This Delicious Side Dish With Native American Roots Can Be Made With Just 3 Canned Ingredients

Go-to side dishes like canned green beans or garlic bread can get boring after a while. Home cooks often fall into a routine of inexpensive, easy-to-make sides. But, if you're looking to implement some culinary diversity into your weeknight dinners, consider trying succotash. This low-effort (but still tasty) side dish with Native American roots adds freshness to a heavy meal and can be made with three ingredients, right out of the can: corn, lima beans, and diced tomatoes.

Succotash is essentially a mix of veggies, with corn as the crucial ingredient, that's easy to put together yet provides a lot of fresh, juicy flavor. To make three-ingredient succotash, you'll first want to cook your lima beans. Pour them straight from the can into a pot on the stove and simmer until tender. You can check if they're done with a fork. Next, drain out the bean juice and add a can of sweet corn. Let the two cook for a bit, then add canned tomatoes and seasonings at the end. Mix everything together, and there you have it: A simple side dish that goes beyond your typical can of green beans, and tastes delicious.

This is the simple iteration of the dish, but there are many ways to zhuzh it up. A great way to boost flavor is by adding perfectly cooked bacon. Preheat your oven first, and toss a few slices of bacon onto a sheet pan to cook while the beans simmer. After it's done, add the bacon when you add the corn. Make sure to pour some of the leftover fat into the mixture as well; it will add a savory taste to the finished dish. You can also incorporate okra. This seedy vegetable plays well with the other ingredients and will thicken up the finished succotash.

Succotash's origins can be traced back to the indigenous tribes that resided in Northeastern America during and prior to colonial times. The original name from the dish was inspired by "msíckquatash," a word referring to boiled corn in the Narragansett language. Corn, beans, and squash are known as the Three Sisters, crops that indigenous populations grew together for healthier, more bountiful harvests of each plant and improved soil health. Succotash, utilizing two of the three sisters, was a popular dish among indigenous people, and it was likely one of the dishes shared with colonial settlers during the first Thanksgiving in Plymouth Colony.

Nowadays, succotash is a culinary staple in New England. Described as "one of the delights of corn season" by The Charlotte News, this dish is frequently enjoyed during late summer and fall, when fresh corn is at its peak. Often paired with fish, chicken, or juicy pork chops, the side is a delightful way to freshen up a meal while utilizing these three staple ingredients. If you're not on the Eastern seaboard and don't have access to freshly harvested corn, lima beans, and tomatoes, the dish is thankfully easy to make year-round with their canned forms.