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.
We are baked bean fans. I never thought of canning beans, I might have to get my pressure cooker back from my son. /Cathy
Like to use beans in soups and chili.
I love to make chili with canned beans.
Thank you for the easy to follow directions. I am new to canning and have been interested in putting up beans.
I can’t wait to try this
Chili & quesadillas. Always in rotation.
I love using canned beans for soups and chili!
I freeze my beans now but would love to can them in those beautiful jars.
I love to throw beans on nachos. YUM!
Vegetarian chili! I wing it every time and it always turns out great. Not-so-secret ingredients include: corn, garbanzo beans and cumin.
I love Mexican food, we have it weekly! And I always use beans
I have never canned beans but do cook them in bulk and freeze them. Would love to try canning them.
These are gorgeous. One more reason to finally invest the time into canning beans.
I love to use these for jelly and jam….
I love using canned beans to add to tacos and chili! Thanks for the giveaway!
I love to use beans for chilli!!! My kids love it.
I use canned beans for lunch. In salads, with grains and veggies, soups…
I’ve been taught that if you leave the pressure canner lid on for too long after processing, it will sometimes lock on to the canner and can only be removed by reheating the canner. Since I ‘always’ follow directions, I can’t say this is true, but my teacher has had the experience. ;>
I have never had the experience of having the pressure canner lid lock onto the pot and this is the first time I’m hearing about it. Do you know what style canner your teacher is using?
red beans & rice – great meal even without cornbread or sausage
I love to use beans in soup!
Quick soups are my favorite way to use canned beans!
Burritos!
I am so excited about this giveaway! I am a new canner, but canning has been in my family for a long time. As a little girl I can remember seeing all of my grandmother’s cans line the shelves. There was an array of different colors, they were so beautiful. Unfortunately, she passed away before she was able to pass on the art of canning to me. As I’ve become a mother and a homemaker I’ve realized how wonderful canning is and how many benefits it has to offer. While I’ve only just begun with a few jams and jellies, I’m so excited to start on this venture! thank you so much for this opportunity and congratulations to whomever the happy lucky winner may be!
I love to eat pinto beans and ham with cornbread, or I put lots of beans into my chili, taco soup, or ham and bean soup. Yum!! Thank you for sharing this.
Baked beans are yummy with canned beans!
I just got a 23 qt pressure canner. Looks like this will be the first thing I try.
I’m curious how these differ from other glad lidded jars that most people don’t recommend.
I love rinsing them and adding them to mac and cheese with some leftover chicken and some canned diced tomatoes. It makes a quick meal for my family of four – and everyone loves it!
These jars look amazing!!
I like using beans in soups!
I love to serve beans with rice and just a touch of grated cheese!
I make refried beans or soup!
I use canned beans in soups.
Soup! I prefer dried beans to commercially canned (the preservatives taste strange), and soup feels like just another step after cooking and soaking.
Chili
chili
I would love to learn how to make food in jars. This would give me a reason to get started!
We can a lot of beans, meats and stocks. I am fairly new to pressure canning, but was happy to find out it wasn’t nearly as intimidating as it first seemed!
This is great! I always freeze mine and would love to do this instead.
My go-to easy dinner is black bean tacos!
I used canned beans- black, chick, pinto- whatever is lying around to make veggie burgers. I always have a stash in the freezer for extra protein in my meals.
I started canning my own beans last year, who knew? 🙂 I love being about to just open up a jar and use it for chili, or to make refried bean quesadillas, or any other recipes I might have.
Love these!
i love dried beans in everything from nachos, to soups, to re-fried beans,. thanks for the chance to win!
I only recently discovered the beauty of dried beans. All along my dislike of canned beans has been a texture issue… Go figure. Thanks for the tutorial!
A Weck giveaway plus a dutch oven? Sign me up!
I use beans as a quick add to pasta and meat as a quick high protein dinner and in quick pots of chili – lots of uses for already to go beans in my kitchen
Thank you for the opportunity to win, canning beans has been on my to do list for the past couple of years. I like using canned beans for soups and chilis.
I love cooking my own beans from dry. I can’t wait to try canning them, that makes so much more sense than freezing them!!
I have never seen these jars before
Stacked burrito pie!!
Chili!
Chili for sure.
I just got a pressure canner & can’t wait to try these.
I love using black beans in burritos.
I mostly have a stock of beans in my pantry. I use a lot of them for chili, especially with all this cold weather!
What I love the smaller sizes!
we like canned beans in chili
Black bean lasagna! yummy
Red Bean & Rice, Homemade Hummus, beans are a staple in our pantry.
My mom used to make a chopped-style “Taco” salad with chunks of lettuce, tomato, black olives, shredded cheddar, crushed tortilla chips, and dark red kidney beans all tossed with 1000 Island dressing. Any time I would see those cans of dark red kidney beans I knew dinner was going to be awesome! I always keep a few cans around now for bean salads because they are so hearty they make anything into a real meal.
This makes me want to try a pressure cooker!! It doesn’t seem as difficult as I imagined.
They’re so versatile! My favorite dish is a white bean spinach and sausage soup!
I use canned beans for chili, baked beans and also just to use as a dish for meals.
As a vegetarian, I use beans in a variety of ways. Most often as salad toppers or in soup. Although, I do love bean dips!
Thank you for the opportunity!
i’ve been pressure canning for two years now, but i haven’t tried beans yet…but i should considering how much we use them in stews and soups and mexican dishes. thanks for the tips!!!!
I live in Alaska so I do a lot of freezing in jars. I have a really nice canner and want to try canning now that I see how easy it can be. Thank you. I love the jars.
I have never seen these jars before; would be fun to try them. I used canned beans in soups a lot!
I’d use them for chili.
I like that they’re ready to use and super thrifty (home-canned beans).
I make refried beans. My husband was just asking if I could can them. So thank you for this post.
Spicy black bean and corn salad in the summer and sausage spinach and bean soup in the winter. MMMM it’s the best
I like to use canned beans for chili and soups.
Last minute dinners, YUM!
I really like this!
Easy and quick soup base
Quick chili when I need filling solid food in a hurry!
Soups! They’re so handy when I don’t make it to the store but don’t want to order takeout.
I have never canned beans or used these jars before, bring on the challenge!
I love refried beans or a mix of many kinds of beans in a bean soup.
Chili beans!
Chili, all the way.
I have not tried canning beans yet, but I buy dried beans in bulk, so I definitely want to try! I like to make refried beans & use them in burritos. Also, I make quite a bit of bean soup.
Bravo, well done! Rancho Gordo recently did a post on direct canning dried beans (without soaking or precooking) — any thoughts?
I’ll have to go read their post. I’ve not tried it that way before.
Excited to try canning black beans- what inspiration to try this soon!!
I have not used Weck jars to can, but I love how they look and also there size.
We use canned beans all the time. My kids love bean burritos I would love to can my own. Save money and health!
I use canned beans anytime I use ground meat. It makes us use less meat and save money. Currently I cook and freeze beans. For some strange reason I have never thought to can them. Brilliant:)
For Ham and Beans, Cornbread and Fried Potatoes in the winter!
Black beans and rice, with Salsa Lizano and cilantro, as my husband had when he lived in Costa Rica!
Great post! I like to use home canned beans in winter soups.
I love using canned beans for quick meals on nights I don’t want to cook much but stopped using them in recent months over concern over bpa in the cans… I didn’t know you could can your own! I’d love to learn more and those jars are just beautiful!
I love using canned beans for chili and quesadillas!
We like to use the beans in chili!
I would love to try this method and these jars.
Tacos 🙂
Chili!
The jars look so nice. Never canned in them before… only used mason jars. We usually can pinto beans for use as refried beans later on!
Our favorite way to use beans is probably in soups (minestrone is a favorite and easily adaptable to the seasons). We typically use dried, but I love the idea of canning our own so that I don’t have to plan so far ahead. Thanks for a lovely giveaway!
Chili!
I like to have beans on hand to go with tacos
Garbanzo beans in hummus.