Are you looking to learn how to pressure can dried beans? You’ve arrived at the right place. This post will show you how to safely and easily can your beans.
As I’m sure is the case for many of you, canned beans are a staple in my pantry. I try to always keep an assortment of pinto, kidney, garbanzo, and black beans in my kitchen cabinet. Even when I’ve not been shopping in awhile, I nearly always have tortillas in the freezer and some kind of cheese in the fridge. Combined with a can of beans, I’m only a few steps away from a bean and cheese quesadilla lunch (and all the better if there’s a jar of salsa on the shelf).
In recent years, instead of sourcing my stash of canned beans from the store, I’ve been making them myself. That’s because as cheap as canned beans are, dried beans cost even less (I typically get at least four 1/2 liter or pint jars from a single pound of dried beans). And by using my own jars, I avoid the chemicals in can liners and also keep that waste out of the system.
If you have a pressure canner, making your own canned beans is incredibly simple (though I’ll grant you that the first time through it will feel like there are a lot of steps but it will get easier). If you don’t have one, this might just be the technique that convinces you to get one. If you’re looking for a good starter pressure canner, I use a 16 quart Presto
As is the case any time you use dried beans, you start by soaking them. If I’m canning on a weekend, I’ll soak the beans overnight so that they’re ready for a morning canning session. During the work week, I’ll set them to soak while I make breakfast and will can them up after dinner. I like to pressure can in the evenings because it means that I can let the canner cool overnight. I’ve found that the longer you let the canner cool undisturbed, the better the jars seal.
When you soak your beans, take care to use a bowl big enough to hold the beans and water to cover by 2-3 inches. As you can see in one of the pictures above, I didn’t use a bowl quite large enough for the white beans and so they soaked up everything I gave them and threatened to spill out of the bowl entirely.
Once the beans are sufficiently soaked, it’s time to start to prep them for the canning process. Like I do in all canning situations, the first thing I do is get the jars and canning pot set up. In this case, I put the rack in the pot, set the jars on top, and fill the jars with hot water from the tap (because the water isn’t coming into contact with food, I don’t worry about using hot water).
Unlike with boiling water bath canning where you need a full pot, pressure canning works with steam so the jars don’t need to be submerged. An inch or two of water in the pot itself is really all you need.
When I use Weck jars, I take care to also tuck the glass lids and rubber rings into the pot to heat (leave the clips out). When I use conventional mason jars, I tuck new lids into the pot, but keep the rings out as they’re hard to work with when hot. Settle the lid on the pot and bring the pot to a boil. No need to lock the lid into place yet, you’re just warming the jars.
While the canner heats, pour the beans and their soaking water into a pot and bring them to a boil. You may need to add some additional water as they still should be covered by about 2 inches of water. They need approximately 25-30 minutes on the stove in order to heat through and begin to soften.
Take note that the beans should not be cooked fully when they go into the jars. If you cooked them fully before pressure canning, your finished product would be total mush.
When the jars are hot and the beans have simmered for about half an hour, it’s time to fill the jars. Remove the jars from the canner and place them on a kitchen towel. If you’ve boiled out most of your water from the bottom of the pot, pour the contents of the jars back into the canner. If your water level looks good, dump the water from the jars out into the sink.
Fill the jars with the prepared beans. You want to add enough beans so that they come up about 2/3 of the way up the jar. Then cover the beans with cooking liquid, leaving 1 inch of headspace.
Ideally, you’ll have about an inch of water above the bean level. Don’t skimp on the water because the beans are going to continue to cook in the jars and so will need additional liquid in order to soften fully.
Once the jars are filled, wipe the rims with a clean towel. Settle the rubber seal onto the lid of the Weck jar and place the seal and lid onto the jar. Secure the lid with three Weck jar clips. When canning Weck jars in a boiling water bath you only use two clips, but the increased intensity of the pressure canner means that you need an additional clip to ensure that the lid stays in place. If you’re using conventional mason jars, apply lids and rings in the usual fashion.
To avoid chipping the lid with the clips, place the clip on the lid first and then push down towards the side of the jar. If you start from the side of jar and push towards the lid, you risk breakage.
Once the lids are secured, lower the jars into the canner. My 16 quart canner can hold five 1/2 liter Weck jars, seven quart jars, or nine pint jars. Pour a glug of white vinegar into the pot to help keep the jars and pot clean and then lock the lid into place.
Bring the pot up to a boil and let the steam vent for at least 15 minutes. You do this by running the pot without the pressure regulator in place. That’s the little black and metal hat that sits atop the vent shaft. The reason for this is that a canner that has been properly relieved of its oxygen through venting can reach a higher temperature than one that is full of oxygen. The higher the temperature, the more effectively the canner will kill any botulism spores present.
Once the canner is properly vented, apply the pressure regulator and bring up to pressure. If you live at 1,000 feet elevation or below (as I do), you bring the pot up to 11 pounds of pressure. If you live at higher elevations, you need to increase your pressure (find those exact elevation adjustments here)
Once the canner reaches the appropriate pressure, start your timer. If you’re working with pint or 1/2 liter jars, you process the beans for 75 minutes. If you use quart or liter jars, process for 90 minutes. Make sure to check the pressure gauge often to ensure that you’re at the proper pressure levels. If your pressure drops below the required level, you have to bring the pot back up to pressure and restart your timer.
Once the time is up, turn the heat off and leave the pot alone. I like to let it cool for at least an hour after the pot depressurizes, but the longer you can let it cool, the better. Even after the pot depressurizes, there is still a huge amount of heat in the jars. It’s perfectly normal for the contents of the jars to be bubbling hours after the canning process has finished.
Weck jars work really well for pressure canning, but there are a couple tricks to it. I’ve already mentioned the first, using three clips instead of two. The second is that you really must ensure that the seal is in its ideal position before you settle the lid on the jar. As you can see, my seal slipped a little with this jar. It wasn’t enough to compromise the seal, but I knew that this rubber ring wasn’t as perfectly positioned as the rest when that jar went into the canner. I got lucky and didn’t ruin the seal, but that won’t always be the case.
And remember. If Weck jars don’t fit your budget, the basics in this post also apply to how to pressure can dried beans in regular mason jars too. For a post that walks you through this technique using Ball canning jars, check out my post on how to can Rosemary White Bean Soup Starter.
soup!
Canned beans are good for just about anything in my house-as a vegetarian, they’re the backbone of dinner (although when I have time I do prefer to cook my own). Minestrone soup is definitely a favorite!
Breakfast burritos!
I’m going to have to try these. I just started pressure canning, and was looking for an alternative to the ball lids which you have to re-buy each time….
This is a great idea! I think I would do some chick peas. Thank you.
Chili’s, soups, tacos, burritos, salads.. So many uses for them!
My favorite way to use them is pulling together a quick meal. Pair with a meat in a large Dutch over, add veggies, and done! Thank you for the great giveaway! This prize is amazing.
Thanks for this tutorial on canning beans; they’re a staple on my pantry shelf. I’ve never canned beans and have been canning for close to 50 years…time to start, I think. Black beans and corn salad is a winter favorite…colorful and, with cornbread, complete meal.
love your bean canning tutorial….. need to try black beans to keep handy on the shelf…..
thank you…
s cree
My most favorite is Black Beans and Rice. Makes a very quick dinner with Soft Chicken Tacos.
Quick Chili, every time!
I love them for quick lunches too!
In chili and soups.
Beans and Rice
rice and beans
Have always wanted it try canning in beautiful
weck jars!
make lots of hummus and bean salads
Chili!
I love having canned beans around. I make refried beans with them a lot. Also hummus. Thanks for this great tutorial, really helpful!
Since discovering the world of heirloom beans I can’t get enough. Thanks for the great tutorial, very helpful. I’ve been flirting with the purchase of a pressure canner for beans, I think you just pushed me…
I make a carrot cake with pureed white beans that I really like, and a plain bowl of brothy beans topped with chopped tomato and raw onion, drizzled with olive oil and served with a side of home made cornbread is a fave around here.
i love homemade chillie so this would be great to have on hand as there are only 2 of us
Wonderful tutorial. thank you.
Love the looks of those jars and could really use the stock pot as well.
Beans for chili and other soups / stews. Beans in making of baked beans. Green beans by adding alittle bacon and some onion, green bean casserole. etc.
Thank you for this giveaway opportunity
I use navy and pinto beans to make BBQ beans in the smoker whenever we smoke something.
We eat beans and ham with corn bread and a lot of chili this winter!
I absolutely LOVE these Weck jars for canning beans! Perfect size and you can see all that bean beauty! You’re inspiring me to get a pressure canner… something I’ve been thinking about for a while.
Indian dhaals (lentil and bean stews), soup with sausage and spinach, mashed up in quesedillas, dips, and salads. I LOVE beans, but they got to be home-cooked with tons of garlic and bay leaves in the cooking water. That is why I loved this post.
I like to use canned beans for a quick dinner, such as beans and rice with hot sauce.
Canning beans is such a great way to keep all your jars full. As you use up the fruits & veggies, beans take their place on the shelves.
Love to eat beans. Usually I cook up a big pot for our family of six but every so often it’s nice to have a can or two.
I love making chili and I usually dump five or six different types of beans in the pot. I love the look of those jars but I can never find them anywhere, so I hope I win! Lol
Great instructions! And thanks for posting the link for the processing times. I have a pressure cooker big and sturdy enough to do small batch pressure canning in, but it’s a 10 pound jiggler, so I wasn’t sure it work. Looks like it will, so it’s time for me to give it a try!
We are a bean and cheese quesadilla kind of family, too! I just canned beans last weekend, and I wish I had had your helpful post to enrich my new experience.
Black beans + sweet potatoes + chipotles + sour cream = YUM!
I can’t wait to try some jars like these. They’re beautiful!
I don’t use that many canned beans — I usually cook them myself. However, I do use them for a quick dinner — usually tacos or burritos for the kids 🙂
We use them for everything! Quinoa and bean salads, Vegetarian chilis, homemade hummus. It would be amazing to have glass jars and avoid the BPA lining in the metal cans at the store!
I don’t can beans myself (I don’t have a pressure canner), but I am partial to chickpeas a just a snack. I’ve definitely had people think that was weird, but I’m ok with it.
long, slow cooked in the oven. maybe with potatoes definitely with eggs.
In a yumm bowl – rice, beans, tomato, avo, cheese and yumm sauce. Delicious!
I have a great quick recipe for black beans with rice. I’ve made it many times instead of ordering pizza…yet again.
Definitely chili with beans is my favorite.
I have never been a fan of canned beans but I have never canned them myself. I recently picked up a pressure cooker & will have to try this!
chili.
This is an amazing giveaway. Wow…
Bean chili needs lots of beans! Also, black bean tacos, pinto bean burritos, and white bean chili, mmm. Bean fritters, and black-eyed peas with greens… also mmm. Plus, some pureed beans can be a great base for a sandwich topping. I think I’ll try this method out, soon, since I’ve been wanting to reduce my use of store-bought canned items to reduce waste and plastic use. Thanks, Marisa!
Oh, I did want to ask, for those of us that sometimes just want a small portion of beans, what kind of spacing of liquid to beans and filling to top of jar do we need to leave if we want to try out 4 oz. jars? If you happen to have thoughts on the matter, it’d be nice to know!
You’d use the same ratio. Fill the jar 2/3 with beans, add liquid until there’s about an inch of headspace left. I don’t think you’d get enough in a 4 ounce jar to make it worthwhile, but maybe try an 8 ounce jar?
I love to just have them handy and clean to eat. The ones in the store are full of extra stuff I don’t want in my food.
I’d like the beans in pasta fagioli (sp).
We love to make hummus.
chili !!!
My favorite is canning my mom’s making of my grand-ma’s bean recipe. Everyone loves it and no one can replicate it even with the exact recipe (probably because my mom inherited the giant cast-iron pot from her mom.) so I can those in single servings mostly and whenever we don’t know what to bring for lunch, grab one of those bad boys and you’re set! I give those as gifts now and I’ve had offers from family who want to pay me to make more cans (I think that’s funny!)!
Thanks for the great tutorial! I’ve begun to grow and dry a pretty good assortment of heirloom beans and this would make them much more likely to be used! Just might be the push I need to get the pressure canner and learn to use it!
Home canned beans would be great and you could control the salt in your beans
I started canning over the past summer and it was instant love!
The large kidneys are delicious in green salad.
I use them in soups and dips.
Making hummus!
Tacos 🙂
Soup and chili are my favorite uses for beans, or salads, casseroles, dips, spreads. Have I forgotten anything? Love me some beans.
These look like so much fun. I love that they are reusable and they are cute and stylish : )
I love canning up black beans, pintos and garbanzo beans! We use them in EVERYTHING!
In burritos and in soups. I like to cook dried beans in the slow cooker and then freeze them in glass jars.
I would say we use canned beans only for quick chili… But we haven’t made that in a long time because canned beans upset some tummies around here. But we eat beans at least twice a week and this method would certainly help make it faster! I never thought of canning my own. Canning was always about preserving for me and they preserve just fine when they’re dried. 😀
I use canned beans for everything from salads to tacos, soups, hummus, etc… the list goes on and on!
Right now I’m loving making minestrone soup with beans. I just made a big batch today with frozen kale from the garden and canned tomatoes from the farmers’ market.
I have never canned beans before, but your instructions make it look easy! Thanks! Also, I have never canned with Weck jars before and would love the opportunity! Thanks for giving me a chance to win the jars and that nice looking dutch oven!
Mixed bean chili with sweet potatoes! Yum 🙂
Soup
My baby is learning to feed herself. Beans were one of her first proteins. My husband’s family has a lot of bean centered meals, so I have learned to cook more with them since getting married. Now I mainly rehydrate and freeze. I’ll have to look more into pressure canning.
Black beans and rice, with little bowls of toppings…it’s what we had tonight!
Over toast and then our pastured eggs. Thanks for the giveaway!
I love them on nachos!
Chili! And soups. Lots of soups. Also with rice; yum!
my favorite way to use beans is definitely for tacos.
I would say chili.
We like to cook the beans with onion and taco seasoning and then eat it over rice topped with taco toppings like cheese and salsa and guacamole.
I’ve never canned beans but I’d love to try!
We love to toss them into all sorts of dishes as a quick, easy way to round out a meal.
Weird.. well I made taco spice pressure canned garbanzo beans last night, looking forward to using them in veggie tacos!
I have vegetarian meal night once a week. So, I use a lot of beans during those meals. Plus, my mother in law taught me her taco and bean recipe which has been in the family for years.
My favorite is canning pickles but I just got a pressure canner and I cant wait to try beans!
er
So excited by this contest. I use a lot of beans for chili or burritos, but never plan ahead with enough time to soak them, so I always use canned. I’d love to try canning my own soon, just need a pressure canner, and those lovely jars would help too! 😉
What a beautiful give-away! Sorry to sound boring, but I like beans in chili or burritos. Chick peas for hummus and roasted are a close second.
I love to use canned beans to puree with garlic and olive oil as a quick dip for veggies.
My mom has gotten into canning & I’d love to gift these to her!
I have a pressure canner with an “off” gauge – it’s more than 2 lbs. and I think it needs replacing. I’ve been procrastinating it… but I want to can beans! Thanks for the push 🙂
Great idea!
Yes, I know that I’m not entering the drawing by commenting alone, but wanted to add to your excellent post that it only took once using regular mouthed pint jars to decide that wide mouthed jars made getting the beans OUT of the jars much easier! I tend to pack them in pretty tight, so it is a real issue for me.
And will agree that home canning dried beans is wonderful. We love pinto beans and use a lot of them. We even like them mashed as a side for scrambled eggs instead of potatoes! They aren’t really “refried” because we use butter to “fry” them, but they sure are good – much better when done with home canned pintos.
I love putting beans in stews and soups or for making dips.
Soups, chili, and straight out of the can for a side dish!
I’ve been reading about canning beans lately and want to do it to avoid the BPA lining in cans. I would LOVE to have those weck jars!
…beans, beans…the musical fruit 😉
Love to use canned beans in Texas caviar
I have been wanting to start canning my own veggies and plan to grow a healthy garden this year…this will be very helpful! Thanks!
Soup is my favorite use of canned beans!
in burritos
I use canned beans a lot, but my favorite way is probably in soup.
Delicious and easy dinner of tortillas, eggs, beans, and home canned salsa. Yum.
I’ve never used this type of jars, but my daughter in Germany does. Would love to try some.
I’d love to try canning in those weck jars …
Canned beans with rice, salsa and cheese makes the best fast food dinner!