Does Mayo Belong In Your Butter Beans?

For as long as I can remember, there are two things my grandfather has to have to enjoy his butter beans. The first is cornbread, which isn't super surprising as it's a pretty standard accompaniment for butter beans. The second thing, however, I've learned is not quite as common. Before he eats his first spoonful of butter beans from the bowl, my grandfather always adds a generous dollop of mayonnaise on top of the beans.

Why You Should Consider Adding Mayonnaise To Your Butter Beans

After realizing that eating butter beans with mayonnaise is not the way everyone eats them, I asked my grandfather where he got this idea from. His simple reply was, “Because it’s good!” My uncle, who has followed in his footsteps of eating this food combination, chimed in to say that he recalls my great-grandfather putting mayonnaise in his butter beans, so everyone else must've gotten the idea from him.

While I’m not sure how many other people routinely add mayonnaise to their butter beans, there's one country superstar who agrees with my grandfather. Trisha Yearwood has been known to add mayonnaise to butter beans. The country singer and cookbook author once shared with her fans that even though mayonnaise on butter beans “MIGHT sound disgusting,” it is “SO good.” She continued by describing the combination as "decadent." In the comment section of the post, many of her fans shared that they also eat their butter beans with a little bit of mayonnaise. And there were several commenters who stated that they couldn't wait to try it.

What Southern Living Readers Say

When the question of whether or not mayo belongs in butter beans was posed to our readers on Facebook, the crowd was split in the answers. "I have eaten that since I was a little girl!" shared one commenter. Another summed it up by saying, "Mayo belongs in most everything!"

There were others who had not heard of adding a dollop of mayonnaise to a bowl of butter beans, but were open to trying it. "I’ve never heard of this, but I’ll give it a try," shared one reader.

Then there were some who were altogether opposed to the idea, and we totally understand. Others recommended their personal favorite butter bean toppings, such as ketchup, olive oil, sour cream, and butter.

If you’re a mayonnaise lover, whether you prefer Duke’s or Hellmann’s, next time you scoop up a bowlful of butter beans, you may want to try adding a spoonful of mayonnaise on top. It just may become your new favorite Southern food combination.