Delicious Home Canned Potato Soup Starter Recipe
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Potato soup. Pronounced “puh-tay-tah” soup. I’ll hear no other way of pronouncing my most favorite comfort food and the main ingredient of this lovely canning recipe… hence the name. Puhtaytah soup starter!
This potato soup recipe is super simple to fill jars up and get a hearty soup on your shelves when you need them. This recipe is considered a “soup starter” because I add things to it after I open the jar, as my personal preference, and it’s not a ready to use meal in a jar. I find that I like it that way better since the process time for potatoes is a bit more than anything for dairy, and you guys know how much I like a ready made meal in a jar. They’re an easy way to get a homemade meal on the table when you’re a little busy and the drive thru is tempting.
I currently tried a new way of storing some potatoes since we moved and I don’t have a garage anymore, I had to get creative. I tried curing them and then hanging them in produce bags that are breathable. But my red potatoes sprouted. Which is frustrating considering it’s January and we have a ways til I have fresh taters from the garden again, but we’ll pivot and can them before they go bad. It’s inconvenient but also… I’m not wasting the bounty from my garden. I’m currently doing a couple big batches of this potato soup and will have plenty for several years after this. Remind me not to grown 50 rows of potatoes this year when I get spring fever and start over doing the garden like I always do.
Pressure Canning vs. Water Bath Canning
If you’ve known me for a little while, you know I fully support water bath canning absolutely everything, including low acid. Why? Because the USDA and NCHFP (National Center for Home Food Preservation) distributing the 240 degrees F or die rule is incredibly lazy science and misinformation. It has been proven multiple times that canning is a function of time, temperature, and acidity. There’s no one and done temperature that is the end all, be all of safety. They simply never took the time to adopt a test that proves this. Yeah, that’s right. The NCHFP distributes cherry picked studies, recipes, and information. It doesn’t actually do any testing. DISTRIBUTES information to home canners. Clostridium botulinum spores, the most heat resistant pathogen we deal with in home canning, can be denatured at high temperatures for short times or at lower temperatures for longer times. There’s mathematical equations and graphs that prove this. Not to mention, water bath canning EVERYTHING was common practice for ages.
You can do either. I will give times for both and you can make your own decision on what you will do with that information. What I will tell you is that the pressure canning low acid foods is the recommended method, but doing things outside the guidelines is neither illegal nor dangerous if you use common sense. Me giving you this information is simply that, information. What you do with this information is entirely up to you. If you do choose to water bath can low acid foods, you must properly heat your foods by boiling for 5-10 minutes prior to consumption, which is easy to do since this is a soup recipe.
Canning Dairy Products
For my potato soup, I do add some cream, cream cheese or chevre, and cheddar cheese after opening and heating. This is my preference as I don’t really appreciate how the dairy tends to curdle when I can it with this soup recipe. BUT, if you have a potato soup recipe you want to try that has dairy, you can totally can it, just know that it isn’t recommended. Canning dairy hasn’t been tested by you know who, meaning there’s no recommendation. As you know, that’s fine. Generational knowledge and testing tells us canning dairy is perfectly safe and that possible the Big Dairy lobby doesn’t want us preserving milk and cheeses for later because they’d rather we be purchasing it at the store constantly to line their pockets better. Cheese caves who? Don’t get me started.
Ways to Use this Potato Soup Starter
In the recipe card, I tell you exactly how I prepare it for potato soup, BUT this starter can also be used for other homemade soup recipes like:
- Zuppa Toscana: Add Italian sausage, kale or spinach, and some cream
- Ham & Corn Chowder: Make as below for potato soup, but add 1/2 pound of cubed ham and 1 pint of home canned sweet corn
Let’s can some potato soup starter!
Equipment You Might Want:
- Large Bowl
- Stock Pot
- Pressure Canner
- Water Bath Canning Pot
- Canning Jars
- Canning Lids & Screw bands
- Jar Funnel
- Jar Lifter
Ingredients:
Ingredients for this recipes are PER QUART JAR. If you don’t want to can in quart jars and would prefer pint jars, simply halve the ingredients or split them between 2 pints instead.
- 1 1/4 pounds potatoes
- 2 cups chicken broth
- 1/2 onion, chopped
- 2 cloves garlic, minced
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 2 teaspoons dried chives
Step 1: Wash Potatoes
Decide how big of a batch you want to make. A canner batch can be anywhere from 4 quarts to 14 quarts depending on the canner type and size you have.
Start by filling your sink with cool water and add potatoes. Allow potatoes to soak a few minutes. Scrub thoroughly with a scrub brush and remove any sprouts. Rinse well and set aside as you work. If you want to peel them, go for it. I don’t peel potatoes I grew.
Cube potatoes up into about 1 inch cubes. It’s not that serious here, just do your best. Add the potatoes to a bowl and keep submerged in water as you work to prevent oxidation.
Once you’re finished chopping potatoes, add a healthy splash of vinegar to the soaking water and let potatoes soak for 10 minutes.
Strain potatoes and rinse thoroughly. Drain.
Step 2: Fill Jars
Start by adding chicken broth to a stock pot to heat over medium high heat while you fill jars. Shut off heat once it is boiling. Heat a little extra broth when doing a big batch just to be sure you have enough, as the amount needed for each jar will vary depending on how tightly or loosely you pack the potatoes.
Wash jars and lids in hot soapy water, rinse well and set aside for filling.
Add potatoes to the jars, filling to about the shoulder of the jar, tapping the bottom of the jar on the heel of your hand to settle the potatoes in the jar.
Add in the onion, garlic, salt, and dried chives.
Add more potatoes to fill jars, keeping them below 1-inch headspace.
Ladle hot chicken broth over the potatoes to 1 inch headspace. Remove air bubbles and add enough liquid to maintain headspace.
Wipe jar rims with a clean dampened cloth. Add lids and secure with a screw band.
Step 3: Canning
Place filled jars in your pressure canner and process quart jars for 40 minutes at your elevations recommended pounds of pressure or 35 minutes for pints.
Rebel: Water Bath quart and pint jars at a full rolling boil for 3 hours, adding boiling hot water to keep jars submerged or at minimum at the product line the entire time.
Once processing time is complete, allow canner to depressurize completely before removing jars from the canner to cool undisturbed for 18-24 hours on a heat proof surface lined with a towel.
Step 4: Storing
After cooling, remove bands, test seals, wash jars, label and store in a cool dark place away from direct sunlight. Proper storage of canned foods is anywhere from 55-70 degrees F.
Shelf life is ’til you eat it. If the seal is good, it smells fine, and looks okay, heat that soup up and eat it!
Any unsealed jars can be reprocessed, but I would recommend refrigerating and using soon or freezing as the potatoes will be very overprocessed after a second round.
Notes:
You can substitute fresh green onions for the chives in this soup. Use any other fresh herbs you enjoy in your potato soup.
If you don’t have chicken broth, you can use vegetable broth or any bone broth you have made.
To Serve:
Melt 2 Tbs butter over medium heat. Add in 2 Tbs flour and whisk to combine. Cook a couple minutes til it’s golden brown. Dump contents of 1 quart jar into a small pot while stirring and heat over medium heat. Bring to a boil and heat through for 5 minutes. Using an immersion blender, blend about half the potatoes to create a thick and creamy soup. Add in 2 ounces of cream cheese and 1/2 cup cheddar cheese and stir until melted through. Serve hot in a soup bowl, topped with some extra cheddar cheese, a dollop of sour cream, and some bacon crumbles for something extra extra.
I just love home-canned soups and I hope you enjoy this one!
Equipment
- Large bowl
- stock pot
- Canning jars
- Canning lids & screw bands
- jar lifter
Ingredients
Ingredients are PER QUART JAR.
- 1 1/4 pounds potatoes
- 2 cups chicken broth
- 2 cloves garlic minced
- 1 tsp salt
- 2 tsps dried chives
- 1/2 onion chopped
Instructions
- Decide how big of a batch you want to make. A canner batch can be anywhere from 4 quarts to 14 quarts depending on the canner type and size you have.
- Start by filling your sink with cool water and add potatoes. Allow potatoes to soak a few minutes. Scrub thoroughly with a scrub brush and remove any sprouts. Rinse well and set aside as you work. If you want to peel them, go for it. I don’t peel potatoes I grew.
- Cube potatoes up into about 1 inch cubes. It’s not that serious here, just do your best. Add the potatoes to a bowl and keep submerged in water as you work to prevent oxidation.
- Once you’re finished chopping potatoes, add a healthy splash of vinegar to the soaking water and let potatoes soak for 10 minutes.
- Strain potatoes and rinse thoroughly. Drain.
- Start by adding chicken broth to a stock pot to heat over medium high heat while you fill jars. Shut off heat once it is boiling. Heat a little extra broth when doing a big batch just to be sure you have enough, as the amount needed for each jar will vary depending on how tightly or loosely you pack the potatoes.
- Wash jars and lids in hot soapy water, rinse well and set aside for filling.
- Add potatoes to the jars, filling to about the shoulder of the jar, tapping the bottom of the jar on the heel of your hand to settle the potatoes in the jar.
- Add in the onion, garlic, salt, and dried chives.
- Add more potatoes to fill jars, keeping them below 1-inch headspace.
- Ladle hot chicken broth over the potatoes to 1 inch headspace. Remove air bubbles and add enough liquid to maintain headspace.
- Wipe jar rims with a clean dampened cloth. Add lids and secure with a screw band.
- Place filled jars in your pressure canner and process quart jars for 40 minutes at your elevations recommended pounds of pressure or 35 minutes for pints.
- Rebel: Water Bath quart and pint jars at a full rolling boil for 3 hours, adding boiling hot water to keep jars submerged or at minimum at the product line the entire time.
- Once processing time is complete, allow canner to depressurize completely before removing jars from the canner to cool undisturbed for 18-24 hours on a heat proof surface lined with a towel.
- After cooling, remove bands, test seals, wash jars, label and store in a cool dark place away from direct sunlight. Proper storage of canned foods is anywhere from 55-70 degrees F.
- Shelf life is ’til you eat it. If the seal is good, it smells fine, and looks okay, heat that soup up and eat it!
- Any unsealed jars can be reprocessed, but I would recommend refrigerating and using soon or freezing as the potatoes will be very overprocessed after a second round.
To Serve:
- Melt 2 Tbs butter over medium heat. Add in 2 Tbs flour and whisk to combine. Cook a couple minutes til it’s golden brown. Dump contents of 1 quart jar into a small pot while stirring and heat over medium heat. Bring to a boil and heat through for 5 minutes. Using an immersion blender, blend about half the potatoes to create a thick and creamy soup. Add in 2 ounces of cream cheese and 1/2 cup cheddar cheese and stir until melted through. Serve hot in a soup bowl, topped with some extra cheddar cheese, a dollop of sour cream, and some bacon crumbles for something extra extra.
