Easy Greek White Bean Soup Pressure Canning Recipe
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Have you ever heard of Fasolada, Greek white bean soup?! I recently made a big pot of it for dinner and we absolutely loved it so much I decided to make it canning friendly! This fasolada recipe is a simple, but very popular, Greek soup made with good quality olive oil, white beans, celery, and chicken broth.
I did add in a few other things to my preference including blending up my very own Greek seasoning blend to put in the jars, and will very likely mix in some browned smoked sausage or even a pint of canned chicken to make a really hearty soup up when it’s the only thing I’m serving. Cannellini beans are the usual type of bean used for this soup, but I ended up using navy beans because I had them in my storage and they really needed used up. But feel free to use any white bean you have or prefer. It’s your soup!
My favorite way to can is meals-in-jars because of the convenience factor. On days when I’d be tempted to order pizza or hit the drive-thru, I have options on my shelves where I can dump, heat, and eat really quickly. And guess what? The homemade meals come without the regretful price tag of ordering out and also the heart burn or stomach ache later from those less than desirable ingredients. Go ahead and can up this full-flavored soup that doesn’t take much time at all to get ready and enjoy it on a cold winter day when the snow is flying and you feel like hibernating, not cooking a 3 course meal for your family.
I dare not say this is a traditional Greek soup, because it’s not. I’m not a Greek kitchen and I don’t have a traditional recipe passed down through Greek family generations. All I have is tastebuds and a taste for some fasolada, mmkaayyyy.
To Soak or Not to Soak?
I prefer to soak my beans overnight before canning. If you research how to properly prepare beans for your body to be able to digest and use them well, you will see that soaking and cooking with an acid, like the lemon juice in this canning recipe, are what does it. Can you can beans that haven’t been soaked? Absolutely! Is it considered rebel canning? Absolutely!! The recommended way to can beans is to soak overnight and then cook for 5 minutes before hot packing into jars. This allows the beans to rehydrate and then par cook so you don’t get a gluey, bean mess in your jars and they pour nicely out of jars like the store bought ones.
I’ve never cared even a little bit with how my beans look in the jars because I know that home canned are so much more delicious. Just know, I skip the par-cooking process in my kitchen, because I don’t need extra dishes and it’s just not necessary to me, but I do soak because I’d prefer my children not be farting themselves to outer space every time I feed them poor man’s food… I mean, beans.
Equipment You Will Need:
- Pressure Canner
- Jars
- Lids & bands
- Large pot
- Jar funnel
- Jar lifter
- Ladle
- Clean kitchen towels
- cutting board
- sharp knife
- peeler
Ingredients:
- Navy beans or white bean of choice
- onion
- garlic
- carrot
- celery
- lemon
- pepper
- Greek Seasoning Blend
- chicken stock
Let’s get to canning!
Step 1: Make the Greek Seasoning Blend
Measure into a small jar:
- 2 tsp dried basil
- 2 tsp dried oregano
- 1 tsp dried parsley
- 1 tsp dried dill weed
- 1 tsp onion powder
- 1 tsp garlic powder
- 1/2 tsp dried rosemary
- 1/2 tsp dried thyme
- 1/2 tsp cinnamon powder
- 1 tsp black pepper
- 2 tsp salt
Put a tight lid on the jar and shake to combine. Set aside.
Step 2: Soak Beans
This recipe is PER QUART JAR, so decide how many quarts or if you’d prefer pints, halve the ingredient measures given.
Rinse and sort dried beans.
Into each quart jar, add 3/4 cup dry beans of choice (cannellini, navy, or great northern beans) and cover with cool water. Allow beans to soak overnight in jars. If you’d prefer not to use jars, just leave the beans in a covered bowl and fill the jars about 1/2 of the way full with soaked beans. Measure them out before hand and then after soaking just evenly distribute them between the jars.
The next morning, drain jars of beans, adding new water a couple time to rinse, and drain. Keep beans in the quart jars and set aside.
Step 3: Prep Veggies
For each quart jar, you will need:
- 1/2 diced onion
- 3 cloves garlic, minced
- 1 carrot, peeled and sliced thinly
- 1 celery stalk, chopped fine
Step 4: Add Seasonings
To each quart jar, add:
- Lemon zest and juice of 1 lemon
- 2 tsp of Greek Seasoning Blend
- 1/2 tsp black pepper
Step 5: Add chicken stock
To a small stock pot, heat 2 cups of chicken stock or vegetable stock for each quart jar of beans you will be canning. Bring stock to a boil and then ladle into jars to 1-inch headspace. De-bubble and add more stock if needed to maintain headspace.
Step 6: Canning
Wipe rims of your jars with a vinegar soaked cloth being sure to get them clean.
Add lids and bands, tightening according to manufacturer’s specifications.
Pressure can at your elevations recommended weight for 90 minutes quarts and 75 minutes pints.
Once canning time is up, allow pressure canner to completely depressurize before removing jars.
Allow jars to cool 12-18 hours before removing bands, testing seals, washing jars, labeling and storing in a cool, dark place away from direct sunlight and extreme temperatures.
Notes
You can absolutely use fresh herbs and make your own herb blend! Be sure the fresh herbs you use can well and don’t turn like sage does.
While traditional Greek bean soup has extra-virgin olive oil in it, I would not recommend canning the oil with the soup. For best results, add it afterward, as oils can spoil. I would hate for all your hard work canning this delicious white bean soup go to waste at the hands of rancid oil. So, for good reason, skip it!
To eat:
- dump and heat and eat as is drizzled with a good quality extra virgin olive oil and a big hunk of crusty bread to soak up the oil and broth
- feel free to add some tomatoes, tomato sauce, or tomato paste, a healthy splash of cream, meat, or anything that sounds good to you for a satisfying and hearty meal
- If you want a more creamy texture, you can use an immersion blender and pulse it a few times to puree some of the beans for a super creamy soup
- You can even shake in some red pepper flakes to give it a nice, warm heat, sprinkle homemade feta cheese over top, and top with fresh parsley!
To skip the canning and make this recipe:
- in a crock pot: add all the ingredients for 2 quart jars (soaking the beans overnight if desired) to a slow cooker and cook on low for 8-10 hours.
- in an instant pot: add all the ingredients for 1-2 quart jars (soaking the beans overnight if desired) to the insert of your electric pressure cooker, like an instant pot, and cook using the “bean” setting.
Enjoy!
Equipment
- Jars
- Lids & Bands
- jar lifter
- ladle
- Sharp Knife
- Vegetable Peeler
Ingredients
- 3/4 cup dry white beans navy, great northern, cannellini
- 1/2 onion, diced
- 3 cloves garlic, minced
- 1 stalk celery, diced
- 1 carrot, peeled & sliced thin
- 1 lemon, juiced & zested
- 2 tsp Greek Seasoning Blend see blog post for my recipe
- 1/2 tsp black pepper
- 2 cups chicken broth, hot
Instructions
- This recipe is PER QUART JAR.
- Rinse and sort dried beans. Into each quart jar, add 3/4 cup dry beans of choice (cannellini, navy, or great northern beans) and cover with cool water. Allow beans to soak overnight in jars. If you’d prefer not to use jars, just leave the beans in a covered bowl and fill the jars about 1/2 of the way full with soaked beans. Measure them out before hand and then after soaking just evenly distribute them between the jars.
- The next morning, drain jars of beans, adding new water a couple time to rinse, and drain. Keep beans in the quart jars and set aside.
- Add onion, garlic, celery, carrot, seasonings, and lemon zest & juice to each jar.
- Bring chicken stock to a boil. Ladle into quart jar to 1" headspace, debubble, and add more liquid if needed to maintain headspace.
- Wipe jar rims with a vinegar soaked cloth. Add lids and bands.
- Pressure can at your elevations recommended weight for 90 minutes for quart jars.
- Once processing time is complete, allow your pressure canner to completely depressurize before removing jars. Set aside to cool 12-18 hours before removing bands, testing seals, washing, labeling and storing in a cool, dark area away from direct sunlight.
- Any jars that did not seal should be reprocessed if within 24 hours, or placed in the fridge or frozen to eat soon.
To Prepare to Eat:
- dump and heat and eat as is drizzled with a good quality extra virgin olive oil and a big hunk of crusty bread to soak up the oil and broth
- feel free to add some tomatoes, tomato sauce, or tomato paste, a healthy splash of cream, meat, or anything that sounds good to you for a satisfying and hearty meal
- If you want a more creamy texture, you can use an immersion blender and pulse it a few times to puree some of the beans for a super creamy soup
- You can even shake in some red pepper flakes to give it a nice, warm heat, sprinkle homemade feta cheese over top, and top with fresh parsley!
To skip the canning and make this recipe:
- in a crock pot: add all the ingredients for 2 quart jars (soaking the beans overnight if desired) to a slow cooker and cook on low for 8-10 hours.
- in an instant pot: add all the ingredients for 1-2 quart jars (soaking the beans overnight if desired) to the insert of your electric pressure cooker, like an instant pot, and cook using the “bean” setting.
