender. This will take 5-6 minutes. The leeks will get soft and start to melt together. Sprinkle with some flour to make a roux. Stir and toast the flour and leeks into a creamy paste, for about a minute.
While the leeks simmer I chop the squash and the tomatoes. I don't bother peeling either. I fresh young squash will have a tender peel. Just give it a good scrub and you are good to go. I trim off any blemishes.
Add the stock, tomatoes, and chopped squash to the leeks in the dutch oven. Scrape the bottom of the pot to pick up any of the yummy bits left on the bottom. Let this simmer for about 10 minutes, then add the fresh corn and lima beans. Continue to simmer until the squash is tender.
By now the potatoes are perfectly crispy 😎⏰
Stir all the fresh herbs and a little bit of sweetener into your stew and serve with the potatoes.
📖 Ingredient notes
This summer succotash stew is absolutely at its best when summer vegetables are at their best. Make this when tomatoes are busting on the vines and sweet corn is abundant. Use the ugliest, ripest tomatoes. By late summer the butternut squash is tender and ready to go too.
If using fresh corn from the cob, slice it off the cob over the top of a large bowl and try to catch all the milky sweet juices from the fresh corn. Use one of these techniques.
When fresh tomatoes are pale and tasteless you have a couple of options:
- Good-quality canned tomatoes, use about 2 cups diced canned tomatoes, a 540ml can is the perfect amount. I like this fire-roasted variety.
- Cherry tomatoes! Cherry tomatoes are sweet year-round and are a good fresh alternative here. If using cherry tomatoes, i slice them into halfs or quarters and toss them in just at the very end of the cooking time. So they stay bright and red and just warmed, not so cooked that the skins fall off. So once the squash is done, toss them in with the fresh herbs and simmer for just a minute or two. That's it.
I've added a jalapeno, because we usually have those ready in the garden too, and we like a little bit of heat. Up to you, this is optional. I find the sweetness of the corn and squash work nicely with a little bit of hot pepper.
Q&A
Yes!
Sometimes fresh is just not available. So here are a few ways to substitute frozen ingredients.
I always use frozen lima beans. They are a staple in my kitchen. (Try this recipe for garlicky roasted limas if you are not sure you are a fan, it will change your mind.)
Frozen corn kernels, also a staple, will work well in a pinch.
Butternut squash is available year-end in most produce sections. To save some time, you can also find it in the freezer section. Go ahead and give that a try.
Lima beans are traditionally found in succotash. Personally, I love them. Sometimes they are called butter beans. Fava beans, also a favourite of mine, are not quite the same.
Given all the ingredients, fresh sweet corn, fresh limas, fresh tomatoes and tough squash, summer succotash is perfect to make in the late summer when all these vegetables are at their peak.
🍴Serving and storage
This recipe makes a lot of succotash! I make one batch and divide it half, saving half for the freezer. The summer succotash soup / stew (no potatoes) will freeze very well and keep for about 3-4 months frozen.
We are a family of four, half the stew, and 1 lb of roasted potatoes feeds us generously for a weeknight meal. The recipe below assumes you will save half of the stew for another meal. Double the potatoes if you need more than 4 servings.
Skip the potatoes if you want! And serve with a loaf of crusty bread (which may or may not be gluten-free) or on a bed of rice or quinoa to round out the meal.
📖 Recipe
Summer Succotash with Roasted Potatoes
Required equipment
- large heavy pot with lid
Ingredients
For the potatoes (4 servings, double for 8)
- 2 teaspoon olive oil extra virgin. divided
- 1 lb new garden potatoes, scrubbed and diced into 1 inch chunks
For the Succotash (serves 8, save half for later)
- 1 teaspoon olive oil or butter
- 2 large leeks cleaned, white and light green parts thinly sliced into half moons
- 1 tablespoon Braggs liquid aminos or soy sauce
- 1 jalapeno pepper diced small, optional
- 2 tablespoon all purpose flour
- 1 cup vegetable stock
- 1-½ cups butternut squash, seeded and diced ½ inch diced
- 2 cups fresh garden tomatoes, chopped or a 540ml can of diced fire-roasted tomatoes
- 2 cups frozen shelled lima beans
- 3 cup fresh or frozen corn kernels if using fresh, careful to catch the sweet milky juice from the cobs and add to the stew. You will need 4-6 ears of corn
- 1-2 teaspoon honey or other liquid sweetener
- 1 cup fresh mixed herbs parsley, basil, cilantro
- salt and pepper to taste
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 400 degrees. On top of a rimmed baking sheet toss potatoes with 2 teaspoons of olive oil until potatoes are well coated. Spread evenly into a single layer. Season with salt and pepper. Roast potatoes at 400 until crispy and tender, about 30 minutes while you make the stew.
- In a large dutch oven, heat remaining 1 teaspoon of olive oil over medium heat. Add leeks and saute until soft, about 6 minutes. Add jalapeno and liquid aminos, and saute for another minute. Sprinkle with flour and stir and cook for about 2 minutes.
- Add stock, whisking until smooth. Add squash and tomatoes. Cover and simmer. After about 10 minutes add lima beans and fresh sweet corn. Continue to simmer until squash is tender, about 15 additional minutes.
- Remove from heat. Stir in honey, herbs, salt and pepper. Taste for seasoning, adding more honey or salt as necessary. Separate out half ot the stew for freezing for a second meal. Serve the remaining half, hot over roasted potatoes.
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