While the dish may predate any division of the lands into countries, the most popular variant today uses red kidney beans, which are native to the Americas and introduced into Georgia after 1500.

While there are many ways of making lobio, the most common of which is a cold dish called lobio nigozit, typically made with dark red kidney beans which are cooked and then mashed with garlic, onions,[2] walnuts, coriander, marigold petals, chili pepper and vinegar, and then allowed to marinate overnight.

The following day, the pot would be placed over a fire or, if available, in a small exposed oven, and the beans slowly cooked.

The cooked lobio would then be served in the clay pot, accompanied with mchadi (Georgian cornbread) and an assortment of pickled vegetables such as cabbage or cucumber.

Lobio, in its traditional format, progressed to become a standard recipe the ingredients of which varied depending on the area in which it was cooked.